Medjugorje LGBT Ministry

Here we share a wide variety of stories as they happened as we were out & about on the streets of London!

A ‘Divine Appointment’!!

Yesterday, I had a dance class in Soho & afterwards I went for a drink & Karaoke afterwards.

Singing & dancing is great fun but it’s also a great way to meet new people & evangelise in a very fun & friendly way, especially as you meet the people on their territory while they are helping & teaching you!

Arriving at the Karaoke bar, I went downstairs & due to limited seating, a guy happened to sit beside me. He seemed kind, a bit lonely & of what looked like Indian origins.

Gradually we got talking & it turns out that although Indian, he grew up in Mauritius & so spoke French. He was delighted to learn that not only do I speak French but I also knew a little bit of Creole & a few phrases in Hindi.

‘What do you do for work?’, he questioned to which I replied about working in the Church & LGBT Ministry.

‘Do you do conversion therapy?’, he stammered with a look of fear in his eyes.

Relieved to learn that I didn’t, he explained to me the usual story of being gay, moving to the U.K., coming out & then deciding to stay.

Still, he seemed a little sad so as I prayed in my heart, he began to tell me about the pain of his 5 year relationship breaking up & his partner cheating on him.

The night continued with some songs until it was time to go & that’s when he opened up even more!

‘I didn’t tell you but my grandmother died today & I came out tonight because I’m staying in a hotel & didn’t want to spend all the evening alone thinking about it & feeling sad!’
Immediately I gave him a hug & asked if I could say a prayer for both him, & his grandma & of course he agreed.

‘You are very positive’, he commented.

‘You have seen something spiritual in your life, I know from how you talk & your aura!!’

Smiling, I began to tell him about my visions of Our Lady, her gentle love & her love for him & realising that I didn’t have any miraculous medals with me, I took off the one that I was wearing & gave it to him.

Needless to say, he was profoundly touched & so was I. Imagine how loving God is that on the day of his grandma’s death, he’d wander into a gay bar where God had arranged for him to meet someone to console him, pray with him & point him towards our heavenly mother, Our Lady!.

We call these ‘divine appointments’ in evangelisation circles & what an honour to be used by God in this way, even if it means making a fool of myself singing & dancing!!

Lord, help us to reach out to others in new & creative ways & to bring your love to places where it may never reach otherwise!!

Thank you Dear Jesus!

Yesterday, I went to mass at St. James’ Church in London’s ‘Spanish Place’. It’s a beautiful Church which still has railings on the altar where one can kneel to receive Holy Communion.

As I approached the railings, I noticed an old lady beside me & what happened next, touched me profoundly.

The priest approached her & gave her the sacred host which she received on her hands which were open in the most reverent of ways. Then, taking a moment as the priest had now moved on to me, she looked at the host, whispered ‘Thank you dear Jesus ‘ & then with the utmost delicacy, placed the host in her mouth.

It was such a beautiful thing to witness, especially in our busy society & world which gives so little love & reverence to the sacred, not to mention to the Blessed Sacrament!

It also reminded me of something that I have read so many times, that if one receives Jesus with a closed heart, then He can do nothing for a soul because He works with their free will.

However, the opposite is also true. When we receive Jesus with a humble surrendered heart, willing to do His will in our lives, then the sky is the limit, He can & will do AMAZING things in our lives.

And so, a reminder to us all to nurture the gift of faith through prayer, through spiritual reading & friendships, through learning from others like this older lady & let’s be assured, God will work miracles in our lives!

Message from Heaven!

Yesterday was ‘Trinity Sunday’, a celebration of the Holy Trinity & so fittingly, as I sat in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, I received a profound message:

‘My precious Children,

I am God! I am three & yet I am one, living in a perfect communion of harmony & love for all of eternity!
I am infinite in every way! Infinite in power, infinite in wisdom, infinite in beauty, infinite in intelligence & most of all, infinite in both love & mercy.
In love, I made each one of you who did not even exist & in love, I keep each one of you in existence! Even those of you who do not believe that I exist, or those of you that hate me, it is I who keep you in existence too just like a mother feeding a difficult child, hoping one day that things will change.
My mercy, my children sees your vulnerability & your weakness. Even those of you who see no need for me & think you are strong, in my eyes, you are the weakest because true strength comes from love & God is love!!
In my infinite goodness, I wish to transform you into strong and healthy children, children of God, children of love.
I do this with my transformative grace which touches your hearts & draws you to the things of the spirit such as prayer & detachment from all worldly desires & objects.
Yet my children, how reluctantly so many of you even give me 5 minutes? What athlete would ever win a race with only 5 minutes of training?
My little ones, don’t you see, the meaning of your short lives here is to become saints. When you die, your clothes & cars & houses & careers will all be left behind.
The only thing that will go with you is your spiritual soul & if you haven’t taken care of it, not only will it be small & void of any virtues, it will be black & tarnished from a lifetime of unholiness.
My children, I do not want this for you. I desire you to arrive at heaven’s door beaming with as much light as possible so that you can spend all of eternity glowing with that same intensity.
Come my children, dedicate your short lives to prayer & spiritual transformation & let your lives be an example to others.’

Get me some Holy Water!!

Yesterday was Saturday & I was having a sort of a ‘day off’. In ministry, there is no such thing really as a day off but on certain days, the Lord leads you away to rest, recharge & chill out a bit more than on other days!

So, there I was strolling in the local area when I decided to go for a beer in a friendly place where I go to every now & then.

Upon arriving, they were all super stressed. They had some sort of a burst pipe & the whole bar was flooded!!

One of the staff members is a  Christian Croatian lady & and sometimes I speak to her in my pigeon Croatian that I picked up from spending almost 2 years in the Balkans.

‘Bog te blagoslovio’ I smiled (God bless you) adding a ‘Bože, pomozi mi’ (God help me).

‘Holy Water’ she replied. ‘Get me more Holy water’ as she handed me my beer & refused to let me pay (thank you Jesus).

Slowly enjoying my beer, I was watching them all trying to fix the leak & reflecting on how things like flooding & all sorts of other mishaps can so very often be associated with demonic activity.

As I was praying for them, the guy in front of me suddenly spilt his drink over!! If I had a pound for every time that happens when I pray, I’d be a rich man!!! When demons get annoyed,  they begin to manifest annoyed, they bev

Leaving, I decided to go back to the Church & get my friend some holy water, impressed that she had already used the large bottle I gave her a few months back.

Some five minutes later, I arrived back with 2 bottles of London’s finest exorcised holy water & I found my friend sitting outside having a cigarette & at her wits end!!

Handing her the water, she marched into the bar like a soldier who had been handed a new gun & I knew that the bar was going to get one heck of a blessing!!

‘So much for a day off’ I thought even if the whole incident filled me with great joy, especially seeing this lady’s faith!

So folks, don’t forget to pray & bless your houses & work places with holy water every now & then!  Just as spiders & mice often find their way inside, so too can these invisible importers which is why holy water, holy music & above all, holy lives, are essential in keeping them away!!

Have a Holy Sunday!!

Why do I bother?

A few days ago, I was talking to a priest & I mentioned how frustrating it can be at times in Catholic environments talking about God!

There you are, full of enthusiasm & joy & so often, looking back at you are blank faces, void of any great expression or enthusiasm or sense of engagement….your talk ends & they say ‘thank you very much’ with a tone as if you had just read out the latest obituaries!!

The priest smiled gently & said;

‘Yes, sometimes I too wonder why I bother as I preach the Sunday sermon & watch some come in late, others fumbling with their newsletters, others on their phones….’

It was refreshing to talk to such an honest man!

‘However’, he continued, ‘Jesus calls us to be faithful & to leave the results to Him so we must not let it get to us!!’

Wise words I thought as sometimes I wish I could give some of my Catholic friends an electric shock of God’s love & enthusiasm & get them all out on the streets evangelising with joy & zeal & a new sense of freshness!

However, it did remind me of why we should pray for priests & also helped me understand why some priests lose their enthusiasm, lose their joy & end up falling away over time!

As lay people, we have a huge responsibility in helping our priests & in ‘ushering in the Holy Spirit’. We must be so careful not to just go through the motions with cold disinterested hearts who have heard it all before.

Similarly, for any of us involved in public ministry, we have an equally large responsibility not to get frustrated or to just give up when we feel like we are preaching to hearts of stones who seem so very far away from surrendering to the overwhelming love & goodness of Our God!!

Signs from Heaven!

One of the best things about following Jesus is the signs he puts on our paths to confirm that we are on the right road & over the last few days, I have had many!

The first one was on Monday evening! My stomach had been upset all day & I really didn’t feel like going to the Karaoke bar in Soho. However, deep in my heart, I knew that God was asking me to go & to trust in Him!

Arriving, I said hello to my friends, put in my song & waited at the bar!

Suddenly, someone approached me thanking me with all her heart for the miraculous medal that I had given her a few months back.

She explained how her Catholic grandma had died & that when she was broken-hearted, she picked up the chain with the medal & wore it. It was the only religious item she had & she felt both consoled & connected to her grandma with Our Lady around her neck!

I was so touched by her sincerity as I thought of my cupboard full of all sorts of religious items, a great reminder to share them even more!!

And then there was yesterday evening when I was invited to a barbecue with a group of very fun older gay Christian men!

One asked me to pray about a certain situation & immediately in my spirit, I saw the child Jesus in the room shining enormous graces on him.

‘You should pray to the child Jesus for that’, I smiled as I knew he couldn’t see what I saw.

He was baffled as he explained that he had never heard of anyone praying to the child Jesus & then suddenly, two days previously he felt inspired to Google the ‘Child Jesus’ & had just started a novena (9 day prayer) to him!

‘This is crazy, I literally started praying to Him on Monday. He said ‘pray to me as a child because you find it hard to trust me as a man’’.

I was smiling, delighted for him & at the same time not surprised! One sort of gets used to signs when they’ve had a life like mine but the joy that goes with them never goes away.

I then asked the guys if I could pray with them & as my hand heated up like an iron, I could feel torrents of supernatural power hitting them & touching their hearts.

One, a big guy was crying & crying as God was healing him more from years of shame & pain.

All & all, such an amazing evening & yet another confirmation of God’s overwhelming love for the gay community and His tender understanding of the horrendous traumas & agony that so many of us have been through!

So! Keep going, keep trusting & God will give you signs too & for anyone interested in praying to the child Jesus…here is a link:

https://share.google/ggZaG7gNisYI5EUT9

That’s TOTAL CRAP!!

Last Sunday, we had Pentecost & as good as the celebrations in the Church were, the big challenge of our time is bringing Pentecost to those who don’t go to Church….a task I may add that few want to do!

With that in mind, the Holy Spirit sent me to the heart of Soho for Pentecost & I wasn’t disappointed.

Arriving at the famous ‘Old Compton’ pub, I saw a few regular faces, said a few hellos & waited for the rest.

