Hey... That Time Of Year Again...!

I feel sure that the years are going past more quickly. Someone ought to do a study of it... it's probably due to global warming or the hole in the ozone layer. They're generally blamed for everything else...

Chatting to a friend on the phone yesterday evening, I realised that there are only six weeks before I renew my vows. This year, because of the way things have panned out, I am having the celebration on Saturday 8th December, 2007. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception has got to be a great day to renew a dedication of my life to God and his Church!

It's been five years since I first made my vows. I can honestly say it was the best decision of my life (short of returning to the Church... though that wasn't a decision as such, more bowing to the inevitable!)

I'm not consecrated, although my manner of life is very similar. You can read more about the vows I've taken HERE, and one of the readings I had last year on the vow of chastity, by St. Francis de Sales, is posted HERE. For more information, try typing "vows" into the search box at the top of the blog, and you can see what comes up.

Anyway, the ceremony is at 12:30pm at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen, with lunch in the Hall afterwards. If any fellow bloggers are around, it would be great to see you (though a mention in the combox would be helpful for catering purposes!)

Dominicans Vs. Jesuits...

I read a scathing comment about feminists by a Dominican Cardinal over on Fr Z's blog. I liked it. It reminded me of an old joke about the relative success of the Dominican and Jesuit orders, especially as I seem to recall several references to Jesuits and their feminist leanings...

Anyway, the joke goes: which Order is most successful, the Jesuits or the Dominicans?
Answer: the Dominicans. The Dominican Order was started to combat the Albigensian (Cathar) heresy, the Jesuits to combat the Protestant heresy. When was the last time you met an Albigensian?

A Game of Cat and Mouse?

I saw this over at Catholic Mom of 10, and howled with laughter...

New Blog

The wonderful Sisters of the Gospel of Life have a new, more work-related blog. It's called the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative, and it is likely, as befits the name, to focus on the pro-life work which the Sisters do... as well as other pro-life matters. It will stand alongside the Sisters' own blog.

Pay them a visit (to both sites) and give them some encouragement.

Last Blonde Joke This Week...

A blonde was getting pretty desperate for money. She decided to go to the nicer, richer neighbourhoods around town and look for odd jobs as a handy woman. The first house she came to, a man answered the door and told her,"Yeah, I have a job for you. How would you like to paint the porch?"

"Sure that sounds great!" said the blonde.

"Well, how much do you want me to pay you?" asked the man.

"Is fifty bucks all right?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah, great. You'll find the paint and ladders you'll need in the garage."

The man went back into his house to his wife who had been listening.

"Fifty bucks!? Does she know the porch goes all the way around the house?" asked the wife.

"Well, she must, she was standing right on it!" her husband replied.

About 45 minutes later, the blonde knocked on the door. "I'm all finished," she told the surprised homeowner. The man was amazed.

"You painted the whole porch?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I even had some paint left, so I put on two coats!"

The man reached into his wallet to pay her.

"Oh, and by the way," said the blonde, "That's not a Porch, it's a Ferrari."

Saints' Days...

I get a little confused: I know that the feasts of the Beatified Martyrs of England and Wales (4th May) and the Forty Martyrs (the Canonised ones, 25th October) have been lumped together as the Martyrs of England & Wales, but I always forget on which day it is now celebrated.

Apparently, it should be the May date. Personally, I had no problem with a general separation of the canonised and the beatified martyrs (I believe that a miracle is needed before a Blessed can be elevated to a fully canonised saint), and I am unsure why today's celebration had to be scrapped - I mean, it's not as if it has had to be replaced by another saint's day...

However, as today was a feria, the parish Mass this morning was a votive one for the Forty Martyrs. Over at Owl of the Remove, the picture of the Forty Martyrs, painted for their Canonisation, was put up in their honour. It is one of my favourite pictures, and St. Anne Line, one of my patron saints, is shown... she's standing at the front left of the picture with keys hanging from her belt (she was housekeeper for Fr Gerard and kept a safehouse in London.)

Grrrr...

I arranged two appointments for today.

I've had a leaky overflow pipe for a couple of weeks, according to my neighbours, and the landlord informed me that he had a plumbing contract with British Gas. (British Gas?? For plumbing?? That was a new one on me!) I arranged the appointment for my half term week. The annual gas boiler check was also due, and to make life easier for myself, I booked it for the same day.

Now, unfortunately, although several supermarkets and retail outlets can arrange a specific delivery slot at half-hour intervals, and my cable TV company were able to book an appointment within a two-hour slot, British Gas do not seem to be able to do the same. It is a case of "morning" (any time from 7am to 1pm) or "afternoon" (the start time of which depended on who was speaking at the time, but it varied between 12pm and 2pm and finished at 6pm.) I picked the afternoon slot both times, as a morning one would prevent me from getting to Mass.

So I hot-footed it back from Mass this morning, and got on with a few household chores I'd been saving especially for half term...

At 11:30am, well before the official "slot," the phone rang. I was in the bathroom (Sod's Law in operation) so couldn't answer. When I phoned back, the gas heating engineer informed me that, since there had been no answer when he'd phoned, he'd gone on to his next job... he promised to return in "about an hour."

The plumber arrived half an hour later: there was just a washer which needed to be replaced, which was fine. I was delighted by this turn of events: it looked as though everything would be sorted pretty early...

