Monday Madness...

Just for Fr. Steven Fisher's cat...

Chemical Magic...

Today I was demonstrating what happens when you react metals with oxygen. Iron filings in a Bunsen burner create lots of lovely sparks, and copper and zinc filings are even prettier (they make green sparks and blue sparks respectively.) I used magnesium powder too, which makes a brilliant white sparkler effect... and a magnesium oxide "snow" which gave me what looked like a severe case of dandruff.

The "ooohs" and "ahhs" were very gratifying.

Mind you, I then used a glowing splint to test for oxygen in a gas jar. The wooden splint bursting back into flame got the biggest cheer of all.

As I said before, Year 7 are just so easy to impress...

Karen's New Blog...

Karen, the Oceanic Gem, has decided to start up a second blog, concentrating on stuff to do with the Extraordinary Form of Mass - details of saints, catholic heritage and so on. She's including references to her source material, so it'll be a useful resource.

Go and have a look at Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie when you have a chance.

The Chocolatisation of Advent...

Miss Ellen E. has a very good and thought-provoking post on the chocolatisation of Advent.

By virtue of the fact that I had a German mother (and thus a doting German grandmother living abroad) the Advent calendars of my youth always had chocolate in them. And not in a box below the picture, either: these were proper Advent calendars, with a Nativity scene, lots of glitter, and proper chocolate... with a different shaped chocolate behind each door.

I wasn't brought up as a Catholic, and not even as a Christian - I was baptised at the age of thirteen - but I knew the Christmas story (a rather garbled version, to be sure) from school Nativity plays. I knew what Christmas was actually about, and presents and Santa Claus were an enjoyable result of the birth of Christ.

With the modern tendency to remove any Christian themes from Christmas, most children now know nothing of what Christmas is actually about, and we cannot blame them for wanting to have their favourite cartoon characters on their chocolate calendars. Finding Advent calendars with religious scenes is hard enough - calendars with religious scenes and chocolate are like hens' teeth. It's up to us to tell the manufacturers what we really want, and to keep telling them, until they get the message.

A Happy & Holy Advent...

I like the season of Advent. If observed properly, it makes a wonderful antidote to the relentless secularisation of "Christmas." It's a time of preparation, hence the purple vestments at Mass.

The Curt Jester has come up trumps yet again with his animated Advent Wreath, which is available free, gratis and for nothing from his blog - the JavaScript code is easy to insert, and the animation will be updated each week, so more and more candles get lit.

Arise Once More...

This evening we had a screening of Arise Once More at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen. Produced by Christian Holden of St. Anthony Communications, it begins with the early arrivals of Christianity in Britain, and takes you on a tour of Catholic history, through the Medieval period and the Reformation, the Second Spring, the Modern Crisis. It ends with "The Revival" which sets forth the necessary steps for an authentic revival of Catholicism in Britain.

I was wielding my trusty camera, so managed to persuade the clergy to pose for a photo... Fr. Marcus Holden is on the left, with Fr. Charles Briggs (Parish Priest of Chislehurst, who came with a few of his parishioners) and Fr. Timothy Finigan.

Refreshments were available before the presentation - very necessary, given the vile weather outside...

It was an excellent DVD: though personally I think that a lot of the commentary could have been played while looking at the pictures of churches, statues, paintings, and so on... Fr. Marcus Holden told me that the budget for this first production was seriously limited (which you wouldn't guess from the quality of the DVD) which meant that there was a restriction on how many different images they could use.

This was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me: I remember when Christian Holden and his brother, now Fr. Marcus, first started St. Anthony Communications fourteen years ago, and, as the Advertising Manager for the Faith Magazine, I persuaded them to advertise with us...

Their next project, which promises to be even better, will be on the Sacrament of Confession. If you wish to buy a copy of Arise Once More, you can order it (and many other excellent books, DVDs and CDs) from the St. Anthony Communications website.

Here's the trailer for the DVD...

Cure For Blondness...

I love Google Mail. It now has a remedy for those particularly frustrating blonde moments - you know, the ones where you remember you need to attach a file after you have clicked the "send" button...

There is an application in Google Mail which allows you to "undo send" for 10 seconds (you can choose 10 or 5 seconds) before sending your missive off into the dark void of cyberpace.

Google must have several blondes in its employ... I mean, how else would they know...?

