Requiem In Aeternum...

Today was the regular Missa Cantata at Blackfen. We're lucky enough to have a visiting schola to sing on the first Saturday of each month.

This month's Missa Cantata happened to coincide with the anniversary of the death of Fr. Bailey, a former Parish Priest at Blackfen. And so, it was decided to make this month's Mass a Requiem.

I had never seen unbleached candles before!

I attended a Requiem in the Extraordinary Form once before, but it was a Low Mass. I was pretty bowled-over by the experience, and promptly declared my desire to have my own funeral celebrated according to the usus antiquior.

Well, now I've seen (and heard) the Missa Cantata version, I want my funeral done THAT way. Unbleached candles, sermon at the end of Mass, absolutions at the catafalque, black vestments, bells, incense, the lot! Oh, and a few of you busy on your knees, praying rosaries for the repose of my soul, thank you kindly... and don't forget to pray for the Holy Father with the intention of gaining the Plenary Indulgence!

I didn't manage to get many photos - the new phone camera has a super-dooper focussing arrangement, which means that it takes ages for the photo to be snapped after pressing the button... and so I missed the Elevation of the Host... but I did get the Elevation of the chalice...

Hopefully, I'll soon learn exactly when to press the button in order to capture the exact moment I want...

At The Risk Of Alienating Some More Of You...

... I am just too tired to blog tonight. Today was my first full day of teaching after the Summer holiday...

...I know, I know, some of you lot don't get such long holidays, or even short ones, at such regular intervals...

I'd just like to point out that you also don't have to keep five sets of thirty monsters entertained for an hour each...

Actual snippets from today:

"Yes... if you've used up that page in your exercise book, you can write on the next one..."

"DON'T point that test tube at anyone else while you're heating it... and don't heat it too strongly, or else the... oh, there goes the rubber bung... yes, I saw it hit him on the head, THAT's why I told you not to point the tube at anyone..."

"Yes, I know it's the first day back, but you still get homework..."

"NOOOOOOO, do not hold the test tube at the bottom when you've been heating it...!"

It's been a hard day. I'll blog tomorrow. Maybe.

Heheheheh...

I'm not really interested in politics... and especially not American politics. I'm afraid I would have lost interest in the US Presidential Campaign stuff back in, oh... January... if I had any interest to lose!

However, the choice of a staunchly pro-life VP for the Republicans suddenly has the entire Catholic Blogosphere in a spin! Definitely one in the eye for the "so-called Catholic" Biden. I would much rather vote for a pro-life non-Catholic than for someone who professed to be Catholic and then ignored the main tenets of the Faith...

Of course, because she's pro-life, she's being attacked by the media.

I just had to chuckle when I spotted this over at Vincenzo's blog...

What-Where-When Meme...

The Dúnadan has an intriguing meme which he declared open to all comers... and I decided that I needed a little light entertainment, so I'd play!

It's a "what were you doing, and where" meme... I have taken the liberty of putting the events in chronological order, for the sake of "neatness" !

1. President Kennedy's Assassination - 22 November 1963
Ummmm... I wasn't even thought of. My maternal grandmother was pretty upset by it: she liked Kennedy, despite him being American (she was German (Prussian, actually), but she hated the Russians far more than she hated Americans) and despite him declaring that he was a doughnut in Berlin...


2. England's World Cup Semi Final v Germany - 4 July 1990
I was alive for this one. However, not being a footie fan, I have no idea where I was.

3. Margaret Thatcher's resignation - 22 November 1990
I'm not entirely sure... I have a hazy recollection of hearing it at my mother's house (I'd visited overnight) and then discussing it at lunchtime in the staff canteen at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, having a coffee. It's a little hazy - I was running rats in mazes for hours on end, and that does things to your brain...

4. Princess Diana's death - 31 August 1997
I heard this on the radio (which I'd had on all night, as is my usual custom) as I woke up. I remember switching on the TV because I was sure there was some sort of mistake, that I must have imagined that it happened. And then, when I'd woken up properly, I rang to tell another friend, because we were going to go to the Science Museum later that day, and I thought the news might affect traffic around Buckingham Palace. The Science Museum trip was a bit of preparatory research before I started my teacher training the following week.

