I've had an exchange of text messages with Roy Thomas who's out in South Africa at the moment, we have been sharing thoughts about discerning vocation recently, but today we shared thoughts about a possible re-opening of the Spiritual Capital research project we ran together 2006-8.
Funnily enough, responses to Monday's Notre Dame fire got me reflecting again on the economic and social role of religious edifices and institutions in this post modern era. The majority may stay well away from church, yet the presence and activity of religious faith based things, still seems not to be a matter of indifference to everyone. Even if ideas and opinions on these matters can be ill-informed, they can't be ignored or barred from consciousness. They continue to pose questions that challenge our sense of self anf our values.
Thoughts about Spiritual Capital were particularly prompted by an invoice from internet service provider Servage for another two years registration of the sarcic.org.uk URL which was used as our project web page. It's still active, although it looks terribly dated, and a few of the links are broken. We used two Google blog sites as well. Both are still there, frozen in time. The steering group blog final entry was in mid July 2008. Entries on the Spiritual Capital blog petered out over the next eighteen months as I wound down towards retirement, with one stray entry two years later.
I gave up access details to Parish web assets, including the Spiritual Capital material, when I retired. St John's web presence has changed since then, and old stuff is unused. I found a written record of old access codes, and they still work, but Google's beefed up security protocol showed its worth. Neither my present IP address nor the devices were used then, so confirmation of my access privilege was automatically required from current keeper - St John's tower captain Bob Hardy. I emailed him, and he confirmed he'd received a security alert, and I reassured him of the reason for this surprise, while he is away on holiday. We'll see to it when he returns next week! Meanwhile I need to draft a way of linking current aspirations and interest in Spiritual with those last expressed over a decade ago to discuss with Roy.
After lunch, I went to the wound clinic, and then collected this week's veggie bag from Chapter, before walking down to Blackweir Bridge before supper. I saw a couple of baseball teams out on the Fields at match practice. Baseball came to Cardiff a century ago. It's not at big as cricket, but it has always had a core of keen followers. After a few days of cold weather, it's warming up again, so it's quite pleasant to be out and about,
As it's Holy Week in an interregnum, there are no mid-week morning Masses, just a single evening Mass for the Benefice. Tonight, we were at St Catherine's, with twenty in the congregation and ten in the choir, as predicted by Clive. This would work if all who attended mid-week services regularly in the morning were to come, but they don't. Some older people, though not all to be fair, aren't keen to venture out after tea. If changing routine is a big effort, they miss out. It's a bit sad, but reflects a time of change. No news yet of a new Team Rector, the appointment process seems still to be a work in progress.
Funnily enough, responses to Monday's Notre Dame fire got me reflecting again on the economic and social role of religious edifices and institutions in this post modern era. The majority may stay well away from church, yet the presence and activity of religious faith based things, still seems not to be a matter of indifference to everyone. Even if ideas and opinions on these matters can be ill-informed, they can't be ignored or barred from consciousness. They continue to pose questions that challenge our sense of self anf our values.
Thoughts about Spiritual Capital were particularly prompted by an invoice from internet service provider Servage for another two years registration of the sarcic.org.uk URL which was used as our project web page. It's still active, although it looks terribly dated, and a few of the links are broken. We used two Google blog sites as well. Both are still there, frozen in time. The steering group blog final entry was in mid July 2008. Entries on the Spiritual Capital blog petered out over the next eighteen months as I wound down towards retirement, with one stray entry two years later.
I gave up access details to Parish web assets, including the Spiritual Capital material, when I retired. St John's web presence has changed since then, and old stuff is unused. I found a written record of old access codes, and they still work, but Google's beefed up security protocol showed its worth. Neither my present IP address nor the devices were used then, so confirmation of my access privilege was automatically required from current keeper - St John's tower captain Bob Hardy. I emailed him, and he confirmed he'd received a security alert, and I reassured him of the reason for this surprise, while he is away on holiday. We'll see to it when he returns next week! Meanwhile I need to draft a way of linking current aspirations and interest in Spiritual with those last expressed over a decade ago to discuss with Roy.
After lunch, I went to the wound clinic, and then collected this week's veggie bag from Chapter, before walking down to Blackweir Bridge before supper. I saw a couple of baseball teams out on the Fields at match practice. Baseball came to Cardiff a century ago. It's not at big as cricket, but it has always had a core of keen followers. After a few days of cold weather, it's warming up again, so it's quite pleasant to be out and about,
As it's Holy Week in an interregnum, there are no mid-week morning Masses, just a single evening Mass for the Benefice. Tonight, we were at St Catherine's, with twenty in the congregation and ten in the choir, as predicted by Clive. This would work if all who attended mid-week services regularly in the morning were to come, but they don't. Some older people, though not all to be fair, aren't keen to venture out after tea. If changing routine is a big effort, they miss out. It's a bit sad, but reflects a time of change. No news yet of a new Team Rector, the appointment process seems still to be a work in progress.