Christmas Cards...

Christmas cards are becoming more and more difficult.

First, there is the difficulty of finding good quality cards which actually celebrate Christmas: that is, cards with religious pictures - and I don't count pictures of a dove with an olive branch as "religious." The whole point about Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth. Stars just about cut it. Traditional pictures of singing (or instrument-playing) angels, by virtue of their artistic merit and the theological implications are ok. Santa Claus, robins, snowy village scenes and carol singers are definitely out.

Then there is the whole "charity" thing. I like the idea of sending cards which help to support a charity. I don't, however, want to support any charity with anti-life policies such as abortion, embryo experimentation, euthanasia, population control and pre-natal screening/diagnosis. Many of the charity Christmas cards on sale in the supermarkets support a variety of charities... and quite a few of them are involved in these anti-life areas.

It is a minefield: for example, charities like the Parkinson's Disease Society, which would otherwise be very good causes, are now off limits because they advocate embryonic stem cell research.

If you want to check out a particular charity, then the SPUC Charities page is an excellent resource.

The Manhattan Declaration

A CALL OF CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:

1. the sanctity of human life
2. the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3. the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

You can sign the declaration by following this link. Twitch of the mantilla to Bones for reminding me that they hope to get to a million signatures.

Happy Feast Day...

Zephyrinus reminded me that today is the Feast of St. Silvester (according to the 1962 calendar), and bade me wish the star of my blog a happy Name Day... I shall have to make sure he gets something nice to celebrate later...

Challenge Anti-Life Sex Education...

I received the following information from Anthony Ozimic of SPUC. We really need to make our views on this heard... after all, we cannot rely on the "Catholic" Education Service, which so rapidly sold out to the Government agenda, nor on the Bishops of England & Wales, who have been silent, and thus complicit.

Make no mistake - we are fighting for our children's very souls!

The government has introduced a bill which would make sex education compulsory in all state schools, including faith schools, from ages 5-16. This is part of the government's anti-life sexual health agenda. The approach to sex and relationships education (SRE) in the Children, Schools and Families bill has been framed by anti-life, anti-family groups. The government not only wants universal sex education, but also wants to use all state secondary schools, including Catholic ones, as centres for promoting access to contraception and abortion services. Not since the Abortion Act 1967 has there been such a determined effort to promote universal access to abortion.

Please act now to challenge the government's pro-abortion sexual health agenda in schools.

Please:

* read SPUC's new flyer, order a supply and distribute in your area;

* ask local clergy to include SPUC's notice in their next weekly bulletin and announcements, and work with them to distribute the flyer;

* read SPUC's critique Sexual Health in Schools 2009, which explains the government's pro-abortion sexual health agenda in schools;

* write to Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, opposing compulsory sex education. Send a copy of your message to your own MP. You can write to them at: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA or email them (SPUC has details of how to contact your MP);

* write to your local schools. Urge them to oppose the plans to make sex education compulsory. Also ask schools to write to Ed Balls MP (Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families), to the Prime Minister and to the local MP.

So Sweet !

I do enjoy teaching Year 7. They are still at the stage where they can be awed by simple science. Today I had fun with two small experiments.

In the first, marble chips reacted vigorously with acid, giving off carbon dioxide which could be collected in a little pipette and bubbled through limewater, turning it cloudy: the whispy patterns made in the limewater drew appreciative "ooohs" and "aahhhs".

The second experiment was even more fun: magnesium added to acid, giving off hydrogen gas... which made a satisfyingly squeaky bang when tested with a lit splint!

On A Lighter Note...

This note from a concerned parent to a teacher (not me!) made me chortle out loud, much to the consternation of Sylvester, who rapidly moved away from the vicinity of my ankles. The caption by The Crescat was brilliant: "If she home-schooled, this would never be an issue..."

Nightmare Time...

This story, courtesy of the Daily Mail is absolutely chilling, real nightmare stuff.

Rom Houben, trapped in his paralysed body after a car crash, described his real-life nightmare as he screamed to doctors that he could hear them - but could make no sound.
'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,' said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegetative state.

His case has only just been revealed in a scientific paper released by the man who 'saved' him, neurological expert Dr Steven Laureys.
'Medical advances caught up with him,' said Dr Laureys, who believes there may be many similar cases of false comas around the world.

