Calling A Spade A Shovel...

Back in the mid 1990s, when I was involved in scientific research, I wrote an article on foetal tissue transplantation for Faith Magazine (archived by EWTN) in which I happened to comment on how the medical profession liked to use highly specialised scientific language in order to obscure the true nature of the work being done.

The mothers of the aborted babies used were referred to in very oblique terms in the papers I reviewed - one study even went so far as to call them "donors." Aborted babies were reduced to "embryonic tissue" or "neural tissue." Everyone knew what it all meant, but it was just a "nicer" way to say it.

It seems, however, that we have now reached the stage where scientific papers are being much more up-front about what is involved. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have published advice on performing late abortions:

"Feticide should be performed before medical abortion after 21 weeks and 6 days of gestation to ensure that there is no risk of a live birth."

Patricide, matricide, fratricide, regicide aren't used so often these days - but most people can identify the words as meaning that someone is killed. Homicide is much more widely understood (mostly due to American cops-and-robbers films and programmes) as the killing of one human being by another. There can be no doubt in people's minds that feticide is the killing of a foetus, an unborn baby. Forget "products of conception" - that works earlier on, but not after 21 weeks.

This bluntness is rather surprising, and begs the question: have we, as a society, become so desensitised that the RCOG feels it can give clear advice on killing babies without having to dress it up in fancy language?

Twitch of the mantilla to Fr. Tim, who goes into much more detail (not to be read on a full stomach, trust me!)

World Blogging Exclusive...!

Laurence England (affectionately known in these parts as "Bones") is due to fulfil His Hermeneuticalness' prediction (quoted on the front page of this week's Catholic Herald, no less) that ' "Gimme some more, some more Summorum Pontificum" will be sung in pubs and clubs up and down the land after traditional Masses and other traddie events' !

Bones is planning to visit Blackfen this Saturday, 3rd December 2011 (which, in case I haven't mentioned it, happens to be the day I renew my vows!) and he'll be bringing his guitar, to serenade us all between the Missa Cantata, my vows and Sung Vespers...

Sad News...

I regret to pass on the sad news that Dominic Mary of Libera Me passed away last month. Karen (Gem of the Ocean) has more details, as the two of them started a wonderful blogging romance. Do go over to give your condolences to Karen.

Happy Thanksgiving !

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Photos From The LMS Requiem...

Joseph Shaw has put up his photos from the Requiem Mass at Westminster Cathedral. He complains that he hasn't been able to do any editing, but they look pretty good anyway.

The whole set can be seen at his Flickr page.

Those Polls...

The polls about Mass preferences have finished. Not very surprisingly, given the slant on this blog towards Mass celebrated according to the usus antiquior, the majority of people who responded to the blog would prefer to attend Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

More surprisingly, it seems that, of the people who bothered to vote, the majority were male. It was roughly a 60/40 split on both polls.

The most surprising finding, for me, was the discovery that there weren't any significant differences between the percentage of men and women who preferred to attend the Extraordinary Form.

Just eyeballing the figures, it seems that those who prefer the Ordinary Form of Mass would rather attend it celebrated ad orientem than in Latin. That seems to bear out the gut feeling that, if one is going to celebrate the Liturgy in Latin, one might as well go "the whole hog."

Of course, this is purely based on the people who actually bothered to vote.

Prayers For The Bishop...

Bishops have an unenviable task, that of leading the flock entrusted to them by Christ. Not a job I'd care for - I have enough problems shepherding my own soul.

So please, of your charity, pray for the repose of the soul of John Jukes, OFM Conv., Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark, who died earlier today.

Requiescat in Pace.

Bones Brings Out The B-Side...

Bones has much to answer for...

His Hermeneuticalness has been singing "Some more, some more, Summorum Pontificum" over and over. I now can't get the refrain out of my head. If ever I came close to throttling a cleric, today was the day.

As he promised, Bones has released the follow-up - "Across Universae Ecclesiae," which, IMHO is much better...



"Save the the Liturgy and save the World!"

Food For Thought...

At this time of year His Hermeneuticalness treats us to our annual reminder about the Four Last Things. We had Death at the beginning of November, followed by Judgement. Today it was time for Hell.

As often happens, one thing resonated for me. This week it was the fact that God has given us time. We get this stretch of time given to us in which we can repent of our sins and bad decisions and poor judgements.

Mulling this over, I was struck by a sudden thought: Time only affects the physical universe - it's measured in terms of the Earth spinning on its axis and orbiting the Sun... or, if you're more up-to-date, by atoms decaying. All physical stuff.

