This whole hectic schedule of events was due to a conflicting parish event after the youth night and the lateness of the St Joseph’s Day Eve party at Joseph House being on at a prohibitively late time for me to attend.

In the end the picture was printed (Thank God!) and present to the housemates, and it should now be hanging somewhere inside Joseph House.


Vincent Cavanagh
​19 Mar 2024

Now, as for an update on my previous update about working on writing down my experiences of WYD Lisbon, that’s no longer moving forward. I’m not joking when I write that it was a commandment from on high. And given how much I was reliving certain emotions to an unhealthy amount, I’m more than alright with just letting it drop and focusing on what God actually wants me to be focused on instead. 

Ask God before you leap into things whether you should be leaping into them at all.

​

P.S. Also, the writing was the reason that I only had a single day left to paint Joseph and Jesus. (Face palm) Oi vey!

*midst | as in: ‘in the midst of him’; not a synonym for ‘middle’​.

19 Mar 2024
For any update about the writing, you'll find it at the bottom of the next blog post.

Rather a heavily stylised drawing of a NSWGR D58 class, heavy goods steam locomotive.
None survived the cutter's blow-torch.

Vincent Cavanagh
~ 29 March 2023

Apart from the odd bit of raucousness and louder-than-strictly-necessary music, today's World Youth Day Formation Session #1 was reassuring in some places and most instructive for the rest.

Baring our bishop being the cause of a brief bout of embarrassment to myself with some overzealous joining-in, and encouragement on his part, with the recitation/practice of our Pilgrim Anthem. But that says more about me and my personal tastes than it does anything about senior clerical habits (pardon the pun).

I am left with much food for thought, and the odd form to fill out.


Vincent Cavanagh
~ 25 March 2023 

The only upside from some of this is coming across one academic who in her own way is coming to virtually the same conclusions that Pope Paul VI did in Humanae vitae almost* 55 years ago.

Her Substack can be found here, and an interview with her on YouTube, here.

Another upside, apart from some very pertinent and useful clips from Dr. Jordan Peterson’s many tours, has been discovering a lady of intellect and sense on YouTube under the name of Baggage Claim: claim the baggage in your life holding you down and make it your own.

She has some very refreshing and realistic essays on, to name but a few: difference between service and celebrity; how the far left attack the (often life-saving) work of Dr. Jordan Peterson; the ever-visible rise and exposure of Cultural Narcissism in current filmmaking; and the emasculation and derogation of male role models in film and pop–culture.


​WYD Lisbon 2023
So tomorrow is both the anniversary death of Caroline Chisholm and the First Formation Session for all WYD pilgrims in my diocese in the lead up to Lisbon 2023.

I am both desperate for the ball to begin rolling but also struggling at times to contain my panic to manageable levels.
Such is the way of being for a person who does not thrive on (nor is very much enamoured by) the living by the seat of your pants–lifestyle that so many others appear not only to embrace but incarnate within their whole being.

On a related note, our pilgrimage group has been branded “Magnify”. Personally, this does not sit true with me, and I am left to wonder how much analysis went into this decision.
I can very well understand, and sympathize with, the more obvious reasons for choosing Magnify: to increase or amplify something greatly (i.e., Mary’s “yes” to becoming the Mother of God).

But alternatively, the word magnify can also mean to increase for greater scrutiny certain faults or failures that have previously been ignored or pushed aside as being of “no real importance”, or “above my pay grade.”

I am wary of the double–sided nature of the choice of “Magnify” as the identifier for the diocesan pilgrimage. As the book of Genesis reminds us: words have power. Often beyond the borders of our physical perception.

Sadly, I appear to have been born a fault-finder.


And your art?
Yes, two-and-a-half weeks is a long time between posts.

I’ve been devoting my energy more pointedly of late towards a project that began all the way back in February. That is all that I can give myself permission to say at the present moment, because it is somewhat tangentially dependent upon whether or not certain things happen tomorrow.

I do know that my life is greatly diminished when I don’t draw or make art and I hope to get back into it.

Rather than fail admirably at trying to condense the epic life of Mrs Chisholm into a few measly paragraphs, I will direct you instead to the Friends of Caroline Chisholm website for a greater insight to her and her works than I could ever attempt to do justice within the confines of this blog.

Link to the Mrs Chisholm website.

St Peter Chanel is the Protomartyr of Oceania, and Patron of Wallis and Futuna.
He was a French Marist father and religious superior of seven fellow Marist missionaries sent out to the region, having left France on the 24th of December 1836.

Continuing with St Joseph, here are the 2 most recent images that I have done. Both of them where created with Copic alcohol-markers and water-based pens, with pencil under drawings.

"Most Chaste Heart of St Joseph." This one was made on the first Wednesday of March (2021), because every first Wednesday of the month is dedicated to St Joseph. This was an opportunity for me to do the Chaste Heart of St Joseph justice as I'd only previously done a very small version for CATHOLinktober, Day 19, "Chaste Heart of St Joseph". It was also a chance to try out some Bristol Pad paper that I'd bought earlier. 

"Reunion." Showing the reunion of St Joseph with Jesus after the crucifixion and before the resurrection. This was painted in honour of the feast day of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin (March 19), after having the haunting last few words from the poem Limbo by Sister Mary Ada running through my head that day.

Here are the last 2 stanzas from that poem:

And there He was
Splendid as the morning sun and fair
As only God is fair.
And they, confused with joy,
Knelt to adore
Seeing that he wore
Five crimson stars
He never had before.

No canticle at all was sung.
None toned a psalm, or raised a greeting song.
A silent man alone
Of all that throng
Found tongue --
Not any other.
Close to His heart
When the embrace was done,
Old Jospeh said,
"How is Your Mother,
How is Your Mother, Son?"


Until next time, God bless.