Anna & The King...

...oh, ok... actually it was even better than that - Anna Arco got to meet the Holy Father.

I am soooooooo jealous.

At the Herald's pre-Papal Visit party, I jokingly said to Anna that when she went for the Conference, she should take me along as her official photographer, and then, while she hob-nobbed with the Holy Father, I would occupy myself by chatting to Mgr. Ganswein...

She didn't keep to her side of the bargain... *sniff*

...probably because she didn't actually expect to meet Pope Benedict. She did remember to pack the little black frock, but had a bit of a panic because she didn't have a mantilla handy - fortunately a friend came to her rescue!

Anna actually spoke to the Holy Father, and (this is where her professionalism kicked in... I'd have been gibbering quietly!) she told the Holy Father how much hope and joy his visit had brought to people in the UK.

And you can read Anna's own excellent talk at the Conference...

Pontifical High Mass...

I've been asked to advertise the following, and am delighted to be able to do so...

The Prior and community

of the Dominican Priory of the Holy Cross, Leicester

are pleased to announce:

PONTIFICAL SOLEMN HIGH MASS AT THE THRONE

followed by the consecration of a Shrine to the English Martyrs

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Wednesday 8th December, 2010 at 7pm

Celebrant: Bishop Malcolm McMahon, OP, Bishop of Nottingham

Clergy are invited to sit in choir. Please bring cotta and biretta, and stole if receiving communion. Clergy and servers who would like to take part are asked to contact the Sacristan - they would need to be free to attend a few rehearsals.

Happy Feast Day !

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary...

I must make sure that my camera batteries are all fully charged for this evening's Solemn High Mass...

Oh, and Terra has some interesting information about the Battle of Lepanto - the reason for today's feast...

How To Be Patronising, In One Easy Lesson...

I'm having a rant here. I've been seething for a while, and I need to share...

A little bird told me that a few priests commented unfavourably on the Holy Father's visit to the UK.

"Oh yes, it was a success... but it was too dominated by men... there weren't enough women involved..."

My first response was to utter "What the..." and then realise that the rest of that phrase was unsuitable... I was reduced to spluttering incoherently. What I wanted to say was that the statement was unbelievably patronising. On several counts.

Firstly, if it was a reference to the fact that the concelebrants were all male, well durrr! That's what happens when you have an all-male priesthood. Why should women be up there on the sanctuary if they are not fulfilling some liturgical function? Are you trying to suggest that there should be a few "token" women there, so that we don't feel left out??

Secondly, did you not notice all the serviettes, women readers, women bringing the gifts for the Offertory, women accompanying celebrants who were distributing Holy Communion? Is Carol Vordeman not a woman? (I believe she was a compere for one of the events, I forget which.) Do all those women not count?

What about all the women who helped in the background? The ones who washed and ironed the altar linens, the ones who ironed the concelebrants' vestments, the ones who organised pilgrim groups, the ones who worked with the children for the Big Assembly... Don't they count? Or, does the fact that they worked behind the scenes mean that they are unworthy of notice?

What about all those women who turned up to the events, often with their families in tow, just to catch a glimpse of the Holy Father on this historic occasion, who did nothing but show their love for the Holy Father and for the Church through their presence, their penance and their prayers? I guess they don't count either!

Which patronising idiot decreed that you had to be up there on the Sanctuary or you weren't "involved"?

It makes me soooooo mad.

There are only two types of people who would make that sort of statement: the hard-core feminists, who didn't turn up to the events anyway and the wishy-washy men who hope to curry favour with them by parroting politically-correct phrases without thinking them through...

Liturgical Chicken...

Courtesy of Hilary over at Orwell's Picnic. You click on this link, and then click play. The idea is to see how long you can survive before you have to click stop.

Looking at the link URL, it seems to be a setting for the new translation of the Gloria.

This blog post carries a health warning. I was frozen in shock for 50 seconds. I now need to go and have my ears syringed or something... I also need a restorative brandy. It is not a game for the faint-hearted...

