Wow !

The Pontifical High Mass at Westminster Cathedral was everything I hoped for, and more. It was incredibly moving to see the Cathedral completely packed out with people. Once again, I noticed that Communion was a very reverent affair, without the chatter which often accompanies large Masses (usually Novus Ordo).

I took a few photos with Fr. Tim's large camera (which was rather unwieldy, so they might be a bit blurred) and I took a few photos on my own phone camera. Not sure when I'll get access to the photos from Fr. Tim... it depends on how busy he is!

I was delighted to meet up with some fellow bloggers, including a few I haven't met before, especially Mark, Mhari and the Hound of Heaven. The Hound confessed that Badcat is probably going to provide much more in the way of blog material than the Hound himself, so I shall keep an eye out for relevant posts. I also got to meet Mike, who is a recent addition to my friends on Facebook. The internet is just so much fun!!!

It's now way past my official bedtime, so I shall continue tomorrow. In the meantime, I will just direct you to Fr. Tim's blog, where he has posted a comment by Justin about the Mass which says all that needs to be said, only much better than I ever could.

The Excitement Is Building...

Not since the release of Summorum Pontificum has there been such a sense of anticipation and excitement among British Bloggers. In fact, since the release of the Motu Proprio, a whole new set of people have been introduced to the beauty and reverence of the traditional Latin Mass, and so the excitement caused by this imminent event is possibly even greater...

The "event" is, of course, the Pontifical High Mass at Westminster Cathedral, with Cardinal Hoyos as the celebrant. Someone said that it's the first such event since the late 1960s. I know of people who will be making the effort to get to London for the Mass from all over the country. Hopefully, a good attendance will demonstrate to the powers-that-be that devotees of the TLM are not a dying breed, desperately clinging to the past and trying to drag the Church backwards, but that there is mainstream support, especially from young people, and they just want to be allowed to worship God in the same way that Catholics have done for centuries.

I believe that Blackfen will have a respectable showing: Fr. Tim is second assistant Deacon at the throne (or some such thing), two of our senior altar servers have specific roles (one is mitre bearer) and at least two of the younger servers are also involved somehow (I think!) I shall be entrusted with Fr. Tim's big camera, and I suspect that my life will be not worth living if I don't manage to get a few good shots.

If anyone wants to meet up afterwards, quite a few of us are planning to go to the Buckingham Arms in Petty France (not too far from the Cathedral, near St. James' Park tube station) for a drink or two.

(BTW, I know that the photo is actually from Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane... I didn't have a nice photo of the TLM at Westminster Cathedral!)

Cars...

This time last year, some workmen managed to smash my driver's-side car window. The window mechanism gave up the ghost through shock.

This afternoon, I was driving down the A2 when I decided that I needed to let a little of the day's accumulated heat escape from my car. I didn't want to have my hair flying over my face, so, using the control on my door, I opened the passenger-side window. Once the heat had escaped, I tried to close the window.

Nothing happened.

It seems that the window mechanism in the passenger door has now died on me.

Fortunately, having been through the replacement of one mechanism, I thought that I was pretty much prepared for this one. I drove straight to the franchise dealer, and asked to buy a window mechanism.

Unfortunately, they didn't have one in stock. They could get one for Thursday.

Fortunately, the garage mechanics thought they could push the window up into place and wedge it shut until the mechanism arrived.

Unfortunately, this didn't work... and they told me that the door would have to be taken off in order to move the glass into place... and this would take more than an hour... and then they'd have to do exactly the same thing on Thursday... and, of course, they'd need to charge me twice...

I'd watched the last mechanism being replaced. It didn't take an hour. More like twenty minutes, and that included hoovering up broken glass.

I rang Autoglass, who informed me that, unless the window was smashed, they couldn't help. The thought flitted through my mind: "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned, I chucked a brick through my car window..." but it was only a brief consideration. The chap then added that, although a callout wasn't possible, I might have more luck if I popped in to one of their centres.

I rang my local one. The chap who answered was very helpful, and noted that there would be a mechanic around some time after 10pm tonight, though there wasn't anyone available before then. But he was sure that he'd be able to manoeuvre the window back into place temporarily for me, and he wouldn't charge me an arm and a leg. "Those dealership guys," he said, "they'd like to charge you for breathing the oxygen in their showrooms!"

The car window has now been levered up into place, and wedged in securely (I hope!) At least I'll be able to park in the school car-park without worrying about what will get pushed in through an open window...

More Plugs...

An unsolicited plug, this time... at least, the blog author didn't contact me, but a friend who works tirelessly for the pro-life movement alerted me to the start-up of this new blog.

Pat Buckley is the director of European Life Network. He's only been blogging since June 4th. I suspect that the European Union is an even more dispiriting place in which to attempt to promote pro-life issues than the UK, so pop on over and boost his visitor stats (unfortunately it doesn't appear to be possible to leave comments... yet!)

Plugging Away...

The Hound of Heaven has commented and begged me to give him a plug, if I liked what I read on his new blog.