...a case of crossing one's chickens before one's bridges are hatched...

Three hours later, I tried the heating engineer's mobile. No answer, so I left a polite voicemail message asking for an estimated time of arrival. An hour after that, I tried again... he answered (I heard a connection) and then he hung up. An hour after that, rapidly losing patience, I rang headquarters. The chap I spoke to was very apologetic.

Apparently, the engineer told the headquarters chap that my address didn't exist. He also said that there was no contact number... given that I was on the phone to headquarters at the time, and the address came up on their records (and I'd reported that the engineer had phoned me in the morning), I wonder what the chap said to the engineer. I was on hold, so I can only guess...

Another engineer is being sent round before 6pm.

UPDATE: He didn't turn up... Grrrrr!

It's All That Pope's Fault...!

I do get soooooo tired of all that "HIV/AIDS is increasing because the Catholic Church won't allow condoms" malarkey.

It is, after all, obvious to anyone with half a brain cell, that people who openly flout Church teaching on sex and marriage are going to be so very concerned about the Church's ban on condom use. Not.

Someone will, no doubt, trot out the excuse that it's the innocent wives, who get infected by their errant husbands, who need condoms. I doubt very much that the innocent wives get offered the option of condom use anyway, and if hubby is so careless of his wife's health that he's sleeping around, then he's hardly going to worry about a little thing like infecting her with a killer disease...

...because, knowing that condoms are not a guaranteed protection against HIV/AIDS, to sleep with her at all is to play Russian Roulette with her life.

Anyhow, the Curt Jester has a brilliant commentary on the statistical evidence that abstinence works and condoms don't, while Ma Beck has a very, very amusing rant along the lines of obedience to Church teaching. Check them out.

Online Petition

I mentioned a programme on abortion which was to be shown on Channel 4: Dispatches. I didn't get to see it as I was totally shattered, and I don't have a video recorder. Someone put a link to part of the programme in the combox, and I'm embedding it here... It isn't for the squeamish!



Anyway, now there's a petition to Gordon Brown asking for the time-limit on abortion to be brought down from 24 weeks to 16 weeks, in line with other European countries. I've signed, but I'm not entirely convinced that this is the best way to go... my fear is that, in order to gain agreement on the lower limit, political campaigners will agree to lifting the current requirement for a second doctor's signature, effectively ensuring abortion "on demand." I know it is, to all intents and purposes, effectively guaranteed anyway, but I feel it is important that the law is there. Maybe I'm wrong on this one. Comments gratefully received...

The petition can be found HERE.

Just A Blonde Having Fun...

A blonde and a lawyer are seated next to each other on a flight from Heathrow to New York. The lawyer asks if she would like to play a fun game? The blonde, tired, just wants to take a nap. Politely she declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks. The lawyer persists and explains that the game is easy and a lot of fun.

He explains, "I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5.00, and vice versa."

Again, she declines and tries to get some sleep. The lawyer, very persistent, says, "Okay, if you don't know the answer you pay me $5.00, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you $500.00." This catches the blonde's attention and, figuring there will be no end to this torment unless she plays, agrees to the game.

The lawyer asks the first question. "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?" The blonde doesn't say a word, reaches into her purse, pulls out a $5.00 bill and hands it to the lawyer.

"Okay," says the lawyer," your turn." She asks the lawyer, "What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four legs?" The lawyer, puzzled, takes out his laptop computer and searches all his references. No answer. He taps into the air phone with his modem and searches the Internet and the Library of Congress. No answer. Frustrated, he sends e-mails to all his friends and coworkers, to no avail. After an hour, he wakes the blonde and hands her $500.00.

The blonde says, "Thank you," and turns back to get some more sleep.

The lawyer, who is more than a little miffed, wakes the blonde and asks, "Well, what's the answer?" Without a word, the blonde reaches into her purse, hands the lawyer $5.00, and goes back to sleep.

Big Brother Has Big Connexions...

Being a teacher, I had heard about "Connexions" a while back with reference to Careers advice in secondary schools. I have little time for "careers advice" as it generally bears little relation, in my opinion, to the abilities and aptitudes of the students I have come across. The number of students who seemed to think they could become doctors when they would, in reality, be lucky to scrape 5 GCSEs, always left me speechless, for example. And I never heard any of the brighter pupils being encouraged to think of Oxbridge applications.

Then, a friend with teenage children told me some of the stuff that Connexions wanted to know: the child's mobile phone number being the most worrying. They also seemed to be gearing up to offer "healthcare" advice, which, as we all know, is a convenient euphemism for contraceptive advice, abortion services and STD checks. Then I changed jobs, and went to a Sixth Form College: the Connexions advisor came in, and seemed very keen to get the teenagers to visit the Connextions centre in the High Street, with emphasis on the fact that it was all confidential. Students were also told that, if they preferred, any meetings could be arranged in a local coffee shop or fast food outlet of their choice.

I doubt that parents were being told of the arrangements being made to meet with their children...

Now I read that the WhiteStone Name Seeker has run into the Connexions posse: only this time they have taken the liberty of "following up" the progress of her 16-year-old son by calling at his home and demanding information. Apparently the government "requires" it.

Orwell didn't know how right he was...

How To Really Mess Up Your Day...

I have no idea where this is. I am relieved to note that it must be somewhere on the other side of the pond (I spotted the Stars & Stripes) but I hope to goodness that we never get it happening here.

