I'm back

Sr Anne making her appeal

Sr Marie and myself in Oxford.

Srs Marie, Anne and Jennifer at Bowdon

Hello everyone. (My new e-mail address is mailto:frkjones(@)btinternet.com)

I am so sorry that I have left it so long to up date my blog. Since I have been back I havn't really stopped. I have had a lot of visitors and I have been trying unsuccessfully to re-connect with a lot of old friends. I think it is a sign of old age when there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do all I want, and yet at the same time think that I havn't really done much at all. I remember in my young days getting up at half past four in the morning for work and being out of the house by 4.45 am and by that time I would have had a wash, cup of coffee and a biscuit. Now it takes me half an hour just to get out of bed.The last three months has been a busy time. Soon after the three fathers from Australia left at the end of July two sisters from Myanmar arrived on my door step. They were expected so my two old Burmese friends came over to my place to look after them and feed them while I decamped to the Sandhurst house which was and still is under renovation. (I am assured that it will be finished in two to three weeks. I wait in anticipation though it is starting to look good.)

The two sisters are from the order of St Joseph of the Apparition. A teaching order that was specifically for the poor and for orphans. It was started by a St Emily of France in the 19th century and spread all over the world. The sisters made a foundation in Myanmar in the late 19th century and were doing a lot of good work and vocations to the order were very good. But as we know the military Junta took over in the sixties and expelled all westerners and their dependants. All the western sisters had to leave and it was left to the Burmese sisters to carry on St Emily’s vision. The Military Junta confiscated all the sister’s schools and left them with no money or income. They were allowed to keep their living quarters and the chapels they had but nothing more. Yet even out of this loss the sisters regrouped and again began to look after the poor and orphans and educate them. Our Parish in Sandhurst and Crowthorne have adopted them and we support them with money so that they can feed, clothe and educate the children under their care. At the moment we are sponsoring and collecting to build and orphanage in Hmauby an extremely poor area just outside Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon). We hope to raise £25,000 and I have just sent the sisters £10,000 that our parish in Crowthorne and Sandhurst have just raised. so only £15,000 to go. If you would like to help in this parish project any cheques would be welcomed made payable to the Burma Orphanage Appeal c/o Immaculate Conception Church 63/67 York Town Rd Sandhurst Berks GU74 9BS.

Sr Marie and Sr Anne came to our parish to make an appeal and they were very well received and enjoyed their stay. They met the Burma Orphanage Appeal committee and thanked them for all they were doing and how much they appreciated all their hard work. I ask you all to keep them in your prayers at this present time as their community house is very near The Shwedagon Pagoda where all the trouble is. It must be a very worrying time for them as it is for all their friends here in the Uk. We are all keeping them in our prayers here in Sandhurst and Crowthorne. Sisters I know they have blocked your e-mail but you maybe able to see the blog if so we are all thinking of you and praying hard that peace will come to your country soon and that you will be able to get on with the good work that you are doing in the Lord's vineyard

During my stay in Burma I was sadden and angry at the mis-use of power there. You have the extremely rich who are mainly the ruling Junta and the very very poor. The ruling Army chiefs have no concern for the majority of the people and all they are worried about is keeping control of the reins of power so that they and their families can live privileged lives on the riches that belong to all the people. Hopefully their mis-rule will come to an end quickly, but I am afraid history tells us a different story as they will hang on to it as long as they can. However history also tells us that these despots rules always come to an end as we have seen in Russia in our modern times. All we pray for that it will soon be over for the people of Myanmar and that this peaceful and lovely people will have the peace and justice that they deserve.

Summer Time!!

A little blue sky at the London Eye!!
















The Place where they seem to make a mess of our country.

Martin with an old Alexandre Harmonium in fairly good condition.
If any one wants it they can take it away free.
















Hello everyone, bit late as ever. It has been one of those months which has been all go and no stop. I have had no time to read or catch up with friends that I have not seen for over a year. I thought the summer months would give me a little space, but no such luck. Next week here in England it is the start of the school holidays so things might slacken off a little. I wouldn't mind if I was busy doing priestly work for that is my vocation but all I seem to be doing is running after tradesmen getting quotes for plumbers, electricians, tilers, plasterers, decorators, kitchen fitter and so on. Finally after six weeks I have got all the quotes in and selected what I feel is the best. Now I have to co-ordinate them all to work together. This however has been put on hold because of the summer holidays. So it looks like I will not be moving in here until October at the earliest. But Christmas time looks a better day.

