Palliative Care

Following on from my post on the case of Tony Bland and where that has landed us today, Paulinus has written an excellent article on how hydration and feeding should be provided and the role of palliative care.

He put the URL in the comments box, but I think it's much too good to get hidden away there: so click HERE for it !

Sleeping Beauty

Fr Nicholas of Roman Miscellany has put up a post showing the death mask of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Not that I'm obsessed with the way I look, but I couldn't help reflecting that, judging from the death mask, she looked a lot better dead than I do first thing in the morning...

Tempus Fugit

Ever get the impression that life is whizzing by faster and faster as the years pile up? Well the sensation wasn't helped this morning when I heard on the radio that Harrods, the famous store in Knightsbridge, London, UK has just opened its Christmas department... yes, in August !

...Hurry, hurry, hurry !! Only 117 shopping days till Christmas (I refuse to include Sundays in that!)

Book Meme Update

I found that both Fr. Stephanos and Thomas took up my book meme challenge (though Fr. Stephanos saw someone else's tag first.)

I particularly liked Thomas's choice of book for a desert island (Thompson's Practical Guide to Shipbuilding.) However, a comment on his post really impressed me. Dim Bulb declared that the book he'd really wished had been written was The Decline and Fall of the Culture of Death by John Paul II...

Wow. I wish I'd thought of that one!

Death by Dehydration

Reading Fr. Tim's post on NHS patients being denied food and fluids because this was classed as "medical treatment" reminded me about the Bland ruling. It's referred to a lot in Pro-Life circles, but it occurred to me that it happened quite a few years ago, and some readers may not be aware of how awful the case was.

Having worked as an auxiliary nurse to help pay my way through my degree, I had lots of nursing friends. They were able to tell me some of the inside information that didn't seem to make it to the papers.

Tony Bland had been diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state after having sustained crush injuries in the Hillsborough Disaster. However, he was not in any pain or distress. It was decided to withdraw food and fluids, and the justification for this was that artificial feeding and hydration constituted medical treatment.

Quite apart from the realisation that this was the thin end of the wedge in allowing euthanasia by neglect, my nursing friends pointed out that dehydration was such a painful way to die that Tony Bland actually needed to be given strong painkillers to alleviate the agony caused (which was clearly visible to the staff nursing him)...

It is a very short step from giving drugs to alleviate the "discomfort" associated with the withdrawal of food and fluids to giving a lethal injection to hasten the death of a patient who isn't being given such basic nursing care. Some people will say that this is scare-mongering, that it's too far-fetched, and that there will be plenty of controls and checks to prevent this... but before Tony Bland, it was unthinkable to deliberately starve a person to death.

The Downside of Owning a Cat

Further to yesterday's post, I have decided that there is one thing worse than treading on a dead mouse first thing in the morning...

...and that is finding the deceased rodent on one's duvet !

Of Mice and Men

Oh dear! I was chatting about my cat to a friend this afternoon, and made the comment that Sylvester was too old and fat to succeed in catching anything other than the bowl of catfood I give him.

Obviously he heard me... this evening I was presented with my very own mouse, and it wasn't even chewed yet. Sylvester obviously felt that I ought to be given lessons in mouse-hunting, because the rodent was still alive, though petrified into immobility. Every few seconds Sylvester would bat the mouse with his paw until it moved, and then put his paw firmly on the mouse's tail to stop it getting away.

Working on the theory that eventually the mouse would make a break for it, and its little mouse-corpse would stink the flat out from behind the fridge, I retrieved the rodent and threw it back out into the garden. Hopefully it's a one-off.

Unfortunately last year Sylvester made a habit of bringing me little presents (although it was earlier in the year, which is why I thought I'd escaped - and so had the mice) many of which were partially chewed. This isn't so bad when you first get given them, but is rather less than pleasant when you wake up in the morning and step in the remains of one which you had been presented with when asleep!