What the woman thinks she's doing with the scallop shell is anyone's guess...


Twitch of the mantilla to Gillibrand at Catholic Church Conservation.

UPDATE: A few people seem to have gotten the wrong end of the stick... the woman appears to be acting as some sort of "stealth priestess" here, as is shown in one or two of the other photos, which, to avoid further confusion, I will post below... I was hoping to avoid doing so, because I wanted to retain my dinner, but...

Bloggers Choice Awards

Ok, I'm done with being modest and reticent... I did that last year and it didn't get me anywhere. The Bloggers' Choice Awards 2008 are up and running. You can vote for the big hitters, such as the excellent Fr. Zuhlsdorf, and the British Catholic Blogmeister, Fr. Tim, but you can vote for me as well...

So far I'm on Page 60 because I haven't got any votes, and my blog name begins with "M" !!

Ma's Music Meme

Ok, Ma Beck tagged anyone who has prayed the Rosary in the past week... which means I'm "it"... especially as I'm short on profound thoughts (hence the ham bush!)

What song is in your head?

Requiem for Evita - the opening (and closing) refrains from Evita - the original cast recording with Elaine Paige and David Essex, I hasten to add, not the rather poor imitation mangled by Madonna. The opening lines (after "Requiem aeternum") are actually the words to the Salve Regina. Quite catchy!

What is the newest album in your collection?

"Newest" as in "most recently acquired" or "newest" as in most recently published? Because if it's the former, then Annie Lennox's Diva (I had the album on cassette for years, but finally got round to getting the CD last month); most recently published, Schola Cantamus Plainsong for Parishes.

What is the top album on your wish list?

Don't have one. I'm more of an impulse music buyer... and a very infrequent one at that.

What is the most recent live music event you have attended?

Hmmmn. Does a Christmas carol concert count? Actually, I did attend a parish music evening back in August where some young people played various instruments and sang. They were pretty good, so I guess that counts as "live music."

What is the top live music event on your wish list?

Again, I don't really have a live music wish list... though it would be great to hear Leutgeb play her new viola...

What are the top three albums currently in rotation at your house?

The music from Evita (original cast recording as explained earlier), Abba's Voulez Vous and Annie Lennox's Diva.

Ok, I'm going to tag Mark (because he's suffering winter blues and needs distracting), Fr. Justin (because he's been awfully quiet of late), Fr. Paul (so that he doesn't feel lonely now he's back in the Lune Valley) and Leutgeb (as she's a musician, her answers should be worth reading.)

Time For Another Joke...

Two Mexicans were in the desert. They had been lost for days, and were on their last legs. Suddenly Pepe stopped short and sniffed.

"Hey, José, do you smell sometheeng?"

"Si, Pepe... what do you theenk eet ees?"

"I don't know, José... let's go look..."

The two of them crawl over the next sand dune. There up ahead is a large tree with different cuts of meat hanging off the branches. There is gammon, back bacon, rashers of streaky bacon and Pepe points excitedly: "There!" he says, "José, we are saved... over there is a bacon tree!"

José cautions his friend: "Pepe, we are in the desert. How do you know thees ees not a meerage?"

Pepe pats José on the shoulder. "My friend, when deed you ever hear of a meerage that smelt so good... I tell you, we are saved!"

He crawled rapidly towards the tree. Suddenly, a barrage of gunfire breaks out, and Pepe collapses. With his last breath, he attempts to warn his friend...

"José, my friend... do not come any closer... you was right...! Thees ees not a bacon tree..."

"Pepe, Pepe!" José shouted, "What ees eet?"

"José, ees not a bacon tree... ees a ham bush!"

The "If I Were Cardinal" Meme...

Heheheheh... the campaign to get Fr. Ray Blake a red hat in Westminster has really taken off, and is providing no little amusement for all concerned. However, Fr. Ray also managed to get his revenge by starting a new meme: If I were Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster I would...

Fr. Ray challenged me. I protested that I was exempt, as there was no way a woman could be a priest, let alone a Cardinal Archbishop. Ha!

My triumph was short-lived: Fr. Ray told me to imagine that I was the power behind the throne, a trusted advisor. My comment that this was the problem in the first place (too many wimmins' libbers putting the boot in) fell on deaf ears.

So, in order to avoid being given "Wimmins' Ishoos" as a portfolio, I shall have to knuckle down and do some hard thinking...

Ok, If I was advisor to the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, I would recommend that...

- the immediate consecration of the diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary take place.

- all hymn books should be burned. An authorised Catholic Hymnal would be issued, containing all the original un-pc versions of hymns written before 1950. Any hymns written after 1950 would have to obtain the Nihil obstat and Imprimatur before being added to the Hymnal.

- all Holy Days of Obligation should be restored to their original days. These days would be reinstated as major religious holidays.

- liturgical dance and "acting out of the Gospel" at Mass should be banned.

- euphemistic monsters would be prohibited at Mass. Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion would only be permitted in order to take Communion to the Sick and Housebound.

- Catholic schools would have to demonstrate that they had more than 90% pupils and staff going to Sunday Mass. Schools which failed to fulfil this requirement would be closed. The money saved could be used for the schools which remained, and for parish catechesis. The smaller number of Catholic schools which remained would be exempted from the National Curriculum. Holy Days of Obligation would be days off school. The Easter Holiday would be Holy Week and the Octave of Easter.