As a further inducement, the Hound informed me that he has a cat called Oliver, known locally as Badcat. This appeal to my fondness for all things feline is, in my opinion, totally shameless... and totally unconvincing when, given that his pet dog got a whole post to himself (along with a mention in the profile), Badcat does not feature once on the blog... not even in passing.

This discrimination must cease forthwith, and Badcat should be accorded the lofty status which (as a feline) is nothing more than his due.

UPDATE: Oliver's Exploits have indeed made it onto the Hound's blog. He sounds like a fascinating character, and deserves to be better known. His choosing to sleep on top of one of your elderly neighbours just demonstrates what a very affectionate creature he is...

A Quick Plug...

I've been asked to put up the following plug for St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association.

St. Conleth’s Catholic Heritage Association has been working for the provision of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin since 1995. We’d be very glad if you could (a) post about the new blog and (b) link to it.

In particular, we’d be glad if you could bring to the attention of your readers the news that there will be a Walking Pilgrimage for Vocations on Saturday, 12th July, 2008, commencing at 11 a.m. in St. Brigid’s Church, Milltown, County Kildare, Ireland, with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Missal of Blessed John XXIII) for which the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin has granted, under the usual conditions, the Plenary Indulgence for the Pauline Holy Year.

"Open Day" With A Twist...

I have a ghoulish sense of humour. The mental images conjured up when I saw the poster advertising our local cemetery "Open Day" made me chuckle. Apocalyptic visions interspersed with comparisons of coffin styles sprang to mind. Then I read the poster more carefully, and discovered that it was actually the crematorium which was having the Open Day, not the cemetery...

On being told that everything was open for viewing, I decided that this was just too good an opportunity to miss. I have always loved murder mysteries, and the best way to dispose of the evidence has got to be cremation. None of this "let's exhume the body and get the evidence several years after the event" mucking around.

I knew there was to be a service blessing some new memorial niches, and a Remembrance Service, but I was really keen to see the hardware. I rather sheepishly asked someone about the advertised guided tour (I didn't want to appear ghoulish!) and he immediately offered to escort me round. In fact, so immediate was the response, that I started to wonder if I might actually end up as part of the exhibition: "Please just walk in, Madam... don't panic, I'll just shut the door behind you so you can get a feel for the place, mwah ha ha..." and now, ladies and gents, here's one we prepared earlier...

Anyway, the chap brought me round through a chapel and into the room with all the ovens. He told me a bit about how it all worked, and then took me through to the automated control room. There were already several examples which had indeed been "prepared earlier" - in two categories: those who were to be placed carefully in the memorial garden under a rosebush or something (the location was carefully documented) and those referred to as the "takeaways."

Fast food will never seem the same again.

At this point another guide showed up, and took me in hand. Apparently the first guide shouldn't have been showing people round the ovens at all, he should have been taking photographs in the gardens... somewhat crestfallen, he reluctantly relinquished custody to the official guide. I think he'd been enjoying himself...

I was taken back to the ovens, and lots more information was given. I now know that the ovens operate at 800°C... and that the gases are not released immediately, but are held for 2.5 seconds to allow the dioxins to react fully (or something like that) ... I even got shown the cremulator, which basically ensures that all the bones are ground to a fine dust, and various metal bits can be sieved out...

I did begin to wonder whether maybe I was being mistaken for someone else, as several times I was reassured that environmental pollution standards were being adhered to... and that all the certification which came with each body had to match up, and that the documents for each person were moved with the body at each step (outside the ovens, obviously!) And then I realised that it was probably even more basic than that: I suspect that the people at the crematorium don't generally get to talk to others about their work. I guess that the people they usually see are generally rather upset, and not terribly interested in the mechanics of how darling aunt Mabel is being disposed of.

It did occur to me that this would make a brilliant Science trip for school...

The afternoon finished up with a Remembrance Service. This turned out to be hugely entertaining. The organist appeared to be enjoying the opportunity to interact with his audience, and started us off before the service with requests, which he played very well (without sheet music, as far as I could see) on the organ (which didn't do him justice, in my humble opinion... though a proper musician might correct me on that.) I requested (and got) Bach's Ave Maria, someone else asked for Handel's Largo, another person asked for Greensleeves. With each piece of music, the organist told us whether it was a popular one for funerals, who the composer was, or some little snippet of information.

The service proper was conducted by an Anglican priest, a Catholic priest (Fr. Tim) and a humanist "minister." The humanist refused to sit out at the front with the two priests, on the chair provided for him. There were three hymns and some readings from the Bible, and some prayers... the humanist seemed to be rather out on a limb, and his choice of reading (from The Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam) was pretty bizarre... I mean, it probably would have made total sense at a humanist cremation (though a bit insensitive - the upshot of the piece was that we're here for a time, and then it's curtains, and that's your lot, matey!) but I doubt that you'd get many humanists at a service where the aim was to pray for the deceased! So the people present didn't seem to know what to make of his reading at all... and I was trying very hard not to laugh...

All in all, a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon.