Missa Cantata In Honour Of Our Lady...

I decided to use my snazzy camera during this morning's Missa Cantata for the Feast of the Assumption: well, it's a special day. And, naturally, I wanted to show off my snazzy photos... but thought that another picture post might be a bit much... so I made a slide show video from them.

It took me a while to find some music to go with the photos: I finally decided on a track from an old CD by Vision, a group using the music of Hildegard von Bingen. I'm not sure if it really works, as it sounds a bit new-agey (I haven't listened to the CD in years) but I had fun trying to match up the main photo transitions with the soundtrack.

By the way, the Thurifer is only 7 years old... while the MC has reached the grand old age of eleven!

Happy Feast Of The Assumption !

Photos In The News...

I have to admit, when I first saw this photo, I wondered whether Vincenzo had been busy. Apparently not, but it gave him ideas for another holiday snap...

Showing Off...

My mother is not into technology. She can use it, when provoked, but it's always under protest. Google searches in my parents' house consist of my mother saying what she wants to know, and my stepfather going off and looking it up on the internet... or, occasionally, phoning me up to ask if I can look it up...

This made showing off my snazzy new camera on my visit less rewarding than it would have been with anyone who likes and understands technological gizmos... after all, the image on the camera viewing screen isn't that impressive, especially if one needs to don glasses in order to see it. My mother also likes to have "proper" photos rather than digital photo frames... and inkjet printer images just don't quite look right.

In an attempt to impress, I took some photos in the garden (focussing on the plums, beetroots and pears especially for Leutgeb) ...

No dice. The pictures were ok, but nothing very spectacular. Then, I had a brainwave. Standing at the bottom of the garden, I took a photo of the top...

And then I used the 3x optical zoom...

Finally, I used the 12x digital zoom...

Being able to pick out a scrappy Yorkshire terrier at the top of the garden while standing at the bottom of the garden did the trick.

Visit To The Seaside...

Going to visit my parents is never really "going home" for me, as my parents moved to Eastbourne several years after I'd flown the familial coop. However, I often refer to Eastbourne as "home" simply because my parents live there... and then I'm surprised when people assume I grew up there.

I do like Eastbourne. The seafront is quite pretty, and the Council have done their best to make sure properties there are kept in reasonably good order. I also like the huge contrasts between Beachy Head, the seafront and pier, and various forest areas, all to be found within twenty minutes' drive.

On my latest visit, I took my snazzy camera. The weather was somewhat changeable, which made the photos of Seven Sisters and Beachy Head look gloriously moody and atmospheric...

Just how changeable the weather was is demonstrated by the fact that I took all the photos in this post between 3:06pm and 3:25pm on Wednesday afternoon, and the only editing I have done is to reduce them in size for the web!

Tagged For A Meme...

I didn't realise I'd been tagged until today, because Ches didn't actually let me know I'd been tagged, but just sat back and waited for me to find out.

I suppose it is easier than going round to everyone and leaving "tag" comments... but I'm sure it's cheating, really, as is wimping out and saying "you're tagged if you feel like it," as the meme thingy is a way to give people links to other blogs, especially little-known blogs. However, as I've done both in my time, I'm not criticising... honest!

Ok, this meme is seven things I love.

1. The Catholic Church

2. The Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite

3. Blogging

4. Reading (ideally by a roaring fire, with a cup of Green & Black's hot chocolate - none of your instant muck - with the wind howling outside and rain lashing against the windows... but central heating is an acceptable substitute for the roaring fire...)

5. Going out for lunch or dinner with friends

6. Caffeine (in any form - coffee, coca cola, hot chocolate, chocolate...)

7. Baileys on ice

Which leaves me with seven people to tag. Not easy, given that this meme has been doing the rounds for a while now...

Ok, I think I'll tag Richard, Fiorella, Laurence (aka Bones), Mike, Jane, Oliver and Adoro. Happy blogging!

Appeal...

I've been a little preoccupied of late, so this slipped under the radar. However, I'm back to blogging, so I thought I'd draw it to your attention, as you responded so generously before.

The wonderful Sisters of the Gospel of Life are in need of baby stuff, as they're running very low on supplies. They don't need baby wipes, but they are asking for other baby toiletries, buggies, cots, baths and high-chairs. The Sisters run the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative, and have saved countless babies from being aborted by offering care, counselling and practical support to young mothers who feel they have no other option but to abort. This practical support extends to helping to find accommodation for young mothers, providing cots, prams, baby clothes and so on.