- plus all the stuff on Fr. Ray's manifesto...

Hair Update...

I had a few requests to show my "new" hair colour... and since I'm quite pleased with it, I thought I'd post the photo I took...

What?? You wanted to see the hair colour! I don't need to show the rest of me!

Lune Valley Thinking in Blackfen

Fr. Paul Harrison came to Blackfen this morning for a little visitation. Unfortunately, I completely forgot my mobile phone this morning, so didn't manage to snap a photo for the blog. He and Fr. Tim tootled off somewhere nice for lunch, so I hope that Fr. Paul's absent gallbladder didn't impinge on the menu options available...

Quiz Time Again...

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Non-Reader
Fad Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Twitch of the mantilla to Ttony of the Muniment Room

Confession

I am very lucky: Confessions are available in my parish at a time which suits me very well, and my PP is good when it comes to hearing Confessions and dealing with the issues which arise.

I haven't always been so lucky. I have had comments which have discouraged me ("Do you always go to Confession this often?") and comments which have been completely off the wall ("It's not good to be alone. You should get married!") It is also disconcerting to be told to confess only one sin, and to ignore the others.

Despite plenty of practice, easy availability and a good Confessor, I still find it very difficult to go to Confession: I don't really like to admit that I've been in the wrong. So it's helpful to look at the Sacrament in detail every now and then, in order to ensure that things aren't being skipped over too lightly.

Fr Zuhlsdorf has, very helpfully, put up a re-post of his 20 rules for penitents. And Fr. Ray Blake has taken the opportunity to post a few recommendations for priests hearing Confession. Definitely well worth a read.

Wooohooo !

Half term holidays have begun. Not a moment too soon - I was perilously close to oversleeping this morning!

I haven't really planned very much for this holiday, knowing that I need all the sleep I can get.

I Love Teaching...

...Something I really missed last year: the sheer enthusiasm of Year 7 kids! These are the 11-12 year-olds who started at "Big School" back in September.

Today I taught them how to make a microscope slide with onion epidermis. Each group had to set up their own microscope, extract the layer of onion epidermis, put it on the slide, add iodine, put on a cover slip (avoiding air bubbles) and then have a look at their slide down the microscope.

"Proper" science stuff. The kids loved it, and were terribly excited when they actually saw the results - and then went round looking at everyone else's slides. Suddenly all the stuff in the textbook became real for them.

Lucky For Me...

...Very lucky indeed, that I have found a hairdresser who understands what I mean when I describe the hair colour I want to achieve. After falling asleep during a staff meeting this afternoon, (well, it was very tedious!) I went on to fall asleep (briefly) in the salon while waiting for my hair colour to develop.

My hair looks pretty good (even if I do say so myself!)

It might, however, be a good idea for me to go and have a very early night.

Half-term cannot come quickly enough!

Idle Speculations...

It would appear that a few fellow bloggers have weighed in on the Westminster Sweepstakes with the consideration of Fr. Ray Blake for the top job!

Fr. Ray, true to form, has thrown down the gauntlet by publishing his very own "to-do" list if such a miracle ever came to pass. Of course, the list is such a good one that he has totally scuppered any chances he may or may not have had...

Several friends of mine have muttered for years that Fr. Tim Finigan (of Hermeneutic fame) would make an excellent Bishop... IMHO, for what it's worth, this is another case of flying pigs... I think that Fr. Tim would be far too frightening a prospect for the current Bishops' Conference to countenance such a move. And I suspect that, after reading his list, their Lordships will immediately put Fr. Ray into the same category...

As for the proposal to put me in charge of RE teaching in schools, I demand to know what I have done to deserve such a poisoned chalice... I thought Fr. Ray liked me...

UPDATE: Through some careless mistake, Fr. Ray forgot to appoint Karen H. as his Campaign and Publicity Co-ordinator. Luckily Karen accepted the job anyway. Check out her excellent campaign material HERE.

Dinner & Dance...

I needed a little light relief this evening: I've been immersed in exercise books and red pen for several days (apart from weekends: I'm trying not to bring home books, just lots of lesson planning... still, every little helps!)

Anyway, I could have phoned out for a take-away, but I felt I needed a change of scene. Added to which, I fancied a glass of wine with dinner, and didn't have anything suitable in the flat. I hate to open a bottle of wine when I know that I'm just going to have a single glass and then nothing for several days... So I ventured out into my local neighbourhood, as there are a few eateries along my local High Street.

The nearest one to me was closed for refurbishment, so I was forced to go a little further afield.

The restaurant in which I finally fetched up was one I hadn't visited before, and it was a bit of a shock. There was a doorman, dressed completely in white (including a turban) looking remarkably like one of the Indian servants from "It Ain't Half Hot Mum." I was fascinated: he spent the entire duration of my stay by the door, almost like a nightclub bouncer. Come to think of it, given the fact that there are some very roudy teenagers who go round in gangs near where I live, that could be his actual role...!

There were a few other diners in evidence, but the place was mostly empty: not surprising for the middle of the working week. I had brought a book, and settled down to enjoy my lamb pasanda with a glass of very good house white.

