More On Statues...

Yesterday's cri de coeur was occasioned by the fact that I finally managed to do some light dusting... the dust in question was caused by the electricians who came along at Easter, but, frankly, housework has been rather low on my list of priorities.

The dusting meant that I needed to rearrange my statues, and I discovered a few which had been put away for safe-keeping, as well as finding a few broken ones (hence the last post) ... a friend has kindly offered to bury the remains of those in her back garden, provided I don't want her to dispose of a life-size Padre Pio (future archaeologists may have quite a conundrum to puzzle over!)

Out of interest, I decided to count my statues: I have 29.

I have 11 of Our Lady: one large plain white pottery Madonna and child, very minimalist; one pottery statue of Notre Dame des Eaux, coloured to look like beige stone (my favourite... a copy of the one in St. Bernadette's convent at Nevers, France, and the one she said most resembled Our Lady... it's in the photo above); a Pietá; two statues of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (one 22 cm, the other about 10 cm); two statues of Our Lady of Fatima (one about 13 cm, the other about 20 cm); one statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; one Madonna and infant Jesus; one statue of Our Lady of Lourdes (an unusual one); and, finally, one large statue (about 50 cm) of Our Lady of Grace (the "Miraculous Medal" pose.)

Jesus is next... though I'm not counting the statues where he appears with someone else. I have two statues of the Infant of Prague and one Sacred Heart statue.

Then there are the saints: three statues of St. Jude; two statues of St. Thérèse of Lisieux; one statue of St. Joseph and the child Jesus; a large statue of St. John Fisher (I was a Form Tutor for 7JF in one school); St. Benedict; St. Juan Diego Cuahtlatoatzin (no, don't ask me to pronounce it...); St. Anthony of Padua; one very minimalist statue of St. Bernadette; St. Patrick; St. Martha; St. Philomena; and, finally, St. Michael the archangel.

I haven't included my four broken statues: two Sacred Hearts, Our Lady of Grace and Our Lady of Fatima. I also haven't included the many statues which I have bought for friends...

The reason I have so many duplicate statues is that I used to have several statues in my classroom, back when I taught RE in Catholic schools. I thought that, as one can't stay focussed on one thing for very long, it would be a good idea to have lots of statues (and pictures) for my students to gaze at when their attention wandered.

Anyway, doing this has given me an idea. We haven't had any memes doing the rounds for a while, so I'm going to start one.

The rules are simple. Count the number of statues in your house (NB. priests are not allowed to count the statues in their church as well as the ones in their house... unfair advantage!!) Describe the statues, and/or put up some photos. Then tag three people. I'm keeping the tag number low so that everyone has a chance to tag someone...

My three nominees:

1) Fr. Ray Blake

2) Paulinus

3) Ttony

Of course, if you feel like playing along, go ahead, and leave a message in the com-box.

UPDATE: I was asked to put up a photo of my statue of St. Philomena by Amanda, whose daughter goes to St. Philomena's school. I'm very happy to do so, as St. Philomena is one of my recent favourites...

A Question For You...

What should one do with blessed holy statues which are broken, and not suitable for repair? Ideally, I understand, they should be buried... but this isn't possible, unless someone is prepared to do it for me: my garden is a shared one, and digging holes, mole-like, in the turf or flowerbeds will not endear me to my neighbours, nor to my landlord.

Does landfill count?

(And, before you ask, no, that isn't a picture of the statue concerned... )

Have You Heard The One About...

My first response when I read about this one was to look for the punchline. Unfortunately, it appears to be true. CAFOD's Hexham & Newcastle Branch have an annual pilgrimage to Holy Island. This year, they have invited a member of the Yanomami índios in Brazil to lead the reflection at key points along the way with reflections from his own tradition, focussing on how we live in harmony with God's creation.

There's nothing wrong or objectionable in listening to what a person from another religion or culture has to say on issues such as climate change and tribal matters... but is it suitable for a Pilgrimage? And leading the reflection??

The CAFOD Diocesan Manager said, "It will be very interesting to hear what he has to say about climate change, and also to hear how his customs value the stories of his ancestors just as he will hear how we revere our Northern saints."

Ummmmm. I hope they've offset his carbon footprint... bringing him all the way over from Brazil is hardly "sustainable."