The angels didn't get given the luxury of time.

We really shouldn't waste such a unique and precious gift. We need to make the best use of it - for our eternal salvation - that we can.

Just a thought.

Calendar Clash...

Today happened to see the Towards Advent Festival and the Annual Requiem for deceased LMS members. Both were due to happen at Westminster Cathedral, and I had high hopes of once more scooting along to the Festival for a bit before toddling along to the Requiem Mass.

Alas, I'm still feeling rather grim. I decided that I was too ill to get to the Low Mass at Blackfen, and that sitting in a cold church for the period of Adoration wouldn't do me any good at all, and so I stayed in bed all morning. I had considered journeying to London by public transport for the events in London, but it looked jolly cold outside, and I decided that it wasn't a good idea...

I opted to do the politically incorrect thing and drive all the way. Naturally, it being Saturday, my journey was seriously impeded by roadworks, but I understand from Annie (we chatted briefly after Mass) that there were quite a lot of engineering works on the trains as well, so I wouldn't have been any better off. Sadly, the delay meant that I didn't have time to go to the Towards Advent Festival (though I did bump into Fiorella afterwards - she had apparently been signing books) and I was a little late for the Mass itself. I met quite a few friends there afterwards, including Seán from Juventutem London who stopped to chat briefly, and I spotted Paul Smeaton there too.

The Mass was beautiful - every Mass is beautiful, really, but this was Mass "with all the trimmings." There was a point after Communion where all the sacred ministers and servers were moving around the sanctuary in total silence in what appeared to be an exquisitely choreographed manner, and I was quite overwhelmed by it all - the majesty and, at the same time, the simplicity (it was, after all, a Requiem.) Stunning.

I wasn't allowed to take photos (the one above is actually from last year), so I shall link to Joseph Shaw's collection as soon as he overcomes his computer glitches and puts them online...

Another Blogging Cleric...

It seems that Fr. Bede Rowe has been blogging on the Q.T.

Do go over to read his very entertaining blog - A Chaplain Abroad - which details some of the things he's encountered in his role as chaplain of Chavagnes International College.

I had no idea he was blogging... I do wish people would tell me stuff like that, or leave a comment or something...

*grumble, grumble... rhubarb... mutter*

Feline Fellowship...

Monsignors Furretti and Miaowrini are pleased to announce that Pushkin the Oratory cat has published a book of his exploits, including the time he met the Holy Father..

The book launch is to be held on Monday 21st November (just in time for the Christmas market) and all proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards providing a more snug, warm and dry Oratory for Pushkin to dwell in more comfortably. Apparently there was flood damage last year, and no cat should be expected to have to put up with damp conditions.

The Monsignori  have asked me to pass on their best wishes, though they were just a little miffed that, despite senior clerical rank, they were not invited to the press launch. I shall probably have to placate them with morsels of smoked salmon...

A Neat Bit Of Evangelisation...

"On the Cross, Jesus said, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Why would he say that if he knew he was God?"

That question is quite a common one, in my experience. Most people in Catholic schools know enough of the Gospels to throw something similar at you, triumphantly, as if it would completely undermine the faith as taught for two thousand years. After all, people in the past were just dumb, weren't they?

Even the devil can quote Scripture.

I think that what we have lost is the idea of Tradition. Tradition now tends to be associated with stuffiness, and harking back to the bad old days, and being against progress. However, the living Tradition of the Catholic Church is very different. It is the knowledge, passed down through the centuries, (NOT "old wives' tales") which fleshes out the accounts in the Gospels - the things which St. John records as being too numerous to write down.

Stuff that people just used to know.

Of course, with modern teaching methods, one can never "just know" anything - one has to be able to give chapter and verse - reasons for one's knowledge. Not just so-and-so said, and I trust them to tell me the truth, but actual reasons, and anyway one must always recognise that this is just one opinion among many...

I think that, since the sort of biblical exegesis we've seen with the New Jerusalem Bible and its ilk - exegesis which depends on treating the Scriptures as dead documents to be translated as "accurately" as possible - we have lost the idea of the Scriptures as the living Word of God, interpreted through the Church's Tradition. I said this once before, when I noticed that the writings of the saints about Scripture passages didn't appear to correspond to the meanings given to those same passages today... which is why I tend to prefer the Douay-Rheims version of the Bible when looking stuff up. That's the version the Church used for most of her history.