‘You’re very handsome’ an older guy said to me as he stripped me from head to foot with his laser eyes.

Rather than reply ‘and you are not, you dirty old perv’, I smiled graciously flattered by the compliment even if internally I didn’t really take it seriously.

We began to chat & turns out that he was from Ireland & he was very intrigued by my ministry & thought it was great!

Behind us was sitting a guy with a face looking so miserable that I thought it might eclipse the sun.

‘You look like you are having a bad day’ I jested with my Irish smile!

‘Working tomorrow, driving a rubbish truck’ he replied as he inquired if I was Irish!

‘Yes, he’s Irish & he’s a priest’ shouted the other guy to which he objected :

‘You can’t be gay & catholic’.
Suddenly the the other guy blasted:

‘That’s total crap’

As he began explaining!

‘This is great’ I thought! Neither of them even go to Church & here they are evangelising each other & I don’t have to do a thing!!

Leaving them to it, I proceeded to my next bar, the King’s Arms on Poland Street where there is karaoke on a Sunday night!

I decided I would sing ‘That’s life ‘ as I found some of the lyrics very meaningful, especially for people like myself who have experienced their fare share of hurts in life.

Now, as I’m a regular there, I got talking to a few people & I happened to mention that I was giving a talk on Tuesday about baptism in the Holy Spirit.

‘You are so blessed to have experienced God’ responded one man who told me that he too was a Christian & had experienced Jesus many years ago.

‘My parents died and I was orphaned as a kid, I was in total despair & felt like suicide. Then I was invited to this Christian camp where people prayed with me & suddenly, I experienced God’s love. I immediately knew I had a father in heaven, that I was loved & wanted & while it didn’t take away all the trauma, it reduced significantly & I got the strength to go on.’

How amazing & how amazing at the bar to be having this conversation!

My turn to sing came & as I blasted out:

‘Each time I find myself Flat on my face
I pick myself up and get Back in the race’

I thought of all the people in the bar & indeed elsewhere in desperate need of the Holy Spirit to find meaning, love & purpose in their lives after suffering traumas, pains, humiliations etc.

And so the mission goes on! Today is Tuesday so I will be giving my talk on baptism in the Holy Spirit at the Church but perhaps, with God’s grace, one day I’ll be giving the same talk at the bar, among the loved children of God, so often forgotten about by our Church who for all their talk of the Holy Spirit, so very often seem to resist the main message: ‘Go out into the WHOLE world…..’

Fake Priest!!

At my local shop, I always have a bit of banter with the security guard. He’s from Algeria & quite a prayerful Muslim who has a lot of respect for other religions!

He calls me a priest, probably because he can’t understand how one can work in the Church without being a priest & the fact that I’ve given up trying to explain.

Anyway, the other day was quite hot here in London so I was wearing shorts & a sleeveless t-shirt as I cycled back from Soho.

Popping into the shop for a quick errand, there he was with a big smile! We always speak in french & it didn’t take him long to start teasing me!!

‘Look at you, you’re not a priest, you’re a fake priest’ he joked as he commented further on my clothes!!

Of course he was only joking, yet his joke had a certain truth! People expect priests to be dressed or to behave in a certain way & when they don’t, they get rattled!!

‘Good job he hasn’t met someone of the really charismatic priests’ I thought. He’d be sending for the exorcist!!

As my weekend continued, a trainer at the gym introduced me to a client of his, again as a priest! It’s so embarrassing & yet kind of fun to see how nice people are when they think it’s true. Ironically, this conversation was also in french & turns out the lady was Catholic.

She explained that she was a part of the same parish as me but because she found the parish priest a bit grumpy, she went elsewhere!

‘You’d be grumpy at times too if at almost 80, you were running one of the largest parishes in West London’ I reflected as I smiled, happy that she had found another parish.

As I was pondering over it all this morning, it motivated me to pray for priests even more.

Sometimes people’s expectations are not realistic as they forget that a priest is a man too & can’t always be dressed in a suit!

Sometimes people forget that a priest can be stressed too & that God does not call perfect people to the priesthood…

However, it’s good too that people have certain expectations from the priest, to hold him to a certain standard, but let’s pray that these standards are realistic & that lay people can come alongside the priests to help them rather than criticise them for their obvious shortcomings!

Lord, bring healing to all priests who may be feeling discouraged & help the laity to better understand the life of a priest in 2026!!

What was his name?!

Yesterday, a new guy moved into our house & I was given the task of showing him about.

He arrived with two friends, one with a van to help him move all of his stuff & trust me, he needed a van!!

All these opportunities are great for evangelisation as they often mean talking to people about our Catholic faith who haven’t been in a church for years.

After unloading the van & bringing everything upstairs, we all went for lunch & one man’s story really hit me.

A very kind gay man, his life partner of 36 years died only a few years ago after a 5 year battle with Parkinson’s. Even as he spoke about it, the love & pain was palpable but the saddest part is that came next….

Shortly after the death, he met his dad who said:

‘Sorry about, what was his name?’ As he muttered some other name which only vaguely resembled the guys dead partner’s name.

It was like a bullet through his heart & after that he cut contact with his father completely as the hurt & disrespect far outweighed any ‘father-son’ bond.

He continued to explain that many people abandoned him during the grieving process but then when they were in need of help, reached out to him for support.

Sadly, this is what many people in the gay community experience & especially in church circles where so often, same-sex relationships are seen as categorically wrong & evil!!

In fact, in many cases, Church folk are over the moon when relationships like this break up, celebrating with St. Michael the Archangel & the saints (or so they think) for breaking up such evil.

Of course, these hurts only further deepen the rift between the gay community & the Church & I know many people, just like this man, who have cut ties totally & completely with the Church, not because they suddenly stopped believing in God but because the pain, rejection & lack of love in the community was too much for them to bare.

It makes me think how fortunate I am to be here in London, surrounded by many people who have accepted me & who are open to learning about LGBT issues.

However, it also reminds me that so many people are not so blessed & why we must continue to pray that our church communities all over the world become places of love, acceptance, prayer, compassion & inclusion.

Jesus, have mercy on this man’s broken & grieving heart.

‘Father forgive them, they know not what they do/ say’.

Are you a part of the Circus?

Connecting people has always been a way that God has used me, especially as I tend to know all types of people, a lot who wouldn’t naturally talk to one another.

This can be fun as it opens people’s minds, breaks down walls & builds community. It however can also be quite stressful as this little story will demonstrate!

A few years ago I befriended an older man at the gym. He used to be a professional ballet dancer in Paris & as providence would have it he sort of became my unofficial trainer. With a Russian background, he is a ‘no-nonsense’ type of person that doesn’t suffer fools lightly.

More recently, I befriended another girl who was doing these amazing handstands, turns out that she was a gymnast & had represented her country at the world championships!! Any wonder she was good!

Now the two didn’t know eachother & if there is one thing I’ve noticed about professionals across all fields, it’s that they can be quite critical of each other.

So I’d been working on it for a while, mentioning the gymnast to the ballet dancer & the ballet-dancer to the gymnast…

As providence would have it, yesterday they were beside each other training & so it was the ideal opportunity to say ‘do you guys know eachother’, already aware they didn’t.

‘No’ the gymnast smiled followed by

‘Nice to meet you, are you a part of the circus?!!’

I nearly died especially knowing how much my ballet friend would dislike the circus, not to mention being a part of it!!

Fortunately, as I burst out laughing, the tension eased & the two got talking about their respective professions without a screaming match.

The entire situation did make me laugh though as these types of events are very typical of what happens in the ministry of evangelisation! We are forever meeting people whether athletes or clergy or drag queens & trying to build bridges, opening opportunities for sharing, vulnerability & changing people’s outlook & while we do our best, ultimately we can’t be responsible for what people might say, including;

‘Are you a part of the circus?’

Golden Oldie!!

One of the great things about being a sociable person is that one gets to meet people of all types and ages…

Recently, I have been blessed to meet a remarkable older lady who originally comes from Germany!

Despite a life of very painful trials and now in her 80’s, she shows up at the gym & any time I see her on the streets, she’s always so well dressed & in good cheer.

Jesus tells us in the Bible that when we are fasting, not to go around with long faces & looking for attention & of course, in that context, He was talking about food.

However, there are other people fasting in a much more invisible way! They are fasting from the pain in their hearts & life’s hurts that could so easily drag them down & keep them in bed all day. They are fasting from self-pity, from unforgiveness, from bitterness & with God’s help, getting up in the morning & bringing joy to the world.

Yesterday, as I spoke to my friend, she was vulnerable as she expressed the thoughts of feeling ‘old & ugly’ at times.

Now of course at 80, she wasn’t looking as she did at 21 but yet, what was shining through even more was the twinkle of life & determination in her eyes & a very warm kind heart.

Whether in the city or in the country, the world is full of older people who can be tremendously fun & tremendously inspiring!

Of course, this isn’t true for all older people, which is why we should all do our best to age gracefully with the joy of Jesus in our hearts, trusting that at the resurrection of the body, Jesus will do a better job than any plastic surgeon!!

So remember! Whatever our age, we can be an inspiration by ‘living  life in a way that makes God credible’.

Invisible in the City!.

On Saturday evening, I was sitting during Eucharistic Adoration when all of a sudden, I heard Jesus talking in my heart, an experience that I’m very familiar with for many years now! What He said made me reflect & smile, perhaps it will have a similar effect on you…

‘Imagine if it was the other way around’ he suggested.

‘Imagine that you were invisible, sitting on that chair & that nobody could see you.

Imagine that only one person knew that you were really there, just invisible, & how you would long for that person to come & talk to you, to tell you what’s going on in their lives & to share their troubles.

Imagine that person now goes on tells other people to come, telling them that you are really there, just invisible.Imagine the difficulty in convincing them, the rejection, the struggle & yet your joy when some believe & comes.

Such my child is my dilemma! Although you don’t see me, I see & hear you all perfectly, even more perfectly than you can see or hear!

I long to bless your lives but for this to happen, you must talk to me, learn to listen to me & follow my inspirations ‘

It was Saturday night & already I could feel Jesus’ pain. A massive city full of parties & noise, drowning out the voice of Jesus & His living presence with us!

However, I also felt very blessed that even in the middle of a busy city like London, it’s entirely possible to hide away with the Lord, empty our hearts of our burdens & soak in his reassuring love!

Invisible but present! Visit Jesus in the Church, you won’t be disappointed!!

Michael!

As I was at home on Friday evening, I felt this sudden ‘Holy Spirit Inspiration’ to go to the cinema, somewhere I don’t go very often!

Hopping onto my phone, I looked at what was showing and there it was, jumping out at me, a film called ‘Michael’. It was the story of Michael Jackson.

A quick McDonald’s & a short cycle later & there I was at the cinema wondering what the film was going to be like!

It began by the young life of Michael Jackson & his very angry father who beat him all the time. Michael was different, cheeky & a bit of a dreamer & it exasperated his dad.

