Triduum 2008

I should be in bed (or at least heading that way) but I'm still on a real high after the Easter Vigil - and so I'm breaking my blog-fast by putting up a post on the Triduum services (and drinking a rather wonderful cup of Green & Black's hot chocolate, as well as polishing off the remains of my Green & Black's Easter egg!)

Maundy Thursday's Mass of the Last Supper was very moving: I find myself holding my breath when Judas is mentioned in the Gospel, almost as if I hope that this year he won't "go through with it" and the procession with the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of repose (shown in the photo... isn't it beautiful?) brings a lump to my throat. I am often really tired by this time on Maundy Thursday, and watching at the altar until midnight requires a real effort (funny how I don't normally have any problem staying up until midnight usually!) This year was made a bit more difficult because the wet weather is playing havoc with my poor old bones... and no, I have no idea why wet weather makes broken bones ache!

Good Friday dawned bright and sunny... but the wind was bitterly cold. I had considered going to the children's Stations of the Cross - they bring home-made crosses and get to read the meditations and hold up pictures, and their enthusiasm is heart-warming - but I was still very stiff and achy (which made me suspect that the sunshine would be short-lived) and so I went to the solemn celebration of Stations (which also has the advantage of being considerably shorter!)

Looking at the sanctuary, stripped bare of everything, was another poignant experience...

The Good Friday Liturgy was also very emotional: the reading of the Passion provided another opportunity for me to wonder what would have happened if the crowd hadn't shouted for Barabbas... or if Pilate had been braver...

...or if I had been less of a sinner! I have far less excuse than Pilate, or Judas, or the crowd: I know that Jesus is my Lord and God, and yet I still continue to betray him through my sins.

Have a closer look at the vestments Fr. Tim and the deacons are wearing: they are eighteenth century - and the lamb on the back of the chasuble is a real work of art.

I love the Easter Vigil. I discovered it "by accident" when I came back to the church (I was roped into the RCIA programme when I revealed how little catechesis I had received.)

The rain had stopped by Saturday evening, and the wind had died down considerably, though Fr. Tim looked as if he might go up in smoke more than once as the Easter fire sent sparks swirling through the air. The paschal candle actually went out at one point, and there was considerable difficulty in getting it relit.

Having the Exsultet and the Old Testament readings by candlelight is awesome... Fr. Tim had produced a "book" with the readings in (last year the first reader went up and read the first of the OT readings - from Genesis - instead of the third reading - from Exodus - which he was supposed to read. In order to reduce the chances of that sort of thing happening again, it was deemed sensible to omit the extra readings!) but I noticed that the plastic wallets appeared to be difficult to read through by candlelight.

I wasn't in the mood to take any more photos, so I haven't got any of the decorated altar: I shall try and get a few more tomorrow morning.

And now I think I shall call it a night. Here's wishing you a happy and holy Easter.

Chrism Mass 2008

Things have been pretty hectic at work, and there hasn't been the usual pre-holiday attenuation in pace (because it's not really pre-holiday in most schools...) This means that I left the placards for the Chrism Mass until the last minute... I had intended to make them on Tuesday, only I was too tired after the staff meeting... but that left Wednesday evening, so I wasn't terribly concerned... and then I went to Tenebrae... which took over two hours...

So I was up rather late finishing them off. Getting up this morning was therefore somewhat more tricky than usual, and I was bright-tailed and bushy-eyed rather than the opposite! I was awake enough to make sure that I packed the Chrism Mass Thank-You cards, and, mindful of the weather forecast, wrapped the placards in a bin liner for protection. I even managed to pay the London congestion charge online before leaving home.

When I arrived, the sun was shining brightly and I decided to leave my coat in the car - the Cathedral can get a little warm when it's crowded. However, I had forgotten that the corner at the front of the Cathedral is a windy one... before too long I was chilled to the bone, but didn't have time to return to the car...

I was soon joined by friends who held up the placards, and one of the girls helped me give out cards to the priests as they processed in at the start of Mass. It was a real pleasure to be able to do this. This year I was informed by one priest: "If you're praying for priests, I'll accept it, but not if you're spouting any of that 'women priests' nonsense..." I was able to assure him that I definitely didn't go in for "that nonsense."

I didn't manage to get any photos myself, but I believe that Fr. Tim did get one or two, so I shall post them as soon as he gets them to me.