On their blog, they asked for stuff from anyone in the Glasgow area, but we know from previous experience that Amazon (UK) and Amazon are able to deliver these items, however small the order. The delivery address, if you use this option is

Sisters of the Gospel of Life
106 Dixon Ave
Glasgow
G42 8EL

It is also possible to make a donation via PayPal. The button is on the Sisters' sidebar.

Finally, the Sisters are aware that times are hard, and so they ask for those who cannot afford to send anything to keep them in their prayers. So pop over and tell them that you are praying for them and the work that they do.

Exciting Times...

I received a rather exciting item in the post this morning: a proof copy of a chapter I wrote about St. Anne Line for a book on various heroic women. I'm not entirely sure whether I'm supposed to do anything with it, it just came with a compliment slip from the publisher, the contents pages and the biographies of all the contributors as they will appear in the book.

The book is called English Catholic Heroines, and it is edited by Joanna Bogle (of Auntie Joanna Writes fame) and published by Gracewing. Glancing at the other chapter titles, I was delighted to see that Fiorella Nash and Sr. Andrea Fraile have also contributed chapters.

In addition to the "usual suspects" such as St. Margaret Clitherow and St. Margaret Ward, there are a lot of women I'd never heard of, so it will be quite a fascinating read... though I shall avoid reading my own chapter: I hate reading stuff I've written.

I have to say that I hadn't realised that it was going to be quite such a large book - 23 heroines in 22 chapters - but I suspect all the chapters are pretty short. I have no idea about its price, or whether it will be available in hardback first (or at all!) but, looking at Gracewing's website, there is a similar (presumably paperback) volume called English Catholic Heroes, edited by John Joliffe, and priced at £9.99.

I think the book launch is some time in October, probably in central London - watch this space!

Faith Magazine Publications...

Sir Dan of the Nesbitry and Fr. Hugh MacKenzie were very keen for me to use my blogging skills to advertise various things published by the Faith Movement. The were so keen, in fact, that they bribed me with free copies of the last two issues of Faith Magazine.

Unwisely, I admitted that I did prefer reading hard copies, and that I had had a subscription, but that it had lapsed. This was like a red rag to a bull, and I soon found myself with Sir Dan twisting one arm behind my back, and Fr. Hugh placing a pen in the other... I took the path of least resistance, and filled in a subscriptions card.

To be fair, the Faith Magazine is particularly good value compared to other theological works: it is £25 per year (6 issues) in the UK, €37 in Europe and US $66 if you want it sent via airmail. The student rate is a derisory £17 (€22 or US $34) for a year's subscription. As well as interesting, informative and intellectually challenging articles, there are regular columns such as Cutting Edge and Notes from across the Atlantic and the Letters section.

The Reasons for Believing series of pamphlets is very popular: there are currently six titles covering the fundamentals of the Catholic faith, including Can we be sure God exists? and The Disaster of Sin. The latest pamphlet is The Church: Christ's Voice to the World, which will help anyone seeking to answer that hoary old chestnut - "Well, I do believe in Jesus, but I don't believe in all that Church nonsense, it's just not necessary..."

The latest resource, hot off the press is the third DVD produced by Faith: The Bible: The Word of God. Dan was determined that I should get a photo for the blog of the DVD and the pamphlet which accompanies it...

All of the publications and DVDs mentioned, and many more, are available from the website... unfortunately the site is down for tweaking at the moment, but the plan is that it will be up and running again after the weekend.

UPDATE: Yes, the site is back up and running...

Photos From The Summer Session...

I noticed that there was a comment in the programme to the effect that photos would be taken throughout the conference, and would be put up on the Faith website. This made me very happy, as I didn't need to worry about getting "permission" from people - though the posed shots were usually shown to the victims (sorry, I meant to say subjects) and the right of veto given... allowing me to get a better shot if they had objections to the first! Sir Dan of the Nesbitry lay in wait for unsuspecting customers by his publications stall, and relieved them of money that would otherwise have been wasted on beer... so it really was an act of charity...