To my surprise, even though it was mid-week, there was live entertainment. Apparently it is different each night. Tonight we had a belly dancer. Not a real one - the young lady concerned had the sort of figure favoured by Western culture, and there wasn't much "belly" although her abdominal region was very much on display. A friend of mine from a few years back trained as a belly dancer, and watching her abdominal muscles gyrate was quite an eye-opener... this evening's dancer didn't attempt anything of the sort, but there was much waving of arms, legs and chest.

I noticed that she ventured round to a couple of tables when there were male diners in evidence, but she sort of lost interest and stuck firmly to the dance floor once they'd left. It occurred to me that dancing round the tables could actually be quite intrusive. I'd be interested to hear what my male readers thought about this sort of thing...

...And It's Only The Start Of The Week...

I have been busy today. While teaching about polymers (*big yawn*), I've been getting my Year 10 classes to make "silly putty" out of PVA glue and borax solution.

...but this does not make for a peaceful and uneventful lesson...

...the stuff bounces...

...and now I'm pretty much pooped! No more blogging for today... I'll be back tomorrow.

When Kitty Wants Breakfast...

A friend sent me this by email, and it was just soooooo like Sylvester's morning routine that I just had to upload it to YouTube...


...now if I could just train Sylvester to wake me at a specific time...

How To Spoil A Good Book...

...Jesus dies on page 1126 !

There May Be Trouble Ahead...

Not content with the furore over the MMR jab (which, IMHO, could have been avoided simply by allowing parents to opt for immunisation with three separate jabs for measles, mumps and rubella - it was the triple jab which occasioned the autism controversy), the Department of Health wants to bring in a new jab: the plan is to give jabs against the human papilloma virus (HPV) to all girls in Year 7 (that's the old First Year of secondary school for any middle-aged readers from England, and 11-12 year-olds for the rest of you.)

The Daily Mail has an article on it (I was in the garage a long time), though either they got the age-range wrong, or the Year Group for whom the immunisation programme is planned. Year 7's are 11-12 years old.

There are (surprise, surprise!) questions as to how safe this vaccine is.

Dr Szarewski [a researcher from the Wolfson Institute, London, who researches the effects of HPV] said safety data showed vaccination caused very few side-effects apart from a sore arm and some people who experienced flu-like symptoms.

But Jackie Fletcher of the vaccine awareness group JABS said: "We're worried about side effects reported in the U.S. including Guillain Barre syndrome, fainting spells and short seizures."

HPV is, of course, spread through sex, and the more partners a woman has, the more likely she is to contract HPV. Is it just me who finds it odd that no-one is mentioning abstinence as a sure-fire way of avoiding the virus?

...and how much do you want to bet that these 11 year-olds will be handed out condoms by the school nurse, to accompany the jabs... just to be on the "safe" side?

One To Watch...?

While waiting for the car tyres to be replaced, I amused myself by reading a paper... not something I do very often, as I usually get the news from the internet and (*sheepish grin*) the radio.

So I was interested to see in today's Daily Mail, a double-page spread alerting readers to a television programme next week. The programme, Channel 4's Dispatches, will give details about what actually happens to a foetus when it is aborted. The article was concentrating on the number of late abortions which are carried out in the UK, far later than allowed elsewhere, and highlighting the fact that modern medicine calls into question the idea that a foetus doesn't feel pain before 26 weeks' gestation.

The journalist who wrote the article, Deborah Davies, gives the impression that she is very much in favour of a woman's right to choose, but she is clearly unhappy with the number of abortions which are performed after 12-14 weeks' gestation... and obviously shocked by what medical staff have told her about the procedures used for such late-term abortions. I can't agree with her description of abortions in the first 12 weeks needing only a "simple" suction procedure - it's all pretty gross when you consider that a human life is at stake - but I'm interested to read that more and more people are beginning to question where a foetus is considered to be a "baby" in the making.

The article headline certainly made me sit up: "It's the great abortion taboo: what really happens to an unborn baby when a doctor terminates its life. Next week on TV, a surgeon finally breaks that silence. His words will shock you, but they need to be heard."

The article is also available online HERE. The Dispatches programme, "Abortion: What We Need to Know," is on Channel 4, Wednesday, 17th October 2007 at 10:40pm.

It's Been One Of Those Days...

I was a real cross-patch this morning. Last night, our parish sacristan had phoned to say she was feeling ill, and wouldn't be there to set up for Saturday morning's Mass and Benediction. So, no Saturday morning lie-in for me! Bleary-eyed, wet-haired and thoroughly disgruntled, I drove in early. Luckily, there is something soothing about preparing the sacred vessels for Mass. By the time I was able to sit down to pray the Office, I had regained a little composure, and was feeling slightly ashamed of my bad-temper. On the plus side, living alone means that I hadn't actually taken my temper out on anyone, but that wasn't the point.

I then found out that the wedding booked for this afternoon was actually a full-blown Nuptial Mass.

And then I was told that there was a Baptism between the wedding and Benediction.

And Sunday Mass after the wedding... I helped set up for the Baptism and prepared what I could for the Nuptial Mass, and then decamped... leaving the rest for the Deacon.

(I have no idea where Fr. Tim gets all his energy. I wish he'd bottle the stuff - I need some!)

Meanwhile, a friend of mine pointed out that one of my front car tyres was seriously flatter than the other. She offered to get her son to get it pumped up, but I said I'd go to a garage to get it checked out. I was sure that I'd had the tyres checked quite recently...

