The Extra Parts Of The (Novus Ordo) Mass...

This snippet from Gloria TV News had me laughing out loud... and I just had to go and check out the whole blog-post Doina Buzut mentioned (at 1:23)



The excellent blog, by Larry D, is Acts of the Apostasy, and you can find the full description of the various extra Liturgies HERE.

Solemn High Mass For The Feast Of St. George

On Friday night there was a Solemn High Mass at St. Mary's, Chislehurst. There is usually a Mass in the Extraordinary Form each Friday evening, but as last Friday was the Solemnity of St. George in England, it was decided to make a bit of an effort.

It was also a Mass to celebrate the 30th. Wedding Anniversary of Greg and Aghi Clovis, a lovely couple who work tirelessly for the pro-life cause, and so there was a bit of a bash in the parish room afterwards. The younger servers were some of Greg and Aghi's children - I don't know them so well, and haven't quite figured out who is who. Sadly, Greg's brother was originally going to be one of the sacred ministers, but, due to that pesky Icelandic volcano, he couldn't make it back in time.

The church is beautiful - Napoleon III was buried there for a time before the Empress Eugenie took him off to Farnborough Abbey. The High Mass set of red vestments was borrowed from Blackfen - they are 19th. Century French. I had to keep a very sharp lookout after Mass to ensure that the entire set made its way back to the Blackfen sacristy. I also had the opportunity to admire the reliquary of St. John Bosco which had been on the altar during Mass. Sadly, Chislehurst's sacristan was keeping a beady eye on me, so it stayed in Chislehurst...

The background music is taken from Chants of the Ordinary, by Cantus Angeli, directed by Nick Gale. If you want to get a copy of the CD, you can visit the website.

Anyway, here's the slideshow: feast your eyes!

Is It Just Crass Stupidity?

Yesterday's news on the car-crash-in-slow-mo which is the Catholic Education Service of England & Wales (twitch of the mantilla to Leutgeb for that description) has been hurtling round my brain.

I can hardly credit that anyone with a modicum of intelligence, on appointing someone to such an important post, wouldn't think to check the candidate's Catholic credentials. Given that the voting records of MPs are easily available, one would have assumed that the easiest options available to any appointment panel for the CESEW would be either to do a Google Search on that person's name, or to phone up SPUC and ask them to check their records (which are pretty comprehensive, as John Smeaton demonstrated yesterday!)

I am reluctant to believe that everyone working at the CES is several sandwiches short of a picnic.

I am even more reluctant to believe that Bishop Malcolm McMahon, as Chairman of the CES, is a blithering idiot.

And I am totally unable to believe that Archbishop Vincent Nichols, as President of the Bishops' Conference, is a half-wit.

So, there must be some other reason why these people did not, in what was described as "a rigorous selection process" do the blindingly obvious check on Mr. Pope's voting behaviour on matters concerning Catholics.

The only alternative reason I can think of is even more disturbing than that of sheer incompetence and stupidity. It is quite simply that the Bishops of England & Wales, and hence the CES, do not consider the teachings of the Catholic Church to be important. They might not even believe them to be true.

Once you accept that, then it all makes sense.

If the teachings of the Catholic Church on human sexuality, the family, and the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death are important, then how a person has actually voted on these issues would have been an essential part of any selection process. The only reason such teachings would be considered important is that they are the truth. Therefore, the only way one can justify ignoring such a voting record is if one does not believe the teachings of the Church on such issues to be true.

And if the Bishops of England & Wales do not believe what the Church teaches, then the whole lot of them should be retired, and fast. We need shepherds who will proclaim the truths of the Faith courageously... and they won't do that if they don't believe it themselves.

The Holy Father made a rather pointed remark during the recent ad limina visit of the Bishops of England & Wales. He said,

"I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended."

The message doesn't appear to have been heeded.

Please, Holy Father, give us some good Bishops: the sheep of your flock are under attack, and it seems that the shepherds have joined forces with the wolves.

"Catholic-In-Name-Only" Education Service?

I am just so taken aback by the news, highlighted by John Smeaton and Damian Thompson, that the soon to be renamed "So-Called-Catholic" Education Service has appointed a Deputy Director with an anti-life, anti-Catholic voting record to make Tony Blair look like a candidate for sainthood.

Oona Stannard apparently welcomed the appointment, according to the Press Release. I'm sure she did... it'll take the heat off her after the shameful debacle over the Children, Schools and Families Bill...