Fr. Mike Dolman agreed to pose for a photo, as did the two young ladies shown... I asked three other young people if they'd be willing to be snapped, but the ravages of the previous night's entertainment meant they weren't too keen... I told them they'd only be let off if they found me some substitute victims, which they did, and pretty quickly!

Bishop O'Donoghue was definitely not camera-shy, and was happy to have his photo taken - he's seen here outside the Chapel after Mass, along with Fr. Hugh MacKenzie, Editor of the excellent Faith Magazine.

Posed shots are ok, but photos taken when the subjects are unaware of the danger (sorry, camera) can give a better idea of the atmosphere. Here, Fr. Stephen Boyle can be seen deep in conversation with two young people. Minutes later, he tried to convince me that I'd need written permission from him before I could use the photo... I reminded him that, given his previous ambition to be the most-blogged-about non-blogging priest, he was pretty much without a leg to stand on.

Richard Marsden, author of the excellent blog, Bashing Secularism, was also happy to pose for a photo. I tried to engineer something a little more "natural," but the sight of a camera made all three turn to face me head-on... and a posed photo seemed better than no photo at all, so I snapped away. Richard had read of my newly-awakened interest in cricket, and he was keen to know who my local team was, and whether I had any cricketing "pin-ups" yet... Alas, I had to admit ignorance on both counts: I suspect my local team is Kent...

Meals involved a queue through a tunnel-like corridor: the queue also provided quite a good opportunity for a photo or two, and I discovered that the flash gives a rather ghastly hue to people's faces. Fr. Luiz Ruscillo, shown talking to Alison Smith (who organises the Faith Community Newsletter) didn't believe me, and complained that the flash hadn't worked... so I took another photo. He immediately realised that I did actually know what I was talking about, and I deleted the second photo...

Behind Alison, talking to another priest (I think it's Fr. Ian Vane) and Fr. Hugh MacKenzie (behind Fr. Luiz), you can see Fr. John Boyle, who has returned to blogging after an absence from the Blogosphere. His return was greeted with tremendous enthusiasm, with many, many comments from people telling how much his posts had encouraged them in their faith.

Fr. Dylan James was also happy to be snapped. I have to say that, while grateful that others are willing to be photographed, I cannot understand the appeal. I loathe having my photo taken, and will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid being captured on film. There have been a couple of occasions when, out of courtesy, I have submitted to being photographed (smiling through gritted teeth), but the results are ghastly, and I've become a lot more determined to avoid the camera.

Not so Sr. Andrea Fraile, of the wonderful Sisters of the Gospel of Life. To be fair, I think she was waiting for the red light to come on before the flash, and intended to duck when it did... but, of course, I don't use a flash, and she was pretty aghast to realise that she'd been caught... but I decided that the photo was too good to delete...

And finally, I got a shot of His Hermeneuticalness himself, doing his bit to capture the moment for posterity. He had brought his super-snazzy mega-camera, mostly to allow him to get a photo of Bishop O'Donoghue for the Catholic Herald. However, he's quite happy to be photographed himself, so I got to take the photo... but I really do prefer my own camera, which has far fewer buttons!

The Serious Stuff Of The Session...

I wanted to call this post "The Session's Serious Stuff," but didn't like the ambiguity of the apostrophe!

The "serious" stuff is, of course, the set of talks. The Faith Movement is noted for its intellectually challenging approach, and it can be a bit overwhelming. The speakers are all terribly well-qualified, but then, so are a great many of the audience, which makes the task of giving a talk rather daunting, as Bishop O'Donoghue admitted to me... just looking at the priests, we have degrees in Mathematics, Radio Astronomy, Nuclear Chemistry, Psychology...

However, the speakers are pretty good at making the complicated stuff accessible to the young people present, and they respond to the intellectual challenge. Several times over the years, young people have told me that, while the first Conference they attended was pretty daunting, and some of the content of the talks was tricky to grasp, they recognised that the message being presented to them was one worth making the effort to understand, and that the truths of the Catholic faith were (often for the first time in their lives) being presented in their fullness, without being watered down to make them more "palatable" or "relevant".

The website is down as I type this, but the talks will be available for download quite soon, I think.

The talks were as follows:

Fr. Luiz Ruscillo: The Kingdom of God in the world today

Fr. Stephen Dingley: The future of the world - the meaning and purpose of creation.

Fr. Dylan James: The disaster of sin.

