Confirmation According To The Usus Antiquior

A couple of the Confirmation candidates in my class this year had opted to go to St. James', Spanish Place, to be confirmed in the Traditional Rite. As catechist, I wanted to "see them done" and so I went along: it was another "first" for me.

The church is beautiful, with more statues and stained glass than you can shake a stick at...

Fr. Tim was either deacon or sub-deacon, I'm not sure which, and rather a lot of the servers seemed to be from Blackfen - eight or nine, I think. Their families came along too, and so we formed quite a respectable group!

I had problems keeping the camera still (I forgot my trusty monopod) and so messed up more than my usual number of photos. Still, I managed to get a reasonable selection to show...

Bishop George Stack, one of the Auxiliary Bishops in the Westminster Diocese, conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation (I think that is the correct term), and gave Benediction afterwards. Fr. Andrew Southwell was either deacon or sub-deacon (whatever Fr. Tim wasn't!)

Another new experience for me, and I think it will have to be a regular feature of my own personal calendar... hopefully I'll get better photos next year!

"Do You Know Him?"

A conversation this evening reminded me of this video, and, after watching it again, I decided to share...

Mantilla twitched in the direction of His Hermeneuticalness...

The CES Caves In On Sex Education

The Government has decided to stop the right of parents to withdraw their children from sex education lessons from the age of 15.

Interestingly, the Children's Secretary, Ed Balls,

"...suggested with the age of consent being 16 and with young people being able to vote at 18, it did not make sense for parents to have control over whether their children attended sex education classes right up until the age of 19."

Perhaps it doesn't make sense to allow parental control up to the age of 19, but the Government are still happy enough for parents to be legally responsible for ensuring their children attend school until the age of 16 - with dire threats of legal action for non-attendance. The Government are also quite happy to insist that all young people will have to remain in compulsory education until the age of 18. And there is no mention of a 15 year-old's right to opt out of sex education classes...

The CES claim that they are "comforted in the knowledge that our schools and colleges will do an exceptional job in providing Sex and Relationships Education, set within the teachings of the Catholic Church."

Having had occasion to protest, as a teacher in a Catholic School, the sex education provision of that school, particularly with regard to school nurses giving such lessons, and having my protest dismissed by the CES, I am not comforted by this knowledge. The whole statement from the CES demonstrates that they have completely caved in to Government pressure.

CESEW response to proposals relating to Sex and Relationships Education and parental rights.

The Catholic Education Service for England and Wales (CESEW) believes that Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) is vital in the education of young people. It enables factual information from reliable sources to be communicated and misinformation from peers or street culture or exploitation to be avoided. The CESEW also recognises that Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) is rightly a sensitive issue. We continue to wholeheartedly support the belief that parents are the first educators of their children, as well as recognising the significant roles and responsibilities of governing bodies on these issues.

Whilst disappointed that legal encumbrances mean that a blanket right of withdrawal can no longer apply, we are pleased that the Government has recognised that the right of withdrawal in formative years is most critical and is therefore providing for the ability of parents to opt-out of SRE up to the age of 15.

CESEW will continue to firmly uphold the position that parental rights remain vital, particularly but not exclusively, in those most formative and critical years up until the age of 15.

As age and growing independence brings young people ever closer to pressures, advertising and coercion to behaviour which can undermine the healthy life of young people, we are comforted in the knowledge that our schools and colleges will do an exceptional job in providing Sex and Relationships Education, set within the teachings of the Catholic Church.

One Of THOSE Days...

...or, to be more specific, one of the days on which Murphy's Law demonstrates its existence.

First lesson of the day. I have a student teacher in class with me. I'm prepared. I manage to get to the Science lab before my class arrive (they're still in assembly, which has overrun.) The practical equipment is on the front bench. I set up my computer to connect with the smartboard...

First glitch: the board refuses to orient itself, and so I can't actually write on the smartboard.

Quickly I put the computer away and write the title and date on the miniscule white board.

I then turn my attention to the practical equipment. It isn't quite what I had expected, so I examine the tray more carefully.

Second glitch: the practical equipment is actually for another teacher, for the following lesson, on a similar but different topic.

The class has, by this time, arrived in the lab. I grab the sheets I had intended to give them for homework, distribute them to the class with instructions for completion, and dispatch the student teacher to the prep room in search of the practical I actually ordered.

Luckily it has just been forgotten behind the prep room door, and is easily retrieved.

At the end of the practical, I ask for a quick show of hands to discuss the results. How many students found that their starch solution was digested by the boiled enzyme? (For the non-scientists among you, the starch should not be digested by the boiled enzyme, as high temperatures denature and inactivate enzymes, which are biological catalysts.)