Immediately, I understood why God had drawn me to the film! My own dad was much the same when I was a child & all I really remember is how much I hated him. I even hoped he’d die at times or if not, that maybe I would!!

Michael grew up & became famous & of course the father wasn’t happy. He wanted  control because he was ‘the boss’!!

It took years for Michael to eventually escape from his family & to live his own life & perform as he desired rather than how his father desired.

Now the film ended there, it didn’t go into any of the controversies surrounding Michael’s life afterwards, much to the disliking of some critics. It was what you would call a ‘feel good movie’ & it certainly had that effect on me as I found myself crying many healing tears, reminiscing on my own escape from a very controlling & oppressive family in Ireland.

Cycling back, I found myself smiling at how God can use something ‘unspiritual’ such as the cinema or whatever, to bring us major emotional & spiritual healings. ‘Spirituality in the city’ one might say!!!

It was also a reminder to pray, to pray for singers, to pray for performers because behind all the glam, they too carry the deep inner wounds of their childhoods & their background & are equally in need of the healing restoring love of Jesus Christ!

Finally, let’s be attentive to where the Holy Spirit is leading us for more healing, it might not be where we think!!

What are your sins?

Some weeks ago, I wrote about a wonderful experience that I had in confession! Today’s post is sadly about the opposite & is a good reminder to us that we must pray for priests!!

Arriving before mass, I kindly greeted the priest as he asked me if I wanted confession which is usually at this time. I was early so there was no rush…

I began by explaining the context of a very painful situation that I have been dealing with & the many unholy thoughts & emotions that I was harbouring in my heart.

‘That’s all very beautiful’ he interrupted, ‘What are your sins?’, without the least sound of empathy or compassion regarding the matter at hand.

‘Those are my sins’ I replied as patiently as possible, already feeling both hurt & patronised by his attitude.

‘Feelings are not sins’ he scolded me to which I calming replied:

‘I am aware of that Father, you know I too am well educated, perhaps even more so than you & while feelings are not sins, thoughts can be & as I mentioned, I have been entertaining lots of less than holy thoughts.’

He calmed down a little, realising that he wasn’t dealing with a monkey in the confession box & began talking about actions…

I was somewhat surprised to be honest. Imagine someone plotting to kill someone else & then going to confession and the priest saying:

‘No need to come, you didn’t actually kill him!!’

Should he go & kill them so afterwards he can get absolution?!!

Similarly, someone entertaining very impure thought….

Anyway, as he continued to lecture me with almost no sensitivity to the situation, I began to feel that I was on trial.

As a tear welled up in my eye, I heard a little gentle voice in my heart, Jesus who I am very familiar with whisper:

‘Say no more!’

Ironically, my silence caused him to talk & talk & talk. I felt by the end that he was preaching me a sermon except that the real recipient was himself!!

Finally, the ordeal ended & despite the drama, I was happy to have kept my cool & to have received absolution.

Mass followed & I half thought of going elsewhere so I could avoid making eye contact with him & just focus on prayer! In the end I stayed & all was well.

As I left, I said to myself:

‘Thank you Jesus, obviously you want me to pray & offer that humiliation & suffering for that priest today.’ (An exercise I’m well practised in!!)

However, it is a reminder of how many people avoid confession because of these types of experiences.

Confession isn’t easy, usually one feels a bit nervous, often one talks about painful & complex situations that can be even difficult to articulate & if on top of that, the priest is abrupt & irritable, it can be the final straw.

Let’s pray for priests, that they can be gentle & compassionate as they hear confessions & let’s also pray for those hurt by priests, who haven’t been to confession for maybe 20 years because of similar situations!!

Pray for me too so that I may have more patience for everything that I have!!

Soup with an Archbishop!

One of the great advantages of being involved in healing & evangelisation ministry in is that you get to meet everyone, from the bars in Soho to the top-dogs in the Church, it’s quite a variety. Last night was no different as I made my way to a house-mass with a retired Archbishop!!!

Most people would probably dread meeting such a figure! Questions like what will I say or perhaps more to the point, what will I not say!! However, for whatever reason, I’ve never really minded and have always found myself quite a peace cracking a few jokes to ease the tension in the room…

I think that it could be quite fun being a bishop & observing how so many people are afraid of you for no other reason that the fact that you are a bishop. That said, I think it could be quite sad & lonely too as beneath it all, the bishop is a human being & a man too!

As the mass began, it was clear to us all, including the bishop that we were not going to win a singing competition & yet, somehow out atrocious singing bonded us all even more in both joy & humility….

Soon it was time for the sermon & we were not disappointed! The bishop began to talk with great love, care & sincerity about the importance of encouragement & encouraging one another in our gifts!!

Gifts he explained are wonderful things given by God to each one of us & we must recognise them & use them.

He understood that many don’t use their gifts because maybe they have been crushed or because they think that they would be showing off or something but that, God doesn’t want people to think like that & so we must encourage one another & build one another up!!

Brilliant I thought as my stomach was already thinking about the soup we would have after the mass, made by Kristina who certainly has a cooking & hospitality gift!!

As the mass ended & the soup came out, it was beautiful for us all to sit about the bishop & chat. It’s been clear for many years that the Lord has given me the ‘gift of the gab’ & so I had ample opportunity to exercise it with the bishop!!

We were all full of joy, talking about life while conscious that each person there was carrying various burdens & worries in their hearts.

I was pondering how blessed I was to be talking once again with such a nice, kind & witty bishop & thought to myself ‘if the people I meet in Soho actually met the Archbishop & other bishops & priests, they’d soon see how human, ‘normal’ & down to earth they are & so many of their hurts & fears would melt away!

So, thank you Jesus & let us pray that all unhealthy fears that so many people carry in relation to priests & bishops simply melt away & that we can become a gifted people of love, support, encouragement, healing & joy!

No to ‘Bread & butter Christianity’!!

Yesterday, the Holy Spirit sent me to the 12.30 mass at Westminster Cathedral!
As the homily began, my ears perked up as the priest began talking about the Holy Spirit & how the surest sign of the Spirit is joy, even in the middle of persecution.

He continued to talk about the POWER of the Spirit & how God doesn’t want us to be ‘bread & butter ‘ Christians but to be joyful strong  SOLDIERS!!

Soldiers he explained don’t get hurt at every little word, don’t wallow in self-pity & aren’t afraid! They eat ‘meat’ & are not still drinking milk like baby-christians…

It was brilliant! I wish I had recorded it as it was a clear reminder to us all that being a Christian isn’t about being a walkover or a ‘Santa’ type of figure, but it’s about being STRONG, JOYFUL & EMPOWERED by the Spirit of God!

And so, as Pentecost is coming, let’s prepare ourselves for the Holy Spirit by preparing our mindset for His character so that we can allow Him to work boldly through us and to be His soldiers of love, mercy, truth & justice everywhere we go just like this wonderful priest.

Dentist, Jesus-Style!!!

Every opportunity is a potential opportunity for ‘evangelisation’ because at the end of the day, evangelisation is quite simply about being ourselves & sharing the reason for the joy on our hearts & the spring in our step!

And what better occasion to be joyful than a trip to the dentist as I had yesterday!!

Walking in, the dentist asked me how I was and I couldn’t help but feel that he wasn’t expecting an upbeat positive response!!

I guess most of his patients hate going there & he’s probably used to the vibe…

So when I replied:

‘Super, God hasn’t stopped loving me so what could be better!!’

He got a pleasant surprise!!

‘That’s right, you’re catholic aren’t you & you are always joyful when you come!!’

(Just shows how people observe & listen to more than we think.)

He then went on to tell me that he too is a Christian and is ‘non-denominational’. He explained that his sister is Catholic and that he recently visited the ‘Oratory’ in Oxford for a communion or something and that it didn’t impress him much!!

Smiling I said:

‘Yeah, if it’s joy you’re looking for then I wouldn’t go there, they are all a bit posh & high-brow’!

He was laughing as he invited me to sit on the ‘Chair of death’…

The examination started:

‘8 clear, 7 composite, 6 amalgam, 5 clear. ….’.

I felt like I was at Nasa not to mention that it was a conversation about my mouth!!

‘All good’  he said as he showed me how to better brush my teeth for the hundredth time.

Smiling, I mentioned something about a ‘scaling’ & he asked me if I’d like him to do it…

Just shows how people go the extra mile when we smile & when Jesus is in the room.

However, my joy was short lived as he picked up that horrible machine that scrapes the tartare from your gums while the hygienist sprays freezing air or something on your mouth!!

‘Why on earth did I ask him about scaling?’  I pondered, wondering if at any moment he was going to hit a nerve & send me through the roof in agony!!

Eventually, the ordeal ended & as I got out of the chair, our religious conversation continued!

I told him that one of the priests where I live was actually a part of the ‘Oratory’ & may be a patient of his.

‘Richard’, he said while adding ‘he’s so nice!!’

The Holy Spirit was definitely in the room, convicting him that Catholics can be Christian too!!!

Leaving with a big smile, I noticed how my joy contrasted with the gloom in the waiting room & as I joked with the secretary, I left, thanking God for such a fun trip to the dentist.

I wasn’t back to the house when I bumped into Noreen, a lovely Irish woman that I always joke with.

‘Growing up, we had no toothpaste, our teeth were rotten by the age of 12 & the dentist would yank them out without any anaesthetic!!’

I was feeling weak at the thought of it as interiorly, I was thanking my mother who was very strict about us looking after our teeth as kids!!

All & all though, a wonderful little afternoon of ‘evangelisation’ by just being me & being a little bit outrageous for the glory of God!

Lord of the Dance!

Yesterday, the Holy Spirit prompted me to go to Hillsong here in London. For anyone that doesn’t know, it’s not a hill or a mountain with a band singing lullabies as you climb, it’s a very lively pentecostal Church!

As they don’t have their own church building as they have in their native Australia, here in London they rent a theatre hall  (the very beautiful ‘Dominian Theatre’) for their services.

Now if there is one thing that Hillsong is famous for, it’s worship music & a lot of the charismatic worship music that we listen to as Catholics actually comes from Hillsong!!

In case anyone is thinking ‘heresy, what could us Catholics possibly get from protestants’, let’s take a deep breath!! The Catholic Church fully recognises baptism & the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the protestant Church despite different beliefs around the Eucharist etc. And so, we as Catholics can 100% benefit from many things in the protestant Churches such as worship as in Hillsing & also many excellent healing minestries etc.

After a ten minute wait in the queue to get in,  I made a rush for the front where one is very close to the stage & to the live band that it playing. Sometimes people get out of their seats & dance with joy up front like being at a concert…..and this week, I was determined to be one of them!!

By 12 pm the Theatre was pretty full & looking around, it was so amazing to see that most people were far younger than me, a welcome change from Catholic Churches where she old ladies think that I’m the baby!

