Cardinal's Homilies
Two weeks ago, ten thousand young Catholics from across England and Wales were gathered at Wembley for Flame 17m an opportunity to pray, to learn and to celebrate their faith. While in their company, I remembered the stirring appeal of Pope Franci...Read more
One of the great gifts of Pope Francis to the Church has been the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which concluded last November. During that Year, we entered so much more deeply into an understanding and acceptance of the mercy of God towards each of us, n...Read more
In the great Jubilee Year 2000, a crowd of well over half a million people gathered in Rome. It was 13
Within these simple words lies a considerable challenge, and not just for excitable children on a visit to Rome. It is this: How well do we e...Read more
How I love this passage from the Gospel of St Luke. Every time I hear it, I admire again its wonderful, step-by-step approach. And every time, it always catches me out. Yes, this is a lesson directed to every one of us, leading us to understand af...Read more
Today we celebrate the Feast of St Paul Miki and his companions. They are among the larger group known as the Nagasaki Martyrs who died rather than deny their faith, in Japan, at the end of of the 16th century. Before dying a cruel death, manacled...Read more
I thank you all for your presence this evening, especially those who have come, some at a great distance, for this Mass of thanksgiving for 25 years of episcopal ministry, which has been God's gift to me.Â
I thank especially my brother bishops...Read more
Â
Today, as we pray for the repose of the soul of Canon John McDonald, we hear again the solemn proclamation of the Beatitudes, which take us to the heart of the Gospel message of the coming of the Kingdom of God.Â
'Blessed' is such a powe...Read more
Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,Â
My mother taught me many things. One was this: that a mother can never forget her child, even if that child is no longer in her presence and care. The bond between them endures. It is written into he...Read more
Given at Midnight Mass of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas 2016, at Westminster Cathedral.
Midnight Mass is full of light and darkness. We gather in the dead of night. We are referred to as a people 'that walked in darkness'. Yet we rejoice ...Read more
Christmas reflection 2016.
Towards the end our pilgrimage to the Holy Land this year, we visited the village of Bethany and the site of the tomb of Lazarus. Deep underground, now beneath a mosque, we saw the cave which served as the tomb. Stand...Read more
My dear brothers and sisters, thank you for your very warm welcome and for this opportunity to be with you here in the Parish of the Holy Family today.
My journey from London has been very easy and I have come here to bring you the love and the...Read more
As a society we have an obsession with death. We have seen this so clearly in the ways in which Halloween has been marked in the last few days. We are filled with fascination, confusion and dread when it comes to matters of death and life after de...Read more
The contrasts between Victoria Street and Westminster Cathedral are many, and obvious. The glass and concrete of the buildings, the constant rush of people and machines, the endless noise are of the street are as different as can be imagined from ...Read more
22 October 2016.Â
In the 1960s, a Jesuit priest came regularly to the English College in Rome to speak with the young seminarians, among whom I was one. He gave many spiritual conferences, but I can remember clearly only one of them.Â
On t...Read more
'I must ask myself where I came from... the memory of my people, the memory of my family, the memory of my history. The memory of a path that has already been trodden'. Pope Francis spoke these words a few months ago in Krakow to the pilgrims ...Read more
Just outside this oasis of prayer and peace, there are some of the most complicated road junctions in London. They are littered with signs: some giving information about directions to be taken, some telling you what you must do, some telling you w...Read more