NOVEMBER is traditionally the month when Catholics everywhere remember those who have gone to God.

Our Faith teaches that through their lifetime journey, every person has a moral freedom to choose, with three possible ultimate outcomes:

we attain beatitude, which expresses the joy and peace of being eternally with God in Heaven;

that journey had not completely resulted, at the time of their departure from this life, in the total conversion and renewal of the person and so, by an act of sheer Divine compassion, they are held in God’s love and ‘purified’ of their defects, so as to enter eventually into Heaven, where no imperfection can coexist;

• or, they freely and willingly, as witnessed by their moral actions on earth, reject God and are therefore destined for Hell. God accepts that this is their sovereign decision and so, Hell is where those who wish to have no relationship, nothing to do with God, will go. For the damned, there is no possible alternative afterwards. It is an eternal state.

We all choose one of these outcome through our way of life. You can read more in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, particularly paragraphs 1020-1060.

Holy Souls in Purgatory

The Church has always taught us to pray for those who have gone to eternity. Even in the late Old Testament book of Maccabees (2 Maccabees 12:38-46), prayers and alms were offered for the souls of the dead by those who thought “well and religiously concerning the resurrection.” It was believed that “they who had fallen asleep with godliness had great grace laid up for them” and that “it is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” We know that a defiled soul cannot enter into Heaven. We are all in need of grace to come into the perfection of charity. We cannot enter Heaven if we have not been completely cleansed of sin and all punishment due to sin, c.f. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1031 and 1472.

Purgatory is not eternal. Its duration depends upon the particular judgment each have received from Christ. By Divine Mercy, they have not merited hell, because in their lives, they honoured God and developed their relationship with him, despite any limitations and failures. It is difficult to speak in terms of earthly time, since Purgatory is a temporary state, not a place as such. It is therefore not bound by space and time in the same way we are, but it is connected; and certainly it is connected with the definitive Second Coming of the Son of Man at the end of time, when Purgatory will also cease to exist.

The Church has always taught that we can pray for the dead and assist them in their purification. We can shorten therefore their time in Purgatory, because our prayers of love supplicate for them before the Mercy of God. The most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is THE WAY to help the dead in Purgatory, because it is the Altar of hope and consolation for us all. That is why it is a most honourable act of charity to have a Priest offer a Mass for the Dead, or as an intention for a given Mass offered for a dearly departed person. Please be aware that sometimes people confuse offering a Mass themselves in person, as in going specially to one for someone or having in mind some intention of our own, and the actual application of the Mass by the Priest for the specific intention requested as he does so in persona Christi.

The ancient practice of Indulgences is also to be recommended for the Faithful Departed. You can read more on this in the Catechism, paragraphs 1471 to 1479.

Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and

let perpetual light shine upon them.

May the souls of the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.

Emeritus Archbishop of Southwark

The Most Reverend Michael G. Bowen, S.T.L., Ph.L., former Archbishop of Southwark died in the early hours of Thursday 17 October 2019. He was 89 years-old.

Archbishop Bowen was born in Gibraltar, where his maternal grandparents lived, on 23 April 1930 – the feast day of St George, patron saint of England.

His home until 1959 was in Wimbledon, London. He was the son of Major John Bowen (Irish Guards, killed in action in World War II, Norway 1940) and Mary, née Pedley, who married Sir Paul Makins, Bt, in 1945.

Archbishop Bowen was educated at Downside School before gaining a place at Trinity College, Cambridge.

He was a wine merchant, working for Saccone and Speed Ltd, before entering into formation for the Catholic priesthood at the Venerable English College, Rome, in 1952. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Southwark on 6 July 1958.

Twelve years later, he was Ordained the second Bishop of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton on 14 March 1971.

That same year, he was elected with Cardinal Heenan to represent the Bishops of England and Wales at the Rome Synod on “The Priesthood” and on “Justice and Peace in the World”.

In March 1977, he succeeded Cyril Conrad Cowderoy as the eighth Archbishop of Southwark. Archbishop Bowen welcomed then-Pope John Paul II to St George’s Cathedral in 1982.

He was well known to Gibraltar. He co-consecrated Bishop Edward Rapallo in 1973 and presided at his funeral in Gibraltar in 1984. 

He installed Bishop Bernard Devlin, who had been consecrated in Rome by Pope St. John Paul II in 1985, as Bishop of Gibraltar.

He co-consecrated Bishop Caruana in 1998.

Finally, he returned to the Rock in 2010 to consecrate Bishop Ralph Heskett C.Ss.R.

Archbishop Bowen was a member of the Standing Committee of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, and Chairman of it from 1999 to 2001. He also served the Bishops’ Conference as Chair of the Department of Christian Life and Worship (1983-99) and Chair of the Committee for Marriage and Family Life (1983-86).

Our Lady of Europe has been on the side of Gibraltar, throughout all our history. Especially, through the closing and opening of the frontier and all during our difficult times. Yesterday we gathered to ask her again to intercede for us:

• For our children and the trials, they are or will face in their life’s.
• For our Christian identity and way of life.
• For protection of the weakest and sick members of our Community.
• For current state of living, that it may be preserved.
• For the upcoming Election and all the politicians.
• For Brexit, may it have a good and blessed solution to all sides.

The Diocesan Youth Ministry organised a “Rosary Round the Rock” yesterday, Monday the 7^th October, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. at 5.00pm along 35 posts encircling the entire Gibraltar.

Quite a number assembled at each post from the various parishes and Diocesan movements. Many more who could not be with us, because they are housebound, in hospital or for other reasons not able to make it to one of the posts, prayed the Rosary at 5 pm too.

THANK YOU to all who attended, or were not able to be with us, but joined us in spirit at that time.

Thank you also to all who organised the event and made our time of prayer possible.

Our Lady of Europe, pray for us!