...and then realised that "recently" was somewhere in the region of three or four months and all I had done then was a check on the tyre pressure. It turned out that I needed all four tyres changed: three had degrading around the rim, and the fourth was balding on the inside. I thought I'd get the wheel alignment done while I was at it...

I'd hoped it could be done pretty quickly (I mean, how long does it take to change a tyre or two?) but a glut of customers also waiting for tyres to be sorted meant that the whole thing took about 2 hours... car garage waiting rooms are not the most comfortable of places...

Oh, the joys of car ownership!

21st Century Science?

Ok, this is a long post, and I warn you that I'm having a rant. Not quite such a major rant as the ones I have on pc language and heretical hymns, but close. Feel free to ignore this post, and come back tomorrow...

Although I trained as a Science teacher, I found myself straying into the Humanities for a couple of years. This September, I found myself back in the heart of the Science Curriculum. I'm now teaching 21st Century Science (the rather pretentious name given to the new GCSE courses.) The textbooks look very attractive at first glance (lots of glossy photos) and there is an impressive set of notes and lesson plans for teachers to use, with PowerPoint presentations and worksheets...

However, having explored the material for the past month and a half, I have to say that it's rather disappointing. The PowerPoints are uninspiring - no real attempt at interactive stuff, just larger copies of the words and phrases from the textbooks - and the worksheets assume easy access to the textbooks - very few schools, in my experience, would be able to fork out the money for each child to have a textbook to take home - which means that the worksheets are useless as a homework resource. The questions in the textbooks often assume that computer access is readily available, and suggest "research" to find out the answers...

...but that is just the mechanics of the course. And any new course is going to have teething problems as it's applied to the real classroom.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem is the content... or, to be more specific, the lack of content. I'm teaching the Chemistry Units: the first is "Air Quality," the second is "Material Choices" and the third is "Food Matters."

Air Quality is concerned with the main gases in the atmosphere, and pollution. Combustion is the main chemical reaction, and it is used to explore what pollutants are produced when fossil fuels are burnt. The effects of pollutants on health, and the use of technology to improve air quality are also considered.

Be still my beating heart... the excitement is almost overpowering...

I'm currently teaching Material Choices: you can't have all the groups doing the same topics at once because of equipment availability. Material Choices is all about choosing the right materials for a particular purpose, with the emphasis on polymers and plastics. Oh, and the disposal of polymers and plastics. Recycling features here.

Note that the full extent of technical knowledge of the whole of Organic Chemistry has been distilled (pun intended, sorry) down to polymers being long chain molecules, monomers being the molecules which make up the chains, and hydrocarbons being chemicals obtained from crude oil.

The final Year 10 Chemistry topic is Food Matters. How food gets from the farm to the plate. Farming methods and their effects on the environment. Natural and artificial chemicals in food (including food additives.) Possible links between obesity and diabetes.

Quite apart from the fact that most of the fun stuff in Chemistry appears to have been ditched, the amount of scientific content which the students need to learn is laughable.

I've nearly finished the first topic. I explained this to the students, who were aghast at how little they felt they had learned. So, to reassure them (and myself) that I wasn't missing out half the course, I checked the exam paper for the topic which was set in January 2007.

I wanted to cry. The questions were a variety of multiple choice (A, B, C, D etc.), connecting boxes with straight lines (eg. "wool" in one box and "sheep" in another needed to be connected to show wool comes from sheep) or filling in missing words or phrases (a choice of words and phrases was given.)

No explanations. No elaborating. No description.

And not much Science.

How To Help A Fellow Blogger...

...The American Papist has ended up as a finalist in some scholarship award or other. The winner is the blog with most votes. There is no registration process, and it takes all of two minutes to cast your vote HERE. By the way, American Papist is "Thomas Peters", and he's second from the bottom...

Mantilla-twitch to Newhousenewjob (who is busy copying my dream-reality-confusion trick!)

Rosary Crusade 2007

"Isn't time fun when you're having flies?" as one frog said to the other...

No, I haven't lost my marbles... I just cannot believe that it's already a whole year since the last Crusade. Re-reading my post from last year reminded me how very much has happened in a short time.

Anyway, the next Crusade is this Saturday, 13th October. No doubt this will be a "biggie" as the 13th October is the 90th anniversary of the final apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, Portugal, when the miracle of the sun was observed by thousands of onlookers.

The procession will start outside Westminster Cathedral at 1:45pm and finish up at the Brompton Oratory. Fr. Julian Large will be preaching. Photos of last year's Crusade can be seen HERE.

Quiz Time

What Kind of Cross are You?

You are the San Damiano Cross: Rich in symbolism, this cross was first painted in the twelfth century gathering images from the Gospel of John. Christ is the central figure and is surrounded by the angels, the apostles and the Virgin Mary. The cross became well known because it was the cross in front of which St. Francis was praying when he received the call to rebuild the Church.
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Twitch of the mantilla to Thorn in the Pew.

A plea For Help...

...this has appeared on the Sisters of the Gospel of Life blog: they are on the scrounge for any soundbites from people such as Cardinal Winning, Blessed Mother Teresa and so on, for inclusion in a PowerPoint presentation which they're busy putting together...