He was so lucky that no-one thought it was in his best interests to die, and so stop feeding him"for his own good."

The claims that anyone is in a 'persistent vegetative state' always sends chills down my spine. As a teenager, I was knocked down by a car and was not expected to live through the night. The next day, the doctors told my mother that I would probably survive, but would be irreversibly brain-damaged. I heard this assessment of my chances, and was desperately trying to communicate with those around me, but couldn't do anything more than make moaning noises. I was terrified. Luckily, my experience was very short-lived. Rom Houben went through this hell for 23 years... all the while, he was able to hear what was happening around him.

Unfortunately, I doubt that this will give the "right to die" contingent any sleepless nights.

Twitch of the mantilla to Matthew Archbold of CMR.

Monday Mayhem...

St. Cecilia's Day

It's St. Cecilia's feast day today. Unfortunately, today being Sunday, she gets ignored in the Ordinary Form calendar; I was, however, delighted to hear her mentioned in the second collect at the Extraordinary Form Mass we had this morning in Blackfen. It is one of the (many) things I love about the Traditional Latin Mass: that more than one event can be celebrated on any particular day.

Going through a few old posts, I see that I wrote about the story of St. Cecilia's martyrdom a couple of years ago. I don't know is why she became the patron of Church music, but, as I love to sing, and as most of the songs I know are religious, I have a particular affection for St. Cecilia.

In previous years, when I've renewed my vows, I have had the litany of saints recited, and have been able to choose my favourite patrons. This year I shall be having the litany recited according to the older form, and apparently the list is set, so some of the more recent saints won't get a look in. At least St. Cecilia, being one of the early Roman Martyrs, will still be included!

Requiem At St. Mary's...

This afternoon saw the annual Requiem Mass at St. Mary's, Chislehurst, held for the repose of the souls of all those who are buried in the church graveyard.

Fr. Charles Briggs, the Parish Priest, was the celebrant, Fr. Tim Finigan was the Deacon, and Rev. John Harrison was Sub-Deacon. I appointed myself photo-czar: Fr. Briggs has complained at the lack of photos when I attended previous events, and the church is beautiful, so I was keen to try out my new camera... well, ok, it's four and a half months old! Mindful of the subdued lighting in the church, I brought my monopod along as well.

And then, having so many photos to choose from, I put them all into a slideshow "video" on You Tube...

I figured that the catafalque was absent because the coffins of the departed were actually just outside the church - and, sure enough, there was a procession outside with blessing of the graves after Mass had ended. I wasn't quite sure why there was no humeral veil for the Sub-Deacon, and didn't get a chance to quiz those in the know. I expect that, if no-one enlightens me via the com-box, I shall be able to find out the reason after Mass tomorrow.

New Blog On The Block...

Catholic With Attitude has drawn my attention to a new blog, Religious Freedom, which has been set up to catalogue articles online which demonstrate a restriction of religious freedom in the European Union. If you have any articles you are asked to email Catholic With Attitude, as he's helping to set up the blog.

Gregorian Chant CD

I received an email from Nick Gale, advertising a new series of CDs on Gregorian Chant, and I'm very happy to post the following information:

GREGORIAN CHANT TEACHING DISCS

This week sees the release of the first of three discs of Gregorian Chant produced to assist musical directors, cantors, choirs and congregations learn a Chant repertoire for use in the Liturgy. The discs were recorded by Signum Records, London, and the Chant is sung by three members of the Choir of St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, London, UK and recorded in the Cathedral’s beautiful Lady Chapel under the direction of the Cathedral’s Organist and Master of the Choristers, Nick Gale.

The first disc, Chants of the Ordinary, contains a selection of Mass ordinaries (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Ite and Benedicamus Domino) – including complete recordings of Masses I, VIII, IX, X, XI, XV, XVII & XVIII, the Ambrosian Gloria, Credos I, III & VII and a selection of Alleluias. The second and third discs will be released next month and will contain chants for the entire Liturgical Year – all four Marian Antiphons in simple and solemn tones, the Te Deum, chant hymns, antiphons and responses for Advent, Christmas, Candlemas, Lent, Holy Week, the Easter season, Pentecost, Trinity and Christ the King – as well as some more general material and a selection of manageable Communion Antiphons from the Graduale Simplex for general use.

