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...

Cathedral Challenge Meme...

I have decided to start another meme. This one has a slight twist, but it should be fun to see the results.

It's a photo challenge, so, if you are a blogger, you have to give a link in my com-box so that I can collate the results. If you don't have your own blog, you have to load the photo to Flickr or Twitter or something.

The challenge is to find any Cathedrals which don't sell The Pill (aka The Tablet.)

The idea is that you pop along to your diocesan Cathedral, and, if The Pill is on sale, you put up a photo which shows a recent copy in an identifiable Cathedral interior. If The Pill is not on sale, you prove it by showing a photo of the papers which *are* on sale in a recognisable shot of the Cathedral interior... You then state when the photo was taken and where.

There aren't any tags as such, because it isn't always clear which dioceses bloggers (or commenters) are in.

Obviously this doesn't really apply to dioceses outside the UK. Photoshopped entries are definitely not allowed...

To start us off, here is Westminster Cathedral, with The Pill very much in evidence, on Wednesday 15 August 2012...

Spread the word. Get those photos coming in...

In The Doghouse...

I'm feeling rather aggrieved at the moment. I have had to abandon the Monsignori to the tender care of my next-door neighbour (fortunately, she really likes cats) while I scoot over to Eastbourne in order to look after my parents' two yorkshire terriers and cat.

I don't really dislike dogs. I just prefer dogs to be proper dogs... and not, as a friend described them, a pair of slippers. Yappy slippers. The cat, on the other hand, is really cute.

To add insult to injury, I had to grit my teeth when I noticed Eucharistic Ministers purifying chalices at Mass. Apparently this is a very common liturgical abuse in Arundel & Brighton diocese.

It has highlighted how very, very fortunate I am to be a parishioner in Blackfen!

I do hope that the Monsignori will have forgiven me by the time I get back home on Friday. I might have to invest in some smoked salmon by way of apology...

Compare & Contrast...

In view of the much-reported outrage over the sentencing of members of a punk rock band who desecrated a church in Russia, I wonder why the mainstream media have failed to protest the arrest, in Pakistan, of an 11 year-old girl with Downs Syndrome for blasphemy.

I haven't followed the Pussy Riot story very closely, but I have noticed one rather important point... the members of the band were sentenced to two years' imprisonment for their publicity stunt/political protest and the mainstream media think this is rather harsh. I believe that the punishment for blasphemy in Pakistan is death... yet that doesn't appear to be harsh enough to attract the attention of the same media.

Interesting....

Twitch of the mantilla to Fr. Tim Finigan.

Putting The Genie Back In The Bottle...?

It has been interesting to read the responses to the excellent FIUV position paper on the restoration of the three-hour Eucharistic fast, summarised on Rorate Caeli.

As pointed out by Joseph Shaw, many people only read other blog posts on the paper (such as the one by Australia Incognita), and then made all sorts of objections to the three-hour fast which had already been dealt with in the original paper.

Quite a few of the comments on Fr. Ray Blake's post seem to suggest that, since the rules have been relaxed, it would be impossible to reimpose them.

I disagree.

For many years, I observed Friday abstinence as a voluntary penance. Nevertheless, I frequently found myself in situations where I was tempted to ignore it; it would be pointed out that "One can always do the abstinence on another day, or do something else instead." Once the Bishops of England & Wales reintroduced Friday abstinence as part of Church law, it actually became much easier to observe the rule. To put it simply, my friends and colleagues accept that, as a Catholic, I do not eat meat on Fridays. In the "real world" it has become acceptable - it's not just a personal idiosyncrasy, it's Church Law.

True, not everyone will observe the rule. However, this should not be an argument for not having the rule at all.  After all, the majority of people are quite happy with the idea that there are observant, devout Jews who keep the Sabbath and Jewish dietary laws very strictly, and there are other Jews who do not. It is also understood that there are devout Muslims who will not drink alcohol and who pray five times a day... and there are Muslims who aren't so devout. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that there will be some Catholics who choose to ignore the laws of the Church on Friday abstinence - especially as plenty of Catholics currently ignore Church teaching on moral matters. This does not mean that one should not have these teachings. As the Holy Father has pointed out, Truth is not subject to a majority vote.

I seriously believe that reintroducing the three-hour fast would have many advantages.

Firstly, it would help people to prepare for the reception of Holy Communion in an active way - one would have to decide that one was going to receive, and to make the effort to avoid food. Three hours isn't an onerous time to go without food, and one can even survive without water for that time - we are constantly producing water through the process of respiration. Since the three hours is counted from the time one actually receives Communion, the time without food would be closer to two hours before Mass. Even in the morning, this isn't a huge difficulty.