Once the procession had gone in, I went in and found a seat behind a pillar. I was quite hopeful when I heard "The Church's one foundation" - I thought maybe the choice of music had undergone a transformation... it hadn't. This was brought home when a Marty Haugen number suddenly segued into "We shall overcome." Not quite sure what we're supposed to be overcoming at the Chrism Mass...

(And yes, I have been apprised of the fact that "The Church's one foundation" is a rousing Protestant hymn... I still like it, and until someone points out that the words are heretical, I shall continue to like it!)

The rain started while we were inside the Cathedral. The priests processed out at top speed, and there wasn't much hanging about outside. A few of us then went to the Three Stags pub for lunch. I must just point out that, contrary to the impression given by me in a previous post, Fr. Tim never expressed a distaste for cheese sandwiches, curled or otherwise... I know he doesn't like cheese sandwiches, and jumped to conclusions (and anyway, it was the like-minded brethren I was quoting!) ... but apparently the buffet lunch in Amigo Hall consists of items such as chicken curry and not cheese sandwiches...

The high point of the whole episode? For yet another year in Southwark, the feminazis and would-be priestesses didn't show up. They didn't make it to Westminster this year. We might not be the reason for their absence, though I like to think that they got discouraged by all the young girls and women who were so obviously faithful to the Church's teachings. Maybe it will give them pause for thought. Whatever. Deo gratias !

Tenebrae

A couple of posts ago I was bewailing the fact that I didn't feel as if I was in Holy Week, as I hadn't had the opportunity to "prepare" myself for the spiritual onslaught.

Well, a friend had told me that Tenebrae was being celebrated at Corpus Christi church, Maiden Lane, London, and he suggested that I make the effort to attend. I have to confess that I wasn't really in the mood by the end of my working day. I was feeling washed out and headachy. However, after getting home, I thought about what Our Lord had suffered for us, and considered what sort of a sorry state I was in for the start of the Triduum...

...and so I got back in the car and drove in to central London. I arrived at Covent Garden with about five minutes to go before the service was due to start, and began praying to St. Joseph to find me a parking space. I dreaded getting lost in the one-way maze of backstreets, but suddenly turned a corner and found myself right next to Maiden Lane, and lo and behold, there was a parking space just in front of me. The parking restriction had finished half an hour previously, so I grabbed my mantilla and shot in to the church with a minute to spare!

And what a wonderful service it was. The church is quite small and intimate, but the acoustics are really good... the psalms and readings were chanted from the front, but some of the antiphons and responses were sung from a gallery at the back of the church: the music was spine-tinglingly good. I tried to record it on my phone, but without success.

It was certainly an experience I'd want to repeat: the mournful tones of the psalms, the role of Judas Iscariot in planning his betrayal, and the sense of impending doom really bring home the meaning of what is about to happen over the next few days...

I will try to put up a post about the morning's Chrism Mass tomorrow, but after that I shall be on private "retreat" for the Triduum.

Deo Gratias !

Auntie Joanna reports that the Chrism Mass "Thank You" Rally in support of the priests of Westminster Diocese went very well today... and joy of joys, the usual protest group calling for the ordination of women did not make an appearance!

Face it, hippies...

Quite A Challenge...

This is the first time, in my ten years' of teaching, that I will not be having an Easter "holiday." A couple of times I had to work during the first part of Holy Week, and twice before (maybe three times...) I've had to take Maundy Thursday off as unpaid leave so as to be able to attend the Chrism Mass at St. George's Cathedral, but the Triduum has always been part of my school holiday: usually the start, more often the middle. And the Easter Octave has been a joyous celebration, with the luxury of daily Mass.

This year my school has a "Spring Break". Most people still refer to it as the Easter holiday, which has led to some confusion: when I speak of Easter, I mean this coming weekend, whereas most of my colleagues mean the holiday which will occur two weeks later. The phrase "The coursework has to be marked by Easter" takes on a rather different meaning (and caused me to experience near-heart-failure!)

It means that this year I feel totally unprepared for the Triduum and Easter Sunday. Work is continuing apace, instead of slowing down for the holiday. I haven't been able to get myself "geared up" physically and mentally for the private retreat I usually make, and haven't even managed to draw up my timetable in preparation. Tomorrow I have a "twilight Inset" session (two hours after school listening to someone burble on about inconsequential items that would be better off put into a memo... and then shredded.) Wednesday sees an after-school staff meeting. More burbling... though this time it's departmental stuff, and so not a complete waste of time.