As part of the 40th anniversary events we’re organizing, we’re putting together a number of pro-life slide-shows on different themes. What we’re looking for are sound-bites from people like Cardinal Winning, Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI speaking on specifically pro-life related issues. These would be sound clips that we could play over PowerPoint presentations. If you know of good sites on the internet or if you would be able to email clips to us, please leave a comment on this post or email us at info@prolifeinitiative.org

A very worthy cause, so if you can, send the info along...

Aaaaaarghhhhh !

Marking books can be a soul-destroying exercise. I foresee a week of detentions (can't have too many kids in at once) for non-completion of homework...

...accompanied by the gentle hint, "Of course, if you can show me that you've done the homework when you arrive at the detention, you won't have to stay long..."

Sooner or later, the penny drops...

Bad Luck For The All Blacks...

...looks as though my drawing of New Zealand in the Staffroom Sweepstake has sounded the death-knell for the All Blacks. They lost their match on Saturday, and so are out of the World Cup.

*sigh*

While googling the result, I found the following refreshing quote from the New Zealand captain...

"We can't do anything about it now. It's going to hurt for a long, long time. I'm lost for words. We believed we could come out and play well. We didn't play as well as we could have."

Makes a change to hear a team admit that they could do better!

I Must Be Crazy...

Somehow or other, a couple of months ago, in a moment of weakness, I allowed myself to be ambushed by two priests. Taken unawares, I foolishly agreed to give a talk at the Southwark Diocese Altar Servers' Reunion which happened in Gravesend this afternoon...

In reality, I didn't actually agree to anything... I suspect that the priests in question cooked up a co-ordinated pincer-movement attack, and I was effectively presented with a fait accompli...

I've been rather busy and very preoccupied lately. Last night I realised that I needed to rustle up a decent PowerPoint presentation and perhaps some sort of activity. So, I eschewed the blogosphere and settled down to work.

Unfortunately, as I was rather tired, I failed to take my usual precaution of saving things every couple of minutes or so. The inevitable happened. My previously reliable and co-operative computer decided to have a conniption at the very point I wanted to save the whole shebang...

I lost the lot. Not really wanting to face a room full of teenagers without any sort of visial aid, I decided to start again from scratch... and finished at about 2:30am.

The talk I eventually gave was a brief overview of the Rosary. I'm not entirely sure what the kids made of it...

My talk aside, the afternoon went very well. The youngsters had fun playing pool, ping pong and other things, and the majority took the opportunity to go to Confession. After the talk there was a bit more time for games, and we then prayed the rosary in the church and finished up with Mass. There were about thirty young people present: not too shabby given the number of major sporting events which were going on...

How Very Interesting...

Not that I'm trying to claim credit or anything, but...

Back in June, I posted a snippet on what a "kick-ass" Cardinal the Aussies in Sydney had. In addition to the idea of starting a Cardinal Pell fanclub (there are at least two now on Facebook) I also suggested that we might want to petition for him to sort out the Church in England & Wales when Cardinal Murphy O'Connor resigns...

Today's Catholic Herald therefore makes for very interesting reading: Cardinal Pell has been added to the list of possible successors by Paddy Power, the Irish bookmakers. And at 10-1, he's not exactly an outsider...

...excuse me a minute, I just need to go and place a bet...

40th Anniversary (Oh The Shame Of It...)

The 40th anniversary of the passing of the Abortion Act is going to be marked on Saturday 27th October by a rally in Parliament Square, London, followed by a march down Victoria Street to Westminster Cathedral where there will be a service of remembrance, healing and hope. The rally starts at 2pm and the service at 4pm. We need to make sure that there are as many people as possible to draw media and public attention to the pro-life cause.

More information can be found at the Time for Change website.

I Couldn't Resist This One...

Yes, ok, I am showing off...

You paid attention during 100% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
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Twitch of the mantilla to Newhousenewjob...

I Want One...

...I don't care if it's a children's book. I want a copy: the Pope's life story as seen by his cat.

The more I hear and read about this guy, the more I love him. I mean, an "authorised" biography (must be... Monsignor Ganswein wrote the foreward) written from the point of view of a cat. That is just so cute...

Unfortunately I have to wait for the English translation. I wonder if it will take as long as the English translation of the Missal?

Guardian Angels

Another of my favourite feasts: celebrating the fact that we have a Guardian Angel each. It's the Guardian Angel's job to help you reach heaven safely, and so, in times of temptation, or when in doubt as to the best course to take, we should always remember that our own angel cannot lead us astray, and we should implore his aid.

I'm really tired, so this is a short snippet, but I just couldn't let such a feast day go by unremarked: my own Guardian Angel has certainly been working overtime, and he's far from finished... if Guardian Angels had hair, mine would have torn most of his out, and the little remaining would have turned white by now... I also suspect that he'd also have hit the vodka-and-valium cocktails a while back (I must be a sore trial, what with all my wayward wanderings...!)

Oh, and Fr Ray has another excellent post on angels... the writings of St. Bernard, from the Office of Readings for today's feast... I was planning to put in a few quotes, but Fr Ray has done the lot!

Also, I remember posting the lyrics for the hymn to one's Guardian Angel: so I'm linking to it HERE.

Kolbe's Gift

I went to visit a neighbouring parish this evening: the Ten Ten Theatre were performing Kolbe's Gift. It had been advertised in our parish as a Deanery event, and I had been lucky enough to snaffle a ticket before our parish allocation sold out.