Secondly, it would make it easier for those who could not receive Communion. The obvious assumption to make would be that a person had not kept the fast, and so was not going to communicate. At the moment, with practically everyone going to Communion as a matter of course, there is huge pressure on those who are not in a state of grace to go up anyway.

Thirdly, I think it would encourage those of the Faithful who do currently try to do more than the bare minimum to prepare for the reception of Communion. They will no longer have to fear being considered odd for observing a fast, it will just become accepted as what practising Catholics do.

So, is bringing back the old rule attempting to put the genie back into the bottle? I do not think so. But waiting for everyone to agree that it's a good idea isn't going to help anyone.

Minor Basilicas...

His Hermeneuticalness had a brush with the green-eyed monster on hearing that the church of St. John the Baptist, Canton, Ohio is to become a minor basilica.

Escaping the monster's clutches necessitated an emergency meeting after Rosary & Benediction to do a little blue-sky thinking. Unfortunately, there wasn't any blue sky to be found at 9pm. So, instead, Fr. Finigan explained (and, for the visual learners present, demonstrated) how we were guilty of too much thinking "within the box"...

...and then he modelled the sort of "thinking outside the box" which would be required in future...

However, he completely failed to illustrate how we could get the basilica question "on the table". No doubt this was due to the lack of a facilitator - but the MC was off somewhere watching cricket.

Zephyrinus assured us all that this week's lottery tickets had already been purchased. He then proceeded to spend some of last week's winnings on the purchase of a round of drinks. Since Leutgeb was on lemonade and I was drinking coca cola, that should leave plenty to invest in a few more bricks...

Dissent In The Cathedral?

"It is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate."

As Leutgeb has pointed out, the Olympics are over and the Paralympics are yet to start, and since no-one is in the mood to grouse about the Eurozone or the economic crisis, the Mainstream Media's Silly Season is upon us once more. So let's have a bit of Vatican-bashing in the Guardian from the editor of that well-known organ of dissent, The Suppository, (aka The Bitter Pill) and a bit more from the usual suspects in The Times.

Catholic-bashing from the MSM is hardly a surprise. However, The Suppository is supposed to be Catholic and therefore should seek to explain the Truths of the Catholic faith to others. Why, given its consistent opposition to Catholic teaching, the paper is still allowed to be sold in Catholic churches and cathedrals is totally beyond my comprehension...

...one might almost suppose that the Bishops' Conference of England & Wales agree with the sentiments expressed and find it useful to allow the paper to say what they themselves cannot.

But no, that would be unthinkable...

Prayers For Syria

Picture courtesy of Fr. Ed Tomlinson's Blog

I received the following information about the proposed Act of Consecration to Our Lady from Fr. Simon Heans, a priest of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and I'm very happy to publicise it.

Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus will make an Act of Consecration in his Cathedral before the Shrine of Our Lady and the holy martyrs of Damascus to plead for Our Lady to bring peace, stability and faith in God to Syria.

He will make it on behalf of the bishops, priests and peoples of Syria in these time of great trial and suffering for all Syria.

Archbishop Nassar has constantly said that he so appreciates our spiritual support in prayer which gives him strength and encouragement. He also is reported as saying that Catholics in Syria are so fearful of losing their lives that they say farewell to each other at the end of every Mass. The Archbishop has elected to stay put, despite fighting going on within 25 metres of his Cathedral.

The prayer will be offered at 6pm (Syrian time) which is 4pm BST.

Act of Consecration of Syria to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The Shepherds chosen by Your Son to watch over and feed in His name the sheep He has acquired at the price of His blood – in this “Land of Holy Mary”, whose name cannot be pronounced without pronouncing Your own – come today – as the official and consecrated representatives of their flocks, and in an act of filial “homage” (vassalagem) of faith, love and trust – to solemnly consecrate the Syrian nation to your Immaculate Heart. Take it from our fragile hands into Your own; defend it and guard it as Your own property; make Jesus reign, conquer and rule in it. Outside of Him there is no salvation.

We, the bishops of your people, feel a terrible storm raging round us, threatening to disperse and destroy the faithful flock of those who bless You because You are the Mother of Jesus. Afflicted, we stretch out our suppliant hands towards Your Son, as we cry out “save us, O Lord, for we perish!”… Intercede for Syria, O Our Lady, in this grave hour when from all around blow furious winds, bringing cries of death against Your Son and against civilization founded on His teachings, deceiving minds, perverting hearts and lighting the fires of hatred and revolution in the world. Help of Christians, pray for us!

Intercede for Syria, Our Lady, in this troubled hour when the unclean waves of an open immorality, which has even lost the notion of sin, exalt the rehabilitation of the flesh in the face of the very Cross of Your Son, threatening to choke in this world the lily of virtue nourished by the Eucharistic blood of Jesus. Virgin most powerful, pray for us!...

