Wet, Wet, Wet...

I'm beginning to get a little irritable... just when I started to take an interest, and to understand what all the runs, not outs, wickets and innings actually meant, rain stopped play.

I was under the impression that "The Ashes" Test Series was supposed to be something of a big deal. I was slightly disconcerted, therefore, to learn that, unlike finals in football matches, there are cricket matches being played in other (drier) parts of the country. I'm slightly puzzled as to how cricket players can play for their country if their normal cricket team is playing somewhere else... or maybe one is in the England team and that is it, but the rules (sorry, Laws) for who plays what, when, and where must be very different from other games. No doubt that will be answered in my next tuition session...

Anyway, the Sainsbury's Online delivery driver who just delivered my (very wet) shopping thought that Australia would be very happy with the weather...

Jubilee Mass Order Of Service...

Some people like to see these things, especially if they are planning to do something similar themselves. The booklet really was very beautifully produced, but there appears to have been a bit of a glitch in the setting here, this being a Word File rather than a PDF, so the Adoro te devote isn't set out correctly here (it was in the booklet!)

UPDATE: Fr. Finigan has read this post in horror and, in order to maintain his reputation, has sent me the PDF file, which I have uploaded instead... much better!

JubileeBooklet pauls

More Jubilee Photos...

I dislike posts which are little more than a collection of photos, without any commentary - these are fine for friends and family who were present, as a reminder of an event, but they're not much use as blog posts. I know, I know, I have done it on occasion, but, I hope, not too often.

But I like to take lots of photos.

And my snazzy bit of camera kit means that I can now try to catch more than the main moments during the Mass.

As it happened, I was very nearly reduced to using my mobile phone camera, as, just as the bell rang before the Consecration, my camera battery died. Fortunately, I had had the good sense to pack my spare battery (having charged it beforehand... what foresight!) but my fingers were shaking as I desperately tried to change the battery in time!

So, to celebrate my achievement, this is a post with a few of those extra moments...

This one was for the priest's Confiteor...

And here I managed to catch the moment where priest, deacon and subdeacon all genuflected as they incensed the altar...

The incensing of the priest at the beginning of Mass...

The next two photos are ones I have often tried to catch, as I find them very moving, but I have rarely succeeded, mostly because the phone camera I have previously used just didn't have a fast enough shutter speed. First the priest blesses the deacon before he reads the Gospel...

And then the deacon kisses the priest's hand, while the priest holds the Book of the Gospels...

I was delighted to see that I had captured the bow of priest and deacon after the priest was incensed...

Here, the thurifer incenses the deacon...

Another rarely caught moment (well, rarely for me) as the deacon and subdeacon exchange the Pax...

The priest gives the final blessing...

I didn't manage to get the genuflection during the Last Gospel, as my hand slipped (I forgot my monopod!) but I did manage to get a shot from the beginning of the Te Deum, to show off the cope which was, I think, borrowed from Chislehurst...

It really was awesome. Mass with all the trimmings!

Ashes 2, British Summer Won?

Hmmmmn... there may be a slight hiatus in my cricketing education. Overnight rain means that the start of the third Ashes Test has been delayed. They want to examine the pitch at noon... ok, it probably isn't called a pitch, but no-one mentioned that bit.

Not quite sure why, in a country famed for rain in Summer, an outdoor sport played in Summer has to stop because the grass is a bit wet... No doubt this will be explained in the Parish Club after Rosary & Benediction tonight.

Ad Multos Annos...

Just in case you've been stuck in Outer Mongolia without any internet connections, yesterday saw the Silver Jubilee of Fr. Tim Finigan's Ordination to the Priesthood.

A few people have blogged about it already: the indomitable and utterly charming Fr. Z (on the far left of this photo) managed to get a post up - he was spotted taking sneaky (sorry, did I say sneaky? I meant to say discreet...) photos from his pew, and I'm not in any way put out by the fact that he had a better angle for his photos, or that he was closer. No, not a bit. I will be happy to accept a link from him by way of assuaging my hurt feelings, but, no, I'm not put out, much...

His Hermeneuticalness has posted as well, probably just the first of many; I suppose I should allow him the scoop, since it was his Jubilee, after all... and his photos are pretty good, but would have been better if I'd taken them, as I was sitting in a better position than Carl... (Hah!) ...though I will be happy to accept a link from His Hermeneuticalness in order to assuage any hurt feelings because he's got better photos by virtue of having a better camera (well, it has more buttons on it...)

Fr. Michael Clifton, better known as Fr. Mildew, has a piece on the Jubilee celebrations, and I get several honourable mentions, though, sadly, no links... I also see that I'm not on Fr. Mildew's Blogroll: this is surely an oversight... However, in un-curmudgeonly fashion, Fr. Mildew did consent to pose for a photo with Fr. Blake, seen here outside the marquee after Mass.

Fr. Ray Blake, Blogger and Parish Priest of St. Mary Magdalen's, Brighton, is even more charming than Fr. Z, if that is possible: imagine Fr. Z with a British upper-class accent and an air of insouciance, and you've got it, well, sort of...