Anyway, Pat Archbold has obviously found a brilliantly inspired way to answer the question about Jesus' cry from the Cross. He managed to identify the modern-day equivalent of common knowledge and tradition and apply it. I have to admit that I didn't get the cannoli reference - not being an American male brought up on the Godfather films - but I'm sure there are other frames of reference which could be substituted...

Kitty Conundrum...

I've been stuck at home this week, curled up under the duvet. I've gotten out of bed to feed the cats, and that's about it. I've mostly been asleep.

This afternoon I started to take a bit more interest in my surroundings. I heard the catflap bang, followed by a high-pitched squeak, and some scampering from two excitable kitties.

I decided to go and rescue the mouse rather than listen to it being tortured... or even to hear it escaping somewhere in the flat.

The cats heard me coming, one of them grabbed mousie and both shot back out through the catflap, presumably to continue elsewhere.

I guess that's a live mouse for the Kitty Kill Count. But my two Monsignori are certainly doing better than Larry, Number 10's (rather inefficient) Rodent Removal Operative. Three mice since February?? Is that all?? Mine have only had hunting licences since April, and even if you divide their spoils by two...

(BTW, the cats just came back with another mouse... or possibly the same one. I managed to rescue it this time...)

A Minor Victory...

After all the hype and media interest, and all the millions of pounds invested in research which would, apparently, be the answer to prayer for thousands of patients, it has finally dawned on one major research company that human embryonic stem cell therapies don't work, while adult stem cell research is producing the goods.

Of course, that's not quite the way the spin is playing.

Officially, Geron, a California-based company responsible for carrying out the world's first official trial using embryonic stem cells, has decided to pull the plug on the research because of the "current environment of capital scarcity and uncertain economic conditions."

Medical research companies don't "just stop" following particular avenues of research after ploughing millions into it. Not when they get as far as human patient trials.

In other words, despite all the money being poured in, the results aren't forthcoming.

Twitch of the mantilla to Luke Coppen (Editor of the Catholic Herald) who tweeted this one earlier.

Calling All Pregnant Women...

The Good Counsel Network does wonderful work in helping to support women through crisis pregnancies, many of whom might have gone on to have an abortion without the support GCN gives.

The workers at GCN have noted that many women really do change their views on abortion when they get to see the reality of their unborn baby through an ultrasound scan. It's much harder to kid yourself that it's just a blob of tissue, or just a ball of cells when you can see fingers, toes, a heartbeat...

Anyway, GCN have an ultrasound machine. But they need help in training people to operate it. So they're asking for women who are between 5 and 13 weeks pregnant to volunteer for a scan. No cost, a free scan and a picture of the baby to keep, and travel expenses can be refunded. The scan is supervised by a qualified consultant. The only snag is that the GCN need women to phone to book a scan on 020 7723 1740.

This is a very easy way in which you can support the work of the Good Counsel Network, so please consider helping if at all possible.

Gender Differences...

Someone once told me that a priest (or possibly a bishop, I can't remember) declared that the implementation of the Novus Ordo would result in a Mass attendance comprised of women and children.

On a purely subjective level, I have noticed that there seems to be a much more balanced attendance at the Extraordinary Form Mass than at the Ordinary Form, and far more men at the former than at the latter...

Now there are many more options in the Ordinary Form - and I'm rather interested if it is the ad orientem worship which causes the difference, or the use of Latin, or just the fact that the usus antiquior hasn't been denuded of all the extras, such as the preparatory prayers, and that there aren't any "options."

The polls are in the sidebar - do go across and vote. I'm interested in your preferences, not what you actually attend.

Too Many Cat Posts...!

Well, I don't care, because I seem to be in good company...

I wonder if the kitty gets to put the im-paw-matur on all documents? Or should that be the im-purr-matur? I shall have to go back and check with Fr. Z on his blog - What Does the Purr Really Say? Fr. Tim might also wish to express an opinion over at The Purrmeneutic of Continuity...

Twitch of the mantilla to Terry Nelson for the photo.

Time For Another Cage Match...?

First of all came the epic Trial-by-Kitty of The Remnant versus the Catholic Times. Monsignor Furretti, despite her youth, showed great discernment, and the Remnant survived. Then the Inquisition moved on to consider the case of The Catholic Herald versus The Suppository. A two-kitten panel of Monsignori decided very firmly in favour of shredding the latter... if cats had thumbs they'd probably have arranged an auto da fe, but one works with the tools God has provided.

It has been suggested that perhaps it is time for some further suitable test of orthodoxy for my two hooligans as they enter the cat equivalent of teenagerdom. Any suggestions?