The worst moment was when I rescued one mouse which was being used as a demo. I retrieved it from under Sylvester's paw, but then it bit me before I could pick it up by the tail (mice seem to have a reflex which makes them "freeze" if you pick them up by the tail; I think their mothers carry them like this. Rats on the other hand do not have this reflex, and have been known to shed their tail casings)

So I have to wait and see whether we now have declared open season on mice...

Quiz Time

I spotted the following Quiz to estimate your theological world view courtesy of Dilexit Prior over at Letters from a Young Catholic. Great fun... I was also relieved to see that I am "officially" classed as Catholic!!





You scored as Roman Catholic. You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you.

Roman Catholic		100%
Neo orthodox		79%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan		68%
Charismatic/Pentecostal		29%
Fundamentalist		25%
Classical Liberal		25%
Reformed Evangelical		18%
Emergent/Postmodern		11%
Modern Liberal		4%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

Faith Summer Session Video Update

As promised on my earlier post, Fr. Tim has produced a video showing highlights of the 2006 Summer Session.

Check it out here.

Recharging the Batteries

I'm just back from five days away at the Faith Summer Session, held at Woldingham School in Surrey.

It is incredibly refreshing, especially in the midst of mainly negative press about the state of the Church, to attend a conference about our Catholic faith, and to see that the majority of those present are young, enthusiastic about the practice of their faith and eager to learn more about it. There were well over 200 people present, and being in my late 30s I was actually one of the oldest!

It was also incredibly heartening to see more than 30 priests (mostly young, and all enthusiastic!) concelebrating Mass each day. Morning and Night Prayer from the Divine Office, daily Mass, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction, and the opportunity on one evening to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (an opportunity taken by the vast majority of those present) provided the spiritual sustenance often lacking in our everyday lives. Outside the actual talks, it was also encouraging to see a steady movement of people to and from the chapel, taking a few moments to spend with our Lord.

The talks were very instructive - from the proofs of God's existence to the centrality of the Church in God's plan of salvation. A seminar provided more personal accounts of how important the Church is for us. And Fr. Paul Watson, the Director of the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham, gave an excellent talk on the parables of Jesus.

The social side of our human nature was catered for as well... there were plenty of opportunities for spiritual refreshment in the bar, and one night was dedicated to a Quiz Night while a ceilidh formed the basis for another night's entertainment.

One of the final events was a video overview of the Session as seen by Fr. Tim Finigan (ever since he started blogging, nowhere is safe from his camera... it's bound to hit his blog soon so check it out at the Hermeneutic of Continuity)

After such a spiritually uplifting time away it can be hard to return to "real" life... I guess I shall just have to make sure I get to the Winter Conference at Stonyhurst for another recharging of the batteries.

Book Meme

Ok, I've been introduced to the idea of "memes" because Fr. Tim over at the Hermeneutic of Continuity challenged me to complete the book meme by tagging me. It's actually harder to restrict myself to one book for each category than I first thought, but here goes:

1. One book that changed your life.
Cecily Hallack: The Adventure of the Amethyst (Children's book written in the 1940s about four children who become Catholic... I read it the night I experienced my Damascus Road conversion !)

2. One book that you've read more than once.
Robert Graves: I, Claudius

3. One book that you'd want on a desert island.
Divine Office (complete set !)

4. One book that made you laugh.
C.S. Lewis: The Screwtape Letters

5. One book that made you cry.
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings

6. One book that you wish had been written.
St. Anne Line: Hospitality and Household Management

7. One book that you wish had never been written.
Fr. James Hanvey & Fr. Tony Carroll: On the Way to Life (one of the most turgid pieces of writing I have ever had the misfortune to encounter)

8. One book that you're currently reading.
St. Alphonsus Liguori: The Glories of Mary

9. One book you've been meaning to read.
Eamon Duffy: The Stripping of the Altars (started but never finished)

I'm going to have to consider my tag carefully...


UPDATE: I think I'll try and tag Thomas and Fr. Stephanos... though I suspect they've already been tagged!

Martha in the Soup...

Today being the feast of St. Martha (yes, I know it's technically only a memorial) I was able to reflect on today's Gospel where she gets a ticking off from our Lord.

