December 31,2011      Looking back on 2011

On this day we look back on the year that has finished:
the happy and the sad things, the good and the bad things

Christians on this day look back and say "thank you" and "sorry":
"thank you, God, for all your blessings during the past year
.... please forgive me for the things I've done wrong
and the good things I have failed to do"

My main job in Hong Kong for the past three years
has been visiting prisons and detention centers
+ some English teaching
+ helping with Masses in various parishes

When I look back through my weekly diary for 2011,
I am grateful for all the happy times - summarised in the 2011 photo file, below.
No photos from prisons - cameras not exactly welcome in prisons -
but many photos of gatherings for ex-inmates + drug users + street sleepers etc.

With gratitude I remember times of prayer for healing - see recently started file, below

If I need cheering up, I can check all the jokes and smiles of the past year - see file below

But 2011 has not been a good year for the church - if you're trying to follow the vision of Vatican 2.
The anti-Vatican 2 juggernaut has continued to inflict itself on church life,
no where more so than in the shameful treatment of Bishop Bill Morris
and the imposition, by a Machiavellian process, of the ghastly new liturgy translation

To see what I mean, please check the 2011 church issues file, below

Thank you God, for all the graces of 2011.
Please help us love you more
and care more for other people
in 2012

John Wotherspoon
- on annual holiday on the Gold Coast, Australia