After maybe 20 minutes of amazing worship, the pastor came on stage to deliver an amazing talk! He was young, funny, charming & most of all, he was on fire with love for Jesus who had performed many miracles of healing in his life & in the lives of his family members. His faith & enthusiasm was contagious & yet it was very real & grounded as he constantly emphasised the need for prayer, spending time with God, perseverance & trusting through trials. As a Catholic, there was absolutely nothing he said that went against our faith & on the contrary, he had an enthusiasm that I’ve rarely if ever seen a catholic speaker with!

The service ended after 2 hours & as the Lord would have it, a new Irish friend happened to be there & we went for a coffee, praising God for the gift of Hillsong while laughing & joking about the madness of God’s ways & how different our lives are from how we grew up all those years ago in Ireland.

Cycling home, I called into Tyburn convent, a contemplative monastery where I spent 30 minutes with Jesus in absolute silence. Although, a radical change from Hillsong, the presence of the Lord and His love was  equally tangible & I found myself in tears of joy as I thanked Jesus for the gift of praise and of worship and equally, for the gift of silence & contemplative prayer!

Reflecting on it all, I thought of how complimentary Churches could be if we all worked together & how wonderful it would be to have more worship in the Catholic Church but, equally more silence & contemplation in the pentecostal Churches.

Let’s pray for that this week, for a spirit of unity & love among the different Christian Churches & above all, for us all to grow even more  life with Jesus, whether it’s at the worship if Hillsong or the silence of Tyburn…..or both!!

Healing in the air of London!

One of my passions over the years has been healing ministry, partly because I have been in so much need of it & partly because it’s just so fascinating!!

And so, it will come as no surprise to you that the Holy Spirit guides me to many different healing events all over London! Today, I’m just going to talk about one such event that touched me deeply, a special service in Westminster Cathedral for the healing of victims of abuse, presided by our wonderful new Archbishop Moth.

Cycling to the Cathedral, I arrived 2 minutes late & so was rushing in to find a seat. However, there was no need to panic as there was only a very small attendance with a handful of people scattered about up front.

Somewhat surprised, I was also delighted as it’s much easier to pray in such small & intimate settings & between the beautiful music & heartfelt prayers, I felt deeply touched. The highlight however was Archbishop  Moth’s short talk which was as humble as it was profound..

He mentioned many different types of abuse from the abuse of priests & religious, spiritual abuse, domestic abuse & more.

He highlighted how abuse has affected lives, crushed people & left many in darkness while  so often, the Church has turned a blind eye.

He spoke of the importance of having safe spaces where people can heal & also prayed for the grace to seek justice….

As the service ended, we were all invited to one of the small chapels to pray & to write our prayer intentions & place them on a small tres of remembrance and as there were only a few people,  I even got to meet the bishop & get a special blessing from him, as I thanked him for his talk!

Leaving, I felt a great sense of hope & a crucial reminder of how the ministry of healing is so linked to the need for truth, justice & restoration while reassured that our new Archbishop is so articulate & aware of these nuances.

Come Holy Spirit, bring great healing to all those victims of abuse, destroy the structures of abuse that still exist in our church & transform our Churches here in London into great places of healing, grace, justice & love!

Is there still hope for me?!

Not long ago, in this ministry of evangelisation, I met a guy that I hadn’t seen in 5 years!

When we got talking he said:

‘It’s so weird I should meet you now because only a few days ago, I was thinking that I need to do a retreat!’

Now, as providence would have it, he lives quite close to another church where I am very involved with the charismatic movement…….and, we were just beginning a 6 week ‘Life in the Spirit’ seminar!

I invited him & he came along & as we got chatting, he mentioned that he hasn’t been to confession for 15 years.

This isn’t unusual, especially for members of the gay community who have often been told at an early age that there is no hope for them.

Cutting to the chase, I told him more about my life & gently suggested that he goes to confession, not in a spirit of guilt but rather in a spirit of restoration & reconciliation.

It can be hard for gay people at times to go to confession, especially as they very often have been the victims of terrible abuse & wonder why it isn’t the abusers that are confessing instead!

This however, comes from a lack of understanding of what confession is and so when I explained that victims of abuse are usually plagued by self-hatred, shame, fear, anxiety etc. & that confession is about healing & forgiving the abusers in order to restore one’s own sense of dignity & self-worth, it began to make sense.

The next step was to find a suitable time & priest & here, Jesus asked me to trust rather than to over-plan! Westminster Cathedral on Thursday morning!!

We met up on Wednesday evening & I helped him to prepare a simple but sincere confession, still having no clue what priest he may fall on…

Thursday came & off he went to the cathedral & the results were incredible!!

Opening his wounded heart to the priest, he erupted crying as he explained how his father had totally rejected him many years ago & told him that all gays go to hell.

Full of gentle love, the priest reassured him that, that certainly wasn’t true & began quoting pope Francis! More & more tears followed & then the priest said:

‘You should go to Bayswater (Notting Hill) & meet a man called Michael who helps gay people cone back to the faith!!’

I must be more famous than I think!!

My friend explained how it was the same ‘Michael’ who sent him to confession!!!

You couldn’t make it up or plan it if you tried!!!

After the confession, my friend sent me about 20 messages, extatic with a feeling of love, joy, healing, freedom, acceptance & hope….

I must admit that it made me very emotional too, thinking of all the tears I’ve cried over the years, trusting that one day God would use me to bring others back to His loving heart.

Thank you Jesus for your loving heart, thank you for the amazing supernatural sacrament of reconciliation which when approached with a humble & loving heart, has literally the effect of bringing heaven onto earth & healing those deep wounds of rejection & shame that so many if us from religious backgrounds carry!

Praise be Jesus & YES, whoever you are, THERE IS STILL HOPE FOR YOU!

Down but NOT Out!

As I was coming back to the Church today, a certain Irish man who has fallen on hard times was outside, sitting on the steps.

He was very upset as he has just become homeless and, because he doesn’t have a smartphone, he can’t even access his benefits (money with which he could at least pay for a hostel for a few nights).

Homeless people have always intrigued me from a young age, not so much the fact that they are homeless, but rather the bigger question: What made them homeless?

Now, as it happens, I’d spoken to this man once before and he told me about the horrible experiences that he had had with the Christian Brothers in Ireland.

“When you are told that you are useless from such a young age, what hope or chance do you have afterwards?’, he had lamented and, from some of own experiences over the years in the church,  I felt and understood at least some of his pain.

‘Do you have an old smartphone that you could give me?’, he asked both humbly & apologetically and although I desperately wanted to help him, I had to reply ‘no’.

Gentle soul that he is, he didn’t walk off as some in the homeless community do as soon as thet discover that you can’t help them and so, our conversation continued! Suddenly I realised that I had a few miraculous medals in my pocket, each in a little ‘Medjugorje LGBT Ministry ‘ pouch.

Handing him a medal, I explained to him that  I’m gay and that similar to him, I have very little contact with Ireland where I too have experienced horrendous rejection.

‘I’m homosexual as well’ he exclaimed while adding ‘it’s nobody’s business but mine!’

The pain was palpable & the reasons behind his hard times were heartbreakingly obvious, the old ‘Irish Gay Catholic’ chestnut once again!!

‘What about your family? Are they any help?’ I asked, already anticipating the answer:

‘The only reason any of them would contact me is if they needed a kidney!!’

That was a definite no!

Unfortunately at this stage, I had to go as I was rushing for an appointment but as I went upstairs to my room, I felt frustrated as I prayed to Our Lady for him……

Had I anything else to give this poor man except a few nice words & a miraculous medal and, is that the best we could do as a Church in light of all his suffering & pain which, let’s be honest, was inflicted by & through the Church & her cruel attitude towards gay people for centuries.

Upstairs, I bumped into Rayne, a beautiful gay catholic from the Philippines. I told him what happened and he suddenly said:

‘I know him, here, I have an old phone, he can have it!!’

Thank you Jesus & Mary!!

Beaming with joy, I rushed downstairs, hoping he was still about and to my surprise, I found him in the church, praying up the front.

He was over the moon to get the phone & at least have some hope of getting a hostel.

Hugging him as I left, I said to Jesus:

‘In a fair world, the Church should be putting him up and others like him in a hotel after all they have been through.’

And so, on that note, let us pray for all homeless people, LGBT or other & let us be the hands & feet of Jesus, helping them & advocating for them as best we can.

Our Lady of the miraculous medal, pray for us!!

(P.S. If you would like a miraculous medal too, get in touch through the contact section on the homepage)

‘It looks like a condom!!’

Evangelisation can be great fun & yet, it’s always full of surprises, last Monday night waa no exception…

I was at Karaoke at the Admiral Duncan when one young guy sang a quite well-known Christian song. When he came off stage, I asked him if he was Christian while complementing him on his singing.

He explained that he was & that he was also a stand-up comedian, trying to bring the message of Jesus to the secular world through comedy! How interesting, I thought as he then continued to explain the challenges of being Christian, gay & disabled.

As he mentioned being disabled a few times, I felt comfortable to ask him to further explain.  The poor guy explained how he struggles with autism, dyslexia & epilepsy on top of all the struggles of being a gay Christian.

My heart went out to him, especially as I could see that he was a very kind, genuine person that was very familiar with suffering, especially rejection.

Very naturally, I went onto tell him about what I do & my outreach to the LGBT community,  conscious that it’s only like a tiny drop in the ocean relative to the devastating suffering & pain out there.

He was delighted & so we exchanged Instagram details while he invited me to one of his comedy shows.

Suddenly, I remembered that I had a miraculous medal in my pocket which was in a little sealed plastic pouch with ‘Medjugorje LGBT Ministry ‘ written on it, together with a QR code for our website. Even though he wasn’t catholic, I felt to give it to him anyway!

Smiling with joy, he took it enthusiastically while jokingly saying;

‘As a gay man,  I have to tell you, this looks like a condom!!’

And the funny thing is, he was right, the little pouch did look remarkably like a condom, except for the fact that inside, Our Lady is offering a very different type of protection than a rubber condom!

It’s funny at times when you do evangelisation what people say. Often people have no way of relating to Holy things except in their own language & through things that are familiar to them. Some for example, will call ‘Holy Communion’ a ‘cookie’, not because they are trying to offend us but because, to them, it really does look like a cookie!!

Yet, if we keep our cool & don’t take these comments to heart, we will soon discover some very nice, kind, sincere & genuine people who are looking for love, looking for meaning & even though they might not know it yet, looking for Jesus!!!

So, let’s pray for all these people, invisible perhaps to the world but highly visible & precious to Jesus! May we also ask God for the grace to have a good sense of humour, slow to take offense while  full of His love, mercy & patience for all whom we meet!

‘I really don’t mind!!’

On Sunday, I went to mass at the Carmelite monastery in London’s posh Kensington area! During the mass, the priest mentioned that they were having a big meeting on Monday to discuss the future of the order, & that afterwards, there would be changes…

In other words, some priests might be leaving & others coming in a sort of reshuffling.