Fr. Roger Nesbitt: "The Kingdom of God is at hand" - The meaning of the first coming of Christ.

Rev. Ross Campbell: "Amen, come Lord Jesus" - the Church prepares for the second coming of Christ.

There was also the talk by our Guest Speaker, Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue, and a Seminar with personal testimonies from Fr. James Clark and two young people whose full names I didn't quite catch (as I thought they'd be on the programme) but who were introduced as Camille and Kieron. I am open to corrections on that!

Return Of The Mac...

I did find a computer, and I was told the password, but, alas, it was Results Day for our Scottish brethren, and it would have been extremely mean to hog the internet access for the purposes of blogging amusement while others were desperate to know their fate... I sincerely intended to do a little sneaky blogging during the discussion groups (I hadn't been assigned to one this year) but discovered that someone had locked the room...

This year's Summer Session was, I think, one of the best I've attended. Numbers were down on previous years, but this was purely because the school had some sort of building work going on, and so they couldn't allocate as many rooms as usual... we even had some people staying at the local Travelodge.

Bishop O'Donoghue's attendance at the conference - real attendance, not just popping over for the day of his talk - was a definite high point. He chatted happily with groups of young people, and appeared to be having a very good time... he was also very entertaining, as I discovered when we were together for lunch on the Wednesday.

And, of course, I took lots of photos. I shall post a few of them shortly, when I've had the chance to download them from the camera.

Pause In Transmission...

No sooner do I get back up to speed (well, almost) on the blogging front, than I have to announce another hiatus in posting frequency. I'm off to the Faith Summer Session tomorrow.

I shall bring my snazzy bit of camera kit with me, so there will be a few photos to look forward to when I get back.

UPDATE: Yippee... I found a computer, and a password...

My Education Continues...

I was given a little further instruction in the intricacies of cricket after Mass today. For the first time ever, I took a particular interest in Sky Sports in the Parish Club. I am intrigued by how the pace of the game actually allows in-depth discussion of tactics and explanations to blondes who are trying to get the general hang of things... and yet, it's compulsive viewing.

I am really getting the cricketing bug (should that be known as getting the grasshopper?) and spent lunch checking the score on my mobile phone; now I have Test Match Special playing on the computer while I blog. This is something I never thought possible...

Today I have been reflecting on how, on Thursday, England threw away a perfectly good advantage over Australia, because it was the gentlemanly thing to do... there are no substitutes in cricket (well, not for batting or bowling) and so England could have forced Australia to play with only ten men, meaning that they'd only need to take nine wickets to get them all out...

I also learned about commentator gamesmanship: especially the particularly ungentlemanly tactic of asking a direct question just after the person has taken a large mouthful of cake. Apparently, cake features quite a bit in cricket commentary.

I was momentarily quite pleased with myself when, looking at a player on the screen, I managed to identify the leg side... only to be informed that this was only correct if the player was right-handed. I learned about leg-byes, byes, extras and dollying up (I may have mis-heard, or mis-spelled, that last one: whacking the ball up in the air...) as well as preparing cricket pitches.

It also seems that the umpire's word is law: a player (or ball) is out if the umpire says he (or it) is out... and, while a day's play might be extended (subject to light and weather) in order to make up for time lost earlier in the match, the match will not extend beyond the five days. That seems a little unfair on all those spectators who bought tickets for Saturday's play, but perhaps they get refunds...

I doubt that my interest in cricket will ever extend to making tea and sandwiches in the pavillion, but I'm definitely hooked as a spectator. Ooh. Katich has just been caught out. Nine wickets to go... and now Ponting's just been bowled out by Swann... Eight and counting...

Usus Antiquior

I was asked to alert readers to the fact that Usus Antiquior, a journal dedicated to the Sacred Liturgy and published with the Society of St. Catherine of Siena, is getting closer to publication.

I blogged about the launch of the journal in September 2008, and alerted people to the need for donations back in January, and now it's time to sign up for the journal itself!

The journal is due to be published in 2010. Individual subscription is currently set at £25 (US$ 64) for one year (2 issues) or at the reduced rate of £46 (US$ 76); the student subscription rate is £15 (US$ 28) for one year. There are other rates for Religious Houses and Institutions.

You can find out more about the journal, or subscribe, by visiting this website.

Wet, Wet, Wet...