Help Prevent Abortion Provision Being Imposed As A Duty...

John Smeaton has alerted people to plans, under the Health & Social Care Bill, to introduce statutory regulations forcing Local Authorities to provide abortions as part of the new NHS arrangements. This will create a conflict for any councillor who objects to abortion. Regulations forcing Councils to set up contracts with abortion providers (NHS or private) would also create the false idea that there is a legal right to abortion.

Please write to your local councillors asking them to write to their chief executive requesting clarification of what the regulations will require. It is important that no statutory duty to commission abortions should be imposed on Local Authorities under the NHS reforms.

Renewing My Vows...

I made private vows nine years ago. Some of my friends at the time were horrified - "What if Mr. Right turns up tomorrow?" I pointed out that he'd be Mr. Wrong, because he was too late: God got there first! I can honestly say that I haven't regretted my decision.

I'm renewing my vows next month (I don't need to renew my vows, they are permanent as far as I'm concerned) which makes an excellent excuse for a party. It'll be on 3rd December, which is the first Saturday, so that means that we have our monthly Missa Cantata and visiting schola. The Mass starts at 10:30am, and is finished about 11:30am, and I will renew my vows after Mass. There will be a bit of a party in the large hall, and then solemn sung Vespers at 2:30pm to finish up.

You are all most welcome. It would be helpful to know numbers (for catering purposes) but don't let that put you off if you suddenly find you're free...

Praying For The Dead...

Each year we have a ceremony for blessing graves in the parish. It's a very moving occasion, and, after praying for all the dead, Fr. Tim walks around, blessing any graves that people ask him to bless. The visit to a cemetery in the first week of November has a plenary indulgence attached, so, although there is a feeling of sadness, there is also some joy in the knowledge that, just by going to the cemetery and saying a prayer for the faithful departed, souls are freed from Purgatory.

Do remember to pray for the forgotten souls in Purgatory as well as for your loved ones...

November Kicks Off...

First of all a Missa Cantata at Our Lady of the Rosary Blackfen for the Feast of All Saints. Stirring stuff as Leutgeb would probably say - she's good at penning short, succinct phrases to capture the moment. I realise that it's probably very unfashionable of me, but I really do like the Missa de Angelis... though I'm not quite as keen on Credo III.

And then, this evening we had another Missa Cantata for the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, better known as All Souls' Day. Also stirring - but in a very different way: the propers are plaintive, mournful and very moving, while the Dies Irae thunders out, warning of the fate which, but for the mercy of God, awaits each of us.

The cherry on top of this wonderful treat consists of the opportunities for obtaining a Plenary Indulgence at the start of November, either for oneself (which always strikes me as a little bit of a waste in my case, unless I was fortunate enough to get in there just before I went to meet my Maker, as all the merits would, no doubt, disappear within the first five minutes as I succumbed to one or other of my besetting sins) or, more usefully, for one of the Holy Souls... perhaps for the most forgotten soul who has no-one to pray for him.

If you weren't lucky enough to get an EF Mass with all the trimmings ("Ablutions* at the Catafalque" as Zephy is wont to say!) then you can always get your fix by looking at the YouTube video I made with last year's photos...

*Yes, I know it's absolutions at the Catafalque, as does Zephyrinus, when he's sober...

The Advent Of... Well... Advent...!

Joanna Bogle sent an email round to remind us that, along with Advent itself, the Towards Advent Festival is rapidly approaching. It's on Saturday 19th November at Westminster Cathedral Hall.

The Festival opens at 10 am, and there will be a formal opening at 10:30 am with the Gallery Choir of the Cathedral Choir School. The Hall will be packed with stalls and displays from lots and lots of Catholic groups and organisations, and there will be books, DVDs, holy cards, Christmas stuff, statues, rosaries, and more on sale. I wrote about last year's Festival (and posted some pics too!)

This year the main speaker will be Mgr. Keith Newton of the Ordinariate - he's on at 1:30pm. I suspect that a lot of people will want to go and hear him.

Although admission to the Festival is free, there is a charge of £2 to attend the talks.

That Extra Hour...

I hate the changing of the clocks. It irritates me - I honestly can't see the point. London is on the Prime Meridian, zero degrees longitude... all time zones throughout the world use Greenwich Mean Time as the baseline.

Monkeying about with the clocks each year so that we can have British Summer Time is pretty pointless. The guff about the changing of the clocks giving us an extra hour's daylight is complete rubbish - we have exactly the same amount of daylight as we would get without changing the clocks...