As he was saying all this with a big smile, I couldn’t help but feel that he wanted to get the heck out of London & was secretly hoping that his prayers might be answered!

Ten minutes later, the mass was over & in my usual cheeky manner, I asked him;

‘Are you hoping to move?!”

To which he gently smiled;

‘I really don’t mind, I am happy wherever I am, it makes no difference!!’

Now, while we all might have a personal preference, I thought that his answer was wonderful. He was simply willing to accept God’s will & go along with it & adapt to whatever situation that he found himself in! Such is the gift of surrender & detachment.

Now, we should remember that this type of a life is a special calling & that not everyone can be as detached as this. For example, someone in need of much medical attention would need to be close to a hospital, not because thet are unhealthily attached to it but because they need it. Yet, there is something in what he said for all of us!

We can so easily get attached to things in a way that blocks us from moving forwards. We can get attached to a job or a friend or even a prayer group & as a result, resist the Holy Spirit who may be trying to love our lives forwards!

So perhaps a thought & a prayer today! Ask ourselves in prayer if there is anything that we are unhealthily attached to, remembering that it could be a bad thing like alcohol, but it could also be a good thing that we love so much that we don’t want to let it go…

Then pray for that wonderful grace of surrender, trusting that God’s plans are always best & if He’s asking us to let go of something or someone,  it’s because He has something even better in store for us.

‘God, that your will may be done in my life, I surrender, I really don’t mind!!’

What do you want?

As I was strolling home on Saturday evening, just a minute from the Church, a bearded man in a black Mercedes stopped & shouted:

‘What do you want?’

Of course, I knew immediately that he was offering me drugs & was somewhat surprised at his bravado!

‘All good brother’ I replied to which he responded:

‘Take my number, call when you need, nice outfit man’

Talk about forward I thought, amused that I got yet another compliment for my clothes (which coming straight from ‘Temu’ cost about £10 last summer)!

‘No need man, Jesus is my drug’ I joked!

‘All praise to Allah’ he replied….

‘Nothing like talking about Jesus to annoy people, even when you’re not tying’, I reflected in my heart as he drove off, disappointed that his charm had fallen flat.

As I thought about it afterwards though, I had a few thoughts:

1. The struggles that recovering drug addicts  have to face must be enormous! I mean if you were feeling vulnerable on a Saturday night & this happened, you might have just said ‘What you got?!’

2. The irony that as this fellow was trying to deal me drugs, he was still prepared to defend Allah & deny Jesus!!

And let’s be honest, neither Jesus or Allah would be impressed with his activities on Saturday night! That’s certainly what one calls a ‘counter testimony’.

3. Despite all of that, there was something nice about him & he wasn’t aggressive & so I prayed for him when I got home. Perhaps that’s why God allows us to have such ‘unwanted encounters ‘ so that afterwards we will pray for the people?

4. While I didn’t give him a lecture about the danger of drugs or giving his life to Christ, I did manage to ‘preach by example’. In today’s broken society, this is arguably the best way of witnessing. ‘Actions speak louder than words ‘ as the saying goes. Of course ideally, we’d have actions & words & both in sync with eachother (something we often can fall short of).

So, let’s keep everyone struggling with drugs in prayer today & let’s also pray for those who deal, that they may have a change of heart & find a more life-giving way of earning their living!

I wonder what will happen to me next?!!

Cool Funky Priest

As I was walking towards Queensway on Friday evening just before 7pm, I suddenly heard someone shouting out ‘Michael’! Swiftly turning about, I barely recognised a French lady that I know. Her head was totally shaved, she was dressed up to the nines & she was sitting beside a scruffily dressed man with paint all over his hand!

‘Salut’ I smiled, delighted to reconnect with her! She’s very spiritual but sadly like many people, had very bad experiences in the church when she was younger.

Eventually our bus came, the 36 towards Victoria & so the 3 of us hopped on & went upstairs where we could barely find seats!

Maybe 10 minutes passed when suddenly she shouted ‘What’s your number?’ as she handed me a green marker & a newspaper on which she had already written in BIG LETTERS ‘Cool Funky Priest’.

I laughed especially because she knows well that I’m not a priest but as she looked at me she was telling me how I should be a priest because I have empathy, understand people & am ‘cool’…..

Embarrassed by all the complements & conscious that she hadn’t yet met my grumpy side, I smiled as I wrote down my number which she wanted to pass onto another french woman in need of help with her faith.

However, the event made me think! Many people are very uncomfortable around priests because a lot of them can be very formal & stiff & can seem to be totally disconnected from people’s reality & struggles. They relate more to priests that are ‘normal’, priests that are open about their lives & struggles too & priests who like to have a bit of a laugh & banter with the people (without compromising on holiness & prayer).

I got off the bus at Victoria & walked to the Cathedral hall for the charismatic prayer meeting where the average age was probably at least 60.

Looking around at the obvious lack of young people & thinking of the incident on the bus, ‘she’s right’ I thought, the church does need ‘cool funky (& holy) priests’!!

‘You can take it!!’

As you all know, we do a lot of evangelisation in London’s LGBT zone, Soho. Over the years we’ve gone from sitting timidly at the bar to singing karaoke, dancing & in Séamus’ case, even doing drag!!

Last Thursday, I was in Soho, not for Karaoke but for a ‘memorial service’ to mark the 27th anniversary of the atrocious bombing that killed 3 people & wounded dozens in the very same bar where Séamus & I have been singing, the ‘Admiral Duncan ‘.

So, when I arrived, it was very moving to see all the regulars, many of whom I know, there to show support & respect. One of the people I got chatting to was called Max & it was hard to recognise him because it’s the first time I’ve met him when he’s not in full drag!!

Of course I started joking about how short he was when not wearing heels & how fun the Karaoke was. The topic of the ‘Karaoke banter’ came up on he said ‘I only slag off people who can  take it, that’s why I slag you off, I know that you can take it!!’

In my heart, I felt like laughing because I only started singing less than a year ago & there were times when the drag queen mocked my singing that I felt really bad & almost felt like never singing again!! What a relief to learn that the joking was actually a compliment!!

I then explained to him how 5 years ago, I’d sit at the same bar & listen to people singing,  thinking I could never do that in a million years! I think he was quite surprised as I come accross quite confident but, I wasn’t always so confident & one can appear confident & still be really nervous inside!! It turned into the perfect opportunity to share some of my story & talk about inner-healing in a very practical & down to earth way with tangible fruits, me singing!! (Perhaps with more healing, I’ll actually sing well!!!)

The whole incident however did get me thinking thought about the power of words & at times, the danger of joking about! Some people are far more sensitive than we think & we have no clue what they might have gone through in their lives, even the ones that look super confident & have it all together!

So, let’s evangelise with kindness, with compliments, let’s be careful about teasing others too much & if someone does slag us off, let’s not take it to heart, they might only be joking because they like you & think that ‘you can take it!!’

It all happened so quickly!

A few days ago, our Parish priest asked me if I would serve a funeral mass on Thursday afternoon for a French speaking group from the Congo!

As I lived in France for many years, I was delighted with the opportunity to participate in a mass in French & of course to be of some use to our parish priest!

The mass continued as usual with lots of singing & colours until finally, it was over & we had to bring the coffin to the hearse.

I was holding the Holy water as the priest blessed the coffin when suddenly a grieving woman wailed:

‘It all happened so quickly!’

The phrase stuck in my heart & made me think on the priest’s homily during the mass!

Unlike many homilies nowadays which could easily be mistaken for the Canonisation speech for a future saint, this joyful & kind priest reminded us all of the basics. God can take any of us at any minute & we must live this life on earth with one eye on our future.

It turned out that the lady who passed away died only a very short time after a medical diagnosis. She had lots of plans but in the end, God’s plans were different!

In light of this, the priest called on us all to live good & holy lives, to forgive & to being always mindful of God.

Yes, city life can be lots of fun but let’s not forget that even in big cities such as London, Paris, New York, there is one thing that we cannot escape & that’s death!

So then, let’s take a leaf out of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, continuing the French theme, who not only was not dreading death but had such love & confidence in God’s love that she couldn’t wait to die!!

We can only of course have this attitude if we spend time getting to know God down here & that my friends is where once again, the importance of prayer comes in.

In prayer, we can experience God’s love & that will ignite in us such love that when we are dying we won’t be wailing ‘it all happened so quickly’ but rather ‘Aleliuah, about time Lord!!’

Mobile Drones & the City!

‘How are you?’ I smiled, bumping into one of my friends  earlier!

‘So busy, always on my mobile phone, I wish I could turn my hand into a phone’!! He replied, with tired eyes, exhausted from work & screen time…

As I reflected, it reminded me of the irony of the fact the London has about 9 million people & yet, an enormous amount of people here struggle with loneliness. Have we become ‘mobile drones’?

From the gym to the underground and even in the Church, people are constantly on their mobile phones & over the last few years, they even have their earplugs in which to me is a sort of a ‘DO NOT DISTURB ‘ sign.

And that’s not to mention the people that decide to have video calls at the coffee shop or wherever and shout so loudly that even without the mobile phone, they could be heard in Timbuktoo!

And yet, despite all of this, city people are struggling ENORMOUSLY with loneliness.

Now, evangelisation flies in the face of all this because it’s about talking to people & actually going out of one’s way to strike up conversations with strangers, thus allowing them to have a ‘face to face ‘ conversation with someone, and guess what? A lot of the time, people are absolutely delighted to pull out their earplugs, turn away from their mobile phones & actually talk to someone in person!

What to do then when you see someone glued to the phone with earplugs? How can you evangelise them without resorting to learning sign language?!!

Easy! You have to be equally bold in another way. Make eye-contact & just start speaking  as if they had no earplugs or phone and you might be pleasantly surprised. Often behind the sultry faces & serious vibes, lie very nice people  with stressful lives who will be more than happy to have a little chat & talk to another human being with a friendly face.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting you do this with everyone or all of the time, but try it with the people that you see on a regular basis like those on your bus or train or whatever!

Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the courage & you might experience that after a while, the same people will approach you, pull their earplugs out & actually be the ones to start the conversation.

In conclusion, wherever we live, let’s bring back the sense of community, of friendship & of humanity! Even if we just make another human being smile, maybe only for a minute as they rest their eyes from their mobile phones – that can be evangelisation too!

MICE & the City!

Big cities are no strangers to rats & mice, & London is no different!! Recently, at our Church house in Notting Hill, we’ve been visited by these unwanted guests, scurrying around the rooms, especially at night!

With the situation deteriorating, the ‘rat-man’ (exterminators) were called & while he was at the house yesterday, we had a great old chat…

‘These are old buildings’ he explained, ‘mice travel from house to house, through the cavities in the walls and the water pipes and so basically, we seal up all the gaps & then they move onto the next house!!!’

‘Great’ I thought, especially if you don’t like your neighbours! However, it did get me thinking of the parallels between mice & demons!!

