A VISIT TO LONDON

February 2, 2007

Dear San and Pam:

See page 48 of the enclosed Jan/Feb 2007 "FAITH" magazine! And the rest of it makes pretty good reading also. [FAITH is a UK journal that promotes the synthesis of faith and reason. On page 48 was this movie review:]

MOVIES THAT INSPIRE
Those who attended the Faith summer Session might have seen Fishers of Men, the powerful and moving new vocations film commissioned by the American bishops' conference. It was produced by this state-of-the-art company, based in Brooklyn, New York. The website quotes Pope John Paul II on the influence of film and continues: "The mission of Grassroots films is to give the audience what it is already starving for: Truth".

Nineveh's Crossing has been selling copies of Fishers of Men to British and U.S. customers for about a year now. A clip of the film can be found at http://www.NinevehsCrossing.com.]

Bill continues...

On 2nd Feb I visited London for the first time in years and called at Brompton Oratory, a magnificent Italianate church next to the equally magnificent Victoria and Albert Museum. It is my favorite Catholic church in London. On Sundays sit tends to be filled with London's upper middle class Italian and Spanish families. to my amazement, on Friday 2nd, I entered it in the middle of 10:00 am Mass and it was almost full to the doors. Mass went until 11:15am and people did not rush to leave after the final hymn; they stayed for a dignified recessional procession. Admittedly, there were a lot of boys from the associated school, but it was an amazing sight for the feat of the Presentation (not a holy day of obligation).

I visited the Victoria and Albert immediately after Mass, mainly because: 1) I desperately needed the bathroom, 2) Admission is free, and 3) I figured I was less likely to catch an unpleasant disease there than in numerous other London public washrooms I could name.

But it was a reminder of what a truly extraordinary world-class museum the V+A is. You might compare it with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in N.Y., but with a wider range of exhibits. It has been hugely updated since my last visit. Check out www.vam.ac.uk for a virtual holiday! The European galleries in particular contain countless Catholic artifact, statues, frescoes, altar pieces, chalices, monstrances, Paten's, etc.

Best wishes,

Bill