Several things. First, thank you for this excellent interview. It's lovely to read about another fan of Cecily Hallack: I have almost all her books, and was heavily influenced while still a Protestant by her children's novel The Adventure of the Amethyst. Second: our bishop here in the Portsmouth diocese, Bishop Philip Egan, is excellent - he was Bishop Davies' Vicar General before his appointment. And finally, two of the refugees from the School of the Annunciation have come down here to the Bournemouth Oratory in Formation (established by Bishop Egan), and have begun running workshops - we're very blessed! (www.bournemouthoratory.org.uk)

"Bishop Athanasius Schneider has been a great influence on me." - How often have I heard this phrase already.

But @Deacon Nick Donnelly too, has a great influence on Catholics.

Thanks for sharing so many personal things. Your biography would be a vivid hagiographical story/movie.

Reading this:

"My wife Martina has enthusiastically undertaken this journey with me and when I feel discouraged, she reminds me that Our Lord called me to be His deacon"

There is no greater natural force on earth than the love of wife and husband.

Only a man of God can see such miracles - greater than healings of the body, "A fellow blogger came across my work on Protect the Pope and later admitted to me that he had shared the prejudices and hostility towards Pope Benedict XVI. But as he read my rebuttals to the lies and disinformation being spread about the Holy Father, he began to change his mind. The day Pope Benedict landed in the UK this man realised that the Catholic Faith was true and that he wanted to become a Catholic."