Like mice, demons are attracted to food but unlike mice, the food that demons like is things like anger, hatred, unforgiveness, greed, lust, pride etc.

When a demon finds a person with these things, he’s like a happy mouse that found an untidy kitchen with lots of scraps.

However, just like mouse, if the demon finds no food then he’ll simply move onto the next house, or in this case, person!

So how do we seal up the holes & cracks so that we are not vulnerable to demons? Well, it’s not with steel wool & filler that’s for sure, but once again, there is a parallel!

Just as  we need to inspect our house for the likely places that mice enter such as around the sink & near electrical wires, we too can inspect our souls for cracks.

Unresolved traumas from the past, occult activity, unforgiveness towards people who have hurt us, addictive behaviours we have participated in are just some of the main culprits & so main entry point for demons.

Once we have identified them, then we can set up the ‘healing & sealing process’ through things like inner-healing, reconciliation, prayer & yes, in some severe cases, deliverance & exorcism ministry.

The more then we have cleaned up our lives, the less demons have to feed off & so the chances are, they will move onto someone else!!

Now many people will say that they don’t believe in demons! Interestingly however, the rat-man doesn’t often actually see the rats & mice, rather he sees their droppings & the things they have chewed up etc.

So, are there any ‘demon – droppings’ in your life? Things like mood-swings, addictions, outbursts of anger, feeling of being cursed, everything going wrong, plagued by ill-health etc.

If yes, you may well be the victim of spiritual attack or demons &, Jesus, in His mercy, wants to free you & heal you & make your house, imposter free!

Many priests & lay people are skilled & trained in this area & so, just as we called the rat-man today for our house, how much more important is your life & soul?!

For more information, get in touch!

Good Shepherds of London!

One of the amazing things about the mission of evangelisation is that you get to meet the most extraordinary people that really minister more to you than you to them! Today was no exception & it happened once again at the gym….

‘How are you mate?’ Asked an Australian guy that I know from the gym & of course, usually when people ask you how you are, it’s because they want to tell you how they are!!

So, cutting through the fluff, ‘Super & what about you?’ I responded.

‘Really tired mate, exhausted from the new training I’m doing & all the extra weight I’ve put on.’

To be honest, I’ve never known the same fellow to be anything but ‘tired’, ‘very tired’ or ‘exhausted’ as he’s a surgeon & works all sorts of crazy hours.

Still, I asked him about his new training, sensing he needed to talk & blow off some steam.

‘It’s military training’ he replied, ‘I’m a humanitarian surgeon & I’m training at the moment with the army.’

Wow I thought as I was already getting tired imagining what that might be like!!

‘What’s it like?’ I asked, knowing I was in for a vivid explanation that would make my training look comparatively insignificant!

‘I have to bulk up, eat all sorts of food so that on a battlefield, I’d be able to grab an injured man & run 500 metres with him on my back to bring back to base!’

And I guess then he’d have to perform the surgery I thought, thinking that if it was me, I’d have surely have had a heart attack!

‘What do you practice on, have they got dummies? I inquired, wondering what a day with the army might be like……

‘No, we practice with real people & not on skinny ones like you! I have to be strong enough to lift them!!’

‘How fascinating’, I reflected as I ruled out ever working in the army!!

After we parted ways, I reflected on how brave some people can. Imagine being motivated enough to help others to the point of being willing to qualify as a surgeon, then to train with the army with the view to being on a battlefield, risking one’s own life to help others.

Immediately after the gym, I went to mass where I prayed for this man in a special way, thanking God for his generosity. It also happened to be ‘Good Shepherd’ Sunday, a Sunday where we reflect on Jesus, the priest, who came from heaven to the battlefield on earth, to give His life to save us.

If we could be as brave in our mission to evangelise the world as my Aussie friend is to save lives, how many countless vocations to the priesthood might we have & how many ordinary people may come back to the faith marvelling at the love & courage of those who gave up everything to follow Jesus & to shepherd his flock!

Come Holy Spirit, bless us with countless zealous vocations to the priesthood & thank you for the inspirational people that we meet on the journey of life, who remind us of what it is all about & call us to forgetting ourselves & to helping others.

Gym Evangelisation with a Twist!

One of the best places to do some evangelisation is at the gym! It’s what you might call ‘neutral territory’, there is a mix of every sort of person from age to ethnicity to orientation to gender & what’s more than that, it’s a ‘level playing field’, where all the money or pomp in the world can’t actually make you fit!

And so, with that in mind, let me share yesterday’s experience! I was doing some exercises which involved hanging upside-down off the bars when suddenly this guy asks me:

‘Are you a gymnast?’

Tempted to say, ‘yes, I was in the Olympics’, I explained that I wasn’t but that I had taken up Calestenics a few years back & have got pretty good.

This was a nice opener for me to tell him how I’d never been to a gym in my life until coming to London etc. & that I had received a lot of healing in my life to get me this far!

He smiled, somewhat surprised & began talking about the gym, training & how traumas from the past can affect the body & reduce one’s range of motion!

BINGO,  the door flew wide open to talk more about my life story, inner-healing & how I’ve seen the link between healing of trauma & physical fitness too.

He was delighted & yet with sad eyes said ‘yes, my past has been similar to yours’.

At this point, I gave him a link to my website & we exchanged numbers to meet for a chat some day, so let’s hope & pray that this happens.

In all honesty, I could tell 100 more stories like this, so very many people at the gym have all sorts of struggles & they go there as much for their mental wellbeing as for physical fitness & yet, many carry enormous unhealed emotional traumas that not only affect them emotionally, but affect their physical well-being & fitness too.

Talking to this chap was a great reminder of how we are holistic beings, mind, body & spirit & how Jesus desires to heal all dimensions of our lives.

As I was leaving, I bumped into another chap,  he’s gay & has been very hurt by the church but he’s always very friendly to me. He told me about the new fitness centre that has opened very close to where I live & invited me to call in!

Never one to turn down an invitation, I called  over later in the afternoon! It’s one of these elite gyms with all sorts of frills & it costs only a mere £450 per month!!!

I bought a cup of tea for £3 while I joked with the staff that I’d be back once I had won the lottery.

Still I thought, for people who don’t know much about Jesus or healing or prayer, I can see how this world of jacuzzis & saunas & spas could indeed be very attractive, especially for those with stressful lives!

How blessed we are to have prayer, to have confession, to have the Holy Spirit & charismatic healing ministry & how blessed I am, that with my cheap & cheerful gym membership of £50 per month, that I have strangers thinking that I’m a gymnast!

So, let’s pray for all those struggling with stress,  struggling with trauma & looking for healing & relief; that they too may find Our Lord Jesus & maybe save a fortune too on gym memberships & all sorts of other treatments!!

‘The glory of God is man fully alive’ St. Iraneus.

Thanks for reading & if you go to a gym, Evangelise!! It’s fun!

Healing Ministry fun!

As I was coming home after the gym yesterday, I opened the door of the house & bumped into one of the residents, an elderly retired priest!

‘How are you?’ I cheerfully exclaimed, not anticipating his contrasting reply!

‘Absolutely dreadful!!’ He sighed.

‘Gosh’ I thought to myself, ‘there isn’t much arguing with that!!’

Inquiring as to what was wrong, the poor man was dizzy, freezing cold, slightly confused & totally disoriented & I knew that I couldn’t just leave him & say ‘sorry about that, I’ll pray for you, cheerio!!’

‘Have you called the doctor?’ I queried him to which he responded anxiously:

‘Yes, but I couldn’t get through.’

It really wasn’t his day!

I brought him into the church & told him to wait at the back & went to find our parish priest who then told me where the doctors surgery was & asked me to accompany him!

So off we strolled and as we walked, I was chatting away with him, trying to get his mind off it all, while Inwas silently praying for him! He described waking up feeling freezing cold despite it being a hot day & his breath was quite clearly affected.

Some minutes later we arrived at the doctors surgery, not anyone’s favourite place in the world & we managed to get him an appointment for 3pm, 2 hours away.

Sensing he was still quite frail, I suggested we go for a cup of tea & a little chat! The advantage of having had years of anxiety is that I know exactly how helpful it can be to have somebody by your side & some light conversation to help lift the mood!

Tea was lovely & we had a nice little chat while all the time I continued to pray  for him.

Now you might be wondering why I didn’t just say ‘Can I say a prayer for you?’, which I may have done with someone else. However, I knew that this particular priest was somewhat skeptical of the healing ministry & wasn’t all that comfortable with charismatic spirituality  & besides, Jesus often prayed with people from a distance & they were healed, this priest was sitting right beside me!!

After our tea, we decided to walk back to the house as there was a further hour to wait & just as we got to the house he said;

‘I don’t feel cold anymore & my voice seems back to normal, I think I’ll cancel the doctors appointment!!’

He was thanking me incessantly for my company & moral support & acknowledged that somehow I had helped him recover.

Now, I suggested that he go to the doctors anyway, just for peace of mind & he did & of course they want to send him for tests  because of his age but he said he wouldn’t go until tomorrow as he had to celebrate mass for some nuns later!

It never ceases to surprise me how God works , how often the healing ministry can be a total puzzle to the medical world & how some illnesses & symptoms can literally spontaneously disappear after a little prayer.

It also never ceases to surprise me, how little a lot of priests know about the healing ministry & how much more healing could & would happen in our churches if it was really known about,  understood properly & encouraged.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of the priesthood, please raise up many young men to become not only priests but priests anointed in the Holy Spirit, confident & competent in the wonderful ministry of healing. May we also pray for all retired priests who’s health may be frail, that they never lose hope in Jesus’ healing love!

O ya, a prayer for doctors too, that they be reminded that Our Lord Jesus is on the healing staff too😂😂

God & the Sunbed!!

A few days ago as I was walking home, I was stopped by some young guys offering people a free sunbed experience! Not that I have any interest whatsoever in sunbeds, but I said to myself ‘that might be an interesting experience & an opportunity for some evangelisation’!!

And so, as I wandered home yesterday, I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to go for it & see what all the fuss was about – the experience was unforgettable & in the end, we did get talking about God.

After registering, I was brought to the room where I was told to get naked, lie down & that the machine would start in 3 minutes & so there I was obediently waiting, really not knowing what to expect…

Then BOOM, LIGHTS, SOUND, HEAT & I thought I was going to have a heart attack!!

The lights were blinding, the fan was loud & it was really really hot! I felt like I was at the launching of a rocket & somehow I got stuck underneath!!

As I relaxed a bit & as my eyes adjusted to the lights, I noticed a little countdown timer in front of me. I had 12 minutes to cook in this giant microwave, more than enough time to do a divine mercy chapelet.

As I prayed, I was praying for people addicted to these type of beauty machines but I was also praying for people in hospitals, sitting on similar sort of machines, undergoing brain scans & all sorts of different treatments…

The 12 minutes finally ended & when I looked in the mirror, I could see all my freckles had come back!! Some people have a beauty spot but those of us with freckles have many!!