Third glitch: all the students put up their hands to show that digestion was successful.

I exchange glances with the student teacher. One or two pupils might have made mistakes, but not all of them... it is possible, however, that the solutions were mixed up...

So, I test a small sample of the starch without any enzyme. It turns black when iodine is added. All well and good. I mix the starch with the normal enzyme, and add iodine. No change. All as it should be. I mixed the starch with the boiled enzyme... and add iodine. No change... which means that either someone, somewhere, has invented a super-enzyme which can withstand boiling (which will make me lots of money when I sell it to washing powder manufacturers) ... or, alternatively, that someone forgot to boil the enzyme...

Why is it that this sort of thing only ever happens when I'm being observed by another adult who is taking notes?

Overdue For A Blonde Joke !

A Blonde died, and was sent on her way to Heaven. Upon arrival, a concerned St. Peter met her at the Pearly Gates. "I'm sorry," St. Peter said, "But Heaven is suffering from an overload of goodly souls and we have been forced to put up an Entrance Exam for new arrivals to ease the burden of Heavenly Arrivals."

"That's cool," said the blonde, "What does the Entrance Exam consist of?"

"Just three questions," said St. Peter. "The first is, which two days of the week start with the letter 'T'? The second is: how many seconds are there in a year? and the third is: what was the name of the swagman in Waltzing Matilda?"

"Now," said St. Peter, "Go away and think about those questions and when I call upon you, I shall expect you to have those answers for me."

So the blonde went away and gave those three questions some considerable thought. The following morning, St. Peter called upon the blonde.

"Well," said St. Peter, "Which two days of the week start with the letter T?"

The blonde answered, "Easy! Today and tomorrow."

St. Peter pondered this answer for some time, and finally decided that indeed the answer couldn't be considered wrong.

"Well then, could I have your answer to the second question," St. Peter went on, "How many seconds in a year?"

The Blonde replied, "Even easier... Twelve!"

"Only twelve?" exclaimed St. Peter, "How did you arrive at that figure?"

"Well," said the Blonde, "There's the second of January, the second of February, the second of March... right through to the second of December, giving a total of twelve seconds."

St. Peter looked at the Blonde and said, "I need some time to consider your answer before I can give you a decision." And he walked away shaking his head.

A short time later, St. Peter returned to the Blonde. "God has said he'll allow the answer to stand, but you need to get the third and final question absolutely correct to be allowed into Heaven. Now, can you tell me the answer to the name of the swagman in Waltzing Matilda?"

The blonde replied: "This was the easiest of the lot! It's Andy."

St. Peter was completely flummoxed. "Andy??"

"Yes, Andy," said the Blonde.

St. Peter paced this way and that, deliberating the answer. Finally, he could not stand the suspense any longer, and turning to the Blonde, he asked "How in God's name did you arrive at that answer?"

"Well," said the blonde, "The song goes: Andy sat, Andy watched, Andy waited till his billy boiled."

And the blonde entered Heaven...

All Souls... (Slightly Later Than Intended!)

I started to put this post up yesterday, but, after the first day back at school, I was simply too tired to think straight.

All Souls really is one of my favourite feast days... just the thought of all those souls in Purgatory being "sprung" because of Plenary Indulgences obtained on their behalf by the likes of you and me. It's pretty awesome: we have the power to get someone to heaven! It also makes it an awesome responsibility, especially for the souls who, through no fault of their own, have no-one to pray for them.

It really is a sobering thought - St. Bernadette was concerned that people would forget to pray for her when she died - assuming that she had got to heaven already, whilst in reality she'd be languishing, forgotten, in Purgatory. As it so happens, she is in heaven, but if she was worried about not being prayed for, how much more should we be concerned... especially as there is so much eulogising of the dead at funerals these days!

Anyway, I meant to get a photo at the Mass, but forgot my camera. It must have been what old Siegfried Fraud* called "motivated forgetting" because I am sure I'd have been shot down in flames by everyone noticing the terribly white candles. Mea culpa, mea culpa, I forgot to change the candles to unbleached ones!

*As it so happens, Freud's work on the unconscious mind - as evidenced by motivated forgetting and parapraxes - is actually rather convincing. It's his stuff on psychosexual development and dreams which is crap!

Government Health Warning...

Not Enough Caffeine?

I don't think any of my lessons have failed quite as spectacularly as this one...

An Excellent Suggestion From Fr. Z...

While reminding us about the Plenary Indulgences available for All Souls' Day and for the first Thursday (the latter because of the Year of the Priest), Fr. Z has come up with a particularly good suggestion... gaining the Plenary Indulgence on behalf of deceased priests.

