BY ROGER WATSON The waiter suggested that I might want to try another restaurant as they had a sixteenth birthday party taking place that evening. He indicated a long table set for about twenty people but, as I had already been seated and had a panoramic view of the Boccadasse harbour in Genoa, I was reluctant to move. Then my heart sank. In walked twenty … Continue reading Eataly*
BY MICHAEL HURLEY When I came to Europe from the United States in 2015 to walk the Camino (the 500-mile ancient pilgrimage through northern Spain), I had the good fortune to fall in with a genial group of Brits. I was planning to visit the UK after my pilgrimage to finish a novel and explore the world left behind by my grandfather. He was born … Continue reading Land of Fear and Loathing
BY STEWART SLATER “F**k you, Nigel. You f***ing ghoul.” My faith (if it ever existed) was long gone by the age of 9, (the Almighty’s weekly unwillingness to answer my prayer that enough snow would have fallen to prevent my parents from attending church seemed, to my childish mind, conclusive and irrefutable proof of his non-existence), but even I know enough about our ostensible national … Continue reading Reverends & Refugees
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Henry of Huntingdon tells the story of King Canute who set his throne by the sea shore and commanded the incoming tide to halt and not to wet his feet and robes: Continuing to rise as usual [the tide] dashed over his feet and legs without respect to his royal person. Then the king leapt backwards, saying: ‘Let all men know how … Continue reading Canute Confusion
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You and Your families are well and healthy. Happy Fathers Day to all You fathers. Today the wind is battering the house with rain. The brown grass outside is gradually turning green. Leaves are flying everywhere. And I can see the family car is white – it has been brown with dust these last weeks … Continue reading A Prayer of Thanks for Rain
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine I trust that my weekly message and prayer find You well. This week I would like to focus on the developing world which too often faces suffering We fail to see or acknowledge. While back home We see stories of high inflation and moan about a cost of living crisis, We should do well to remember Our fellow … Continue reading A Prayer for the Developing World
BY DANIEL JUPP Despite being an atheist, I’ve come to realise how disastrous our abandonment of Christianity has been. Our entire western moral code was built around the Judaeo-Christian heritage. You simply cannot scrap that without terrible consequences. At one time every village church in England would be packed out, all the time. So much so that religious services were only a part of that. … Continue reading The Church Vacuum
BY ROGER WATSON With the Holy See in the grip of a South American Communist and the long but not so gradual decline of the Roman Catholic Church since the 1960s and the disaster known as the Second Vatican Council, nothing really surprises me any longer when I grit my teeth and join the faithful each Sunday morning for weekly Mass. From the caterwauling in … Continue reading Cafod Olé
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine I trust that You are well and healthy. This week I would like You to consider rural families and pray for them. Farming is a noble profession. The farm home is in some ways a most suitable place for a Christian family. The good earth is the greatest material gift of God to man. We believe that in … Continue reading A Prayer for Rural Families
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magzine, I trust that You are Your families are well and that You are having a joyful and relaxing weekend. The snowdrops and daffodils are either out or emerging and as I write this I see more than an hour of sunshine for the first time in many days. This week then let us look forward to Spring. It … Continue reading A Prayer for Spring
BY PHLEGYAS Let it never be said that the Church of England is lacking in leadership. Always looking ahead to the Big Issues of the day, and in doing so looking out for ourselves, we in the Church have identified a serious pandemic of Sin across the country. Worse, we, who pride ourselves on rooting out the Devil wherever he or they (sic) are lurking, … Continue reading Sin – A Modest Proposal
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine I trust that You are well this Sunday. If You are depressed and frustrated about Covid or just fed up with the grey autumnal skies then You can always watch Lord Botham versus the Aussies from 1981. This week I would like You to think of the lonely people near You. These could be family members or former work colleagues. … Continue reading A Prayer for the Lonely
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I wish You and Your loved ones well. I trust that You have had a good week since my last message. Whether it is the passing of a beloved family cat, news that an old friend has a serious bout of cancer, or a child in tears because his parents cannot patch up their marriage, I get bombarded every week with … Continue reading A Prayer For Survival
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You and Your families are well, that You are staying occupied and healthy. If You are one of the key workers, please take special care. You must stay safe. Covid 19 is a virus that We should really seek to avoid, almost as if it were dreamt up in a laboratory by those with evil … Continue reading Sunday Prayer
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and that Your families are healthy and safe. As another storm batters our country let us continue to pray for the flood victims and emergency services who are no doubt fed up by now of seeing the rain fall. Please pray for the several churches who lost their lead roofs this week … Continue reading A Prayer for Seamen
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You and Your families are well, dry and happy this Sunday morning. As Storm Dennis bears down on us, this week I’d like to pray for the victims of the storms and in particular those suffering flood damage. There are one hundred flood warnings across the country as I write this Sunday morning. Two people had … Continue reading A Prayer for Flood Victims
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine I trust that I find You well and that Your families are likewise happy and healthy. This week I would like to focus on pride. If You’re too conceited or self-important, something will happen to make You look foolish. Pride comes before a fall. We’ve all heard the warnings. Yet We still fail to distinguish between good and … Continue reading A Prayer to Distinguish Prides
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine I trust that You are well and that You and Your families are enjoying a happy start to the decade. I am sure You started the year with new hopes and full of gusto. Perhaps Your plans are taking shape. Perhaps they are more of a struggle than You had hoped. Well-laid plans need a good blend of … Continue reading A Prayer for Guidance
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and that You enjoyed Christmas festivities this year. I trust that You managed time to put Your feet up and are now tackling the twenties with full focus and panache. I hope this decade is a successful and peaceful decade for You and Your family. The decade has started with threats and … Continue reading A Prayer for the 2020’s
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and hopeful this December Sunday morning. I am sure that like me Your weekend has been fruitful and most enjoyable too. This week let us pray for justice, for the light to shine over the choices before us. It is election week and it’s also a time of year when we put … Continue reading A Prayer for Justice