This week in England we have been confronted with the stark reality of how lucky many people were, that the would be suicide bombers failed in their attempt to kill and maim. Yet the lasting impression for me was a brave fireman who stood in front of the woman and her baby to protect her from the blast that passengers in the carriage thought was imminent. His heroic action of standing in front of the mother and child was the complete opposite of the bomber who actually turned round to face the mother and child to detonate the bomb. (It is beyond normal human beings to comprehend such hate that would blow up innocent children.) Two men thrown together in history, in time and space. One a religious fanatic, the other an ordinary man. One intent on killing and maiming in the name of God, the other just going about his ordinary life and ends up being a Good Samaritan. A man who puts his own life on the line to save others rather than put his life on the line to kill others as the fanatic did. We know which one would have been the real martyr and would have been truly welcomed into the Kingdom.

Its not all bad here the other day we actually had two hours of sunshine with no rain. It didn't last long. As I look out of the window now it is drizzling, so much for global warming here in England. On one or two days I have had to put on the central heating and even the birds have stopped singing. Yet saying all that I am glad to be home and working in the vineyard of the Lord. The parish is moving along quite well and I have notice the people have more involvement in the running of their Church. This gives me hope for the future as it will mean that even if they do not have a regular parish priest like myself they will be able to survive as a parish. Therefore I can honestly say that my sabbatical has not only refreshed me it has taught the parish to stand on its own two feet.

Looking forward to Fr Thi from Perth coming to stay with me for a few days with two other priests. Heres me going on to the parishioners about the shortage of priests and there will be four of us staying in the parish in a couple of weeks. Fr Thi was the priest in Perth who was very kind to me so his stay here will give me a chance to repay his kindness. I do hope the weather changes for the better. There is nothing better in the world than to see the English countryside in glorious sunshine after a long spat of rain.

Thats all from me at the moment will write again in a few weeks.

Settling in

Winnie Ripley Evelyn Quin and Elaine in an English country Garden

Hello every one on this Trinity Sunday. Just a few lines about the Trinity. As we Christians know the Trinity is a very hard subject to preach about. Many preachers use props to try and explain the great mystery of the Three distinct persons, but one God. I myself have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to explain This mystery so I stopped using such props, as three bottles of wine that are a third full, then pouring them in one bottle so that the three become one. Not only did it confuse my parishioners it confused me! Another priest friend of my divided three in to 100 on the computer and and the result was 33.3333… and he printed it out and showed the results to the congregation with reams and reams of paper. At the time I thought it was a waste of paper as it didn’t make much sense to me. I think the point he was trying to make was that no matter how hard you try, you cannot actually explain the Trinity.

The reason why I am going on about the Trinity is because on Saturday night I watched a programme on the TV we have over here called Gavin and Stacy. The couple are getting married and they went to the local Anglican Church for a service. It so happened that it was Trinity Sunday and the Anglican priest was trying to explain it by the different sandwiches people liked. Eventually it got so ludicrous and the vicar got himself into such a mess, that he completely losses his cool. It was very funny but it did make my mind up that I would never again try to explain the Trinity by using analogies.

Well I have been back for a month now and I have not stopped. There was so much to catch up with. On top of that I am in the process of moving from Crowthorne to Sandhurst. When I got back my lodger in Sandhurst, who was very helpful in keeping a presence there, had decided that he had to move. We then came to the decision that it would be easier to rent the flat in Crowthorne which is quiet compared to Sandhurst, so I offered to move. The only trouble is that the house in Sandhurst really needs decorating and refurbishing. So it is paint brush in hands again I’m afraid.

Every late May bank holiday we have a fund raising event called the Donkey Derby so I and a lot of the parishioners had been preparing for that. The weather before the bank holiday had been dry and sunny. That, however changed on the Saturday the heavens opened and it rained for three days solid so that the field we use was flooded. There was nothing we could do but postpone it until the 24th June. Since that postponement there has been nothing but good June weather. Its what you would call sods law. Well we will try again.

I phoned uncle Arnett and he said that they have had the most glorious beginning of winter in Christchurch NZ that he can ever remember. It has been wall to wall sunshine with the temp up in the twenties. I think the rain is following me around the globe. Maybe I have the wrong vocation and I should really be a rain ambassador. When I started my sabbatical it flooded in Thailand and Myanmar. In New Zealand they had the worse summer for years. When I went to Sydney it rained as it did in Melbourne when I got there. In Perth I was only there for a day before the heavens opened. I think you get my drift.

At the weekend I took my old friends down to a place called Old Alsford in Hampshire to see Elaine who was the wife of their nephew who died last year. Elaine has a lovely English garden which I have photographed and put on the blog. Thats all for now God Bless.

Arriving home

Immaculate Conception Church Sandhurst.
(New Zealanders see no music screen)

The Holy Ghost Church in Crowthorne

Uncle Arnett

Hello everyone, after a long flight from Perth I am now at home in Crowthorne and Sandhurst. I have been here a week and I must say that I am really glad to be home. I think any more than six months and I would have got really home sick. That is not to say that New Zealand is not a nice place because I did enjoy my time there but I am getting to that age where home is sweet. I think one can only live out of a suitcase for so long then it becomes tiring. I want to thank all those who have befriended me during my time in New Zealand especially Fr Bill and the parishioners of Christ the King.

