The organist librarian

Buses and tubes to get to Heythrop for first day of the marvellous Let him Easter in us conference. A cornucopia of riches. Michael Kirwan amusing, Philip Endean on Ignatius, Dominic Robinson on Benedict's "Deus caritas est" agape and eros and the Lutheran perspective from Barth and Balthasar. Edward Howells on Bernard. Dominic McLoughlin's poetry. Ahamad Achtar on Adam and Eve in the Qu'ran. Terrance Walsh on Hegel. Had to leave Nicholas King on Luke to get to St Thomas the Apostle Nunhead for the Aspirations evening. As always the students were impressive although I told one to stop making excuses and look me in the eye. Some who want to be in the arts, architect, football, engineering and construction, banking. Nice eats and Brendan Fitzgerald gave me a lift home. Liz at funeral. Great to see Sylvia, Patricia Morris, Ann Blackett, Philip Wood, Anna, Simon Gillespie, Jill today!

Played for memorial service at Caterham. Interesting that some men were in shirtsleeves no tie and jacket and the young men were in dark suits. Jerry sang solo in the 3 hymns Goodbye Heythrop conference lovely to see old friends and great address from Peter Vardy. Gounod Romeo and Juliette from the Met conducted by Domingo on radio 3. Quaqoe at Mass, Piano final of Young musician.

Liz went for blood test. To Mass. Boots to get replacement frames under guarantee and adjusted the other pair. Played for funeral at Caterham of Bob Veness - lots there. Swing low sweet chariot went well. Got a new watch battery at Aurum. Organists committee ar Ken's. 3 choirs tour looks good and I made some suggestions about Belmont. To Acton and Lou went to first communion meeting. Library 9 to 2 and catalogued new stock which came last week and non-fiction some of which was returned today being end of term. More donations came and chucked some. Choir practice for Holy Week went well and Ben can sing on Easter Day. Dennis popped in.  Waitrose after several emails and calls have come up trumps with a voucher. It seems the tiny glass balls in the apple were probably from a BB gun fired by children in the orchard.  The Tablet this week says that 8 staff from Heythrop including Michael Barnes are to work for Roehamptioon university. Alas the library is not going with them but i...

Swam 20 and went to church to choose programme and practise for recital on Sunday week. To Kent House stationwith fliers and St Gerorge's Beckenham where I gave tham all out. Oliver Nelson played Prokofiev magnificently and I did a sketch. Back to the chirhc to practise and long chat to Sean. I went to Heythrop Alumni association quiz and drank far too much wine = Veritatis veritatum included Prof Richard Price but came third - we were robbed! A great evening!

To Carmelites Kensington for 11 a.m. Mass to celebrate Heythrop's 400th. Cardinal Vincent and Cardinal Cormac and Archbishop Kevin and Bishop John Sherington plus loads of priests. Michael Barnes had taken the weekend off! Simon Lloyd played and we had Byrd 4 part Mass sung by the pros which was not much to my taste. However we had 4 hymns and Karg-Elert Nun danket. It did seem really wrong to sing The king of love and This is my body and then receive under only one kind. The sanctuary is far too small for so many priests and the servers were chaotic. Alex and Larry and 5 Jesuits. They seemed to have to walk behind the altar from the sacristy every time - there was no room for them on the sanctuary! Saw Alfred Agius and Ann Moynihan. The deacon carried the book to the ambo then put it down and read from something else! The lunch in the garden at Heythrop was lovely and a beautiful day for it. Sat with Paul Clubb and Bethany. I went to Battersea Park for part of the 29th anniversa...

Bruce and EJ not up so went to Watermans. Ciaran no school because of teachers strike so both at music. We had lunch there too and met Merle and Mei in the playground . Had a snooze at home and then took Ciaran to swimming. To Heythrop for Lord Brennan's excellent lecture on The Christian's responsibility in public life. Met Michael Barnes, Alex Jozsa, Robert Rigby of the Catholic Union and some fellow Catenians, Ian Potts from Ealing council and a sister from Rwanda. It was an interesting evening. Should I join the Catholic Union? Would Catenians speak out on public issues? I should not feel so alone in my interfaith work.