Another excuse is that the number of road accidents with children on their way to school in the early morning darkness is reduced. I wonder why the accident rate for children going home in the dark evenings doesn't matter?

It annoys me because, just as my body is adjusting to light levels in the summer mornings, I suddenly have my body rhythms interrupted by the jump forward. My body tells me it's 6am... but the alarm clock says 7am. Somehow or other the extra hour "gained" in the autumn doesn't seem to register in the same way.

As for moving the clocks so as to be on the same time zone as Europe, well, that's just crazy!

Ok, rant over. I just had to get that off my chest.

BTW, we return to GMT tonight, so the clocks go back an hour. I wonder if the kitties will try to wake me up for breakfast...

Better Late Than Never...

Having been ridiculously busy of late, and unusually disinclined to go anywhere near my computer during my week off, I have suddenly realised that I never did get around to publishing my photos from the recent LMS pilgrimage to Aylesford.

Very remiss of me.

The music was a real treat - and there was a thrill associated with the thought that it had been composed by a contemporary of St. Simon Stock, the founder of the shrine at Aylesford. The Kyrie has to be the longest I have ever encountered: I have never been at a Mass where the celebrant gets to sit down while waiting to get to the Gloria!

The Mass was in the Relic Chapel. During the sermon, Fr. Tim reminded us that St. Simon's skull was kept in the reliquary behind the altar...

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Aylesford. I am astonished by how little is made of the fact that this is the place where St. Simon Stock had a vision of Our Lady, and then started the devotion of the Brown Scapular. The place is relatively close to where I live, only 45 minutes down the motorway, but I don't go there as often as I could - mostly because I associate the place with dreadful diocesan liturgy and horrible school trips... and damp (which makes my joints ache.) However, none of these factors were in evidence for the LMS pilgrimage!

Part of the fun of pilgrimages is getting to meet up with friends - I discovered that Paul Smeaton had apparently let the side down by turning up without a tie. His punishment was to be forced to model the proposed new Juventutem London tie by Seán... I sincerely hope that was a joke, as the tie has got to be one of the most ghastly items I have ever encountered...

After the Mass I had a lovely chat with the Reluctant Sinner, though we had to make a mad dash back so as to make it back for Fr. Tim's talk.

After the talk, we finished the pilgrimage with Benediction...

I didn't take many photos on this occasion, but Joseph Shaw took lots, and they can be found on his excellent Flickr site. I even found a photo of me which I consider acceptable...

(I'm the blonde wearing black, on the right-hand side, with a mantilla...)

Remember, Remember...

Remember, remember,
the fifth of November,
gunpowder, treason and plot...

The weekends either side of November 5th are marked by lots and lots of fireworks being let off. I don't mind the organised displays so much - it's the youngsters letting off fireworks in the streets and the back garden events which annoy me. I do, however, love the misty look and the smell resulting from all the bonfires.

I'm not sure how the cats will cope - it's their first Bonfire season. This time last year I'd only just adopted Furretti, and she was too young to go outside, and Miaowrini didn't make an appearance chez moi until 12th November.

Looking back over last year's posts to see when the kittens did actually make an appearance, I realised that Monsignor Furretti has really grown. Then...

and now...

The Thomas More Legal Centre...

Many people have noted the increase in action taken against Christians who wish to do nothing more than express their beliefs freely. There was a case of a nurse who was disciplined for wearing a cross at work, a worker who faced the sack for having a palm cross in his work van, and so on. The latest case is that of a mental health worker who was sacked for handing a leaflet about women's experiences of abortion to a fellow worker (as part of an amicable discussion).

The Thomas More Legal Centre helps to represent people experiencing such discrimination at employment tribunals and such-like. But they need funds in order to continue to do so. The Pastor in Valle has a letter from the Trustees over on his blog, along with more information.

The Centre doesn't normally appeal for funds, and the Trustees had decided to continue with this policy until they had a case which actually needed to go to court. That time, it seems, has now arrived.

Donations can be made by cheque (made out to Thomas More Legal Centre) to The Treasurer, Thomas More Legal Centre, Palmyra Chambers,
46 Legh Street,
Warrington
WA1 1UJ; or by bank transfer to Yorkshire Bank, 34 Princes Street, Stockport, Cheshire, SK1 1RE; sort code 05-09-33, account no. 43102195 (Thomas More Legal Centre). If you are a UK tax-payer making a gift by cheque, please send a signed statement with your name and address asking for the donation to be treated as Gift Aid.