5. Attack on the twin towers - 11 September 2001
My second school-related memory. I was in an after-school meeting, along with some other new staff in the school. Another teacher stuck his head in through the classroom door to tell us the news of the first plane crash. And then we heard about the second one...

6. The election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to the papacy - 19 April 2005
Heheheheheh... a really great memory. I've blogged about it already HERE, but I was in the Parish Hall, making a cup of tea, with a pile of marking set out on a table as I prepared to watch satellite TV coverage.

Ok, for no other reason than sheer curiosity, I'm going to tag Karen, the Caveman, Adrienne, Hilary and Fr. Owl.

Unleash The Dogs Of War...

I'm not sure where the post title originates; looking it up on Google brought up several references to pop songs, and I'm sure it's older than that. There are also references to Frederick Forsythe's novel, and quite a few people seem to use it as a quote. I thought it might be The Bard himself, but that is possibly a red herring, or at least a mis-quote...

...but I digress!

I just wanted to say that school starts for me again tomorrow, and the madness begins again! Oh well, at least I didn't have to go back on Monday, like Leutgeb!

One Day I'll Learn...

...to check my blog before doing anything!

The communal areas in my block of flats have been painted, and my front door was done today... this meant that I was unable to go out all afternoon (my flat is on the ground floor, and the door had to be open while it dried) and having my front door open meant that I was subjected to lots of paint fumes. By this evening, I needed to go out to eat something which wouldn't smell like Dulux.

I thought I'd try a local Indian restaurant again... I remembered that they sometimes had live entertainment, but I was pretty sure that the belly dancer had been a weekend fixture, and vaguely recalled a pianist featuring on one evening.

Alas, I discovered that it was the night for the belly dancer. I found the performance even more objectionable than last time, as the dancing was rather suggestive in nature and there were several young lads present for a birthday party.

Checking my blog, I discovered that the last visit had also been a Tuesday night. I shall have to find an alternative venue for when I fancy a meal out alone.

Not A Happy Blogger...

I am now contemplating a bit of broken tooth. It might be a bit of broken temporary filling out of the stump of tooth which was being prepped for a crown yesterday, but then again, it might be a bit of tooth. It's a bit difficult to tell... Either way, I am an extremely unhappy bunny.

I suppose it could be worse... I haven't got any pain or sensitivity from the gap/remaining tooth stump/remaining temporary filling, but the gum around it is tender from yesterday's drilling, and now there is a big hole in one of my main back teeth... a hole I thought I'd gotten sorted last time round...

Hrummphhh.

That dentist had better watch out for his fingers next time...

Computer Cat & Mouse...

Fr. Tim has been having computer problems. He has finally cracked under the strain, and has been forced to acknowledge that most of us (sorry, Karen!) on the Cat-o-lick Blogospurr are fans of all things feline... and has posted a cat video...



I have to admit that I have tried to keep Sylvester away from the computer ever since he sicked up over the keyboard as a birthday present. I do recall that, one time when I had my old Dell desktop opened up for insertion of more memory, the amount of cat fur found inside could have been used to stuff a pillow... I still don't know how it got in there...

Je Suis Arrivée...

Fr. Steven Fisher kindly alerted me to the fact that I have "arrived" in the world of Catholic Blogdom... I rated a mention on Holy Smoke, Damian Thompson's excellent Telegraph blog.

It must be a quiet news week...

;-)

So, if you have popped over from Mr. Thompson's blog, Welcome! Please take note: I have a very high opinion of women, their intelligence and their characteristics. Hardly surprising, given that I am one. I do, however, hold a pretty poor opinion of the type of woman who, while dissenting from everything the Church has taught for nigh on 2000 years, claims to be a faithful member of that Church.

I hold a pretty poor opinion of that type of man too. Hey, does that mean I have an "equal opportunities" policy on my blog??

Another note of caution: comments which are abusive or demonstrate that the writer has had a sense-of-humour bypass will be deleted, as will those with poor grammar, punctuation or spelling. Of course, I could be being wildly over-optimistic in assuming that I'll get any comments...

Lies, Damned Lies & Dentistry...

Yes, I went. Yes, it WAS as bad as I feared. The jury is still out on whether or not it was actually worse than I anticipated. Yes, it was painful. Yes, I do have to go again...