I very nearly didn't go: I'd had a long day at school, had missed lunch, was tired and aching (damp weather does this to me) and I was contemplating a meal out instead, or possibly a takeaway, but in the end, curiosity got the better of me.

I'm very pleased that I changed my mind: the acting was superb (and the chap playing Kolbe was uncannily like him to look at) and I hardly noticed the time whizz by. The play was in two acts (I think... I'm not really into the terminology) with the first act concentrating on a brief "biography" of Kolbe and the events leading to his martyrdom. There were one or two scenes with the chap who was saved by Kolbe's heroic act: anyone unfamiliar with the story would have found the changes from one time period to another rather confusing: in my tired and befuddled state I took a while to cotton on, but soon got the hang of it. I am rather hampered by my preference for stories to progress in a linear fashion!

The end of the first act is Kolbe's death... several of the audience hadn't realised there would be an interval, and so when refreshments were announced, we were rather surprised at the abrupt "ending." The second act concentrated on Franciszek Gajowniczek, the person saved by Kolbe, and his reaction to being saved.


This was one of the most moving parts in a very moving play. Quite apart from the amazing story, the bit that brought tears to my eyes was the scene between a journalist and Franciszek. She was very hostile, and asked, in a sarcastic manner, what he'd done with his life since being saved by Kolbe. On finding out that he'd been a civil servant in the local town hall for twenty years ("err, twenty-one years" corrected Franciszek) the journalist asked why he had been saved by Kolbe, when Kolbe was such a great man, with such a fine intellect, and with so many achievements to his name, and all Franciszek had done with his life was to "push a pen around!"

"Why you? What's special about you? He could have saved anybody..."

"That's precisely the point," Franciszek answered: "He could have saved anybody. He chose to save a nobody..."

I spoke to the person in charge of sound and lighting at the interval, and asked for permission to use the pictures on my blog: I also asked if there was a website. The Ten Ten Theatre visits schools and community centres, and they seem to do a couple of pro-life/pro-chastity plays. They have a website, but there doesn't appear to be anything up on it yet... I was also told to check out Ten Ten Productions (but that's similarly afflicted.) I did manage to find a leaflet that gave an email address: office@tententheatre.co.uk

Anyway, the blurb on the back of the leaflet explained that:

"ten ten theatre exists to advance the social, moral, spiritual and cultural education of children, young people, young offenders, prisoners, teachers and the general public through drama and the performing arts.

"We visit schools and community venues throughout the UK and are a non-profit-making company."

I would heartily recommend seeing anything this group put on!

UPDATE: Whatever was wrong with the links appears to have been ironed out, and both of them are now active. Information on Kolbe's Gift can be seen via the Ten Ten Productions link above, or directly from HERE.

New Pro-Life Site

I've just heard that there's a new website to check out: Life. It looks pretty snazzy (though to be honest I haven't had a chance to look at it in any detail, but it was recommended by a friend who's pretty hot when it comes to websites...)

I'll also plug a few more pro-life sites...

First and foremost (it's my first port-of-call for all things pro-life in the UK) is the SPUC website. They also send out email alerts to make sure that you know what horror story is happening next... (the Mental Capacity Act comes into force today: what a disaster!)

Then there is LifeSite (which is another roundup - but a little more transatlantic in its focus)

The Sisters of the Gospel of Life have their blog, of course, but it is sometimes a little slow in being updated (as they're rather busy, I should imagine...)

I used to have a link for the Good Counsel Network, but I checked it, and it appeared to have been taken over for advertising... if anyone knows where their link has disappeared to, I'd be very grateful if you could let me know in the com-box...

Ok, I'm rather tired. That's the lot for Monday! Back again tomorrow, after I've had a chance to go to a play about St. Maximilian Kolbe...

Awards, Awards...!

Heheheheh... I've been awarded a "Mathetes Award" (ha, not just a nomination, an actual, bona fide, real goodness-to-Betsy award!)

No, I didn't know what a Mathete was... I was rather dubious at first, as it sounds altogether too energetic, so not at all my kind of thing. However, my award came from White Stone Name Seeker (to be fair, she got it in first) and from the Catholic Warrior...

Anyway, what is a Mathete when it's at home?

It seems to be a brand new award being passed out. It is the Mathetes Award, created by Dan King of Management by God to recognize those who take to heart the Great Commission and further God’s Kingdom by creating more disciples for Him. According to Dan, mathetes is the Greek word for "disciple".

The rules for the award, as posted by its creator, are as follows: Winners of this award must pick five other "disciples" to pass it on to. As you pass it on, you are asked to mention and provide links for (1)the post Dan King of Management by God as the originator of the award, (2) the person that awarded it to you, and then (3) name and sites of the five that you believe are fulfilling the role of a disciple of Christ.

Ok, not easy, as nearly everyone I know seems to have been "done"... apologies if you get double awards as a result!

1. Newhousenewjob (because she's been doing the disciples stuff for aaaages, in person as well as on blog!)
2. Leutgeb (simply because she is determined to focus on the positive)
3. Fr. Owl of the Remove (he's feeling insecure!)
4. Orthfully Catholic (seminarians definitely fulfil that role, Orthfully does it even more so!!)
5. My favourite Roman Neanderthal because he's cute.

It was a really difficult choice... I just went through the blogroll and checked quickly to see if they'd been "done" already...
Enjoy, and spread it around a bit!!