Monday Dec2 finally arrived. Swam 18. Mosaic and grouting so well covered up. First 3 with vanilla grout went well but the 4th disaster with pieces coming out and running out of time. I dashed off only to have to come back for my phone which was on charge. Met Dennis at Victoria and he bought a tie. Liz was the last to arrive. Getting tickets and gowns was very straightforward and 2 excellent photos were taken and chosen immediately. Lovely to have Bruce there taking photos. Sat with my class - Yasmin and Xavier were missing. The ceremony was most impressive and went well. Liz was with her class nearly all of them came. Saw lots of people I know. Champagne reception - Louise missed it as there were 4 honorary doctorates and a fellowship. Cathy Corcoran and Baroness Hollins spoke well. Musical interludes from Ram wind students. Damian wondered what the second one was - I thought Poulenc. To Catenians and we had 4 visiting gentlemen who are very keen. The status quo prevails regarding t...

To Heythrop and saw Helena in library. She said the girl who chose the music said psalm was to be spoken but it was agreed with Fr Rocco two weeks ago and I had found an O'Carroll setting. We rehearsed and then found the congregation had a different response so photocopies were made and I went through it before Mass. The provincial general of the Jesuits celebrated and Michael Holman was there. Went OK. To Acton and Ciaran was a bit into whinging. To meditatio for an excellent lecture by Dr Peter Tyler from Twickenham on Dionysius and the Victorines antecedents of Eckhart so it was very helpful! I lost my freedom pass - there was a hole in my pocket. Liz had been at St John's for Corpus Christi - Vierne. Adrian practised at Beckenham.

Swam 20. Finishing touches to Clooney coursework. Sang at Mass and we did de Severac Tantum ergo - gorgeous. Jerry thanked me for singing - he too graduates next year! Good homily by Fr Peter Gallagher. Having lunch and met a Muslim MA philosophy student who suggested some Sufi wrters for my dissertation subject! To Royal Academy for the Gainsborough, Turner and Constable exhibition. The Constables stood out! Back for meal and more reading on modern Hinduism. Martin Ganeri actually asked a question this evening. Got wide choice of essay topics. Red wine and then to pub and Michael Barnes came for a while. John Park (from South Korea) as incomprehensible as ever! Home at 11.20. Liz had been at John Lewis carol service and meeting with Tony and Ausra.

Woke late and spoke to Ann. To Mass which was led by guitars and we sang Benedictus instead of the psalm - very odd! Also Behold the lamb of God as the Agnus Dei. Nice song by Marty Haugen at the end. To coffee and chatted to Michael Smith. Worked in library and went to first meeting of the Arrupe group Faith in action. Much discussion about what to do! I suggested linking up skills available to needs e.g. language skills and literacy skills. Lion newspaper want copy tomorrow! Dinner with Fr Etienne on sabbatical. Martin Ganeri was much better as we asked questions and got him away from his script. Michael Barnes gave us coursework which looks O.K.

To swimming 30. Mosaic and the ceramic flowers have been fired and look great. New people at tai chi. To library and saw Zia and Jim  - it is closing for a fortnight to be redecorated. To Heythrop library and set up the first chaplaincy interfaith sharing meeting - delighted that 20 came including the new principal! The ecumenical prayer was cancelled so they could come. 4 from my class - Luke had been at Saturday night's Mass. Had dinner and chatted to Debby Miles-Johnston! Philip and Johannes too. To Moira's house for organists committee.

The electrician has fixed the lights on stairs and our bedroom - hurrah! Liz did well in her first reflections and especially the Power Point on the parish - 67 out of 100! Watched Michael Portillo in Ireland and evensong from Manchester cathedral. More reading on the Muslim Jesus.

Wed to 4.45 meeting at Heythrop to plan first interfaith sharing session now to be on a Monday once a month. Good to meet Islamic students at last! To Southwark cathedral education centre to plan Olympic interfaith walks and met Croydon folk. Lots of people there I knew including Canon John O'Toole. Fell asleep downstairs and woke at 5.30 to Liz appearing looking worried! Thursday picked up car - last time Nick will service it and MOT as he is retiring! Garage will become flats. To Heythrop for Mass - not many in choir. Coffee afterwards. Reading in library. Katharina Muller interfaith for Bishops conference came at 5 while I had me beef dinner - good to chat to her. Michael and Saira did well at the seminar on a difficult text. Muslim Jesus from Damian - intriguing! Snow on way home - very cold again!