Why is it that, when dentists say "Now, raise your hand if you get any pain," and you then dutifully raise your hand, they look surprised and demand to know what is wrong?

I then yelped (involuntarily) when I got a sharp pain in my gum. The dentist protested that he hadn't touched the gum, he was drilling away the tooth... but I noticed that I spat out a load of blood afterwards... and later inspection in my rear-view mirror revealed that the gum had been nicked. I'm still bleeding.

Grrrrrr.

I now have to wait for the crown to be made. I also need to go back and get some more fillings sorted out. This had better equate to time off Purgatory...

Thanks for all the prayers!

Prayers Needed... (Again!)

*sigh*

I have to go back to the dentist in the morning. My temporary fillings (from a fortnight ago) need to be made into permanent ones. I got to this stage once before (a few years ago) and didn't complete the treatment, and the temporary fillings disintegrated...

...and the fillings I had put in this time feel very temporary, as I can detect the rough edges where the filling ends and the tooth begins with my tongue...

...but I'm not in pain...

...and so the thought of going along to put myself into the chair so that the dentist can inflict all sorts of nasties isn't very appealing.

I know, I know... I'll regret it if I don't go.

And yes, I shall use the time to contemplate the Four Last Things. And I will offer it up.

But a prayer or two would be greatly appreciated... mostly to ensure that I don't find an excuse not to go... like oversleeping (and missing the appointment) or not finding a parking space (and missing the appointment) or forgetting about the appointment (and missing the appointment)...

(I figured that, if you all knew about it, then I wouldn't be able to chicken out...!)

Women: An Interpreter's Guide...

After having battled with an office printer and a photocopier last week, I went out for lunch. After some considerable time had elapsed, I went to the Ladies... and caught sight of myself in the mirror. I had large black toner thumbprints on my nose, cheek and chin.

Horrified, I challenged my lunch companion: "Why didn't you tell me? Don't try to tell me you didn't notice... We've been sitting here for ages..."

Apparently, he didn't want to offend me.

The implication was that, for men, commenting on a woman's appearance is a bit of a minefield.

So I thought the occasional bit of advice might be in order.

First of all, gentlemen, please note that responses are often context-dependant. Take the simple question, "Does this look ok?" occasionally phrased, "How do I look?"

It usually means something along the lines of "Does my bum look big in this?" or "Do I look like mutton dressed as lamb?"

The reply given depends on the context... if the question is being asked at home (before going out), or in a shop's changing room (before purchasing the item concerned) then an honest answer is called for. If, on the other hand, the question is asked while "out" (at a party or other public situation) then the answer should always indicate that the item looks very nice indeed. If there are concerns that female friends might indicate a contrary view, it is advisable to preface the comment with "I think" or "In my opinion," which suggests that any contrary opinion is purely a subjective one... and you won't be accused of lying, but merely considered to have very poor taste.

Ok, that's a start. I think there's a book just waiting to be written... so, all you chaps, this is your chance to get the questions which have you flummoxed into the com-box, and girls, here's your opportunity to air the most glaring misunderstandings you've encountered...

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa...

... Oh dear, what have I done? I may have led other traddy womyn astray! I wonder if that's an excommunicable offence?

Ekurlowa must be seriously traddy... she not only understands Latin, she can blog in Latin too!

She wants to join me as a traddy womynpriest. To that end, she suggests sending the following petition to the Bishops. It's in Latin verse, so we shall have to enlist the services of Fr. Z to find out what it means...

Feminarum personant saepius clamores:

sumusne servitio sancto digniores?

Quaesumus te, optime antistite domne

te petentes feminas ordinare omnes.

You can read the rest of it HERE.

The Faith, The Family… The Future

25th-26th October 2008 at All Saints Pastoral Centre, London Colney, St. Albans, UK.

A conference of hope for young people and families, focusing on:

- Fostering and exploring the beauty of the Church’s vision for marriage and the family
- Passing on the faith to the next generation and the role of the family in this work
- Promoting the growth of Catholic culture and vocations through the family
- Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae

Over the weekend there will be many eminent speakers, representing a broad panorama of Catholic thought and culture. With programs specially tailored to each age group, combined with the opportunity for retreat, spiritual reflection and renewal, the weekend provides a great opportunity for Catholics to renew their spiritual life, strengthening their families through meeting other young Catholics who share their hopes and views.