Intercede for Syria, Our Lady, in this hour of passions and doubts when even the good run the risk of being lost…Unite all the Syrian peoples around Your Son in the love of the Church and the cultivation of virtue, in respect for order and fraternal charity. Queen of Peace, pray for us!

Remember finally, Patroness of our country and Mother of Jesus that we now only have recourse to Your Immaculate Heart and Divine Mercy. O Blessed Virgin Mary through the powerful intercession of your Immaculate Heart, save Syria, by giving it Jesus, in Whom it will find Truth, Life and Peace. Amen.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us

Immaculate Heat of Mary, Pray for us

St. Joseph, patron and protector of the Universal Church, Pray for us

Martyrs of Syria and the Middle East, Pray for us

Saints of Syria and the Middle East, Pray for us

St. Charbel, Pray for us

Obviously It's All The Fault Of Religion...

Religious beliefs are so awkward, aren't they? Without them, life would be so much simpler... or should that be "death"?

An article in the Journal of Medical Ethics (reported in the Daily Telegraph) is calling for parents' religious views to be "given less weight" ("ignored" is probably a more accurate term, though less politically correct) when courts are considering whether or not medical treatment should be terminated.

The authors of the article (one of whom, rather bizarrely, was the main hospital chaplain) proposed that, since the child would be too young to subscribe to its parents' religious beliefs, these beliefs should not be respected. And in case you think I'm paraphrasing a little harshly, here's the quote taken from the Daily Telegraph article:

"'While it is vital to support families in such difficult times, we are increasingly concerned that deeply held belief in religion can lead to children being potentially subjected to burdensome care in expectation of 'miraculous’ intervention,' the authors warned. 'In many cases, the children about whom the decisions are being made are too young to subscribe to the religious beliefs held by their parents, yet we continue to respect the parents’ beliefs.'"

Am I the only one to wonder how long it will be before all people of a religious belief will be considered as unfit to care for their children in case they indoctrinate them into those beliefs?

As it so happens, the Catholic Faith does not impose a requirement to have burdensome medical treatment. However, it is worth noting that doctors are not infallible, and mistakes in prognosis are not unknown. It is also rather important to note that, since the case of Tony Bland, in the UK the administration of food and water is considered to be "medical treatment."

An Anniversary To Celebrate...

Back in June I had the privilege of getting to know Fr. Michael Mary, the superior of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer on Papa Stronsay - better known to many of you as the Transalpine Redemptorists.

From left to right: Br. Martin, Fr. Michael Mary and Tom

It is Fr. Michael Mary's 34th anniversary of Ordination today - a wonderful witness, and a great and generous response to God's call to serve His Church as a priest. Do go on over to their blog and offer him your congratulations.

While you're there, sign up for the absolutely brilliant Catholic newspaper - there's also a direct link to the shop just above the "donate" button in the left-hand sidebar

Pondering The Purpose Of Blogging...

Why do you read this blog? Having had a break from blogging for the best part of a month, I have been pondering why I bother to blog at all. His Hermeneuticalness kindly assured me that it was a good thing for me to continue, as it was an apostolate - bringing the Catholic Faith into the wider arena of the blogosphere.

I understood the need for priests (such as Fr. Zuhlsdorf, Fr. Ray Blake and Fr. Michael Brown) and religious to blog about the Faith, but have often felt that I, as a lay woman without any real theological training, was less "necessary" as a Catholic blogger. Necessary is the wrong word, of course, because no Catholic blogger is "necessary," but indulge me.

I am genuinely puzzled - it appears that people still check my blog regularly to see whether I have written anything new. I am an ordinary, middle-aged (*sobs*) lay Catholic woman with traditional leanings. I have taught RE in the past and have been a catechist for many years, but I don't have any formal training in theology, though I have studied it informally. I love the Holy Father, and I want to help to promote the truths of the Catholic Faith. I really am intrigued... why do people bother to check this blog?

This isn't just idle introspection and navel-gazing. Honestly!

Please, tell me why you read this blog...

...Is it the cat posts?

I really need to know, because I am wondering whether I should continue to have cat posts on this blog, mixed in with everything else, or whether I should ditch the cat posts (and possibly start up a dedicated cat-themed blog for the exploits of the Monsignori.) Personally I think the cat posts are part of the whole Mulier Fortis ensemble... and, after all, my kittes are definitely traddy Cat-holics. They proved this beyond any shadow of doubt when they shredded The Tablet and left the Catholic Herald unscathed...

UPDATE: I see that I need to be more explicit. I am very humbled by the supportive comments, but I am NOT going to give up blogging! I want to know whether the cat posts intrude into what is, presumably, a catholic apologetics blog... or whether my readers view the blog as a bit of a mish-mash, with cats and Catholicism intertwined...