At choir practice there was protracted conversation about the idea of moving to the communion rails during the Inwood Lamb of God and singing the Webbe setting at communion followed by the anthem! Saturday to Heythrop and did the Power Point in the library for the seminar on Thursday on Catholic-Muslim official dialogue. A muddle up over going to tea and my phone needed charging again. Vespers and Mass with Fr Paolo - new server came. Watched A Royal bodyguard and How sex works.

Liz and I to Heythrop for 1 p.m. college Mass in the chapel which was well sung and accompanied on the organ. One of the hymns from Laudate was by Jo Stanley and not singable at all and "Tis good Lord to be here" was to the "Wrong" tune and not "Carlisle". Hard to hear Fr David. We went to coffee with the chaplains in the quiet room and spoke to a nun doing her novitiate. Fr David did not speak to us but after Liz went off to student services (which was closed!) Fr Rocco chatted to me. To library to read 2 articles on laptop which seemed to have little relevance to Tuesday's lecture or am I not being subtle enough? Saw Larry and Nick had popped over from St Paul's shop where he is now working. Liz went to session with Kim. On 9 and 36 to Victoria to be acolytes at Mass for St Barnabas society - it supports ministers from other churches who become RCs. Spotted 2 past grand presidents of the Catenians in the small congregation. Had a coffee and apple...

Swam 18. To More than Gold Borough champions meeting near King's Cross. Not well chaired by Matt who is very laid back. We appear to have signed up for far more than we realised and after lunch we worked on a job description but I doubt if I can give much time to this. There is also duplication of effort going on with denominational reps and office staff contacting churches. There was an event in Croydon this evening about which I knew nothing and Matt didn't even know where it was being held! Unimpressed. HAd an odd conversation with a man from Gunnersbury Baptist at the bus stop who will not work with Catholics on theological grounds! Bus to British library where I joined up without a problem. Circle line to Heythrop. Student services closed when I got there so went to library and saw Larry. Also saw Brian outside - he had just enrolled. Rang Catherine about Croydon library query - it appears only 2 staff on at small branches is standard practice. Got badge and my name was p...

Delighted that Heythrop email is now John Woodhouse and not Anthony. Now I have to think of a witty comment using the word Austere. Ran out of labels space so some of these refer to the last post! Evensong from Northampton sung by choir of Clare college Cambridge featuring Leighton, Walton and Britten.

On 8.15 a.m train to West Brompton as no circle line. Arrived before 9 at Heythrop - about 140 M.A. students and met quite a few. My group is about 14 I think and diverse - teachers, half and half male and female, 2 from Columbia, 1 from America. I think I am the oldest and Damian mentioned my contacts to arrange visits. Siriol is on the course. Registration was OK but discovered my email address is anthony.woodhouse so have asked for that to be changed. Liz's tutor did not appear. Nice lunch and induction about student services, IT and library. To M & S at Victoria for tea. Fr Alexander at Mass. Liz greeted Paul Carr in the organ loft - he plays the recital tomorrow afternoon. Watched end of Festival of Britian programme, QI and Sandhurst episode 1. Royal Palaces was good.

Tuesday to Heythrop for 2 pm to see Dr Damian Howard. He thinks I am fine to do the M.A. and a stimulating discussion. I popped into the library and had tea at M & S then home. Liz off to babysit. To RSCM committee and 2 new members Ian and Richard and Frances Novillo came which was good. Wednesday to dentist - one gap sealed, X rays taken and 15 minute wait for results - no problems. Cleaning. £17 is the new rate. Left car outside the Callans and to Hinsley Room. Robin spoke without notes on peace and a picture of Road to Emmaus. Arranged visit to Ealing Abbey labyrinth for June 8 at 2 p.m. Served at mass Beatified Martyrs of England and Wales. Boys sang Britten Missa Brevis including the Gloria. Fr Swavek appreciative. To Lyn and Rosemary for a lovely meal of salmon, champagne. They are off to Australia on Saturday.