The CES colluded with the Government in drawing up the Bill, and claimed that Catholic schools could continue to teach according to the tenets of the Church, despite statements from the Government stating the exact opposite. The only reason that the final version of the Bill omitted contentious clauses was because of the fuss made by ordinary Catholics - in the blogosphere and by letter - which made the Conservatives realise that there might be votes in opposing them, and the lack of parliamentary time available before the election meant that the clauses were quietly dropped because there wasn't time to get them through if there was any opposition.

Greg Pope's statement that "The CESEW is widely respected for the work that it is doing under Oona Stannard’s leadership and I am very proud to be joining this successful team" reveals that he is just as successful in demonstrating ostrich-like tendencies as the CES (how can anyone say that the CESEW is widely respected and keep a straight face?) which, come to think of it, is most likely the reason why he was appointed in the first place.

This is a truly appalling gaffe, and only serves to confirm that the Bishops of England & Wales need to get rid of the CESEW as soon as humanly possible.

Famous !!! ...Well, Ok, Maybe Not Yet...

I was watching the latest clip on Gloria TV News, and, on a piece about Terry Nelson's excellent blog, I saw a picture which seemed vaguely familiar. I checked back on my own blog, and, sure enough, discovered it was one of my early photoshopping attempts.

Sadly, I didn't get a mention on Gloria TV News...

(The relevant bit is at 1:47)

Keeping Up With The Joneses...

My mobile phone contract generally comes up for renewal a month or two before that of His Hermeneuticalness. I proudly demonstrate my latest phone, he has a look, makes admiring noises, and then promptly goes one better, as newer models have generally come out by then.

This time, I thought I had everything trumped: I had the latest iPhone, with the newest OS, and the largest memory... and all for free. Ok, not actually free, but I hadn't paid any actual cash over and above my usual contract. As far as I'm concerned, that counts as free.

It looked as if I was going to win this one hands down. Fr. Tim looked at the iPhone and decided that he simply had to have one for his next upgrade. And, as far as I could work out, there wasn't anything better on the market, so I really had out-gadgetted Father Gadget (as some of the youngsters in the Parish had taken to calling him.)

Unfortunately, it appears that I may have gloated a little too soon. An engineer from Apple seems to have dropped a prototype in a bar. I find that highly suspicious, as does at least one other source, but it seems that the iPhone 4G is due out in June. Speculation that this was a hoax has been pretty much squashed by the news that, when Apple found out that a technology website, Gizmodo, had paid for the prototype, they wrote and asked for it back.

The thing that has me chewing the table in frustration is that the new iPhone has two cameras (front for chat and back) and that it has a bigger camera lens than the previous iPhone, as well as a flash. I pointed out that the camera was the main thing to let the iPhone down. Alas, I am not due for an upgrade for about 22 months...

Pulling No Punches...

I love the way Gloria TV tells it like it really is...

"In a remarkable display of journalistic ignorance of Catholic teaching..."

Viva Il Papa!

Today was the fifth anniversary of the election of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. That day was certainly a memorable one, and deservedly so. I blogged about how I heard the news, and, if you fancy a trip down memory lane, go and check out the post - there are pictures and two videos to help jog the memory, and I have another clip from the year before!

As a way of marking the anniversary, there was a Solemn High Mass at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane. Fr. Tim Finigan was celebrant, Fr. Patrick Hayward was deacon, and Fr. Charles Briggs was sub-deacon.

The Mass was the one for the Chair of St. Peter, and, in honour of the occasion, Fr. Tim preached a rousing sermon. We finished with a Te Deum and then a few verses of God bless our Pope: I think I shall have to learn that one off by heart, as I never seem to have a copy of the words to hand when I need them!

I had remembered to bring my camera, and so managed to take a few photos - I shall try to make a YouTube video with them when I have some time, but, in the interim, here are the highlights...

As far as forward-facing altars go, this one is pretty good, but I still want to take a large bulldozer to it, as it really spoils the line of sight to the High Altar...

I hope I haven't disappointed the very nice lady sitting behind me - she congratulated me on being a really good photographer (she had seen my photos used on Fr. Tim's blog) - in reality, of course, all I do is point the camera and click. The results are rather snazzy though!!

It's All Greek To Me...

I sometimes regret that I never had the opportunity to study Latin at school. I don't feel my lack of Greek to quite the same extent. I did, however, really enjoy watching this clip from the classic series, Yes Minister, where Bernard gets to hog the limelight for a change...

Mantilla-twitch to Hilary.