Open Season...

I had high hopes that the Monsignori were getting tired of me rescuing their prey and throwing it out of the bedroom window (before you protest, I'm on the ground floor and there is a large patch of grass outside the window, and the kitties can't get to it very quickly from inside the flat!) There hadn't been any presents for ages.

The cats just about tolerate each other. When it gets very cold, they cease hostilities and both curl up on the duvet. The rest of the time they put up with each other - sulking if I appear to give the other a bit more attention.

However, it seems as though they are happy to cooperate when there is fun to be had...

Miaowrini came in with a mouse. I realised she had a mouse because Furretti immediately woke from her position at the end of the bed (where she had been deaf to all my blandishments, apparently fast asleep) and shot into the hall to see what was up. The two cats proceeded to play... well, cat-and-mouse !

Yesterday I came home to find a large pigeon by my armchair. Thankfully it was dead. I didn't clear it up immediately, as I had to go and powder my nose. When I did go back, I found that the bird had been dragged to a more prominent position... and both cats were waiting for my response...

Stuff...

I realise that no sooner did I get my blogging mojo back up and running than it ran out on me again.

Hopefully, internet connection problems allowing, I should be blogging regularly again soon. Or possibly not. I've decided to avoid making promises, especially if, like Nick Clegg, keeping them is not going to be within my control.

I was pretty miffed to miss out on the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma blognic, and so was rather pleased that the indomitable Fr. Z turned up at Maiden Lane a few days later for an impromptu blognic down in the Coal Hole. He also visited Blackfen for Sunday Mass - and gave a storming sermon on the reality of the devil and his malice. Good stuff.

And then I got to go for lunch...

We have some more good stuff happening in Blackfen this week as well. Today we had an extra Missa Cantata for the Feast of the Dedication of St. Michael. On Tuesday evening at 8pm there will be a Missa Cantata for the anniversary of the dedication of the church. Next Saturday we have our regular Missa Cantata for the first Saturday of the month, and we also are celebrating First Vespers of the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary - our patronal Feast Day.

And then, on the Feast Day itself, we are having a Solemn High Mass. Fr. James Bradley of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham will be preaching...

I will try and get pictures and stuff.

No promises...

Time For A Reality Check...?

After Professor Tina Beattie signed a letter in The Times which was at variance with Catholic teaching, her invitation to speak at Clifton Cathedral was withdrawn. Given that Prof. Beattie has never made any secret of her opinions, one might wonder why she was asked to speak in the first place.

Be that as it may, it was encouraging that Clifton diocese had seen how untenable it would be to have such a speaker scheduled. Prof. Beattie explained to the Catholic Herald that she was saddened by the cancellation, but that, after discussion, she understood it and accepted the reasons for it.

The Pill editorial has allowed itself an interesting slip in its haste to rush to Prof. Beattie's defense.

After noting that the letter to The Times distorted the words of Cardinal Hume in order to make it appear that SSM was not incompatible with Catholic teaching, and suggesting that the Bishop of Clifton might have thought this indicated a lack of good faith, the editor goes on to state that, "...apart from that consideration... the cancellation of the lecture was indefensible."

Sorry? Run that by me again...

A letter, signed by Prof. Beattie, deliberately uses a selective quote from Cardinal Hume to bolster the idea that it is possible to accept same-sex marriage as not being contrary to Catholic teaching, (because it's all about love, really...) and Professor Beattie says that she stands by the contents of the letter... and then The Pill tries to suggest that the Bishop's decision is indefensible???

I don't think so. As Leutgeb has pointed out, no other organisation would accept this level of dissent from an employee or member.

What is indefensible is the fact that The Pill can write this tripe and still claim to be Catholic.

Exaltation Of The Holy Cross...

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was marked in fitting style at Blackfen. The Sodality of the Five Holy Wounds had arranged to have a Missa Cantata, and there was a bit of a social event afterwards...

It's hard to believe that five years have passed since Summorum Pontificum. In one respect, it feels as if no time at all has elapsed. As the incomparable Fr. Z keeps reminding us, there is much still to do, particularly with regard to the training of priests and seminarians in the Extraordinary Form. But, brick by brick, progress is being made.

In another way, the five years seems so long - it is hard to remember what it was like before Summorum Pontificum... though, on reflection, that might not be the case for anyone battling to get the Extraordinary Form introduced into their parish. But don't stop battling... it really is worth it.

Anyway, to celebrate the anniversary in the approved manner, we had a little champagne...

A few of us couldn't resist teasing Tom, whose youngest baby is being baptised tomorrow. Fr. Tim asked if he'd sorted out who would do the first reading, and whether someone had written the bidding prayers...

...Tom was rendered totally speechless at the thought, and I had to take a photo! (The baptism will be in the Extraordinary Form, and so there aren't any readings or bidding prayers!)

