No, this isn't about the Conservatives who are gathering in Brighton this very morning for their spring conference. Rather, I was myself in Brighton yesterday, possibly for the first time, possibly not. I am certainly no regular visitor. I had planned to go for business, and wanted to call in on famous priest blogger Fr Ray Blake of St Mary Magdalen, but when my function was cancelled I decided to go anyway.
And very glad I was to have done so. Father Ray received me with great friendliness and courtesy, and we had a leisurely stroll around the town. I even got to see the sea, a rare treat for an inland dweller like me. One of the grand consolations of the internet is that it is creating networks which one could never have expected to become part of. He has since linked to my piece earlier in the week on Centripetalism, arbitration and prophecy, which was most kind of him.
Father Ray is very modest about his church, though it is in fact more attractive than most Catholic churches one sees these days. A recent renovation of the sanctuary has restored most of the proportions of the original. The polished wooden floor adds a warm touch, and in spite of the gray paint which Father Ray appears to hate and is in the process of removing, I thought the whole thing was a wonderful locus of recollection in a city too notorious for its own good. As I say, the Conservatives arrive today...
So all hail Arundel, Brighton and Fr Ray. The only blight on the day was in catching the wrong train home and ending up in Clapham!
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