I will miss seeing my uncle Arnett every week and spending quality time with him. He is a great man who is very funny at times we had many laughs. I have included my favourite photo of him. Though in one sense it is not very flattering to him in another it sums him up as he is, a very natural man who is quick to see the funny side of life and laugh about it. A man who cares about others and doesn’t hold grudges against people. Everyone who met him said what a delightful person he was and how easy it was to get on with him. The only advice I will give to him is that before I come again to see him that he must get a new mattress for the old bed that I slept in. The mattresses that he has got now are the same ones that he got when he first got married in 1952. They are as nearly old as me. The one that I slept on, its sides had given up the ghost, so one was always sliding off the bed. Arnett’s mattress always reminds me of the one in the Hitchcock film Psycho. Here if you have seen the film the mattress bears the imprint of the dead mother of Bates. But as Arnett says he is happy with it so why should he get another one. There is not much argument against that. Any way I shall miss him and his sense of humour. Thanks Arnett for a lovely and great time. May God bless you.

The last time I wrote to you I had just landed in Perth. I liked Perth a lot and found it was my favourite place in Australia. It was a clean and laid-back city with a good city centre that was easy to access. The people were friendly and there was a good ethnic mix of people, which I feel always gives a city an extra ingredient. But saying that it was also good because of the great host I was with Fr Thi. He actually went beyond the call of duty with me taking me everywhere I wanted to go and showing me all the good things of Perth. And on top of that he would not let me pay a penny towards anything. Through him I saw all that was good in Perth. Charles and Moira friends of Winnie and Evelyn’s also were very good to me and had me for dinner. (not literally because I am still here). Fr Thi took me to the airport and saw me off and after twenty one hours I landed in England and was met by Bill my sacristan.

It was really lovely to get back and to top it all it was a lovely spring morning and everything was shinning. After the dryness of Australia it was lovely to see the lush green countryside of home with the May blossom blooming in so many different colours. It was good to be home. Before we went to Crowthorne for a Mass of thanksgiving to Our Lady for my safe return we stopped off at Winnie and Evelyn’s place for a quick hello and breakfast. Then it has been all go from there; business as usual.

I want to thank you all for calling into my blog. I will keep on writing it but not so often maybe once a month for my overseas friends and visitors so that they can keep up with what I am doing even though it will be the mundane things of life. May God bless you all Fr Kevin.

Perth Australia

A Quokka on Rottnest Island Freemantle

















Dinner with Charles, Moira and friends
















Perth City

Fr Thi ( pronounced Tee) my host in Perth

Hi everyone I am on the last day of my journey and I will be returning home on Tuesday morning the 1st of May a bit jet lagged but hopefully awake enough to celebrate Mass at 9.30 in the Holy Ghost Church in Crowthorne, in thanks giving to Our Lady for bringing me home safely. It has been a long time and I have learnt quite a lot about myself and my vocation, but more about that later when I have had time to settle back home and reflect on my seven months away form the parish.

I have found Perth a lovely city and if I was to emigrate to Australasia it would be here I would settle. The city is very clean and they have made a good job of integrating the old with the new. As usual the worst offenders of integrating new and old buildings are the banks and the government building. However now there is a good control on all building and a heritage committee intent of preserving the lovely old buildings they have in Perth.

I went to New Norcia to see the monastery that I had heard about at Quarr Abbey but they were not really interested in me and I had to take a guided tour with everyone else. Listening to the guide you could see that really it was a big business with a wage bill of over a million dollars. There were only seven monks residing and two of them were over eighty. What did surprise me was the amount of women who worked there. I think they out numbered the monks by two to one. The abbot even had his own personal PA. How things have changed since my days in the monastery. And how they must have changed since the days of the founder who in the middle of the 1800s came to start a mission to teach and preach the Aboriginals and help them. It was an interesting day. One little aside that made me laugh was in the local hotel which is owned by the monks. Charles, Moira and myself went for coffee there but we could only have it black as there was no milk. The abbey owns 32,000 sq acres with lots of cattle, sheep and dairy herds, but no milk for their local hotel, not even long life or powered milk. It just reminded me of the other world that monks and those who work for them live in. It was the same at Quarr. There is always tomorrow and does it really matter?

Saw other parts of Perth and Freemantle Fr Thi has been a great host while I have been here taking me here there and everywhere, as far as Margaret river which at the time of our visit was a little creek. On the way we went to a place called Mannapuh which was lovely and part of it has been built on a canal system. Mind you according to Fr Thi it cost you an arm and a leg to live there.

Well thats all from me until I arrive home God Bless and thanks for all your support and prayers Fr Kevin