The arrival of members of the visiting schola and a few others by a Routemaster bus caused a bit of a stir, not least among our youngest altar servers, who promptly took the opportunity to explore it. The Routemaster bus, so beloved by tourists as "typically British" is, sadly, rarely seen on the streets of London any more... due to a combination of health and safety concerns that people couldn't be trusted to get on and off the open-backed buses and cost-cutting measures which resulted in the introduction of driver-operated buses.

Before Mass, the UCM had arranged tea and coffee for those who had travelled some distance to get to Blackfen. The choir were having a brief last-minute run-through in the small hall, while the visiting schola did their warm-up in the cry chapel. I had a brief chance to greet a few priests I know, and then I returned to the church in order to prepare for Mass (and to make sure I got a good spot for taking photos!) The church had been re-ordered somewhat in order to accommodate the visiting clergy, and the choir sat at the side, but facing across the nave, an arrangement which seemed to work very well.

And then there was the Mass: well, what can I say? Dr. Alcuin Reid afterwards said to me that our servers were the best-trained he'd ever seen in a parish setting, which, coming from one of the foremost liturgical experts in the country, if not the world, is high praise indeed. There were about thirty clerics present - if any more had shown up, we would have needed to extend the Sanctuary... The singing was beautiful, and it was wonderful to hear both plainchant and polyphony being used.

Fr. Roger Nesbitt, co-founder of the FAITH Movement, gave the sermon, and he congratulated Fr. Tim on picking the Year of the Priest for his Jubilee, which was amusing. He also spoke very movingly on a theme which I hold dear: without priests, there is no Church, because there would be no Sacraments; he exhorted us therefore to pray for all our priests. I tried to video the sermon, but it didn't quite work, possibly because the light from the windows interfered with the colour balance (or something!) Before you ask, the boy in the photo reading what looks like a comic book is actually reading a copy of Know Your Mass which Fr. Tim has recommended for anyone who wants to understand the Usus Antiquior a little more.

My favourite heart-stopping moments of all time...

After Mass, we went over to the Parish Club for refreshments: a splendid marquee helped to ensure that there was room for everyone. Trefor from the Jubilee Committee had drawn the short straw, and had to make a speech before presenting Fr. Tim with the gift from the Parish: he did extremely well. Fr. Tim gave a speech of thanks (during which the microphone gave up the ghost!) and this was followed by the Old Romans present singing Ad Multos Annos, which was very moving.

Before the end of the evening, Fr. Tim went to cut the cake. I managed to get a perfect shot of the cake itself (by not using a flash) as well as positioning myself perfectly for the actual cutting of the cake. Carl, acting as official photographer, decided to stand behind the cake, for a better shot... and found his view promptly obscured when Fr. Tim went and stood right in front of him... Ha! Not that I'm being competitive or anything...

I did wonder whether Fr. Tim was thinking about The Suppository's editorial board... he was gripping the knife rather firmly, and the cake, beautifully baked and decorated by parishioners Maria and Bianca, wasn't at all hard to cut...

Finally, after a few more drinks and reminiscences, it was time to leave. I had left my car at home, and so, with Puella Paschalis (who, as an old friend, had arranged to stay with me overnight), I took a cab home. No photos of either of us, so don't bother asking... Puella had had a bad night and an even more fraught journey over from the Netherlands, so I couldn't keep her awake while I blogged away merrily, which is why I didn't get anything up any sooner. Hopefully, you will feel that the post was worth the wait.

A message to Fr. Tim: Congratulations on your Silver Jubilee, thank you for all the years of selfless devotion to God and His Church, and ad multos annos.

Blessing Of The Chalice...

I'm a bit slow getting the pictures up, partly because I'm not completely back into my blogging stride, but mostly because the photos weren't very good - well, Fr. Tim did insist on standing right in front of the chalice while he was blessing it, and I didn't feel able to march up on to the Sanctuary for a better shot...

I did manage to get a photo of the chalice on the altar before everything kicked off, and I cropped it so the chalice could be seen more clearly...

No Amnesty For The Unborn...

At the Blognic on Friday, Red Maria alerted the bloggers present to the report which Amnesty is due to publish on Monday, regarding human "rights" for women and girls in Nicaragua.

I used to be an enthusiastic supporter of the work of Amnesty International, and even helped to co-ordinate letter-writing campaigns in my parish as part of the Justice & Peace Group. However, when Amnesty decided that it would no longer support the most defenceless and vulnerable people of all, namely the unborn, I was forced to withdraw my support.

Now Amnesty are actively campaigning for abortion to be made legal in Nicaragua under the guise of "human rights"... this means, however, that the unborn children have no rights. By virtue of the fact that they cannot speak for themselves, they are of no importance, nothing more than an inconvenience, and they can therefore be discarded as worthless. But Amnesty used to be the organisation which prided itself on speaking out on behalf of those who could not speak for themselves, those considered worthless and inconvenient by the authorities...

When is a human being not worthy of the right to life...?