So no time to prepare myself. And I am out-of-sorts as a result: caught off-balance, wrong-footed... and I've realised that I don't like it one little bit.

I guess I've been spoiled...

Shroud Of Turin Damaged...

The Shroud of Turin, an ancient linen cloth believed to bear the image of Christ and considered by many clerics and devotees to be one of the holiest relics of the Christian faith, was inadvertently dyed a light shade of pink after being washed with a red T-shirt, sources reported Tuesday.

Check out the rest of this story over at The Onion. Mantilla-twitch to the Curt Jester.

A Landmark Event...

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos will become the first cardinal to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in Westminster Cathedral since the 1960s. The cardinal was invited to do so by the Latin Mass Society, for the High Mass after their Annual General Meeting.

Pontifical High Mass in the Cathedral - this is an event not to be missed!

Clarification...

I put up a post on the use of IVF to produce designer babies, and gave an example of deaf parents on the BBC's Moral Maze programme saying that they would like to be able to select a deaf child. I also said that I hadn't listened to the programme itself (it's bad for my blood pressure.)

Newhousenewjob obviously did follow the actual programme, and she explained in a comment on my post that the media had put a rather nasty spin on the whole affair. The comment deserves to get a wider airing:

The way this question has been presented in the media has muddied the waters on the real issue in the original report, which is that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as it stands contains a provision which would make it ILLEGAL for doctors to implant an embryo with any genetic defect.

A deaf couple reacted to this by saying, "What's wrong with being deaf that you can't be allowed to live?" and said that they would actually quite like a deaf child - and this was the bit that the media then manipulated.

Rather than being an issue about living embryos being killed because they didn't meet the government's definition of 'perfect', the row then turned to whether these deaf parents should have the right to say they would like a deaf child - conveniently ignoring the fact that originally they did not say (as I understand it) that they wanted specifically to be able to pick out a deaf embryo to keep, but that they didn't want any deaf embryo that might be created to be thrown away.

This Might Explain A Few Things...

You Are Garlic

Of all the spice types, you are the most universally loved. You get long with pretty much everyone, and you leave a lasting impression. You adapt yourself well to situations. You can fit in or stand out, depending on what you're called on to do.

What Spice Are You?

Not too sure about the "universally loved" bit...

Mantilla-twitch to Fr. Daren, the Servant and Steward (who's Basil !)

Designer Babies...?

John Smeaton gives a summary of this week's "Moral Maze" on Radio 4... I have to say that I have given up listening to this programme because it just makes me angry.

The question this week was whether or not the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill should allow deaf parents specifically to select for implantation those embryos which have been diagnosed as likely to be deaf.

The idea that children are commodities, to be chosen on the basis of their "desirable" characteristics (whatever those characteristics actually are) which make them acceptable "accessories" for their parents and/or siblings just goes to show how very far into the mire we, as a society, have sunk.

One Of Those Weeks...

I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like this week... life has sort of intervened... on top of my usual teaching load, I've had an "emergency" faculty meeting to discuss coursework issues, a rehearsal for the readers at the Confirmation Mass, another staff meeting, a Parents' evening, and, tonight, the Confirmation Mass itself... I feel as if I could sleep for a week. Unfortunately, tomorrow is a school day, so I have to get to bed before I turn into a pumpkin...

The Lines Have Been Drawn...

I mentioned before that Bishop Patrick O'Donogue was to be hauled up before the Education Select Committee because he was so unreasonable as to suggest that Catholic Schools might actually want to teach the Catholic Faith...

Another terribly unreasonable idea seems to be that Catholic Schools should not support charities which directly oppose the values of the Catholic Church. What !!!?? Is the Bishop actually suggesting that Catholic schoolchildren should not help to pay for abortions (through charity events such as Jeans for Genes Day) with their pocket-money?

You can read a fuller account over at John Smeaton's Blog. It seems the Bishop did well. John suggests that people might want to write to him to congratulate him on making a stand with his document Fit for Mission? Schools and also to show their support.

Address all letters to: Bishop’s Apartment, Cathedral House, Balmoral Road, Lancaster, LA1 3BT.

Homework...

I hate having to set homework... probably even more than the students for whom I set it...

I remember being given homework for the first time in Primary school... I think it was for my last year: I asked for some Maths questions, because they were fun, and I loved puzzles. I remember having to learn a list of spellings every so often, and doing some reading, but that was it.