The Trustees are also asking for prayers, and I'm sure we can all help with that!

Further To My Last Post...

In my last post, which was rather too long ago for my liking, Just Another Mad Catholic asked if I'd heard Tom Lehrer's Hunting Song. I hadn't, but, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I found this...



I'll just point out that there's another dead mouse to add to the bag!

Hunting Licence...

I arrived home late from church this evening after stopping off to visit Leutgeb for a quick cup of tea and a natter. I discovered a note, taped to my door, from my cat-loving neighbour:

Dear Mac,
Miaowrini caught a large pigeon or a small seagull and dragged it in through the catflap - it was still alive - and I'm sorry I couldn't stop her, as she was too quick for me.

I entered the flat with caution. No evidence left in the hall. I saw three feathers in the kitchen. I checked my bedroom - all clear. Nothing in the bathroom. The sitting room, on first inspection, seemed pretty undisturbed.

I then pulled the armchair to one side and checked under the side table...

(I removed the corpse before taking the photo...)

Anyway, on the advice of Fr. Z, I have decided to keep a tally of the kittens' conquests.

So far, the kitties have notched up the following -

pigeon (live) - 4
baby blackbird (live) - 1
mouse (live) - 5
stag beetle (live) - 6

pigeon (dead) - 4
mouse (dead) - 3
stag beetle (dead) - 1

I may have missed out a couple of mice and stag beetles...

Ooops! My Bad...!

I can't actually believe that nearly a week has gone by since my last post promising to blog more frequently. Things have been more than a little hectic, and even the kitties are starting to wonder if I still live at home...

I'm just off out again after a fabulous day at Aylesford.

However, so as not to leave yet another day without a blog post, here are a couple of photos from last week

First of all, Fr. Z blessing some holy water - in Latin, with the salt, and exorcism prayers and all that pre-Vatican II stuff that led St. Teresa of Avila (whose feast day it happens to be today) to remark that holy water was one thing that sent devils packing...

Sorry about the photo quality - I only had my iPhone handy.

Next is a photo (also from my iPhone) from the evening's Rosary & Benediction...

Life Interrupts Blogging... Not!

As I have said before, one of the criticisms often levelled at blogs and bloggers is that we are, apparently, all sad, lonely old gits who blog in our pyjamas rather than going out and experiencing "real life."

Speaking as someone who has been writing my own blog for over five years, I think I can safely say that nothing could be further from the truth! I will admit, though, to having (on the very odd occasion) blogged whilst wearing my nightdress...

The past five years have been filled with opportunities resulting directly from my blogging activities. I have made many new friends, and I'm always really astounded when people tell me that they read my blog. I would be inclined to think that they were just being polite, were it not for the gleam of recognition when the blog name gets mentioned: "Ohooooo... so you're Mulier Fortis! And what are the kitties up to?"

Occasionally I let the blogging slip a bit - because I just don't get on with the touch screen on my iPhone, which makes blogging on the go an unrewarding experience, and I'm often just too tired at the end of the working day... Weekends sometimes feel even busier than weekdays - as Leutgeb has pointed out, lately there have been so many traddie activities happening at weekends that it's impossible to attend every event, and it's necessary to prioritise. The blogs, however, help to keep everyone informed as to what is happening, and there are plenty of photos and written accounts to enjoy.

The blogs are wonderful tools for evangelisation. It is now almost impossible to be unclear on what the Church actually teaches on a particular topic - a quick Google search will often reveal all, and, if things are still unclear, there are wonderful priests like Fr. Ray Blake, Fr. Tim Finigan and Fr. John Zuhlsdorf who are only too happy to help instruct and counsel their readers on anything to do with the Catholic Church. And the really great thing about the blogs is that those of us who wish to try and follow the teachings of Holy Mother Church no longer need to feel that they are in any way odd for wanting to do so. There are plenty of faithful Catholics out there in the big wide world...

 I want to give a particular plug to the wonderful Fr. Ray Blake - his parish is in Brighton, a town with what must be one of the most aggressively pro-LGBT agendas in the country. There was quite a kerfuffle recently, with gay rights activists threatening to have his blog shut down because they were outraged and offended by Fr. Ray's support for the teaching of the Church on matters of sexual morality. Fr. Ray himself is never rude, inconsiderate or deliberately offensive in his blog posts, but the simple fact that he defends Church teaching is enough to support accusations of homophobia, discrimination, hatred and bigotry.