...and certainly not a game for anyone who likes music.

Progress Report...

I was very, very touched by all the messages of support and prayers for Sylvester's recovery (when there was still hope for it) and prayers for me (once he'd died.)

I do miss him - we'd been together for over 13 years - and the flat feels rather empty without him.

Different people react in different ways to the loss of a pet. I have noticed some people eyeing me speculatively (His Hermeneuticalness looked ever so slightly wary as he expressed his condolences on his return from holiday, for example!) - it's as if they are unsure whether or not I'm going to burst into tears at the slightest mention of cats.

I'm not that type, I'm afraid.

It is true that I declared, at the tender age of 10, that I would never have another cat as long as I lived, because my darling Otto had disappeared (probably cat-napped for his fur - there had been a spate of cat disappearances in the area at the time.) But that resolution lasted all of 30 seconds after my mother fished out a sorry-looking kitten from the Blue Cross kitty-carrier, saying, "I totally understand how you feel, but let me take the kitten out just so she can have a drink of milk before I return her to the Blue Cross, darling!" One look at the poor mite toddling over to the saucer (she had rickets, which was why my mother had picked her, wanting to give her a better life) and my heart melted.

So, I intend to get a cat (possibly two, to keep each other company as I'm out quite a lot) as soon as possible. And yes, it is safe to tell cat jokes in my presence...

Photos...

I was given a "spare" rose to wear during the Rosary Procession yesterday. Just after Benediction, I happened to glance down, and caught sight of the rose against my black mantilla, and immediately thought it would make a beautiful photo... and so I aimed my camera...


Yes, I have reached the point where I assess everything in my life as a potential photo opportunity...

Seriously, though, I have been frustrated on more than one occasion when I have wanted a particular photo to illustrate a blog post, and all the best ones on Google Images turn out to be copyrighted by various photo companies. So, I decided that I'm going to start up a collection of stock photos, and keep them together on Flickr... of course, that means that anyone who uses them is supposed to give me a link back, and it's not supposed to be used for commercial purposes...

You can find them in my Stock Photo set...

Rosary Sunday...

On Sunday afternoon, as it was Rosary Sunday, we had the recitation of the rosary, a Marian Procession and Benediction. I was determined to get some good photos, especially of the statue of Our Lady - I thought that the ones I took on Saturday suffered from poor lighting arrangements!

It had rained pretty steadily all morning, culminating in a real downpour just before the Marian Procession was due to start, and that put a lot of people off. Several families were away at various events as well, so numbers were rather low. I had visions of the procession having to stay inside, but it seems that Our Lady wasn't too keen on that idea. The rain suddenly stopped, and, although it didn't happen in time for the photos, the sun came out for a while.

We started off with a hymn and the recitation of the rosary in front of the statue at the Lady Altar. I'm still using crutches to get around, although I can hobble about without them, the damp weather is making everything much more painful. I also suspect that I wrenched my knee a bit when carrying Sylvester to the vet - he weighed around 7kg, which is rather a lot of moggy to carry, even without a dodgy knee... As a result, I had taken the trouble to position myself carefully so as to get a clear view of the statue (there is a rather inconvenient pillar which gets in the way if I sit in the wrong position) as well as being able to get photos of Benediction, without having to change pews. Unfortunately, the best-laid plans of mice and men and all that... one of the servers needed to kneel at the main altar rail... completely blocking the view. If one of the younger servers had been there, it wouldn't have been such a problem (they're shorter!) I had to use the wonders of photoshop to compensate... I do hope that Stanley won't mind being photoshopped out...

I do love photoshop... Anyway, that was only a minor blip. After the rosary, Fr. Tim recited a prayer and then some ladies from the parish Union of Catholic Mothers carried the statue out of the church...

When the statue of Our Lady was returned to the Lady Altar, we then had Benediction at the High Altar. There was a little bit of a delay while the candles were lit...

Then Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament... I don't know why, but I always find the bow at the phrase veneremur cernui (from the Tantum ergo) very moving indeed - which is why it's one of my favourite shots...