Sodality Mass

The Sodality of the Five Holy Wounds is having a Missa Cantata at Our Lady of the Rosary church, Blackfen for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, followed by a shared supper. Everyone is welcome. In case you need a further excuse to celebrate, it's five years since Summorum Pontificum...

I was planning on bringing sausage rolls until I realised that it was Friday, so that had me stumped for a moment. Not being a good cook, I'm not really up to doing anything clever with fish. I might try to get some smoked salmon and cream cheese, but please don't tell the Monsignori, or I'll not be able to leave the house...

The dates for the Sodality meetings and Masses for the next year are now published on the Sodality blog's sidebar, so do check it out.

A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words...

So, 'nuff said!  Twitch of the mantilla to the wonderful Sisters of the Gospel of Life.

Happy Birthday To Our Blessed Mother...!

Yesterday was the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady. To celebrate, one of our parishioners and her sister made a new cape for the statue of Our Lady...

"Jog On, Kitties..."

Having observed Monsignor Miaowrini successfully manoeuvre a large, live pigeon from my kitchen to my sitting room without the benefit of opposable thumbs, I rather dread to think what she and Monsignor Furretti would be like if they did have them...

A Spiritual Work Of Mercy...

I was rather scandalised by reports that the Archdiocese of Liverpool has commissioned Lay Funeral Ministers. It seems a little hard to believe that the people of Liverpool are dropping dead in such numbers as to make it impossible to find Catholic priests and deacons to carry out the funeral rites.

In my humble opinion, the idea of lay-led funeral services makes it even more imperative that practicing Catholics pray for the dead and arrange to have Masses said for the repose of their souls. In Blackfen we are blessed to be able to have sung Requiem Masses, with absolutions at the catafalque, on the anniversaries of previous parish priests, and there is something very consoling in praying for the deceased in this way. St. Bernadette was concerned that her family and friends, being convinced she was already in heaven, would not offer Masses for the repose of her soul. With the modern emphasis at many funerals being a celebration of the life of the deceased rather than praying for the forgiveness of any sins committed through human frailty, those of us who have not lived such saintly lives as St. Bernadette should be even more concerned by the thought that we might be left languishing in Purgatory.

Even if it isn't possible to have an actual Requiem Mass, we can still arrange to have Masses said. Every Mass celebrated has a specific intention offered by the priest - one Mass on Sundays (and possibly Holy Days of Obligation) is offered for the people of the parish, and no stipend can be accepted for that Mass, but that leaves plenty of other Masses. We don't limit praying for the dead to the month of November!

To pray for the dead is one of the spiritual works of mercy, and Mass is the supreme prayer. We need to encourage Mass intentions for the repose of the souls of those who have died - especially if, due to having been assigned a Lay Funeral Minister, they're being denied the opportunity of a proper funeral Mass.

Time To Put Our House In Order...

Before the Catholic blogosphere took off, the only sources of information for ordinary Catholics were papers such as The Pill. Unfortunately, The Pill has, for quite some time, been giving rather a lot of publishing space to individuals who are actually opposed to Church teaching. One such individual is Prof. Tina Beattie, who, as director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton, certainly should not be writing against the Church's position on subjects such as abortion and same-sex "marriage."

If The Pill wishes to campaign against the teachings of the Church, then it should not be sold as a Catholic publication, and definitely not be made available for sale in Catholic parishes and cathedrals.

Twitch of the mantilla to Deacon Nick Donnelly at Protect the Pope.

Bored...!

I don't know when the USA hold their presidential elections. Not soon enough... I'm bored with it already. (Actually I got bored with it some time ago...)

The Fruits Of Ecumenism...?

Lunch, after today's first Saturday Missa Cantata, was a very jolly affair.

Leutgeb, presented His Hermeneuticalness with a home-grown tomato, so that he could slice it through the transverse plane and enjoy a truly Christian fruit in his sandwiches, rather than slicing it through the sagittal or coronal planes to reveal a crescent. Zephyrinus asked if crescent-shaped fruits were to be declared anathema...

Absolutely not, I countered. Any fruit or vegetable which revealed a crescent shape would merely have to have a statue of Our Lady plonked on top of it for it to become totally acceptable...

The "Gay Marriage" Thing...

Let's be absolutely clear about one thing. It's nothing to do with equal rights for homosexuals. There is already full equality in law through civil partnerships.

Michelle Therese, who lives up in the Orkneys, has written two really clear and excellent posts on the topic. The first post was written as she prepared to attend an open discussion forum with the Scottish Cabinet. The second post was written once she got back home. Both posts (and the blog itself) are well worth reading.

A Favourite Feast Day!

Today was the feast of one of my patron saints - St. Anne Line. I wrote a chapter about her which was published in English Catholic Heroines - my only claim to fame as a "proper" author... though I have written a couple of small pieces for the Catholic Herald (they must have been short on copy!)

I chose St. Anne as a patron saint because I liked her acerbic tone, first at her trial and also at her execution by hanging at Tyburn. On being asked whether she repented of her "crime" of harbouring a Catholic priest, she retorted that, "...so far am I from repenting that I would I could have sheltered a thousand!"