Saint Philomena...

I was delighted to hear from Fr. Tim that we will have a votive Mass in honour of St. Philomena tomorrow, her feast day.

I have a devotion to St. Philomena because there is something contrary about her which appeals to me - it's the same quirk in my nature which makes me prefer St. Teresa of Avila's slightly ascerbic style to the more sugary-sweet approach of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. I imagine St. Philomena to be thumbing her nose at the modernists and sceptics as she works miracles for those who turn to her, despite the cries of those who claim that she never existed.

If you want to find out more about the discovery of her relics and the establishing of devotion to the saint, check out the Living Rosary page about her.

But Latin Is So Hard To Learn...

More proof that Latin isn't just for intellectual types. I have it on good authority that altar servers of 8 years old were able to make the responses for the Preparatory Prayers at the foot of the altar (the Introibo ad altare Dei - ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam bit) and here is a clip of one young chap belting out the Marian anthem after his elder sister's First Holy Communion.

Yes, you read that correctly... his elder sister's First Holy Communion.

His Hermeneuticalness (leading the chant from in front of the Lady Altar) is hidden by a pillar. The little chap singing the chant with such gusto is the one sitting down - the lighting was a bit difficult for my little mobile phone camera, and I don't have any video-editing software, but you can just see him. His elder brother (I think it's his elder brother) seems to be a little under the weather and is leaning on the front of the pew, but I've heard him singing the anthems on other occasions...

If he can do it, so can the rest of us. Check out the Our Lady of the Rosary Church Choir blog to get details of the chants coming up and to hear recordings of the music so that you can get practising...

From The Oldie-But-Goody Files...

Today's the Feast of St. Dominic, and so I felt it was an opportune moment to bring out one of my favourite jokes.

Which Religious Order has been the most successful, the Society of Jesus (aka the Jesuits, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola) or the Order of Preachers (aka the Dominicans, founded by St. Dominic)?

Well... consider this: the Dominicans were founded to combat the Albigensian heresy, the Jesuits were founded to combat the Protestant heresy.

Now when was the last time you saw an Albigensian? Boom Boom!

(I offer that little jest in memory of a dear friend, Dominic Mary, who was a Third Order Dominican. Requiescat in pace.)

Keeping Tabs On Us All...

The idea of microchipping people is pretty high on the "Ewww!" scale for me. My pets are microchipped. That seems like a good idea - my cats can't tell anyone where they live. But my gut instinct jibs at having people chipped.

This isn't science fiction any more. It appears that a Florida company has been approved by the FDA to chip people so that their health details can be accessed quickly. This sounds like a good idea (in theory) as occasionally health records are needed pretty quickly and a patient isn't always in a position to give details. However, the instances where medical details are needed that urgently are quite rare (I've spent lots of time in hospitals, both as a patient and as a member of staff) and the fact that these chips are also designed for security and financial applications (listen very carefully to the spiel from the Chairman/CEO on the video clip) is ringing several alarm bells.

Yes, the powers-that-be probably already know where I am due to debit cards, my driving license, council tax, national insurance number, car registration etc. etc. But actually being chipped is, IMHO a step too far.

Twitch of the mantilla to Bones.

Sensing A Pattern...

I'm beginning to worry about the impression people have of me.

Over the weekend, I was bewailing my lack of internet access, and had mentioned that it followed my installation of a new cable modem. The response from several different sources was the same:

"Hmmm. Did you check that it was switched on?"

On reflection, I might have to cut down on the blonde jokes and cat posts...

(And before anyone else asks, yes, it was switched on.)

Reviving Old Traditions...

I am keen to clock up as many of the old traditions as I can. Plenary and partial indulgences. Fasts and feasts. And, of course, blessings.

Fr. Z is great on this sort of stuff. He posts oodles of stuff about prayers and blessings, along with why they were instituted and the deeper meanings ascribed by the Church to little rituals. My mobile phone isn't really the best way to read blogs, though it is better than being totally without internet access, but I did happen to spot this little snippet from Fr. Z about the blessing of grapes on the Feast of the Transfiguration.

Mass was in the evening, so I had time to go shopping. Two bunches of grapes were duly purchased and delivered to the Sacristy. And so, after Mass, Fr. Tim went and got his little Rituale and then blessed the grapes...

I've eaten about 25 of them. That's more grapes than I usually eat in a year... 

Papal Nuncio Visits Faith Summer Session...

Just when I thought I was regaining the inspiration to return to blogging, my home internet connection decided to die on me. Serves me right for trying to upgrade. Still,  hopefully the engineer will fix it on Monday. I won't hold my breath... of late, things have had a tendency to go pear-shaped at the worst possible moment.