‘How was it?’ They asked me as I came out & I told them exactly what I’m telling you – unforgettable.

Never one to miss an opportunity to talk about God, I told them that it reminded me of prayer, of sitting in the presence of God & allowing him to work on our souls in this busy world! I explained that I am a catholic & write a blog & that I’d surely write about it tomorrow!! They were delighted & even jotted down the Web page & asked me to mention them (Clubtan – hello if you are reading)!!

Immediately after I left, I went to Eucharistic Adoration, delighted that Jesus’ love is free rather than £30 per month & yet very grateful for the entire experience.

To have a good tan, they recommend joining up & going several times per week to maintain it & isn’t it much the same with holiness!

In our busy & stressful world, if we really want to maintain our peace & love, we need to spend a lot of time in prayer with Jesus & let Him, the SON & not the SUN tranform our spiritual souls from the inside out.

And so, as I finish, my prayer is that more & more people will turn their attention to perfecting their souls & while it’s good & nice to look well physically, that our priorities will be in the right place because at the end of the day, our bodies will rot & die no matter how tanned but our spiritual souls will soar with all the graces we have accumulated during our short time on earth!

‘My daughter is gay’

Yesterday, I cycled once again to London’s Westminster Cathedral where after the 12.30 mass, I was meeting my very good friend from Ireland’s county Clare!

I could write another story about her because she’s so remarkable! She’s over 90 years old, as bright as a button, has her smartphone & ipad & everything and on top of that, she’s genuinely great fun.

So there we were, having a bite to eat & talking about life etc. when suddenly this woman who was sitting near us comes over & says:

‘Can I bless you both with some cake?!”

‘You don’t need to ask twice’ I thought as I enthusiastically said yes!

Munching on my lovely lemon cake, she came over again…

‘I’m sorry but I couldn’t help over-hearing some of your conversation and I just want to say:

‘I support you, my daughter is gay!’

My Irish friend was delighted! I am the first gay person she has ever known & now she was right in the middle of it all!!

The Lady was Welch & explained that in her church, people, especially parents would often make very unfriendly comments about gay people, not knowing that her daughter was gay & that often, she’d have to correct them & explain how that was not ok!

She continued to tell us that for that reason, her daughter no longer goes to  church as it’s too stressful & painful for her to be in an environment where people are not inclusive & sensitive to LGBT people!

Quite honestly, it reminded me of how I have felt every time I go to Medjugorje & indeed other places in the church & why many people in the LGBT community just leave altogether while still praying from home & believing in God in their hearts.

Now, this lady was Anglican & a part of the ‘Church of Wales ‘ & explained us how it was very difficult for women in her church & that many of the men would prefer a gay man as a  pastor or in leadership rather than a woman! How awful I thought and no wonder her daughter, a gay woman wasn’t attending!!

As our conversation wrapped up, with a lot of emotion, she told us of her gay friend who died & who loved Jesus so much despite not going to Church. When someone accused him of abandoning the church, she said; ‘No, he never abandoned the Church, it was the Church that abandoned him!’

Getting up, I gave her a big hug, my card & a miraculous medal & thanked God to have met such a beautiful kind & loving mother!

May we include in our prayers today, not only LGBT people but the parents of LGBT people who often suffer greatly & who so often can be shamed, excluded & the target of gossip in church communities, simply for having an LGBT child.

Jesus, teach us to love!.

Gay & the Confession Box!

One of the terrors of many LGBT people is going to confession, not because they think that they are saints or that they don’t need to go, but because of FEAR!!

So let me share this wonderful little experience that I had yesterday in London”s Westminster Cathedral!

I was sitting, waiting for confession when a priest I haven’t seen before entered the confession box! Even for me, an experienced penitant, I still get a little nervous, especially when or if I need to talk about LGBT issues & ministry!

Anyway, my turn came & I began by giving the priest a little context about who I am & what I do! Context is important for the priest to assess the gravity or responsibility of your actions & also helps him give you some relevant spiritual advice.

So when I told him about the struggles of being a gay catholic involved in evangelisation, I was taken aback by his overwhelmingly positive attitude!

‘You just love in a different way’ he said while also warning of the dangers of lust etc. and then he went onto say ‘I think you could be a priest, you have a lot to offer’.

I smiled, not wishing to get into a long discussion but inside, my heart grew in hope for the future of LGBT Catholics in the church & indeed for myself & my own journey.

The experience reminded me of one of my friends who was shouted at in confession 40 years ago & was PETRIFIED to ever go back, not because he didn’t want to but because ‘My heart couldn’t take it if I had another negative experience.’ After much prayer, about 2 weeks ago, he went back & had a wonderful experience!

How important I thought that priests are well trained in the confessional in this LGBT area and by the sounds of it, this priest could give them lessons!!

‘Satan calls you by your sins, Jesus calls you by your name’

He continued as he went on a sermon of positivity, encouragement & love & how important to say this to everyone, but especially to LGBT people who often get called all sorts of horrendous names….

I left the confession box, not only forgiven but feeling healed, loved, strengthened, understood & empowered!!

So what’s the lesson? The lesson is that times are changing for LGBT people, a lot of priests are very understanding & loving & are just waiting to administer the mercy, love & compassion of Jesus to members of the LGBT community in the privacy of the confession box (even after 40 years or more!!).

So let’s pray for priests,  for many souls in the LGBT community to come back to the practice of regular confession & prayer & who knows, maybe there is hope for me yet to be a ‘man of the cloth’ as they say!!

St. Joseph – NEVER LETS ME DOWN

On Sunday, I woke up with a great sense of St. Joseph close to me & so with that in mind, I asked him to guide my day!

Having been to Hillsong in the morning, I decided to go to evening mass down the road & unusually I found myself in the back seat.

Suddenly, an older Irish lady walked in who I had seen for a while & after the mass we said hello to eachother.

‘I’m having an awful time, won’t you come down to the house for a glass of wine & I’ll tell you all about it ..’ she exclaimed!!

‘This is my mission for this evening” I thought! She took the bus & I cycled & as I waited for her, I suddenly remembered her telling me before, she has a massive devotion to St. Joseph & on top of that, having worked as a nurse for 50 years, she’s super gay friendly, something not always the case with church folk.

However, what’s more interesting is where her devotion to St. Joseph came from & what an inspiring story that is….

Her Dad died when she was less than 2 years old & her mother remarried. However, her mother got sick & died of cancer when she was only 16 years old. So there she found herself orphaned in the west of Ireland with only her step-dad & half siblings with her.

‘But Michael, he was a true saint, he never raised a hand to me, never treated me any differently to the others & you know, I wasn’t easy, I was very bossy!

You know Michael, he was just like St. Joseph, who looked after the Holy family, yes Michael, he was extraordinary & so any time I have difficulties, I ask St. Joseph to help me, HE NEVER LETS ME DOWN!’

How beautiful, I thought & also how deep & moving & full of a faith & certainty that I’ve rarely seen before!

As the evening continued, we opened the wine & we both had a good laugh talking about life, about Ireland & about the various ups & downs we were having  & of course we finished with a prayer…to St. Joseph!!

As I cycled home, I prayed that more people would come to know St. Joseph & the power of His intercession, especially those people with no family or estranged from family (which so often happens LGBT people) or perhaps older people who’s family have passed away.

That St. Joseph would bring hope to them, comfort to them & connect them with other people for mutual support, love & friendship!

St. Joseph, Father of the fatherless, be a fatherly presence to us all today & renew the love & hope in our hearts that so often has been crushed by life’s trials!

Hope for Everyone

Yesterday, I went to Hillsong which is in Central London, close to Soho.

The pastor prayed that throughout the week, we’d all have ‘prophetic encounters’ & be used to bring more people to know God’s goodness!

So, after the service, the Holy Spirit guided me to Soho & to a particular coffee shop, much like a GPS for the car.

I walked in & immediately knew the person that the Holy Spirit had in mind.

He was tall, skinny, bald, covered in tattoos, a massive nose-ring, old dirty clothes & just in case that wasn’t alarming enough, he was having a very long conversation out loud with HIMSELF!!

I ordered my coffee & was praying away thinking ‘this isn’t very comfortable ‘ while over-hearing some of his ramblings.

Suddenly it dawned on me, his accent sounded a little Irish and so there it was, the hook!

‘Are you Irish my friend?’ I asked enthousically while trying not to stare at his eyes that looked like giant marbles.

He explained that he was a mix of Irish and other cultures & said he lived in Ireland once in a place called ‘Spanish Place ‘!

Eureka, that’s in county Clare where I grew up so then we had a great old conversation about Ireland & Clare,  the towns & music!

Eventually, the topic of religion came up & let’s just say, it was quite obvious that he hadn’t just come from Church!

‘I have no time for religion, I’m gay you see’ & he very quickly changed the subject.

Inside, I felt Jesus say to me ‘leave it there” and we parted ways shortly afterwards with a warm handshake. As I left I was prompted to pray for him, knowing that Jesus was thirsting for his soul too!

Sometimes, evangelisation isn’t so glorious and there are no spectacular fruits but what God puts on my heart is that when these people die & Satan comes running shouting ‘he’s mine’, Jesus will arrive & say ‘not so fast there, it’s true he didn’t pray much but graces were put aside for his soul too when a mass was offered for him & prayers said on that day in Soho or whenever….’

It’s important to remember that while we are in time, God is out of time & the workings of the spiritual realm are very different to that of the physical realm.

If we keep this attitude in mind, it takes a lot of the pressure off us when we meet people to ‘save them’ & we can just be normal & relaxed with people & simply see what happens!

Jesus, we trust in you! Help us evangelise with fun & joy!!

The Word of God is ALIVE

A few weeks ago, I noticed a young Asian man reading what looked like a bible at the coffee shop!

Intrigued, I approached him some days ago to say hello & yes, he was reading the bible.

‘It feeds my heart’ he said. ‘I feel empty & then I read the psalms & prophets Jeremiah & Isiaih & I feel their intimacy with God. It fills my heart & gives me strength for the day.’

How amazing I thought and how honest, heartfelt & genuine! He went on to tell me that he finds life in London very stressful and worldly & without the bible, he would lose his way.

How beautiful that there are so many different ways of praying, so many ways God feeds us and how beautiful to see someone reading the bible in public in this way!

Thank you Jesus for the gift of your word & all that has been handed down to us down through the generations, bless this young man to know, love & serve you more & grant him the peace in his heart that he craves!

And for anyone who has never read the bible or perhaps it has been a while, why not get a copy & read a little every day (as recommended by Our Lady of Medjugorje!!)

Brothers; One Gay, One Priest

Sunday was Easter Sunday in the Orthodox Church & just as I sat to have my coffee, a very big strong bald man of about 65 sat near me.