The Discs are priced at GBP £!0 plus £2 P&P (£3 for orders outside the UK), payable by cheque or by PayPal. To place an order or to ask for a full track list or any other details email Nick Gale. Courses and workshops in Gregorian Chant in the UK and abroad can also be booked through this site.

One Sentence From Fr. Z...

Wow. The inimitable Fr. Z wrote one sentence on his blog. If you don't count the actual link, it was two words!

Thanks Father!

My Name In Lights...

... Well, ok, that is way too much of an exaggeration. However, this evening saw the official launch of the book, English Catholic Heroines, edited by Joanna Bogle, for which I wrote a chapter on St. Anne Line.

It was a lovely event, held in St. Wilfred's Hall at the London Oratory. I had left my car at home in the morning, and so was able to have a glass of wine (or two) while chatting to people.

It was fascinating to meet some of the other contributors - as well as contributors to the companion volume, English Catholic Heroes.

His Hermeneuticalness was in attendance, with camera, but he was too polite to try to snap me unawares - I really do hate my photo being taken. I, on the other hand, had no such reticence...

And here is what my name looks like in print...

Even though I'm not on commission, and don't get any royalties (honest!) I recommend this book (and its companion volume) as a little stocking-filler for anyone who wants to know about the witness of faithful Catholics in this country: there are many striking parallels to our own times too!

UPDATE: I thought I better point out that there is another page to the contents list - there are actually around 21 chapters!!

Monday Fun...

Monday cat post... Enjoy!

Pining For The Fjords...

I was chatting to Leutgeb over a cup of tea this evening, when she mentioned fjords. I couldn't help exclaiming "Pining for the fjords??" in a silly voice, and proceeded to mutter things about dead parrots. The sketch here has been edited somewhat - the version I recall ends with the offer of a slug as a replacement.

"Does it talk?" asks Cleese.

"Errr... yeah!" is the reply from Palin.

To which Cleese says: "Right, I'll have that one then."

The ending in this clip is rather less satisfactory, but the main part is still good stuff...

Very Remiss Of Me...

I did see this when it was first published, and even bookmarked it for later posting, but then I got distracted. Still, better late than never.

Parishioners at St. Mary Magdalen's, Brighton, were treated to a Solemn High Requiem Mass for All Souls Day. Clare filmed the whole thing and then cut the images with the music - I am very impressed with both the singing and the video itself. I particularly liked the black-and-white film effect!

Clare's video definitely wins over my slideshow... though I think Blackfen had the edge when it came to vestments!!

The Suppository's At It Again...

This time, the "Catholic" paper is having a pop at Anglicanorum Coetibus.

Fr. Z has done a great fisk of their latest editorial. I was particularly amused by his reference to The Suppository as "England’s ultra-dissenter fishwrap" and "a sort of bitter morning after pill".

The description of the effects of RCIA programmes run in some liberal parishes also had me chuckling...

"...I have heard from some who have gone through it in Tablet style parishes, they are never quite the same again. They don’t at all feel the same. Many, in fact, feel like they need delousing."

Damian Thompson has also written a good article about The Suppository's attitude.

I said before that I didn't quite understand why there was any need for the Apostolic Constitution. However, the Holy Father has written it, and has thereby made generous provision for any Anglicans who wish to be received into the Church. As far as I am concerned, that means that it's a good thing. Peter has spoken.

November...

Listening to the wind howling outside while I sip my mug of hot chocolate reminded me of a snippet of a poem I once read. I could only recall little snatches of it, so I didn't think Google would be much help, but, as it so happened, I struck gold...

By Thomas Hood, the whole poem can be found HERE, but it's the last verse which really does it for me...

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,

No comfortable feel in any member--
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,
November!

The Arrival Of Winter...

The weather, for some strange reason, is considered to be a very British conversation piece. I hate to encourage such stereotyping, but sometimes one just has to bow to the inevitable...

The first major storms of winter appear to have hit Britain this weekend. They are slightly later than usual - in 1987 we had "the Great Storm" in the middle of October, which took everyone by surprise (most famously the weather forecaster, Michael Fish*... poor chap!) and ever since then, we seem to have storm warnings and severe weather warnings each October.

Today, I wanted to go along to the LMS Annual Requiem Mass at Westminster Cathedral. I was really looking forward to it, and had originally planned to drive down to Westminster and leave my car in Petty France near the Buckingham Arms. Then I heard that the Lord Mayor's Show was on.