For details and booking, see the dedicated website or email HERE.

Who's In Line For The Hat?

Ttony of the Muniment Room seems to think that an announcement will be forthcoming pretty soon. I'm not so sure... I have been assured that all rumours of a terna are exactly that... just rumours...

So, unless things have moved very quickly indeed, we've still got a wee bit of a wait.

Of course, I make no claim to infallibility. And, occasionally, events (even at the Vatican) can get up a real head of steam.

In the meantime, speculation is rife. Someone apparently tried to put £40,000 on Monsignor Curry. Paddy Power don't accept bets of that size, but they have been tempted to add the Monsignor to the list with tantalising odds of 40-1.

If you fancy a flutter, you can check it out HERE, and Ttony has a list of the runners (with previous and current odds) HERE.

Blog Power ?

ICEL has finally decided that it will not charge royalties on any music downloads, providing that the source is acknowledged.

I found this statement on the New Liturgical Movement site slightly confusing, until I realised that it was a reference to written music (along with the texts of the new translation of the Mass!)

That is very good news indeed.

The cloud attached to this silver lining is that ICEL wants all copies of music for the new translation removed from the blogosphere until the texts are ready for release, and ALL music publishers are ready to go with it. ICEL will make an announcement when this happens. How long will we have to wait? Well, how long is a piece of string?

I'm feeling ever so slightly cynical this evening... and so I am probably being totally uncharitable in wondering if this is rather a neat bit of damage limitation: the blogs had been positively scathing in their condemnation of ICEL's ridiculous stance, and more and more of the text was finding its way to the blogosphere despite the threats of copyright legislation being brought to bear; furthermore, the NLM site has now taken down all the music it had put up already, in order to comply with ICEL's wishes...

No... I shall be charitable and focus on the silver lining: once the text is approved and finalised, it will be free of royalty charges...

eventually...

Return Of The Prodigal...

Joee Blogs has found the lure of the Blogosphere just too much to resist, and he's decided to make a comeback! He has, however, had to use a new URL for the blog, so anyone who still has Joee on their blogroll needs to update the link, which you can find HERE.

He starts, in typical Joee fashion, with a great quote:

"...a new version of Into The Great Silence is being filmed in Ireland.

It's about the bishops' commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae..."

Ba-da-boom!

How NOT To Start Sunday Morning...

Ok. This is actually just me having a rant. You can skip this post if you want! Of course, when I find out, I will never speak to you again and/or delete you from my blogroll...

I really should know better. After many years of ill-health, I've gotten used to having the radio playing all night. When I was younger, I often had a music station on... now, given that much of the popular stuff really gets on my nerves, I generally listen to BBC Radio 4... which switches to the BBC World Service at 1am, and then switches back to Radio 4 at about 5:20am.

During term time, I should get up at 6am for morning prayer. I set the alarm for 6am, at any rate. And, obviously, the radio gets switched off for the prayers... and then goes back on again as I get ready for work. Occasionally, something from the Today program will put me into a foul mood, but there isn't too much time for any really irritating stuff to register before I reach for the "off" switch. I'm good at getting to the "off" switch whenever I hear key phrases which indicate something of a hypertensive and/or anti-Catholic nature is about to be broadcast... words like "Catholic," "Dr. Lavinia Byrne" and "leading Catholic spokesperson, Cristina Odone"...

Sundays are different. I allow myself to wake up more gently (ie. I set only two alarms instead of the usual 4... and usually ignore them!) and I get up later.

On Sunday mornings, Radio 4 has a special religious program scheduled... imaginatively called "Sunday," this is a mish-mash of everything to do with anything even vaguely religious in the news. It starts at 7:10am and so, just as I am regaining full consciousness (well, as much consciousness as I generally indulge in before 11am) I get to hear someone or other burbling on about Sharia Law or the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Neither of these subjects are actually problematic, though the question occasionally crosses my mind as to why, when the Muslim holy day is Friday, they should be relegated to the religion slot on Sunday. The real problem is that, more and more, I seem to wake up in the middle of a piece on Catholicism. But it isn't actually Catholicism as taught by Christ and handed down by the Apostles... no. It's Catholicism as explained by dissenting Catholics. The BBC rarely manage to find faithful Catholics... which, I suppose, is only to be expected. "Catholics believe Church teaching on sexuality/marriage/priesthood/abortion to be completely true!" doesn't make much of a headline... in fact it's a close third behind "Pope is Catholic" and "Bears Defecate in Woods!"