Twitch of the mantilla to Catholic Action UK.

High Mass For Corpus Christi

Fr. Ray Blake has unearthed some beautiful vestments which he plans to use for Corpus Christi on Thursday: he has Fr. Seán Finnegan and Dr. Alcuin Reid to act as celebrant and deacon, while he will be subdeacon.

He says that the vestments are terribly worn, and need restoration. I don't know if he has considered adding a PayPal button to his site, but I did suggest it.

Anyway, it sounds as if he's a tad nervous... his Jubilee Mass was the first Solemn High Mass he'd celebrated. Pop on over to offer some encouragement.

More Evidence To Be Ignored...

The mainstream media are very good at ignoring unpleasant news... or rather, I should say, ignoring news which doesn't support the slant they want to convey (as with HIV/AIDS and condoms.) It is why the interweb-thingy in general (and blogging in particular) is so very helpful.

A lot has been said about the need for research into embryonic stem cell therapies for various degenerative diseases. Opposition to such research is totally inhumane (or so the argument goes) because those diseases are so dreadfully devastating, one has to be totally uncaring, and a right monster, to ignore the suffering... yada, yada...blah, blah...

Of course, what is never mentioned is the inconvenient truth that adult stem cell research is providing lots of indications of successful therapy... while the embryonic stuff has yet to provide any evidence of success at all...

Check out these articles from LifeSite News...

Adult Stem Cells Found to Cure Blindness – Three Patients Cured

Success Stories with Adult Stem Cells Coming in Almost Too Fast to Track

I Wasn't Going To...

... but I just couldn't resist this picture from LOLcats. After the day I've had today, I think I know how kitteh feels...

Big Brother...

I was just sitting at the computer, blogging away, when I suddenly became aware that I was not alone... I was being watched...

Ember Saturday...

We were privileged to have our usual monthly Missa Cantata on Saturday, with our visiting schola. It was Ember Saturday in the Octave of Pentecost, and so there were five readings before the Gospel... it seems that, traditionally, men would have been ordained to various ministries: doorkeepers, acolytes, exorcists, deacons and subdeacons among them... 

We didn't have any ordinations, but one of our servers was acting as MC for the first time, so I took the opportunity to take a few photos. I was impressed to see that, despite several of our usual servers being away, we were still able to field four torch-bearers for the Canon...

I'm not quite sure what happened to the lighting levels in that last photo...

Time For A Bit Of Fun...

One winter morning a husband and wife in Portland, Maine were listening to the radio during breakfast. They heard the announcer say, "We are going to have 8 to 10 inches of snow today. You must park your car on the even-numbered side of the street, so the snowploughs can get through."

So the good wife went out and moved her car. A week later, while they were eating breakfast, the radio announcer was heard to say, "We are expecting 10 to12 inches of snow today. You must park your car on the odd-numbered side of the street, so the snowploughs can get through."

The good wife went out and moved her car again. The following week they were again having breakfast, when the radio announcer said, "We are expecting 12 to 14 inches of snow today. You must park...."

Then, the electric power went out. The good wife was very upset, and, with a worried look on her face, she turned to her husband, "Honey, I don't know what to do. Which side of the street do I need to park on so the snowploughs can get through?"

With the love and understanding in his voice that all men who are married to blondes exhibit, the husband replied, "Honey, just leave it in the garage this time..."

New Bible Translation...

According to Anna Arco, the Bible is in the process of being translated into LOLCat... That's cute for about one minute... maybe one minute, thirty seconds... after that, it gets seriously irritating (or should that read "srsly irrtating"...?)

I think I'll stick to the Douay-Rheims...

More Lourdes Photos...

Here are some of my photos taken at the Parish Church in Lourdes.

Fr. Charles and Fr. Tim didn't require much encouragement to pose for a shot beside Monsignor Peyramale's statue. I was actually blocking traffic at this point, but the motorist concerned absolutely insisted that I take the shot before he drove forward and parked just by the bollards. The driver behind him, however, was less amused...

I had a very stark opinion of Monsignor Peyramale from what I'd read and seen a few years back, and was therefore surprised to find so many places in Lourdes named in his honour. It was only after watching the excellent films by Jean-Luc Delannoy that I really appreciated how Monsignor Peyramale had been sceptical only at first, and, once having been convinced that the Apparitions were genuine, he then defended Bernadette fiercely against her detractors. That, together with the reports of his kindness to his parishioners, explains why he is remembered at Lourdes.