By-the-by, from what I have read on Fr. Ray's blog, he is just as firmly opposed to heterosexual activity outside marriage, so his views are hardly discriminatory, but that little fact always seems to escape everyone's attention...

Some people, such as the Communications Officer for the Diocese of Middlesbrough, Fr. Derek Turnham, might consider blogging to be akin to a criminal offence. One can only wonder why they are so afraid of the new media. What is so dreadful about ordinary people being able to voice opinions about the Church? Isn't that what Vatican II was all about? If the views expressed are erroneous, they will be corrected by other bloggers quickly enough...

Very strange...

In the meantime, I promise to make more of an effort to update my blog with greater regularly...

The Most Beautiful Thing This Side Of Heaven...

The High Mass this evening for the patronal Feast Day at Blackfen was wonderful.

The Mass was very well attended (despite England playing football somewhere) and the mantilla-quotient is definitely on the up. I am no longer the only woman at Mass wearing a mantilla.

I shall be putting together a little slide show to make use of all the lovely photos I took. Cantores Missae sang the Mass, and they were superb. Schubert's Salve Regina quite choked me up!

For the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fr. Z has a little poll going - about whether you pray the Fatima prayer at the end of the decades of the Rosary (as instructed by Our Lady at Fatima.)

A Transatlantic Visitor...

I was delighted that the incomparable Fr. Z found time to drop by and pay a visit to His Hermeneuticalness in Blackfen, just in time for the patronal Feast Day.

It appears that he was just a little puzzled by the name of Kent's famous brewery...

Irony...

It is rather amusing to reflect that, at the Blackfen Blognic yesterday, His Hermeneuticalness delivered his talk on Catholics and the new media without actually employing any techno-wizardry himself...

The Reluctant Sinner has posted a much more detailed account of the day, so do go and check him out.

Urgent Action & Fervent Prayer...

Yousef Nadarkhani has been sentenced to death for apostasy. He was never a practicing Muslim, but because of his ancestry, the Iranian court has decided that he should be put to death. He was arrested when trying to register his church.

Blondpidge has done sterling work to bring this to people's attention, tweeting, blogging and emailing. She has several suggestions for action, and provides telephone numbers, links and even a sample letter over on her blog.

She also reminds us of the need to storm heaven with our prayers.

Bloggers At Blackfen...

The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma had its meeting at Blackfen today. In good Catholic tradition, we started the whole day off with Mass... and we were especially blessed to be able to celebrate a Solemn High Mass. I think this may be a first - three blogging clerics on the Sanctuary...

We then had a talk from Fr. Tim Finigan on being a Catholic blogger. He had much encouragement to give us all, along with some words of caution. I do hope that he will publish the text of the talk online, because it was excellent.

Lunch was provided in the large hall by Trish and her gang of helpers. Leutgeb was first off the mark in reporting the meeting, and lunch was declared to be yummy. I can second that: it was positively scrumptious!

We had a brief business meeting, and then it was time for Vespers, which was for the Feast of the Dedication of the Parish Church.

It was an enjoyable, edifying and encouraging day, and I was delighted to be able to meet up with people I'd only previously encountered online: so a warm hallo to Fr. Sam Medley, Fr. Simon Henry, Anthony, Stuart and Richard; and greetings to old acquaintances: Dylan, Leutgeb, Annie Elizabeth, Fr. Michael Clifton, Paul Priest and Hilaire Belloc.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Vesper, who often comments, also paid us a visit!

There are a few more photos over on my Flickr page.

Change Of Address...

No, not mine.

The Crescat has moved over from Blogger to Wordpress, and very good the new blog looks too. Remember to update your links!

I love the quote she has at the top of the blog now (I heard it many years ago, and it's even truer now!)

If brought up on charges of being a Catholic I hope there's enough evidence to convict me.

A Little Good News...

A brain-damaged woman, who can only be referred to as "M," was at the centre of a High Court battle to have her food and fluids withdrawn. She has been in a minimally conscious state (having first been diagnosed as in a persistent vegetative state) for over 8 years, and her family wanted to end her life.

That sounds rather harsh, but it is really just stating the truth. The family wanted to have her food and fluids withdrawn (though it's prettied up by calling it "stopping life-supporting treatment.") Effectively, that means that they would subject her to a horrifically painful death by starvation and dehydration - and, as in the case of Tony Bland, she would have needed painkillers to ease the suffering this entails.