I'm beginning to get a little irritable... just when I started to take an interest, and to understand what all the runs, not outs, wickets and innings actually meant, rain stopped play.

I was under the impression that "The Ashes" Test Series was supposed to be something of a big deal. I was slightly disconcerted, therefore, to learn that, unlike finals in football matches, there are cricket matches being played in other (drier) parts of the country. I'm slightly puzzled as to how cricket players can play for their country if their normal cricket team is playing somewhere else... or maybe one is in the England team and that is it, but the rules (sorry, Laws) for who plays what, when, and where must be very different from other games. No doubt that will be answered in my next tuition session...

Anyway, the Sainsbury's Online delivery driver who just delivered my (very wet) shopping thought that Australia would be very happy with the weather...

Jubilee Mass Order Of Service...

Some people like to see these things, especially if they are planning to do something similar themselves. The booklet really was very beautifully produced, but there appears to have been a bit of a glitch in the setting here, this being a Word File rather than a PDF, so the Adoro te devote isn't set out correctly here (it was in the booklet!)

UPDATE: Fr. Finigan has read this post in horror and, in order to maintain his reputation, has sent me the PDF file, which I have uploaded instead... much better!

JubileeBooklet pauls

More Jubilee Photos...

I dislike posts which are little more than a collection of photos, without any commentary - these are fine for friends and family who were present, as a reminder of an event, but they're not much use as blog posts. I know, I know, I have done it on occasion, but, I hope, not too often.

But I like to take lots of photos.

And my snazzy bit of camera kit means that I can now try to catch more than the main moments during the Mass.

As it happened, I was very nearly reduced to using my mobile phone camera, as, just as the bell rang before the Consecration, my camera battery died. Fortunately, I had had the good sense to pack my spare battery (having charged it beforehand... what foresight!) but my fingers were shaking as I desperately tried to change the battery in time!

So, to celebrate my achievement, this is a post with a few of those extra moments...

This one was for the priest's Confiteor...

And here I managed to catch the moment where priest, deacon and subdeacon all genuflected as they incensed the altar...

The incensing of the priest at the beginning of Mass...

The next two photos are ones I have often tried to catch, as I find them very moving, but I have rarely succeeded, mostly because the phone camera I have previously used just didn't have a fast enough shutter speed. First the priest blesses the deacon before he reads the Gospel...

And then the deacon kisses the priest's hand, while the priest holds the Book of the Gospels...

I was delighted to see that I had captured the bow of priest and deacon after the priest was incensed...

Here, the thurifer incenses the deacon...

Another rarely caught moment (well, rarely for me) as the deacon and subdeacon exchange the Pax...

The priest gives the final blessing...

I didn't manage to get the genuflection during the Last Gospel, as my hand slipped (I forgot my monopod!) but I did manage to get a shot from the beginning of the Te Deum, to show off the cope which was, I think, borrowed from Chislehurst...

It really was awesome. Mass with all the trimmings!

Ashes 2, British Summer Won?

Hmmmmn... there may be a slight hiatus in my cricketing education. Overnight rain means that the start of the third Ashes Test has been delayed. They want to examine the pitch at noon... ok, it probably isn't called a pitch, but no-one mentioned that bit.

Not quite sure why, in a country famed for rain in Summer, an outdoor sport played in Summer has to stop because the grass is a bit wet... No doubt this will be explained in the Parish Club after Rosary & Benediction tonight.

Ad Multos Annos...

Just in case you've been stuck in Outer Mongolia without any internet connections, yesterday saw the Silver Jubilee of Fr. Tim Finigan's Ordination to the Priesthood.

A few people have blogged about it already: the indomitable and utterly charming Fr. Z (on the far left of this photo) managed to get a post up - he was spotted taking sneaky (sorry, did I say sneaky? I meant to say discreet...) photos from his pew, and I'm not in any way put out by the fact that he had a better angle for his photos, or that he was closer. No, not a bit. I will be happy to accept a link from him by way of assuaging my hurt feelings, but, no, I'm not put out, much...

His Hermeneuticalness has posted as well, probably just the first of many; I suppose I should allow him the scoop, since it was his Jubilee, after all... and his photos are pretty good, but would have been better if I'd taken them, as I was sitting in a better position than Carl... (Hah!) ...though I will be happy to accept a link from His Hermeneuticalness in order to assuage any hurt feelings because he's got better photos by virtue of having a better camera (well, it has more buttons on it...)