So, as I say, I really should know better.

This morning was a case in point. The BBC have grasped the idea that Cardinal Newman is about to be beatified, and this involves digging him up. Ok, not too controversial... So far we're still in the "Ursine mammals fertilising forests" region, news-wise. But they then discover that the Cardinal left a request, in his Will, that he be buried in the same grave as his best friend.

Oooooooooooooh.

His best friend was another man. And they were best friends. So there must have been something sexual between them... it's obvious, innit? So let's find a homosexual man to draw the obvious link...

*Sigh*

I know that the BBC has some excellent reporters and researchers working for them. They do... I've actually met some. So why can't the BBC do its homework on matters concerning the Catholic Church?

I've been round a few cemeteries... (I've even visited a crematorium, but I digress...) Many times, I've noticed that several members of a family have been buried together. Husbands and wives are the most common combination, but groupings of parents and children occur, as do brothers and sisters. It's not unheard of. Similarly, people can go to great lengths to make sure that Granny is transported "back home" so that she can be laid to rest with others from her family.

Why is there such a fuss over Cardinal Newman's desire to be buried with his brother Oratorians (not just his friend Ambrose St John, but also Edward Caswall and John Joseph Gordon, as explained by Fr. Tim Finigan) - especially as, in Victorian times, it was not unusual for a man, staying at a travellers' inn overnight, to find himself sharing a bed with a complete stranger... and nothing sexual would have been involved. And, please note, the Cardinal was merely wanting to be buried in the same plot of ground, not the same coffin!

Ahhh, but Newman expressed great love for his best friend...

Oh, get a grip! I love my cat, but I assure you, I have no wish to indulge in bestiality. I love my friends too, but I don't want to have sex with them, either. Love does not have to mean "sexual love" - but, as Fr. Ray Blake has pointed out, modern society has a debased notion of love and friendship. In addition, the Victorians had a very sentimental view of friendship... read St. Thérèse of Lisieux's Autobiography if you want to get the idea of Victorian sentimentality.

This sort of twisted and miserable journalistic clap-trap isn't good for my blood pressure, but it is par for the course where the BBC is concerned. I really ought to make sure the radio is very firmly switched off on Saturday nights...

UPDATE: Prompted by an email reminder by William on the Hill, I forced myself to listen to the piece again... Peter Tatchell actually claims that this is a "human rights" issue. What about my "human right" not to have my faith spoken of in such a disparaging fashion, referred to, as it was, as the "Vatican" Church??

Frustration...

I need to try to learn square chant notation to help with singing parts of the Mass. By searching the Musica Sacra site, I discovered "An Idiot's Guide to Square Notes."

This is a start, because it tells me whether the neumes start up and go down or start down and go up, or start up, go down and go back up again, or start down, go up and... well, you get the picture!

I didn't really have a problem with that bit... I can follow modern notation to that extent, and the squiggles in square notation are fairly straightforward...

What actually has me chewing the table leg is trying to work out how much a note goes up and down... I know the do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do thingy, but can't quite work out the jump from, say, do to sol in my head without going through the whole lot...

*sigh*

I took Leutgeb's advice, and tried looking at a piece of music I knew well. I decided to try the Kyrie from the Missa de Angelis, figuring that I knew the tune quite well, and could follow the notation... Alas, I found that there were notes where I wasn't expecting notes, which suggests that I've been singing it all wrong for months...

I think I must be a musical dunce. At least it's a Low Mass tomorrow morning!

The Technology Rat-Race

Heheheheheheh. For a short while, I find that I am ahead of "Fr. Gadget" in the technology rat-race: His Hermeneuticalness is in possession of a mobile phone with a lower specification than mine. Not that I'm competitive or anything...

I suspect that this superiority will be short-lived: after checking out my Xda Orbit 2 after Benediction this morning, he muttered something about comparison websites for iPhones and alternatives...

...no doubt whatever model he gets will have the tea-making attachment as standard!