Fr Daniel and six companions walked from Leon to Santiago (340 km) in nine days.

The paths were well marked with yellow arrows, shells and signs:

Alternatively we could simply follow our shadows:

We walked along a variety of paths:

Most of the churches provide good spots for storks’ nests:

And inside, we were able to celebrate Mass. Spain has the privilege of using blue vestments at Masses in honour of Our Lady. Here at Santa Caterina de Somoza:

On the whole the locals were friendly:

Mass at the tomb of the Apostle St James, where we remembered the intentions of all our sponsors, of the Oratory and of the Oratory parish:

We were able to see the famous bottafumeiro twice in Santiago Cathedral. It is the largest thurible in the world, and swings dramatically along the transepts. When Catherine of Aragon witnessed this in 1499, the bottafumeiro came loose and flew out through the window. No such worrying portents occurred during our visit.

This year is a Holy Year in Santiago. We queued in the rain for an hour and a half to go through the Holy Door, before hugging the statue of St James just as the Archbishop was celebrating Mass and had reached the consecration.

The Women’s Oratory has done a fantastic job in raising sponsorship for the walk, in aid of the Oratory Reaffirmation and Renewal Campaign. It is not too late to sponsor us retrospectively. Simply go to our JustGiving page. Thank you!

The Holy Child Sisters on Rose Hill recently entertained the over-60s Wednesday Morning Group to coffee, cakes and scones at their convent.

From Independent Catholic News

By Amanda C Dickie

The Oxford Oratory recently organised a week of fund raising events with an American theme, culminating in a dinner on Friday at Harris Manchester College,Oxford,which is twinned with Harvard University and the Catholic Boston College. £10,000 was the week’s target towards the building fund, for a chapel dedicated to Cardinal Newman and a library to exhibit his work.

The week began with a Cajun band, L’Angelus, from New Orleans, making their first visit to England, and included special guided tours by historian John Whitehead on Newman’s Oxford and a talk on CS Lewis by Walter Hooper, his last secretary.

Cecilia De Maria, 2008 BBC Young Musician of the Year finalist played the harp at a champagne reception prior to the college dinner. Fr Richard Duffield, Provost of Birmingham and postulator for Newman’s beatification and making final plans to welcome the Pope in September, returned to Oxford to give the after dinner speech saying that from his recent visits to America he realised that Newman was loved even more there.

“This love goes back to Newman’s own time, expressed in the most practical terms by offers of financial help,” he said.

Fr Duffield, who flew to America on Sunday, to raise further funds, quoted from Newman’s letter to the Archbishop of New York, in 1854, “Fundraising is a rather thankless task. I have found it is in some ways easier in America where there is a culture of unembarrassed generosity”.

He added that it was New York Catholics who paid for Newman’s’ burial place.

Fr Duffield then displayed an amazing ring sent by Californian Catholics to Newman in 1854 to help him cover costs from a libel trial. It was a gold nugget from the Californian gold rush, weighing over 17 ounces.

Concluding with an auction led by parishioner Michael Welch, from the BBC Antiques Roadshow and Bonhams’ auctioneers, the evening raised £3,767.

Campaign director Fr Jerome Bertram said that a temporary altar and shrine for Cardinal Newman was being constructed and would be ready by September to be placed in the Oxford Oratory church, and finalised plans for the new building and Newman chapel would be unveiled at a press conference on 22 July.

As part of the “In(ter)dependence Week” we were able to welcome Fr Joel Warden of the Brooklyn Oratory to celebrate and preach at the High Mass on the Fourth of July.

Fr Joel is an old friend of our community, having lived here for three years while studying for the priesthood.

Fr Simon Bishop, SJ, Chaplain to the University, came to preach at the Solemn Mass for St Aloysius’ Day. He spoke about Aloysius’ motto: “Ad majorem natus sum” – “I was born for greater things”. This was the response Aloysius made to his father when shown the crown and wealth of the Gonzagas.

When we see those in need – the sick, the homeless or distressed, they too say to us “We were born for greater things”. The remarkable purity of St Aloysius also teaches us the need to live courageous lives of purity in the face of an over-sexualized culture, for the people of our own time were also “born for greater things.”

We had a very welcome surprise visit from Bishop Peter Elliot of Melbourne, who sang the Mass of St Aloysius.

Bishop Elliot is the delegate of the Australian bishops for the implementation of the Ordinariate for former Anglicans within the Catholic Church. At Mass on the feast of SS John Fisher & Thomas More, he spoke of the need to pray for this project, which will be the last ever possiblity of any kind of corporate reunion. Just as Thomas More and John Fisher stood for conscience, so many are called to do today in seeking union with the successor of St Peter.

This was the eleventh consecutive year that the Deanery Corpus Christi Procession has taken our Eucharistic Lord through the streets of Oxford, and the crowds this year were larger than ever.

The Procession began at the Oratory:

Large numbers of the lay faithful were joined by a Passionist bishop, diocesan priests, Dominican friars and sisters, Oratorians, Jesuits, Salesian priests and sisters, Holy Child Sisters, Sacred Heart of St Aubin Sisters, the Sisters of the Work, Capuchin friars and novices, Knights of Malta and others:

A sermon was given at Blackfriars:

The Prior of Blackfriars and the University Chaplain both took turns to carry the monstrance:

The Procession concluded with Benediction at the University Chaplaincy

The above photographs are by Br Lawrence Lew OP

Processing can be hard work!

As of last Sunday the Campaign total in cash and pledges has passed the first million pounds out of the five million we need. Thank you to all who have already given or pledged. We hope that we might reach the second million by the end of 2010.

Current Total: £1,054,229.60

What comes next?

There are some small jobs in church, such as the repair and replacement of some of the parquet floor to be carried out later this month. Then, a small temporary shrine for our Cardinal, ready for his beatification (the proper chapel will come later).

If we can keep on target, the next major work will be the accommodation block behind the Parish Centre.

We must build these extra rooms if the Oratory is to respond to those wanting to join our community. Otherwise, we cannot flourish and grow.

If you are not yet involved with the campaign, speak to Fr Daniel.

The Most Reverend Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, made his first visit to our church as our archbishop on Sunday 18th April, when he sang the High Mass. In his sermon, His Grace recalled how he used to come to Mass here when he was an undergraduate at New College.

After Mass, His Grace was able to meet parishioners:

The Archbishop came to the Parish Centre, where, as Patron of our Reaffirmation and Renewal Campaign, he urged everyone to support the building of new accommodation for the community, the Newman Chapel and Library and the restoration of our church:

Photographs by James Bradley