That feisty attitude in defence of the Catholic Faith, her clear understanding that, without priests, there would be no sacraments and therefore no Church, plus the fact that she taught children and showed hospitality to priests, really struck a chord within me. St. Margaret Clitherow and St. Margaret Ward, who share St. Anne's feast day, never captured my heart in the same way, although they, too, lived and died heroically.

About 8 or 9 years ago I went with Joanna Bogle on a mini-pilgrimage to find out more about St. Anne - at the time there were only three articles on the web about her life, and details were extremely sketchy. You can read more about my pilgrimage there.

And So It Starts Again...

The first question most teachers get asked as soon as the summer holiday starts is "So, when do you start school again?"

I have never quite worked out the reason for this question... though I have speculated that it is either from jealousy (let's be honest, six weeks' holiday every year in the summer is quite a perk!) or desperation (usually from parents who are very keen to send their offspring back to the classroom... though, to be fair, they tend to wait for a week before they ask.)

The shops are always keen to remind us that school is lurking - "Back to School" stuff has been there since the start of August. One of Leutgeb's Facebook friends appears to have spotted one shop with a particularly negative view of the local schoolchildren...

Cat Stuff...

My cri de coeur as to whether I should keep putting up news of the Monsignori drew a pretty large response from my readers, confirming my suspicion that the majority of you are really interested in the cat posts and the Catholicism bit is a bonus.

When I returned from Eastbourne, I knew that Monsignor Furretti would be all over me like a rash. She was pretty clingy as a kitten, and has grown up to be rather attention-seeking. I expected Monsignor Miaowrini to be more sulky, but she was quite pleased to see me too. Both of them have been spending quite a bit of time in the sitting room with me while I blog. They take turns to sleep above the computer...

Until today, that is.

Somehow or other they realise that I want to give them some worming medicine. I'm not stupid enough to try and give it in pill form. I've bought some drops to go on the back of the neck... the packet was in the midst of my online grocery delivery, but somehow or other the kitties know something's up, and they've gone out.

Watch this space...

How Not To Do A Picture Restoration...

This lunchtime, after Mass, His Hermeneuticalness was showing some young parishioners images of the restored fresco which hit the news a few days ago. Jacinta remarked that it reminded her of the Mr. Bean sketch... and then, on seeing all our blank faces, she apologised for being "too young."

I hadn't seen the sketch, but thought I would probably find it on YouTube. Sure enough...

The Mantilla Quotient...

Annie Elizabeth and I have gleefully noted that the number of women wearing mantillas at Mass is going up. Of course, under "mantilla" I also include scarves and shawls used as head coverings. Hats are quite good too, but one doesn't tend to see so many of them, except at weddings - and then they are, more often than not, just little scraps of feather and net.

The reason I wear a mantilla in church is that it is a way to show reverence and humility in the presence of God. A woman's hair was traditionally considered to be her crowning glory, and it was considered an act of humility to cover it before God. I also find the act of putting on my mantilla before I enter the church to be a useful moment of reflection.

It didn't take long to get used to it, and now it's second-nature. This was brought home to me when I found myself in Victoria a couple of weeks ago without a mantilla in my handbag. I had four of them in my car, but since it was one of the rare occasions when I was using public transport, they weren't much use! I felt positively undressed, and incredibly self-conscious, despite the fact that no-one would have batted an eyelid if I hadn't worn one.

I then had a brainwave - I shot into the St. Paul's bookshop next door. Yes, they sold mantillas - one size, one style, rather ghastly... and overpriced as well. June Wood, the lady who makes mine, uses much nicer materials, beautifully finished and for half the price. However, I wanted a mantilla in a hurry, and I figured that it would teach me not to leave home without one again!

When I recounted my experiences to Annie Elizabeth, she told me about the church at Ecône, where the church porch has a rack with a variety of scarves and shawls available to borrow... thinking about the amount of money I had to pay for my scrap of material, I rather wish I had been more creative in my thinking, and had bought a nice scarf instead.

Now Annie Elizabeth and I have formed the Blackfen branch of the Mantilla Mafia. First challenge: to figure out how to get Leutgeb to wear one...

Happy Feast Day...

Tomorrow sees the feast of St. Zephyrinus, Pope & Martyr. I would encourage you to celebrate the feast with a visit to his namesake's blog. There you will find a veritable treasure-trove of photos and information about saints, churches and devotions. There's even a post on St. Zephyrinus himself...

Do go along and wish him a happy feast day. Anyone who orders his socks from Gammarelli's is a thoroughly good chap.

Birthday Celebrations...

Here at Blackfen, we like to celebrate events the way the Holy Father does - with champagne and chocolate cake. The promulgation of Summorum Pontificum was one such event, and Fr. Tim's blog reaching 3 million hits was another. Today we decided to celebrate Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's 80th birthday...

Before anyone panics, the children were waiting for the cake, not the champagne...