‘We Christians need more persecution’

In Westminster Cathedral a dozen or so deaf mutes are doing the Stations of the Cross. They have reached the 14th station, ‘Jesus is laid in the tomb’. A priest leads the prayers in sign language. ‘We, too, O God, will descend into the grave whenever it shall please Thee, as it shall please Thee, and wheresoever it shall please Thee.’

It is a humbling sight. The cathedral, though, is not to everyone’s taste. Many visitors are unhappy about the stations themselves, which were carved by the sex maniac Eric Gill. Others are distressed by the children’s paintings and Third World displays that appear from time to time in side chapels. Yet the cathedral is authentically Catholic. It is a house of the poor, for those who are not being cared for in the community. Tramps slumber in its pews. Holy women say the rosary or silently mouth prayers from ancient missals.