I always feel a sneaking sympathy with Martha here: if she'd followed Mary's example, I suspect that dinner would not have made itself!

Benedict on Toast

My computer has been acting up over the past week (obviously it's having a holiday), and combined with my own manic schedule, this meant that I hadn't had much of a chance to browse many blogs. I'm now attempting to make up for it, and I came across the following little snippet from Fr. Stephanos showing the latest miracle apparition: the Holy Father on toast.

Even funnier was the picture supposedly showing Pope Benedict's response!

Car Trouble

Finding a good garage can be a challenge, especially if you are a blonde woman without a husband, boyfriend, brother or father in tow. It doesn't matter if the aforementioned male knows diddly-squat about cars and the blonde is a rocket scientist, but mechanics will always assume that the man is a fellow car-enthusiast, and they are less likely to try and pull the wool over a woman's eyes when explaining what exactly is wrong with the car if there is a man in the vicinity.

Just before my last car did somersaults on the motorway last December, it failed its MOT inspection. Apparently it didn't have rear fog lights - it was an import from a country which presumably didn't experience fog, but I didn't discover this until it failed the MOT. After being given the runaround by the franchise garage (the garage which sold me the car three years before having gone into receivership) I decided to try my luck with one in Welling.

The mechanics could have taken me to the cleaners: I know little about cars (there are 4 wheels on the outside, one in the boot and one to hold on to when going round corners) and even less about electrical wiring of fog lights, but they told me that the wiring was actually all in place, just not connected up, and so I only needed to get a red bulb to convert one of the reversing lights rather than having to invest in a new bumper... or even a new car!

So, when my next car was due for its service, I returned to the same garage. Unfortunately, after the service, the occasional quiet grindy-type noise which I'd detected a couple of times became rather less quiet and much less occasional. So back I went. I went with someone for a test drive ("my car is making a grindy noise" not being the most technical of descriptions) and was told that it was probably a heat shield on the exhaust which was vibrating, and it had probably been knocked out of place further by the service.

So, the offending part was knocked back into place. I drove off happily. And then turned round and drove back, because the noise had reappeared.

This time it was decided that brackets were needed to fix the offending item to the underside of the car. I think it was something to do with the exhaust. Or maybe the cat. My look of blank incomprehension must have convinced the garage owner of the futility of explaining further. After an hour, I was assured that all was well, the problem had been sorted and I was free to go.

I drove off happily in the direction of Sidcup to pick up a friend who had volunteered to help me spring clean (she must be barking, but she says she enjoys housework, and who am I to deprive her of her simple pleasures!) By the time I reached the station, I realised that all was not well, the problem hadn't been sorted and I drove back to the garage.

Finally they figured it out. I don't quite understand what the problem was, but the noise has stopped, so it's fixed now!

Hair-Raising Experiences

For most teachers, the start of the summer holiday signals either total collapse or a period of frantic activity. For me, the latter was the case, as I'm finishing at one school and preparing to start at another.

This week I've started spring-cleaning my flat (yes, very overdue), and have been rushing around trying to get various essential jobs completed before the inevitable onset of summer inertia. One such job was getting my car serviced. Having left my car with a garage in Welling, I then had a couple of hours to kill...

...so, rather than trying to find my way home by bus and getting on with housework, I decided to treat myself to a new hairdo. I'm a natural blonde, but my hair is a dark honey shade and I prefer ash. The dye also dries my hair out a bit, so it's less greasy. Generally I do it myself, but occasionally it helps to go to the hairdresser to strip off the build-up of colour.

I hadn't been to the salon in Welling before, but I explained what I wanted, and the stylist gave me her advice as to which colour would suit me. I chose a dark ash, close to my usual, but she persuaded me to go a shade lighter, explaining that she'd start with a bleach wash to remove some of the honey tones.