I could only get this one picture inside the parish church, as Mass was already underway when I arrived. 

The Crypt chapel was austere, but had a beauty about it too... the stained glass was gorgeous (just at street level outside... we could see people's legs as they walked past) and the acoustics (which I mentioned before) were amazing. I was busy singing the propers of the Mass, so didn't manage to get my usual number of photos, but I did get the important bits...

More Pictures From Lourdes...

Just a few more photos...

Here we have some shots of the outside of the Rosary Basilica, and the altars to the left of the entrance...

Bloggers Of The World, Unite...?

I mentioned previously reports that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was apparently going to accept a position in Tony Blair's Faith Foundation, as well as a Peerage in the House of Lourdes.

I assumed it was a done deal.

Scorn in the Catholic Blogosphere was plentiful... so much so that I didn't pay too much attention to it all.

However, it seems that the Cardinal has decided against accepting any such post. I saw it on EF Pastor Emeritus first, but there were no sources given. Damian Thompson has now added a couple of sources.

So, let's see what happens to the Peerage...

Memories...

A couple of individuals, met while on pilgrimage in Lourdes, not to mention some of my language difficulties, brought the following sitcom to mind... in the nicest possible way, of course!

A Few More Pictures To Admire...

The photos above were taken inside the Rosary Basilica (on the ground level of the Domaine) and show some of the side altars. Fr. George Byers has some close-ups of each mosaic (as he was a chaplain at Lourdes for two years, he had plenty of opportunity to snap away!) 

This last photo (in this post, anyway) shows a photo of the main mosaic of Our Lady, taken by Fr. Tim. My effort this year was a little blurred, and so I used one of his old ones instead.

I used to hate this mosaic, as it was so different from other representations of Our Lady, and the proportions seemed all wrong - something I ascribed to the angle of the mosaic. However, one day I was sitting and praying in front of it, and I suddenly realised that it was my own view which was skewed. The face is actually not that of a woman, but of a young girl. So, the bone structure of the face is different. Once I got my head around that, the mosaic took on a completely different aspect, and I am now very attached to it. I don't know if it works so well on screen or photo, but "in the flesh," it is quite startling.

More Awards...

I didn't win anything in the Cannonball Awards, so I was determined to sulk and not pay any attention to other "awards" for blogging. That lasted until I spotted that the Catholic New Media Awards have taken over from the Bloggers' Choice Awards. Somehow or other, I have been nominated... woohoo!

You only get one vote, and that's your lot, so I have about as much chance as a snowball in hell of hitting the top spot in any category, but I can bask in the fact that I've been nominated. Admittedly, it looks as if the world and its cousin has been nominated, but I shall draw a discreet veil over that little point...

Unfortunately, one needs to register before one can vote. Make the effort... you know you want to!

I have been nominated for four categories... People's Choice Blog; Best Blog by a Woman; Funniest Blog; and Most Entertaining Blog.

I have decided that I despise blatant begging or recounting of sob-stories in order to drum up support. I have only this appeal to your better nature...

Holiday Snaps...

Just a brief selection to be going on with...

On arrival, we were told that there had been a lot more rain than usual in Lourdes, and that the Gave was running a metre higher than normal (and indeed, had overflowed at its lowest point), so I took a photo or two...

I couldn't find the exact corresponding shots from previous years, but this is a photo from 2007... check out the arch under the bridge, and the white struts...

Then there is the French sense of humour, which places a saint at each end of the ramps up to the Crypt Chapel: on the left, nearest to the St. Joseph's Gate, we have St. Remy...

... while, on the right, nearest the Gave River (and the Grotto) we have St. Martin!

This makes me chuckle every time I see them.

This photo, taken from the river wall just opposite the water taps shows the building work being carried out on the outside of the St. Michael's Chapel... we had our Masses in the St. Gabriel Chapel this year, which is the counterpart to St. Michael's Chapel, and is on the opposite side of the Crypt Chapel.

Finally, I couldn't resist a shot of the webcam camera...

I'll post more photos in the next day or so, but now I have to go to bed...