Secondary school was a bit more like work: you had stuff to finish off (if you didn't manage to get it done in class) and sometimes the odd essay... and the French vocabulary stuff had to be learned... Even so, there wasn't that much of it. It increased for the 'O' and 'A' Levels, obviously, but not much up until then.

Now it seems that everyone has to have homework. Merely finishing off what was supposed to be done in class isn't sufficient. And to make sure that you don't get it all on one day, there has to be a homework timetable. Looking at the timetable, I'd say that your average Year 7 (11-12 years) has to study at home for an extra hour and a half, minimum. Monday to Friday. This is on top of the school day, where they may have had (in my school, at least) five hours' of lessons... (some days they may have had something like PE for one of the hours, but it could be five proper lessons in one day.) They will have been in school from about 8:30am to 3:30pm, with travel time on top of that for some of them, and then homework.

There is precious little time after that for much else. And the research seems to show that homework doesn't actually do much good, at least not for younger children. I've been saying that for years. With any luck, someone will see sense, and get rid of it...

...however, until that happens, the homework I set yesterday is still due in tomorrow, and don't tell me the cat ate it...

Oh, It Must Be Easter Again...

...How do I know this? Well, surprising though it may seem (not), the BBC is planning to screen a new drama, in Holy Week, about the last week of Jesus' life, in which Judas Iscariot, Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate are portrayed in a favourable light... As the Telegraph Online reports,

'Nigel Stafford-Clark, who produced the BBC1 series, said he wanted to put the characters' actions in context, "so you can see it from their point of view and realise that what they did felt legitimate." In an interview with the Radio Times, Mr Stafford-Clark said:"By such accounts as there are from the time, Caiaphas was reckoned to be a fair man and a good high priest. [He was] a man doing a very difficult job and doing it well." '

Another priceless quote from a spokesman at the Beeb, (an organisation which, as we know, is totally impartial towards Christian groups in general and Catholic ones in particular), had me rolling in the aisles...

"We are not seeking to subvert or rewrite the Gospel narrative – we are just retelling it to bring it alive for a contemporary audience."

Right... a traitor who betrays his friend and mentor for thirty pieces of silver, a priest who frames an innocent man on Blasphemy charges, and a corrupt politician who knowingly condemns an innocent man to death are the good guys in this non-subversive rewrite retelling.

How very contemporary.

We're Going To Have Weather!

We supposedly live in a temperate climate. The UK is surrounded by water. We have seasons. At the moment, the seasons do not appear to coincide with the calendar, but that's a minor point. My main point is that Winter is supposed to be wet, and cold, and windy. And it might occasionally snow. Summer is supposed to be hot... ok, warm, and mainly dry. Spring and Autumn are somewhere in between Winter and Summer, and rain is a distinct possibility...

Despite this variable weather pattern, we seem, as a nation, to be singularly bad at coping with whatever Mother Nature sends our way...

In Autumn, trains are delayed because there are leaves on the line. No... really? Leaves? You mean to say that they fall off the trees in Autumn?? How very odd...

In Winter, if you get more than 5mm of snow, the road system seems to suffer total paralysis. One evening, a couple of years ago, I parked outside the presbytery and went in for a meeting with Fr. Tim. I couldn't have been in for more than three-quarters of an hour. When I came out, it had started to snow... it took me nearly two hours to get home... a drive which normally takes all of 15 minutes.

Of course, the trains are then delayed (or even cancelled) because of frozen points, or electrical failures... or (and I am not making this up) the wrong type of snow on the lines. Bear in mind that I do not recall the temperature ever dropping to anything below -5 °C... we are not talking major freeze.

If it doesn't snow, then it rains. If it rains for more than three days on the trot, then the drains and sewers back up, and the rivers flood. It would appear that quite a lot of houses have been built on flood plains. So they get flooded out. This is not good for trains.

In Summer, we have drought warnings and hosepipe bans. Apparently all the water which falls as rain during Autumn, Winter and Spring is... you got it... the wrong type of rain. It falls too fast, and the water-table isn't being replenished. And in hot weather, the train rails buckle...

Ok, I hear you cry, why the rant? Simple! The whole of England is being put under a "severe" weather warning for tonight and tomorrow. We've been advised to stay indoors, not to drive unless it's absolutely necessary, and to avoid coastal areas.

I'll be interested to see whether the trains are running tomorrow...

Cat Poster !

A good friend sent this picture by email, and I decided to share, because it made me smile.

And Now It Begins...?

