On the edge

This morning two students and I paid a visit to the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in Bradford. We took boxes of foodstuffs which staff and students at Leeds Trinity had collected. The soup kitchen was in full swing when we arrived. One of the brothers took our lads in hand and gave them a tour of the friary while I sat down with a cup of tea and chatted to the good number of people, men and women, who had come along to enjoy the warmth and the ample portions of beans on toast and the like. I discovered what it is to be "on the edge" of society. I realised how slight my problems are in comparison to those who experience the unremitting pressure of poverty. I feel proud to belong to a Church whose members underline the dignity of those who are marginalised by cooking for them, being present to them, serving them. Before we left I went upstairs to the chapel. It's marvellous: some friars and the sisters minister to Christ in the poor downstairs while upstairs others worship the exposed Blessed Sacrament, the risen Christ in all his glory.

In quite a marked contrast, this evening at Leeds Trinity I taught my fifth and last sacraments class in the course for the Catholic Certificate of Religious Studies: we covered the sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony. There are about eight in the class but with illness, pressing engagements elsewhere and the inclement weather, only two turned up, Bridget and Charlotte (pictured), fourth-year primary education students who had driven all the way from Castleford where they are on teaching practice. It turned out to be the most enjoyable sesssion of them all. I forsook the smartboard and sat down with the students and whenever anything wasn't clear we were able to revisit it, something which isn't always possible with a larger group because participants are always a bit more reticent in those circumstances. Both sacraments are described in the Catechism as being "in service of communion." We see such communion in the home of a married couple striving to love well; in the parish community sustained and enriched by the labour of a priest; around the table in a friary when those whose lives are often lonely experience fellowship and feel accepted.