While the dye was developing, I commented that it seemed rather too light: my concerns were explained away as the white creamy chemicals disguising the true colour. I had my doubts, but decided that I was being paranoid. As the hairdresser washed the preparation out of my hair, I suddenly detected a harsh chemical smell which didn't correspond to anything I'd ever used before. She told me that the Ash colour hadn't quite "taken" and so she was using a toner to modify the colour somewhat...

The toner didn't quite work... my hair was by now custard yellow! I also had to go back and collect my car before the garage closed. Luckily the hairdresser was as unhappy with the result as I was: she told me to go and get the car, and then she'd try adding another colour to correct the mistake. The colour she thought would do the trick? You guessed it: it was the one I'd picked out first of all.

Fortunately it worked. My hair is now a fetching dark ash blonde rather than custard yellow, but it was a close call, and it took over three hours in the salon to achieve what normally takes me 45 minutes.

...I was going to quote something from Ecclesiastes on vanity, but unfortunately the NJB translates it as "futility" which doesn't quite work as well... but you get the general idea!

Thirty Pieces of Silver

Problem: the number of people who actually make the effort to attend the holy Sacrifice of the Mass on a Holyday of Obligation is falling.

Solution: remove the sense of "obligation" by transferring the days to Sunday, when people are going to be attending Mass anyway.

Next Problem: the number of people who actually make the effort to attend the holy Sacrifice of the Mass to fulfil their Sunday obligation is falling.

Solution? remove the sense of "obligation" by making Sunday Mass optional?

Hey, brilliant idea! After all, there isn't such a big thing about attending Mass (sorry, Communion Service) in the Anglican Church, and they don't seem to have any problem with falling attendance...

...and heaven forbid that religion should be demanding... after all, Islam actually is unreasonable enough to demand that its adherents stop for prayers FIVE times, EVERY DAY... and the number of people who'll actually put up with that sort of unreasonable requirement has got to be falling, right?

In England particularly it should be remembered that the martyrs gave their lives for the Mass. We're too constrained by the demands of secular society to give 45 minutes. I do so long to be faithful to the Magisterium, but when the Bishops just roll over in the face of modern secularism instead of standing firm and preaching the truth, I get the feeling that Christ is being sold for thirty shekels all over again.

Girl Power?

I get very frustrated when people start to tell me that there aren't enough women in positions of power in the Church (by which they usually mean that there should be women priests running the parishes). For a start, this completely misses the point about priesthood, which is nothing to do with "power" and everything to do with self-sacrifice...

So I was delighted to come across the following quote from Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State, on women in leadership:

"I'm not a person who thinks the world would be entirely different if it was run by women. If you think that, you've forgotten what high-school was like."

Thanks to Fr. Stephanos for highlighting that one.

Holidays !

I noticed that my posting on this blog has been more than a little sporadic. Luckily for me, school is now out for the Summer. This means that I shall have plenty of time to sit in front of my computer and divulge all my personal musings...

Yeah, right! In reality, past experience has taught me that two things are possible: The first is that I shall be so busy visiting friends and catching up on sleep (sometimes simultaneously) that I won't have time to sit in front of the computer. The second is that I shall have plenty of time, but nothing worth writing about...

...ask me again in six weeks!

Baby Update

A short while back I asked for prayers for my sister who is expecting her first child.

Martina is still losing quite a bit of blood, and the hospital are not entirely sure why. The latest theory is that there is some sort of haematoma in amongst the mesh of blood vessels which connect mother and baby...

It's a case of "wait and see" - the baby is active and there's a strong heartbeat, but sometimes the haematoma can make the mesh of vessels tear away, and that can cause a miscarriage.

Martina and her husband have nicknamed the baby "Barney" (Barney Rubble: trouble) - any prayers would be much appreciated, and I'll keep posting updates as things progress.

A "class"-ical education?

I was flicking through the TES (an British paper devoted to educational matters) in the staffroom at breaktime, when I spotted a cartoon which made me laugh out loud. It was at the bottom of an item on how teachers judge the social class of parents at parents' evenings. The picture wasn't that good, but the caption was priceless:

One teacher to another about a young mother: "It's difficult to place her socially: she's got a tattoo on her bum... but it's in Latin!"