Blogging from my mobile phone just isn't as practical, even though I do have the ultra-snazzy Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone which runs Google Android's Jelly Bean operating system. But I'm slow at texting, so it's a painful process. I'd love an iPad, but it's way outside my budget. Never mind...

Despite the difficulty of blogging from my mobile, I just wanted to get a few photos out there. Archbishop Antonio Mennini, the Papal Nuncio, came along to the Faith Summer Session, which took place at Woldingham School this week. He celebrated Mass and gave a cracking sermon - on St. Ignatius Loyola among other things. I have a copy and will put it up as soon as my internet connection gets back up.

His Excellency stayed for lunch and chatted happily with many of us. He was very friendly and charmingly enthusiastic about seeing so many young people gathered to learn more about their faith. He also was delighted to allow photos for the blogosphere... and I was quick to make the most of my opportunity...

Here you can see the Nuncio sharing a joke with Fr. Tim Finigan about blogging...

I also managed to snap one of the Archbishop with author, journalist and blogger, Joanna Bogle...

More to follow soon...

Friday 13th - Lucky For Some...

This Friday there will be a meeting of the Sodality of the Five Holy Wounds at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Blackfen.

The meeting will start at 7:30pm in the church itself, and there will be some prayers, a litany and an allocution by Fr. Tim Finigan. Then we'll all get together for a more informal discussion over tea and biscuits in the small hall. After that, some of us might find our way to the parish club for a different kind of spiritual input, but that bit isn't compulsory...

The allocution is a spiritual reflection. If you want to read the last one we had, it's over on the Sodality's blog, and is all about the four last things.

Can You Break The Internet...?

It always amuses me when people tell me they are afraid to explore their computers because they might delete something vital. I try to explain that you can't do any real damage - things can always be reinstalled. You cannot "break the internet..."

However, it seems that the internet might be broken for several people tomorrow. Something to do with a criminal gang who created a virus which makes computers go through a false address when visiting websites. The only thing users will have noticed is that their computers run a bit slowly. The FBI apparently cracked the internet ring, but decided to route infected machines through a special server. No idea why. Now it seems that the server is proving too expensive, and it's going to be switched off on Monday 9 July 2012.

Infected computers will then be unable to access the internet...

There are some websites you can visit to check if your computer is affected, and some more sites to tell you what to do if it turns out you have the virus.

The whole thing has a whiff of the Domesday conspiracy theory about it... one of those urban myths which keep doing the rounds... after all, why didn't the FBI sort this out straight away rather than paying for servers to re-route computers?

However, I didn't get a slew of emails from people warning me that I would lose the internet on Monday (as has happened with all the other urban myths) and so I thought I'd visit the recommended website, just out of curiosity. It seems that my computer is "clean!" That said, it did occur to me that if I was a criminal wanting to get people to visit a particular website, this is exactly the sort of rumour I'd use to get it going...

Anyway, if any of you want to check for yourselves, you can click here. More information is available here.

Of course, if you're checking this post on Monday morning, you can save yourself the hassle, as your internet is obviously still working...

A Very Old One...

I'm going to have to add Higgs-Boson to the parish mailing list after today's news from CERN. After all, we can't have Mass without it...

Sorry. Couldn't resist...

If It Annoys The Liberals...

The new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been announced. Bishop Gerhard Müller appears to be a controversial choice, and quite a lot of trad-minded folk seem to view his appointment with suspicion and hostility.

Both the inimitable Fr. Z and His Hermeneuticalness have greeted the news with cautious optimism...

I don't know the ins and outs of the Church politics here. All I know is that Bishop Müller's appointment has upset the "Wir Sind Kirche" lot. That, IMHO can only be A Good Thing...

Emotional Rollercoaster...

Monsignor Miaowrini is obviously going through the feline equivalent of the teenage years. She hadn't been home in three nights, and the catfood looked as if it was only being eaten by one cat - Furretti. By this morning, I was frantic with worry. My next-door neighbour was out this morning, and so I couldn't check with her until midday. Yes, she said, Miaowrini was around on Thursday.

That calmed me down, but when I got home and still couldn't see any sign of her, I decided to wander around the neighbourhood. I felt pretty stupid calling for a cat. But, after about 20 minutes, I saw her, and she came running towards me, miaowing her head off, as if I had been the one to have abandoned her.

I grabbed her, and started to walk home. She really didn't like that, and struggled quite violently to get away - I assume it was being taken round by the roads rather than through the gardens that freaked her out. Nevertheless, when I got her home, I took the precaution of locking the catflap until I could give her a thorough check.