Just think... you'll have a priest-saint in heaven, who will be eternally grateful to you... literally!

(Yes, I know, Plenary Indulgences shouldn't be clocked up with an eye to being rewarded... but still, a Plenary Indulgence for a Holy Soul in Purgatory simply has to be better than one gained for oneself, if only because we are so likely to sin again, whereas, for the Holy Souls, the effect of the indulgence is permanent!)

English Catholic Heroines...

Remember that book I blogged about? You know, the one for which I wrote a chapter on St. Anne Line?

Well, it's now on Amazon!!!

Strangely, even though the book hasn't officially been published yet, there is a seller offering a "used" copy (like new) but at nearly £4 more than a brand new copy... a little confusing, I must say!

Twitch of the mantilla to Auntie Joanna.

Halloween Mass At Blackfen...

Hah! Bet that got a few of you to sit up and do a double-take!! There may even have been a few keyboards covered in spat-out coffee...

Noli timere, my blogging buddies, His Hermeneuticalness has not lost his marbles and started celebrating Mass ad pumpkinitum. And the only trick-or-treat to be seen was the delightful treat of Mass in the Extraordinary Form for All Hallows' Eve... (the Vigil of All Saints, geddit?)

I discovered a new setting on my camera - "continuous shots" - and I decided to try it out. I can see how this might be useful if you want to get "paparazzi" type photos, but, if you have a particular shot in mind, it's best to stick to single shot, and practice getting the timing just right! My experiment produced a total of 321 photos... which is a bit of a pain when going through to find out some of the best ones...

I did manage to capture this one of one of our youngest servers as thurifer, obviously perfecting his swing!

We were using a really heavy Missal, and the thurifer's brother had a tricky time with the Missal and stand...

After Mass, a few of us managed to find our way to a local hostelry for lunch... and then we returned to church for Round 2 - Solemn Vespers and Benediction...

Definitely the best way to celebrate Hallowe'en!

More From SiteMeter...

Checking out SiteMeter again, I find that an awful lot of visitors have found their way to me by searching for St. Cecilia's feast day... and they probably get put off by the post on St. Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde, and one or two other mentions.

Wanting to be helpful, I shall just point out that St. Cecilia's feast day is 22 November... in both the Extraordinary Form and the Ordinary Form (I think) although the 22nd being a Sunday messes it up a bit this year.

If you want to know a little more about the saint herself, you can check out the post I wrote a couple of years ago...

Showing Up The Parents...

My sister and her husband decided not to have their children baptised: I'm busy praying that it's a case of "not yet" rather than "not ever." We shall see.

I have made a few tentative overtures: glow-in-the-dark rosaries made an appearance on my recent visit, as did a little story book telling the events of the Nativity. This went down particularly well with my sister.

"Oh good," she exclaimed. "We'll start reading that one immediately!"

I was a little surprised by the response... however, it seems that last year, visiting the in-laws, Grandma had all the cousins around the crib, and she was telling the children all about Christmas.

"And, of course, we all know whose birthday it is on Christmas Day, don't we?"

To which my eldest nephew gleefully shouted out the answer:

"SANTA !"

That Time Of Year Again...

I was pretty surprised to note that November is nearly upon us. I mean, I knew it was the end of October, and that November follows October... but I hadn't quite connected the two.

There are only five weeks to go before I renew my vows.

After consultation with His Hermeneuticalness, I have opted to celebrate this on the first Saturday of December rather than sticking to a particular date: the visiting schola are here in the parish for the Missa Cantata, and they can help chant the Litany of Saints... and then there is the bun fight in the Large Hall afterwards.

I can't believe that it's been seven years...

If you are in the vicinity of Blackfen on December 5th, feel free to drop in. Mass is at the usual Saturday time of 10:30am, followed by Benediction, and my renewal of vows will happen after that, at about 12 noon. It's a short ceremony, so lunch will be at 12:30pm. I'm hoping that it will be possible to have the bar open as well. If you are planning to attend, can you let me know in the com-box (to give an idea of numbers for catering purposes) but please don't feel that you can't just show up...

Books Review

A while back, I was sent a couple of books to review. I felt a bit guilty, because I was just too busy to read anything at the time, and I was having my little crise de blogging. However, the Forty Hours at Blackfen proved to be a perfect opportunity to get on with some spiritual reading.

The first book I tackled was Go to Joseph by Fr. Richard Gilsdorf. It's a very small book, which, I thought, would make it an excellent one for use in meditation. The back cover has a sort of flap, designed, I think, to serve as a bookmark, but this is something which I find irritating, as the book doesn't then lie flat.

