Cardinal's Homilies
Later this afternoon, in a moment of deeply spiritual drama, the Cross of Christ and the figure hanging upon it will be slowly revealed to us. We have heard the Gospel narrative of his suffering and death. Now we shall see with our eyes the image ...Read more
This evening's ceremony and the events it celebrates have a lovely homely feel to them. We are in the inner circle of Jesus' friends. We are among those whom he trusts with his most precious gift and message. We are privileged to be here, priv...Read more
For me, this is one of the most joyful celebrations of the year, every year! We gather embracing and expressing the sheer joy of our faith, the joy of knowing Jesus as our Lord, the joy of being together as his beloved in his Church, this great fa...Read more
Today we enter Holy Week and I welcome you to this solemn celebration of Palm Sunday. I welcome especially the staff and seminarians from Allen Hall. Please pray for them, our future priests.Â
Today we join the Lord on his entry to Jerusalem. In...Read more
This celebration of thanksgiving for the 150th Anniversary of St Joseph's Missionary Society, the Mill Hill Missionaries, is a marvellous occasion for us all. I feel very much part of it. After all, the Mill Hill Missionaries, founded by a pri...Read more
'Seeing and feeling how very hard it was to send away the poor, dismissed by the doctors as beyond hope of recovery, some having very poor homes and other no friends willing to receive them, they bethought themselves of having a hospice or home ...Read more
Maria de la Soledad Micaela Desmaissieres y Lopez de DicastilloÂ
The Spanish certainly do have a way with names!
It is Maria Micaela for whom we thank God this evening: for her life, her faith, her inventiveness, her dedication, her trust, ...Read more
This afternoon I would like to tell you a story of a young man, aged about 17. Early one evening he was walking past a church and felt a strong urge, a call, to go inside. As he sat there, he saw a priest going into the confessional. Then, surpris...Read more
A few years ago, as part of my summer holiday, I went to Munich airport so that one of my companions could catch a plane home. Leaving the airport, the rest of us caught sight of a signpost for Dachau. So we went, even though it is hardly a holida...Read more
Today we warmly welcome two new bishops into our diocesan church. What a great moment and what a blessing we are receiving, a blessing to strengthen us in so many ways.Â
As you so well know, the Church's storehouse is full of splendid statemen...Read more
This night, in the words of the Gospel of St Luke, we are summoned by the angel to the crib, in the town of David, in Bethlehem. We are told that there we will find 'news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people'. To emphasise the ...Read more
'Jesus is the true face of God's mercy.'Â
These are words to keep very much in mind as we prepare to welcome the birth of Jesus, on this Feast of Christmas. This evening, in a wonderful way, we are led more deeply towards the moment of t...Read more
As many of you will know, credit for the introduction of the Christmas Crib goes to St Francis of Assisi. In the town of Gubbio, in 1223, he introduced a living pageant of the birth of Jesus, with real animals and, in it suggested, a living baby. ...Read more
Today is
Today this joy of anticipation is enriched by the opening of our Door of Mercy and the beginning of the Year of Mercy, called for by Pope Francis.
The reading from his Papal Bull, which we have just heard, spells out so clearly the inte...Read more
In the mid 1990s, George Stack, Administrator of Westminster Cathedral, invited Fr Augustine Hoey to live and work at the Cathedral. Later, as Archbishop, he wrote:
 'This was one of the wisest decisions of my time as Administrator. A delightful...Read more
This evening we come to make an irrevocable act, the consecration of this stone, making it holy, setting it apart for ever. This is done, by the work of the Holy Spirit, at the request of the Church made through the mouth of Jesus, himself.
Thi...Read more