She was rather thin, and wolfed down almost a whole packet of smoked salmon. Furretti had the rest of it. Miaowrini also drank over half a bowl of milk. I did consider keeping the catflap locked, but, having seen that she was ok, I decided to let her go out again.

I do feel somewhat exhausted from the emotional turmoil !

Archbishop Smith At Lesnes Abbey...

Archbishop Peter Smith, chatting here with Fr. Tim Finigan at Lesnes Abbey, after the Blessed Sacrament Procession, at which he gave a really good sermon emphasising the fact that Jesus Christ is really and truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, and that all Catholics believe this! Not said often enough IMHO...

The Education Kerfuffle...

I don't normally do political stuff on my blog... but I wanted to get this off my chest.

Michael Gove has, if the leaks are correct, proposed the scrapping of the GCSE exams and the reintroduction of O Levels and something approximating to the old CSE exams. Nick Clegg has apparently protested that this will lead to a two-tier education system.

At the risk of making myself totally unemployable, I'm going to throw in my ha'penny's worth...

First, Nick Clegg needs to wake up and smell the coffee. We already have a two (actually three) tier education system, only it isn't fair because it is supposedly one-tier for everyone.

GCSE Science exams are at either Foundation or Higher tiers. The former papers can get a maximum of a Grade C. That is the case even if the student scores 100%, because the questions are easier and the breadth of subject material is less. Most people count a GCSE pass as A* to C. Anything below C therefore doesn't "count." So, unless a student is definitely going to get a C grade, anyone doing a Foundation Tier paper is being consigned to "fail" even before they get into the exam room.

In addition, students who are not expected to cope with exams are usually streamed into BTEC courses for Science, so all of their work is coursework. The BTEC is supposed to be equivalent to GCSEs. No-one actually believes this, hence the "third" tier I mentioned.

The system as it stands is just totally dishonest.

Oh, and I have yet to meet a single teacher who thinks that we should keep the GCSEs.

The LMS London Conference...

I thought I'd put up a post about the LMS Conference before returning to tales from my Rome trip. The Conference was scheduled for the day after I returned, so I was a little shell-shocked, as well as having had to cope with Monsignor Miaowrini's fit of the sulks!

I arrived part-way through the talk by Stuart McCullough from the Good Counsel Network. Fortunately Joseph Shaw, the LMS Chairman, has links for the MP3 file of his talk, and the one by Dr. John Rao which preceded it. There are also links to the talks for Fr. Tim Finigan and Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, though sadly something prevented Rev. John Hunwicke's talk from being recorded. The talks were really excellent, and I am looking forward to the next LMS Conference, as this first effort was such a resounding success!

Almost more important than the talks, the breaks allowed time for people to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. I was delighted to get a chance to meet Marygold Turner - she has been a stalwart member of the LMS, and has been responsible for keeping the Traditional Latin Mass going in the Kent/Southwark region through the bad old days where the Mass could only be held on the third Sunday of any month without an "r" in it...

Yes, I'm exaggerating just a bit, but her dedication and hard work has ensured a steady supply of priests for the TLM before Summorum Pontificum, some of whom travel quite some distance!

I introduced myself to the Rev. (soon-to-be-Father) John Hunwicke, and was astonished when he quoted from my profile: "Ahh... so, you're the young Catholic woman, aren't you? See! I read your blog!!"  Yes, I'm name-dropping!!

The inimitable Fr. Z was on great form - though he claimed to be pretty much out of it due to the medication he was taking for a really bad cold...

I also got to meet up with many other bloggers, including - and here I'm bound to offend someone by missing them out - that Reluctant Sinner, Dylan Parry, Annie from Arundel & Brighton, Annie Elizabeth (who came shopping with me afterwards so I could make the purple pompom for the mini-biretta and get some cardinal-red feathers for the Vatileaks photo-shoot), and Supertradmum from Etheldreda's Place... (UPDATE: I knew I'd forget someone important! The lovely and very sensible Ches introduced himself before having to dash off somewhere, but that is no excuse for omitting to mention him!!)

Last, but definitely not least, I was able to renew my acquaintance with Brother Nicodemus of the Transalpine Redemptorists at Home, and to meet Fr. Michael Mary (the Superior), Brother Martin and Tom. The sheer joy and enthusiasm which radiated from them was incredibly uplifting. Annie Elizabeth and I persuaded them to come along to the pub for a chat afterwards, and the sight of four monks striding into a west-end bar caused quite a stir...

(If you're wondering why there are only three of them, it's because Brother Nicodemus was on the bookstall... and anyway he seemed a little camera-shy!!)

You can see the rest of the photos on my Flickr page.

Visit To The Venerable English College...