I found the book interesting, in that it considered how St. Joseph must have learned about the Annunciation, and why, despite being described as a "just man," he wouldn't fulfil the requirements of Jewish Law and denounce Mary (according to Mosaic Law, she should have been stoned.) There is also some consideration of the development of devotion to St. Joseph.

I did get a little frustrated, though. Several times, mention was made of stories and details which were "commonly held" due to devotional works and spiritual writings: this book, however, wanted to concentrate more on what was known from Scripture, which was fair enough, but it assumed a knowledge of these extra elements.

For example, there is mention of the story of Joseph's staff flowering, and so he was chosen to be betrothed to Mary; this is cited as the reason why statues of St. Joseph are shown with him carrying a lily-like flower. I had no idea of the story, and, even if it is mythical (as stated in this book), it obviously had a profound influence on common devotion to St. Joseph, if his iconography includes such details.

Another little gripe (for me) is the inclusion of "study questions" at the end of each chapter: they just take up valuable space, as far as I'm concerned, as this isn't a school textbook.

Overall, I found the book interesting, and I did like the prayers to St. Joseph included in an appendix. I think it is a useful prompt for use during a time of meditation.

The second book was, for me, less interesting, falling into the category of self-help books. This is a category which, perhaps because of my Psychology background, irritates me. Let the Oppressed Go Free: Breaking the Bonds of Addiction, by Cardinal Rigali, is the seventh title in the Shepherd's Voice series.

In a question-and-answer format rather like the old Penny Catechism, the book goes through what addiction is, a Christian understanding of addiction, and the importance of the Sacraments and prayer in overcoming addiction, as well as a brief explanation of the "Twelve Steps" approach.

It's a small book (more of a booklet, really) and it is clearly written; however, I found it difficult to know whether the book was being written for people with an addiction, or people whose loved ones have an addiction.

Both books can be ordered from the Catholic Word website.

More Than Slightly Disconcerting...

Checking out my SiteMeter stats (reassuring myself that someone is actually bothering to read what I write!) I happened to look at the "search words" filter, to see what sort of things people are searching for.

I was rather disconcerted to find that someone in India (in Maharashtra, Bombay, to be precise) had googled "how to induce heart failure"... the visit length was 0 seconds, so my post obviously wasn't what was required...

Atheists' Holiday Date Announced...

I was sent this in an email...

In Florida, an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians, Jews and observances of their holy days.

His argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, "Case Dismissed!"

The lawyer immediately stood, objecting to the ruling saying, "Your honour, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays."

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do. Your client, Counsel, is woefully ignorant."

The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists..."

The judge replied, "The calendar says April 1st is April Fools' Day. Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' It is the opinion of this court that, if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned."

It Just Got Better & Better...

Well, it's over. I managed to stay for the second night. I'm shattered, but in a good way, and my main concern at the moment is staying awake long enough to avoid a completely messed-up sleep pattern...

It's hard to describe the effects of the Quarant'Ore, but, at the end, after Our Lord was reposed in the tabernacle, many people said that they had experienced a slight twinge of regret that He was no longer "out in the open." That really sums it up: as Fr. Tim said in one of his sermons, "What people is so fortunate as to have its gods as close as our God is to us?"

The Real Presence never seemed so real, or so present, until, having had the opportunity to get "up close and personal" by spending time with Him, His Presence was withdrawn from me, (though only as far as the tabernacle) and that tiny distance left an emptiness, a sense of absence, a sense of loss. Not the sort of loss and emptiness associated with death; more the awareness that one is not with one's beloved.

I'm aware that I'm blathering on, and probably not making any sense at all. However, if you get the opportunity to attend a Quarant'Ore, just do it. Trust me on this one.

In the meantime, a few more photos...

With the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the High Altar, Mass on the second night was celebrated at the Lady Altar...

There was considerably less space available, and so the number of servers was reduced... and the angle from which I attempted to take the photo was terrible, so I couldn't "get" all of them in the shot anyway. I did manage to get this one during the sermon...

Some members of the parish Youth Group had stayed in the church all night, and so breakfast was arranged for them in the small hall... one of the mothers snaffled my camera to take this photo, so I'm afraid that makes it fair game blog-wise...

Later on, two of the regular servers passed on a few helpful tips to the newest (and tallest) recruit...

His Hermeneuticalness took the opportunity to catch up on praying his Office...

Mass on the Saturday, being the Mass of Reposition, was celebrated at the High Altar.

My favourite moment of the Mass...

We then had the Litany of the Saints and a procession around the church...

And the whole thing concluded with Benediction.

I am sure that our parish will gain many graces from having this devotion, and I'm delighted that Fr. Tim has decided it was so successful that it will become a regular part of our parish life.

Now I think I need to catch up on some sleep...