Fr. Michael Clifton, better known as Fr. Mildew, has a piece on the Jubilee celebrations, and I get several honourable mentions, though, sadly, no links... I also see that I'm not on Fr. Mildew's Blogroll: this is surely an oversight... However, in un-curmudgeonly fashion, Fr. Mildew did consent to pose for a photo with Fr. Blake, seen here outside the marquee after Mass.

Fr. Ray Blake, Blogger and Parish Priest of St. Mary Magdalen's, Brighton, is even more charming than Fr. Z, if that is possible: imagine Fr. Z with a British upper-class accent and an air of insouciance, and you've got it, well, sort of...

The arrival of members of the visiting schola and a few others by a Routemaster bus caused a bit of a stir, not least among our youngest altar servers, who promptly took the opportunity to explore it. The Routemaster bus, so beloved by tourists as "typically British" is, sadly, rarely seen on the streets of London any more... due to a combination of health and safety concerns that people couldn't be trusted to get on and off the open-backed buses and cost-cutting measures which resulted in the introduction of driver-operated buses.

Before Mass, the UCM had arranged tea and coffee for those who had travelled some distance to get to Blackfen. The choir were having a brief last-minute run-through in the small hall, while the visiting schola did their warm-up in the cry chapel. I had a brief chance to greet a few priests I know, and then I returned to the church in order to prepare for Mass (and to make sure I got a good spot for taking photos!) The church had been re-ordered somewhat in order to accommodate the visiting clergy, and the choir sat at the side, but facing across the nave, an arrangement which seemed to work very well.

And then there was the Mass: well, what can I say? Dr. Alcuin Reid afterwards said to me that our servers were the best-trained he'd ever seen in a parish setting, which, coming from one of the foremost liturgical experts in the country, if not the world, is high praise indeed. There were about thirty clerics present - if any more had shown up, we would have needed to extend the Sanctuary... The singing was beautiful, and it was wonderful to hear both plainchant and polyphony being used.

Fr. Roger Nesbitt, co-founder of the FAITH Movement, gave the sermon, and he congratulated Fr. Tim on picking the Year of the Priest for his Jubilee, which was amusing. He also spoke very movingly on a theme which I hold dear: without priests, there is no Church, because there would be no Sacraments; he exhorted us therefore to pray for all our priests. I tried to video the sermon, but it didn't quite work, possibly because the light from the windows interfered with the colour balance (or something!) Before you ask, the boy in the photo reading what looks like a comic book is actually reading a copy of Know Your Mass which Fr. Tim has recommended for anyone who wants to understand the Usus Antiquior a little more.

My favourite heart-stopping moments of all time...

After Mass, we went over to the Parish Club for refreshments: a splendid marquee helped to ensure that there was room for everyone. Trefor from the Jubilee Committee had drawn the short straw, and had to make a speech before presenting Fr. Tim with the gift from the Parish: he did extremely well. Fr. Tim gave a speech of thanks (during which the microphone gave up the ghost!) and this was followed by the Old Romans present singing Ad Multos Annos, which was very moving.

Before the end of the evening, Fr. Tim went to cut the cake. I managed to get a perfect shot of the cake itself (by not using a flash) as well as positioning myself perfectly for the actual cutting of the cake. Carl, acting as official photographer, decided to stand behind the cake, for a better shot... and found his view promptly obscured when Fr. Tim went and stood right in front of him... Ha! Not that I'm being competitive or anything...

I did wonder whether Fr. Tim was thinking about The Suppository's editorial board... he was gripping the knife rather firmly, and the cake, beautifully baked and decorated by parishioners Maria and Bianca, wasn't at all hard to cut...

Finally, after a few more drinks and reminiscences, it was time to leave. I had left my car at home, and so, with Puella Paschalis (who, as an old friend, had arranged to stay with me overnight), I took a cab home. No photos of either of us, so don't bother asking... Puella had had a bad night and an even more fraught journey over from the Netherlands, so I couldn't keep her awake while I blogged away merrily, which is why I didn't get anything up any sooner. Hopefully, you will feel that the post was worth the wait.

A message to Fr. Tim: Congratulations on your Silver Jubilee, thank you for all the years of selfless devotion to God and His Church, and ad multos annos.