I was fortunate enough to be invited to dinner at the Venerable English College during my holiday in Rome. I say that "I" was invited... actually Fr. Charles Briggs and Fr. Tim Finigan, (former students, and friends with the Rector) were invited for dinner, and I got to tag along...

Wednesday evening is "Guest Night." We arrived just before the pre-dinner drinks and Fr. Tim and Fr. Charles showed me the Martyrs' Chapel and the garden, and they promised to try and show me a little more of the College after dinner, particularly the Church.

The thing about places in Rome, I have decided, is that one has to remember to look up. The ceilings are usually just as beautiful as the rooms, and sometimes even more so! The Refectory was dominated by a huge painting of Christ visiting the Pharisee (with the woman who poured ointment over Christ's feet) and I completely forgot to look up, so missed the ceiling painting of St. George by Pozzo. It seems that there are one or two readers of my blog over at the English College - several people were keen to point out the presence of the cat sitting by Christ's chair. The cat was the spitting image of Monsignor Miaowrini! It seems that the cat has only recently been revealed, when the painting was cleaned up.

Dinner was delicious, and for once I did more listening than talking, as I listened avidly to the reminiscences of Fr. Tim and Fr. Charles as they chatted to Monsignor Nicholas Hudson (the Rector), Monsignor Mark Langham (who was visiting) and a few other people who drifted over to say hallo.

After dinner, Monsignor Hudson asked if I would like to see the College Church. I was very keen to do so, but I have to say that I was absolutely amazed when he sat me down on a pew and personally proceeded to tell me the full history of the College, right from its foundation as a pilgrim hospice in the 14th Century. It was fascinating stuff, and I was pretty overwhelmed, first by his generosity in taking the time to recount the history, and secondly by the sheer volume of information. We then went upstairs to the Tribune of the church - the walkway goes around three sides of the church, allowing an amazing view of the nave and the Martyrs' Picture...

The Martyrs' Picture, showing the Blessed Trinity with St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Edmund (the patrons of the two medieval English hospices) became an icon of the College Martyrs: whenever news of a martyrdom of former students reached Rome, the College students would gather together by the picture to sing a Te Deum in thanksgiving.

On the walls of the Tribune are copies of paintings showing the sufferings of the students of the English College who were martyred during the Reformation when they returned to England. The paintings, by Pomerancio, were of considerable importance when the cause for the beatification and canonisation of the English and Welsh martyrs was being examined. The pictures quite take your breath away, as they're rather graphic in detail! There are also many pictures of saints associated with bringing the Catholic faith to England, whether in legend (such as St. Joseph of Arimathea's visit to Glastonbury) or in fact (St. Alban's martyrdom.)

Monsignor Hudson then asked if I'd like to see the libraries.There were some scrapbooks out in the Third Library, and we were encouraged to look through these while Monsignor Hudson went to fetch some "treasures" from the Archives. And what treasures they proved to be! I actually got to see (and touch) the Liber Ruber - the book which recorded the Missionary Oath taken by the students in which they promised to return to England on completion of their studies for the priesthood. The names (and in some cases, signatures) of the students, and what they said and did are all recorded. The first martyr of the College, St. Ralph Sherwin is recorded as having said that he was ready to return to England "rather today than tomorrow" in order to restore the Catholic faith to England.

I also got to see the letter from St. Charles Borromeo in which he records the visit of St. Ralph Sherwinand his companions to Milan en route to England, in which the Bishop of Milan offered hospitality to any other students on their way back to England and probable martyrdom, and a book of maps from the 16th century which were probably used by the students of the College when trying to work out where they would go in England once they arrived. We were very edified to see that Chislehurst (Fr. Charles' parish), Eltham Palace, Bexley and Welling all featured (Blackfen parish was formed out of a part of Welling.)

We finished up in the Salon for coffee - this was part of the palazzo which had been built in 1654 to replace the prison next door to the College, and the only part of the buildings not completely trashed by Napoleon's troops - apparently they liked living in style! As a parting gift, Monsignor Hudson gave me a copy of Monsignor Mark Langham's book on the history of the English College. The Venerable English College, Rome: a short history and guide is an excellent book, and has lots of pictures (though I'm delighted to see that I have all the important ones myself, and some of mine are, IMHO, better...) I note that one second-hand copy of the book is available from Amazon (not mine, I hasten to add!!), but I suspect that it would be cheaper to buy it directly from the College itself.

I would just like to thank Monsignor Nicholas Hudson once again for the very great kindness and hospitality he showed me.

This post is getting to be almost as long as the book, so I shall end here, but I took quite a few photos, and you can see them in the Flickr set for the VEC.

Photos From St. Peter's...

Yes, I know these are sorely overdue! I've been battling the dreaded lurgy all week, and it's taken all my spare energy, after the shock of actually having to return to work after Half Term...