He was certainly not the type of man you’d want to get into a fight with and so when he looked at me and said “they are all f’cking stupid’ I just smiled as he went on a rant about smartphones making young people stupid!

However, he calmed down and began asking me what part of Ireland I’m from & what I do in London.

“Telling this fella about LGBT & that I’m one of them might not go down too well” I thought but hey, I’ll never know unless I do it!

The conversation took an amazing twist! He told me about his gay uncle who is now dying of cancer and how he came out only when his parents died.

He went onto say that his other uncle (brother of the gay one) was an Orthodox priest & when he found out about his gay brother, he refused to ever speak to him again.

“When a priest does that to you, your own brother, it’s got to have effects, I’m convinced that’s why he is sick “

He then went onto telling me how he accepted his gay uncle, gave him a massive hug when he came out & was on his way to visit him this week.

Such stories are heartbreaking & we can’t help but think of the story of the good samaritan. The priest passed by, the levite passed by but the samaritan stopped.

What a difference it would have made to this man & indeed to so many others to hear from a priest, representing God that ‘YOU ARE LOVED’, especially after waiting maybe 50 years to open up about that heavy secret that he was carrying.

Lord, help us to be a good samaritan today to someone who we meet & again, help the LGBT community in all the different churches to find & experience God’s love for them & open the hearts of  all priests to love them and understand their struggle & pain.

WELCOME BACK

An inspiring story to share from yesterday’s feast of the Divine Mercy!!

The Holy Spirit prompted me to go to a gay Karaoke bar despite feeling a little tired & not really in the mood!

Off I went when after about 30 minutes, an old gentleman who I just know by name approached me & said “I need you in my life, you have to bring me back to Jesus & Mary”.

I was blown away as he had  never shown much interest in my ministry up to now but as he spoke,  he explained that he was an evangelist for many years, spoke at conferences all over, was heavily involved in youth ministry but left it all at 47 because of being gay.

But life without Jesus hasn’t been all glamorous now he’s desperate to come back to Jesus and be accepted as a gay man.

It just shows thirst out there for God, for authenticity and how God can be at work in people’s hearts when we think that they have no interest whatsoever in either God or our ministries!!

Happy Feast of Divine Mercy!!

THE FATHER’S LOVE

God is amazing!

As I was having my morning coffee, minding my own business, a lady approached me asking me how to use her phone!

I helped her & as she was so friendly, I offered her a miraculous medal (I always carry a few).

Tears welled up as she took it and as I looked in her eyes, I immediately saw great love & pain & that it was linked to her Dad.

‘Has your Dad passed away?’ I asked.

‘Yes, with tears she replied ‘ as I hugged her & began to pray prophetically.

‘May this trip be a trip of love & healing….’ I prayed.

She cried more as she explained that she had just arrived in England on a special trip to retrace her Dad’s origins etc!!

How amazing!!

She’s invited me to the USA to visit her in Washington although I might wait till Trump calms down!

Just remember, whoever you are, God has the same loving fatherly love for you today!

Be attentive to the signs!!

CONFESSION AFTER 40 YEARS

A very encouraging Easter story!

As part of my outreach to the LGBT community, I met a certain man about 5 years ago who was gay, catholic and somewhat estranged from the sacramental life of the Church.

Probing as to why, it turned out he had a terribly traumatic experience with a priest about 40 years ago at confession and he was never back since then.

Over time, I’d encourage him to go, especially to some very kind priests I knew but progress was slow….

So a few weeks ago, I met him and he said something like “your ministry is wonderful….”.

A little annoyed that after almost 5 years of knowing him, he still hadn’t gone to confession, I replied back something like “words are nice but they fall short when they are not backed up with actions…”.

He knew what I meant and I guess, I knew him well enough to say that!!

So, we hadn’t met for a while until yesterday when he invited me for a coffee!

Guess what? He felt so convicted after what I said that last week, after 40 years, he went to confession & it went really well!

More than that, he’s been telling his friends and family & he has received so much positive encouragement! He’s now evangelising more than me!!

“Now that I’ve gone once, I’ve no fear of going again”, he said with a smile.

What a wonderful little pre-Easter testimony! I was so happy!!

God or confession isn’t about shaming us, God is all about love, restoration & transformation!

Happy Easter triduum everyone & let’s pray for those who are afraid of coming back to Church for whatever reason, especially those in the LGBT community who have so often been very wounded.

ZOOM A PRIEST!

Yesterday, I was so blessed!

A franciscan priest who had seen some of my videos etc. got in touch & we decided to arrange a video call!

In the spirit of St. Francis, he was genuinely so interested in our ministry to the marginalised of the LGBT community, in pastoral care for LGBT people in the church & in the various theological issues.

He was humble, open, curious, direct & full of all sorts of honest questions!

As the call ended, I pondered what might the church be like if all priests were like this man and what pastoral care and outreach might exist in the Catholic Church worldwide, if priests & bishops were simply willing to sit down and listen to people like me & others who work with the LGBT community “on the ground” and grounded in today’s reality!

It also made me sad for the very sad abusive situation that we have had to endure in Medjugorje because of a devious priest & a hierarchy that didn’t want to know.

The reality is that LGBT issues & the need for pastoral care will not go away! One can climb the hills in Medjugorje, offer 1000 masses & rosaries, some might even be waiting for the end of the world but this is just avoidance!

Jesus needs good priests to come down from the clouds & to deal pastorally & practically and lovingly with the growing need of pastoral care for LGBT people & their families!

Our Lady of Medjugorje, pray for us, pray for your priests, pray for the LGBT community!

PUMP IT UP!

The other day, I was having my morning coffee when a young french woman sat beside me! As I don’t speak a whole lot of french these days, it was  good to chat, I haven’t lost it, it’s still there!!

She was very interesting and was very concerned about true feminine beauty!

‘Look around’ she said as she puffed up her lips pointing at most of the women in the coffee shop!

‘They have all had surgery’ she said and as we are in the Notting Hill area, she was probably right!! There is no shortage of women with the ‘barbie doll’ image with dogs & a credit card!

‘Why?’ She asked. Sad that so many women are having surgery etc. to look and feel good!

She wasn’t really judging them, although perhaps a little, she was more just observing and sharing honestly.

Today, in the Catholic Church, we have the feast of the annunciation, when Our Lady was visited by the angel Gabriel!

Yet, we can be sure that Our Lady never had surgery to feel or look beautiful. Free of sin, she knew who & what she was in God’s eyes.

And it’s not just women, plenty of men are having all sorts of surgeries too! I heard for example that many Brazilian men get a surgerical 6 pack, easier than years of training no doubt!

So, perhaps a prayer on this feast day is that we will all come to experience God’s love & learn to feel good about ourselves without all these different procedures and embrace true & authentic humanity without the show!

Our Lady, pray for us & have special mercy on those people that feel so incredibly body conscious that they feel compelled to have surgeries. Touch them with your motherly love & acceptance!

GAY & LOVED

Yesterday evening, the Holy Spirit sent me on a bit of adventure. Very directly. He said ‘walk around Soho’ and so I did, unsure where He would send me next.

Then just as I passed ‘The Old Compton”, He said, go in there and so I did.

‘The Old Compton ‘ is one of the most popular bars in the heart of Soho & so I ordered a half pint of Peronni and stood there, inwardly saying ‘Lord, now what ?’

‘Pray 3 Hail Mary’s & trust’ I heard back and so I did!

No sooner had I finished than a group of about 6 men& one trans woman  began talking to me & insisted I join them…and so I did!!

They were tremendous fun & were quizzing me about my life etc. So when I began talking about God’s love for LGBT people and His understanding of all the shaming & rejection, they were deeply touched.

I offered them a miraculous medal each & some of them almost started to cry.

One older man with a tear said ‘it’s the first time I’ve heard someone like you from the church say that God loves me.’

It was very moving to hear but also very sad.

The beautiful trans woman told me that she’s catholic & runs her own business! ‘Just because I’m trans, some people think I’m a thicko’ she said with great humour!!

Later an Italian chap began telling me how he believes in God but left the church because when he asked a priest questions about the Trinity, the priest just brushed him off and replied that we ‘had to believe it as it’s a dogma’.

So there I found myself discussing the 3 persons of the Trinity, the Incarnation of Jesus, His 2 natures & minds all in the middle of Soho.

More & more conversations opened up with one Irish guy saying ‘this is my grandmother’s prayers, her anniversary is tomorrow ‘ as he took a miraculous medal!

All in all, a wonderful evening of evangelisation, love, sharing, honesty & prayer.

The Gay community are thirsting for God, each member is special in Jesus’ eyes and Jesus is calling us to love, to listen, to respect & to pray that they may find a place in our church too, a place where they can learn, heal & experience Christian community

COFFEE WITH THE TRINITY

Coffee shop evangelisation is so funny, especially in today’s secular society!

Yesterday, Celina, who has just recently become a catholic was asking me about the prayer meeting the night before.

Conscious that there were people all around me & that the prayer meeting focused a lot on demons & spirits, I said to myself: “this might be fun!”.

So rather than whisper so nobody could hear me, I spoke nice & loudly & clearly, especially around the buzz words of ‘demons”, “exorcism”, ” deliverance” to grab people’s attention before talking about healing, prayer etc.

After all, the other people in coffee shops & trains in London have no problem talking out loud about their relationships, their therapy sessions, their sex lives…I could write a best-seller!!

Our conversation continued as Celina was asking me about how we believe in one God but 3 persons and again, why whisper or be ashamed of talking about the Trinity?!!

Now the story ends there, there was no big encounter or exchange but that said, perhaps those people sitting around me heard more about God & spiritual realities than they have for a long time!!

So let’s not be afraid to push the boundaries, let’s not feel that we must whisper away in the corner if we want to talk about faith or spirituality.

Let our light & faith shine, we just never know who might be listening 🤣🤣

WE MUST NOT JUDGE

Coffee shop evangelisation is so funny, especially in today’s secular society!

Yesterday, Celina, who has just recently become a catholic was asking me about the prayer meeting the night before.

Conscious that there were people all around me & that the prayer meeting focused a lot on demons & spirits, I said to myself: “this might be fun!”.

So rather than whisper so nobody could hear me, I spoke nice & loudly & clearly, especially around the buzz words of ‘demons”, “exorcism”, ” deliverance” to grab people’s attention before talking about healing, prayer etc.

After all, the other people in coffee shops & trains in London have no problem talking out loud about their relationships, their therapy sessions, their sex lives…I could write a best-seller!!

Our conversation continued as Celina was asking me about how we believe in one God but 3 persons and again, why whisper or be ashamed of talking about the Trinity?!!

Now the story ends there, there was no big encounter or exchange but that said, perhaps those people sitting around me heard more about God & spiritual realities than they have for a long time!!

So let’s not be afraid to push the boundaries, let’s not feel that we must whisper away in the corner if we want to talk about faith or spirituality.

Let our light & faith shine, we just never know who might be listening 🤣🤣