Plan B was also quite enticing: take a cab to North Greenwich, and then the Jubilee Line up to Westminster... almost as easy as Plan A, with the added advantage of being able to indulge in a glass or two of something bracing to keep out the damp.

This morning, as I got ready for the usual Saturday morning devotions at Blackfen, Plan B began to look distinctly unappealing: the wind was howling and the rain was really lashing down. There was a brief point at which I thought the weather might clear up, but it didn't last long.

Happily, the UCM had arranged their annual Winter Warmer event. I popped in to the hall to buy some cakes (I was still intending to go to Westminster at this point) but, as I was returning to the car, the heavens really opened. I beat a hasty retreat back inside the hall, put the cakes somewhere safe, and settled down to a delicious lunch.

Maria was on the cake stall: I had already snaffled the Dundee cake and a rather nice-looking lemon sponge, but there were still plenty of others for sale.

The ladies of the UCM were serving homemade leek and potato soup: I understand that it was really scrumptious, but, having a severe aversion to greenery in my diet, I refrained from trying any, and stuck to the sandwiches and mince pies. This was definitely another wonderful parish event.

*In case any of you are puzzled by my reference to Michael Fish, this is what I'm on about...

More Photos From The Confirmations...

The parents of one of the candidates sent me these photos for publication on my blog if I so wished, and it was such a wonderful occasion that I'm happy to oblige...

Marzipan, Jelly Babies & Chemistry...

I arrived home this evening to find an email from my German friend - last year she sent me marzipan and sausages in return for traditional English sweets. This year she has been tormenting her students with descriptions of jelly babies... rather sickly sweets, made of sugar, gelatine and food colouring, dusted in icing sugar and shaped (vaguely) like little babies. I used to take great delight, as a child, in biting the heads off... Bassett's make the definitive jelly baby, though they went all PC in changing over to all natural colours and flavours a couple of years ago.

In her email, my friend offered to send me more marzipan in return for some jelly babies for her class. This seems like a very good idea: I am extremely fond of (proper) marzipan.

The request reminded me of an experiment to demonstrate respiration (Please note, respiration is NOT the same as breathing... breathing is gas exchange; respiration is getting energy from food (fuel) with the help of oxygen (aerobic respiration) or in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic respiration) - here endeth the lesson!)

Anyway, the experiment is known as the "screaming jelly baby experiment" where the glucose in the baby is oxidised pretty vigorously... this is one of the best You Tube videos, although you can't really hear the jelly baby scream - that aspect is a little bit hit-and-miss. I must try and video it myself some time!

This sort of thing may explain why people think Science teachers are weird...

I suspect marzipan would work just as well as jelly babies, but I am loathe to waste any trying it out...

We Will Remember Them...

For The Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

Mondays...

I've decided to start a Monday slot for silly cat-and-caption pictures, courtesy of the I Can Has Cheezburger? site (and therefore will try to restrict my silly cat photos to once a week!)

Here is today's...

A Late Addition...

I meant to include this in yesterday's post on Remembrance Sunday, but I'd forgotten to ask permission to put the photo up, and didn't want to hold back on the video until David got back to me...

Anyway, I was impressed to see this collection of medals worn by Cllr David Hurley - the side the medals are worn demonstrates whether they are one's own or were awarded to one's father (or perhaps even grandfather) - but I can't remember which side, or how far back one is allowed to go, or even if one has to have been in service oneself before being allowed to wear them...

David was just off to a Remembrance Service after Mass, hence wearing the medals.

Remembrance Sunday At Blackfen...

Today was pretty awesome. We started off with a Requiem Mass with Absolutions at the Catafalque for Remembrance Sunday, and then had a service for the blessing of graves at Sidcup Cemetery.

I took lots of photos, and when it came to choosing a few for the blog, I just found that I had too many I wanted to include, and so I made a slideshow and set it to Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem.

The visit to the cemetery carried with it a Plenary Indulgence, applicable to the Holy Souls. I can't understand why some parishes fail to make a big thing of this work of mercy.

After Mass, but before the visit to the cemetery, a few of us popped in to the Parish Club. Jonathan, the MC, was keen to point out that the extra Missal he had brought for use during the Absolutions today had originally come from Balham...

And here is the slideshow "video"...