Sometimes I’m being accused. Of leniency. Of being too soft with lapsed Catholics, when they request baptism for their child, or their wedding, or a Catholic funeral for a deceased relative. Sometimes practising Christians seem to expect me to adopt a stricter and tougher approach, leading either to the refusal of requests from the lapsed or to the extraction of…

I left you for less than four weeks, and what have you done in the meantime at the General Election? I went to Poland to save the Presidential election there, but that effort too failed spectacularly, as it was not won by my candidate. My enormous authority is now in tatters, both there and here. And – just in case…

The massive earthquake in Nepal a week ago triggered shockwaves reaching far beyond that tiny country, lasting well beyond the cessation of the tremors. Within hours many governments, charities, NGOs and individuals started thinking about ways of helping the badly-stricken nation. Groups of professional rescuers from around the world have been flown into the country, financial and material aid has…

My arrival in Elgin in September 2007 slightly stirred up the Polish community, both there and in the neighbouring towns and villages. They welcomed a priest from their homeland, speaking their language, and they expected him to ring-fence their national identity. A surprisingly similar view was held by many members of the local community, clearly expressed in a virtual label…

I believe that the Queen sends special letters to people who are 100 years old; I haven’t got one yet as you can guess. I’m not royalty by any means, but I conceived an idea of sending birthday letters to members of this parish and offering Mass for them around the day. It’s a side-effect of the parish census we…