We chanted the Litany of Loreto - I posted a video of that before; then Fr. Tim recited the longer prayer for England - the one which nearly made him blub. I guess facing ad orientem helps at times like that! After that, we received Benediction itself...

After the Divine Praises, Fr. Tim went back to the Lady Altar for the Salve Regina.

The whole thing was extremely moving - we need more devotional processions! I can't wait until Thursday - the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary!

Anniversary Of The Dedication Of The Church...

As promised, I had my proper camera with me at Mass today.

The weather was more like November than October, which messed up the lighting conditions, and, in retrospect, I would probably have been better off using the monopod. However, my knee is really painful in the cold, damp weather - I also think I strained it when carrying Sylvester to and from my car on his numerous visits to the vet last weekend - and I couldn't be bothered with a monopod as well as the crutches.

There was a wedding booked for the afternoon. The bride had been asked by the Sacristan to honour the floral colour scheme already chosen to decorate the church this weekend (yellow and white for the Holy Father and blue for Our Lady) and so the pews were adorned with yellow roses (and some white flowers) and some tree-like constructions were in evidence. This caused me some amusement, as I reflected what Sylvester would have done with them...

The schola was in good voice, and the Mass was wonderful - but then, it always is. Today was the anniversary of the consecration of the church of Our Lady of the Rosary. As a result, Fr. Tim's sermon touched on the need to keep churches as a sacred space, dedicated for the worship of God.

It was also the Feast of the Guardian Angels today. In the Ordinary Form this would have been completely superseded by the anniversary of the dedication of the parish church, but, in the Extraordinary Form, the Guardian Angels got commemorated as well, which is something I love... (I hasten to point out that the Guardian Angels were commemorated at Vespers, and not at Mass...)

We then went in to the Parish Club for a burger - the bar was also open for anyone who fancied a little liquid refreshment... I wasn't in the mood, so stuck to tea and coca cola... not at the same time, you understand...

The main wedding party arrived in a couple of rather nice cars - and I couldn't resist popping out to catch them on camera... One of the chauffeurs offered to take a picture of me beside the cars... I quickly explained that I loathe having my photo taken, and that his photographic skills would therefore not be required...

And then it was time for Vespers... I think I'm getting better at singing psalm tones: I was able to join in with most of them.

After Vespers, we went straight on to Benediction...

I love the way everyone bows at the line "veneremur cernui" in the Tantum ergo...

And then the Benediction itself...

A wonderful start to the month of October. Tomorrow we have a Marian Procession in the afternoon (3pm). I just hope that the weather is a bit drier than today...

October Devotions...

October being the month of the Holy Rosary, it is obviously an important one in the parish of Blackfen. Tomorrow (Saturday) is the anniversary of the consecration of the church, and it coincides with our monthly Missa Cantata. After Mass, there will be lunch in the Parish Club, and then Sung Vespers at 3pm.

Sunday is Rosary Sunday, and, to celebrate, we're having a Marian Procession at 3pm.

The following Thursday, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, there will be a Solemn High Mass at 8pm. Brother Lawrence Lew will be preaching - and getting a Dominican to preach on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary seems rather appropriate... Brother Lawrence is, if I am not mistaken, a deacon at the moment. He has a keen interest in photography, and has taken some awesome photos over the years. I think he still posts via Godzdogz, but I'm not sure if he has his own blog. His photos can, however, be admired on Flickr. I am extremely jealous, because, as a cleric, he has such amazing photo opportunities...

Some of the ladies were preparing the flowers for the next few days, and decorating a bier for the statue of Our Lady. It was fascinating to see it take shape. Sadly, it was decided that actually dressing up the statue in all its finery would be impractical for the procession, so decoration would be limited to flowers and perhaps a rosary. To annoy me further, I didn't have my snazzy camera to hand, but my iPhone camera was put to good use. However, I shall be armed with the Canon over the next few days, and will be sure to take plenty of photos.

In the meantime...

 

As I said, tomorrow I shall get "proper" photos...