Wednesday 23 May 2007

Well done, Liverpool, I'm proud of you

I did feel somewhat inclined to write a less than subtle post here. I was sorely tempted to write a vitriolic diatribe on how "we wuz robbed", jammy Italian teams and dodgy match officials. But I'm not going to. Why the change of heart, you may ask. Well, after the game I didn't feel inclined to watch somebody else's celebration but I couldn't be bothered getting up out of my chair either, so after the final whistle I just continued to watch the TV. As I watched, I saw members of the AC Milan team applaud our players, even in the midst of their own celebrations. I noted with interest the fact that the might red international army of Liverpool fans remained in the stadium and applauded the Italians. I listened as a series of Liverpool players were interviewed and gave all credit to AC Milan for their victory. No bitterness; not a hint of it. I remembered that we British were once known for our sporting nature and at this moment, in a stadium in Athens, that sportsmanship still existed. How ironic that this great, British attribute should reveal itself in a Liverpool team of international dimensions under the management of a Spaniard and the ownership on two Americans. Such a pleasant change from the bitter war of words that pours forth weekly from that other golden soccer trio of Ferguson, Wenger and Mourinho.

That great legend of Liverpool FC, Bill Shankly, once famously said, "Some people think football is a matter of life and death...I can assure them it is much more important than that." Well, of course, nobody knows better than Liverpool fans how untrue that statement is. We have known our dark times. We have felt deep shame after the loss of life at Heysel and we have grieved the loss of our own at Hillsborough. We have spent our time in the wilderness. We have also been fortunate enough to experience the highest highs that sport has to offer, many times. In this part of the world, football is in the blood, but ultimately there are some things more important. We must remember that as we journey through this life we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. Undoubtedly we will return, wiser and stronger for this experience. Tonight's score line may not have fallen in our favour but Liverpool FC did enough to make me proud of them.

Be warned, Europe, Rafa and the boys will be back. In the meantime, we will remember the good times.

Monday 21 May 2007

New diocesan website


After about nine months of gestation the diocese of Shrewsbury has a new baby! The new website is finally launched today. Why not follow the links to pay a visit and give them a bit of a ratings boost in their first week?

Friday 18 May 2007

Muchas gracias por su ayuda

Dear Father Simon and Friends of Holy Family Parish Pensby,

Greetings to you all from Sagrada Familia El valle Jicamarca Anexo 22. Since our last newsletter at Easter much has been happening in the Valley.

With your generous donation we have been able to start some new projects to help our people and especially the young mums and school children. We have started a Mums and Toddlers group 3 mornings a week and this is attended at the moment by 12 young toddlers and their mums. The aim of the Club "Rainbow" is to enable the children to develop social skills and to play and learn at the same time. We have 2 young Mums who help us to run it. To equip this club (with tables, chairs, Lego building blocks, jizsaws, plasticine, crayons, balls, animals charts etc) we used $700 and will use another $100 will be used during the year to treat the mums and to celebrate birthdays.

We were able with your money to give school materials to 60 children who attend our homework club and for this we used $300. The children and parents were delighted with this gesture and, as a result, this year our numbers have increased in the classroom. Thank you for your generosity.

To accommodate the increasing numbers we have extended the classroom making a separate area for 6th grade and Secondary. This work was completed this week and we were able to pay for it with your money $500. The children are delighted with it and enjoy the peace away from the younger children.

The children who come to do homework are given a glass of juice or a hot drink and a roll. We will be able to finance this with your help too $600 should cover the cost for this.

For Christmas we will use $200 to give a party for all who attend the activities, not forgetting the craft work group.

So you can see that your donation has been able to fund quite a few activities.

The people of Sagrada Familia send their thanks "Muchas Gracias por su ayuda".

Hope all of you will now enjoy some sunshine.


Con mucho cariño a todos,

Sisters Jacinta and Marie.

Las Hermanas de la caridad de Évron.

Wednesday 16 May 2007

The Pope's new book.

So, who is going to be the first to read the Pope's new book?


Be sure to write us a review, whoever you are.

Thursday 10 May 2007

Spiderman 3 - The Review

Well, it is finally here. Read and enjoy the review of the new Spiderman movie, brought to you by Holy Family's answer to Jonathan Woss...


For me Spiderman has its roots back in my childhood. Growing up reading comics you were either a reader of DC (Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman etc) or Marvel (Spiderman/Daredevil/Captain America/The Hulk/etc). I belonged to the Marvel camp and I grew up with these characters and their problems. Why you might ask? Well, all the characters in the Marvel Universe had superpowers but they also had a humanity that was often lacking in other comic book characters. Spiderman was a geek/outsider who was forever coming second in his personal life while achieving much as a superhero; there was a vulnerablility to him that I could appreciate and that made him believable. The Spiderman movies have been true to this aspect of the character as well as delivering the box office thrills that we all want for our £7. Spidey 3 is no different; it's true to the character and is full of spectacular set pieces.

It is a very good movie but not a great one. It has a complicated plot and it reaches for the sky but it falls short by attempting to do too much. I'm happy that it does so because it would have been so easy just to rejig the first two movies and ramp up the effects. More of the same would have been good box office but Sam Riami (the director) is a fan and cares about the characters and so we do see developments and new challanges.

We begin the movie with Peter Parker (Spidey) finally being accepted by the city;his relationship with MJ (girlfriend) is going well but then all hell breaks loose and Peter is targetted by an alien parasite that amplifies negative emotions. Peter becomes stronger but he is filled with Pride and the film is about how you deal with it and the need for revenge. We get to meet Venom and one of the classic villians the Sandman (brilliantly done by the effects crew!), throw in Harry Osborne as a new Green Goblin; Topher Grace as an arrogant press photographer; Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacey; the great Bruce Campbell (king of the B movie) as a french Maître d'; JK Simmons retutrning as Jonah Jameson (two great scenes, especially with his stress pills) and you can see why I say that it's trying to be too ambitious. There is a lot going on, but can you fault a movie for trying to be great?

Should you go and see this movie.....? YES, YES, YES - it's great fun and it has a moral core to it that is often missing in blockbusters; I would like to see an extended cut released for the DVD so that some more of the back story could be filled out but that's a quibble of a long time fan. I will be seeing it again and I urge you to do the same. In the words of Stan 'the man' Lee, Excelsior True Believers!!

Brought to you by Rev. Simon P. O'Connor

Saturday 5 May 2007

Baby Got Book...

Spotted this on Dirty Catholic's blog and couldn't resist sharing it with you. Enjoy!


Countdown to Spiderman 3 Review...

While we are waiting for Fr Simon's promised review of the Spiderman 3 follow this link to read an article in Christianity Today just to whet your appetite...