Yogi Amin, who represented the family at the High Court, stated that the ruling allowed the High Court to decide whether a minimally conscious person should be allowed to die naturally, with dignity. He didn't mention that death by starvation and dehydration isn't actually what one would consider a dignified death.

Unusually, the medical authorities fought against the wishes of the family. They said that M was clinically stable, and the health authority pointed out that her life was not without positive elements. I must confess that I never thought a health authority would range itself on the side of the angels. Usually they're all for cost-cutting measures.

Fortunately for M, and possibly for others in a minimally conscious state, the judge ruled against the family.

This Makes Me Really Cross...

Quite apart from the self-righteous tone used by Baroness Flather in suggesting that the poor have too many children, particularly those from Pakistani or Bangladeshi communities, and that this really isn't necessary in Britain because of the welfare state and pensions (oho... someone hasn't been reading the news lately!), I rather object to the fact that none of the MSM have been open about the Baroness' vested interests in making such statements.

Baroness Flather is a director of Marie Stopes International.

One-child policy, anyone?

Massive twitch of the mantilla to Red Maria for highlighting that little connection.

The Kindness Of Strangers...

I had a very arduous teaching day today, and then meetings after school. Then I had to pop over to Bluewater to get some stuff (it's open later than the average High Street store.)

I stopped off at Boots to visit the Clinique counter. I've used lots of makeup over the years, and have discovered that cheap brands do not pay. My skin is quite temperamental, and Clinique really suits me best. The moisturiser I use is the Comfort On Call one - it soothes the slightly irritable flakiness I have a tendency to develop.

To my surprise, the counter was completely deserted. I waited patiently, assuming that the assistant was on a break. Eventually a young woman turned up, and I explained what I was looking for. She was very apologetic, explaining that she wasn't a Clinique specialist (there had only been one on earlier, due to sickness) but she'd seen the variety I wanted, and she said she'd look for it. I promptly plumped myself down on one of the make-over chairs.

The first assistant wasn't having any luck, so she called over another assistant and they both started rooting through cupboards. We had a good chat about different moisturisers, and I explained that this was my favourite. Then the first assistant called over the supervisor, to ask if she could check the stock cupboard.

Meanwhile, I'd spotted a tester for my moisturiser, and the supervisor, armed with the stock code, went to have a look in the back. No luck. I must have looked a little woebegone, because, when I asked if it was possible to buy the tester, the assistant said that she'd put some in a little sample pot, just to tide me over until I could get back to the shops...

Feeling in need of a little refreshment before heading home, I stopped at the Krispy Kreme shop. As I bought a hot chocolate and a mango creme doughnut (a new variety, which, really, doesn't quite work) the assistant asked if I'd like a complimentary glazed ring doughnut, hot from the oven.

Those little acts of kindness quite lifted my spirits.

On further reflection, I must have looked really exhausted...

Pondering My Next Purchase...

I love my little snazzy camera. It has served me well over the past couple of years, and I've taken some very good photos with it. However, this has rekindled my interest in photography - I have several old photo albums with "real" photos - and I decided that the time has come to upgrade.

I am not going to go the whole hog and buy a camera and a slew of lenses to be screwed on at crucial moments. I realised that what I actually do want is what is popularly known as a "bridge" camera - one down from the DSLR and one up from the point-and-click compact that I currently have.

By dint of several visits to Jessops (big, serious camera shop) and shops like Currys, I have narrowed it down to two possible choices: the Canon PowerShot SX30 IS and the Fuji FinePix HS20 EXR.

The Canon has the longer zoom - 35x optical zoom, 14 MP - and the zoom is button controlled (I can't remember the correct term, but I'm sure you understand me.) The Fuji has a shorter zoom (30x) and it's manual, but the picture is 16 MP.

Part of me is very tempted by the longer zoom. I also quite like the button-controlled zoom. However, my current Canon camera is protesting when I use the automated zoom (it's on its way out, hence the need for a new camera) and I am wondering whether a manual zoom might be better - the less automated bits there are, the less there is to go horribly wrong.

Then again, there's the battery. Canon has a lithium-ion rechargeable battery unit. Fuji uses AA batteries. I prefer the former, but maybe that's just because, back in the mists of time, rechargeable AA batteries used to be such a pain and never actually lasted any length of time. Maybe they've improved.

Price-wise the two cameras are very similar. I'm dithering...

Mind you, since I have to save up the pennies before I can actually get round to purchasing one of them, I have got a bit of time in which to dither. However, if any of you people out there know of any good or bad things about these cameras (from personal experience, that is - I've already read several reviews online) I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Watch this space...