It was only a matter of time. The laws in the UK are becoming more and more antagonistic towards Catholics who actually take their faith seriously. With the Mental Capacity Act, living wills, SORs, the denial of conscientious objection for GPs and pharmacists in matters of contraceptive provision etc. etc., the writing has been on the wall for Catholics for some time. We assume that, sooner rather than later, Catholics will be put on trial for their beliefs, and the next step will be imprisonment.

The Government has steadily increased its control of education and has made its "Every Child Matters" programme compulsory, including all the guff about how being "safe" and "healthy" means that children should be given sex education as soon as possible, contraceptives so that they can put the theory into practice without any "nasty" consequences, and the morning-after pill and abortion on demand when some of those consequences materialise.

Funny how, despite sex education being pretty explicit when I was at comprehensive school nearly three decades ago, and contraception being widely available (and free if obtained through a family planning clinic), The UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe. If I didn't know better, I'd say that all that sex education and contraceptive advice didn't actually work. But, of course, it must work, because the Government's answer to the rising teenage pregnancy rate is to have more sex education and more contraceptive advice. There wouldn't be any point in having more of something that was proven not to work, would there?

Anyway, Bishop O'Donoghue dared to produce a document for use in Catholic Schools which demanded that those schools promote Catholicism. Doesn't sound too unreasonable, does it? For Catholic schools to teach Catholicism? It's why they were built in the first place, using money from the collections taken in Catholic parishes... And they're still funded, in part, by the Church... But no, the idea that a Catholic school should promote Catholic ideas is unacceptable to our Government. All schools must promote the Government's ideas...

It seems that Bishop O'Donoghue is to pay for making such unreasonable demands. After sticking his head above the parapet, he has been asked to appear before the Commons select committee for Education, Wednesday 12th March, to defend his document "Fit for Mission for Schools."

Twitch of the mantilla to Fr. Paul Harrison, who asks that we pray for Bishop O'Donoghue.

Chrism Mass at St. George's Cathedral...

...it has become traditional (well, it's happened every year for the five years since the institution of this gathering!) for those who were cheering for the priests as they processed in to the Chrism Mass to make their way down to a local pub for lunch once the Mass is finished.

Fr. Tim usually joins us, along with a few of his like-minded brethren who feel that curling cheese sandwiches and sausages on a stick from the Cathedral buffet are just not substantial enough to see them through the evening festivities... no doubt they don't fancy sandwiches which will remind them of the feet they will be washing later!

If any bloggers are in the vicinity, feel free to join us: we'll be in the Three Stags pub, on the corner of Kennington Road and Lambeth Road, starting around 1:15pm

Feelings Of Indignation !

The final hymn at Mass this morning propelled me into an apoplectic rage. God of mercy and compassion used to be a hymn I quite liked. It was never a favourite, as such, but it has a simple melody, and the sentiments are suitably penitential...

At least, they used to be suitably penitential, until the pc-crowd got hold of it and put in alternative words...

Now, the chorus used to run as follows:

Jesus, Lord, I ask for mercy,
let me not implore in vain;
all my sins I now detest them,
never will I sin again.

Fine and dandy, you might think. It doesn't appear controversial, does it? No non-inclusive language to be mucked around with... So surely they wouldn't feel the need to change any of the words? Wrong !

You see, this chorus is rather negative in tone. It might just make people feel uncomfortable. I mean, it's bad enough that we have to acknowledge that we've been a bit naughty... and hey, we will even use the "s" word... but we're not such bad people really, and Jesus just has to be merciful and forgive us, doesn't he? Because otherwise we might actually have to consider the possibility that our sins can send us to the other place. You know, the one we don't talk about... and like to consider as empty... despite several references by JC himself to its many inhabitants!! So, let's smooth things over and make the language a little less offensive...

Jesus, Lord, I ask for mercy,
knowing it is not in vain;
all my sins I now detest them,
help me not to sin again.

God is certainly merciful... and we can run to his Sacred Heart and implore his forgiveness. If we are truly sorry, he will forgive us. But we cannot presume to be forgiven. We only know it for certain through the absolution given in the Sacrament of Confession... and we cannot safely assume that we will have either true contrition or the opportunity to get to Confession...

The Owl Returns...

The Owl of the Remove has returned to regular blogging with an entertaining post on Monsignor 'the enforcer' Marini's recent visit to the US. So I guess that stealth priestesses, liturgical prancers and tie-dye vestments won't feature much...