One of the highlights of my Rome trip was daily Mass at St. Peter's. Being accompanied by two traditionally-minded priests had its advantages - the main one was Mass in the Extraordinary Form each morning. On the first morning, both Fr. Tim and Fr. Charles disappeared into the Sacristy, and I waited outside, ready to follow one of them to whichever altar they were allocated.

After having attended Mass celebrated by Fr. Charles at one of the many side altars (I forget which!), he asked me to pick up the Missal, as he was carrying the chalice and paten, and there wasn't a server. I assumed it was a Missal from the Sacristy, and duly followed Fr. Charles back there. Unfortunately he hadn't told me where to bring it. I spotted Fr. Tim, returning from his own Mass, and tried to give the Missal to him to take into the Sacristy. His hands were full - he had cruets and his own Missal. Feeling a little lost, I wandered further in to the Sacristy. A huge security guard came to head me off at the pass, and I waved the Missal tentatively in his direction, hoping that he would take it from me. He glanced at the Missal, said "Si, si..." or something along those lines, and waved me through. Before I knew it, I had found myself inside the Sacristy itself...

I then discovered that I was holding Fr. Charles' own Missal, and so sat down on a bench at the side of the Sacristy watching all the priests and servers vesting and unvesting. I got one or two curious looks, but, I guess that, dressed in black and with my mantilla firmly in place, I managed not to be too conspicuous!

My two "chaplains" then took me round the Basilica, pointing out items of interest. We stopped at the tomb of St. Peter to gain the Plenary Indulgence...

I asked Fr. Tim if it was possible to go down to the actual level of the tomb itself. I didn't hold out much hope, but was working on the hypothesis that if you don't ask, you don't get. Sure enough, he said something to the guard by the entrance, and we were allowed through, down a spiral staircase into the grottoes.

It was absolutely amazing, and rather spooky, to be down in the grottoes. To stand at the tomb of St. Peter himself was an experience which brought a lump to my throat, and made me feel all goose-bumpy. It's hard to explain, but two thousand years' worth of history was hitting me full-on! To think I once sneered at the idea that the remains of St. Peter could actually be at the site of St. Peter's Basilica (in my "I'm a sceptical scientist" days!)

I think, even if that is all I had managed to see, this would rank as one of the greatest experiences of my life! I would actually have liked to spend a whole day in there...

There are a few more photos from St. Peter's Basilica, including the tombs of Pope John Paul I and James Stuart in my Flickr set St. Peter's June 2012...

Hunting "Il Corvo"...

His Hermeneuticalness thought that, in order to sort out those responsible for the Vatileaks, we should bring along a couple of "the boys" to Rome. I thought that the Monsignori, being such good hunters, would have much more chance of success...

The nickname given to the person responsible for the leaks is "Il Corvo" - the crow. I forget why, exactly. The Monsignori are convinced that there is more than one crow...

Monsignor Miaowrini's biretta kept falling off. Monsignor Furretti was more inclined to pose for the camera...

Oh, and by the way, no-one in Rome actually believes that the butler did it...

Blackfen Visitation

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (Papa Stronsay) popped along for Mass this morning...

Home Is The Wanderer...

Blogging wasn't so much sporadic as non-existent. There was a computer available for guests to use in the hotel... but it was out of action for some reason or other. My grasp of Italian didn't allow me to investigate further. His Hermeneuticalness blogged (on the Vatileaks here and here; on getting the Holy Father's blessing; on our visit to the Venerable English College and on Mass at St. Peter's) via his iPad, which made me very jealous. Blogging from one's phone, even an Android, just isn't quite good enough...

I took plenty of photos, some of which are truly stunning. I have to upload them first - data transfer while abroad was not a cost-effective option. I also have plenty of tales to tell. Having experienced transport delays on the way home, however, means that I'm pretty tired, and there is the LMS conference tomorrow morning, so I'm going to crawl under my very inviting duvet.

Watch this space...

The Eternal City...

This year, I suddenly found myself free over the summer half term. Not particularly enamoured with the idea of staying in the UK to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee (nothing personal, you understand...) I jumped at the chance of a trip to Rome.

I don't know why, but I half-expected it to fall through at the last minute, so I haven't really allowed myself to think about it too much. I've also been rather busy with work stuff.

So I'm now almost deliriously happy to realise that, in two days' time, I shall be jetting off to the Eternal City.

The Holy Father had better not be staying in Milan...

I do intend to take lots and lots of photos. Blogging, however, might be even more sporadic than usual.

Liability Insurance...

This morning, Matthew Schellhorn served Mass and then Benediction at Blackfen. It was apparently the first time he'd ever handled a thurible. I pointed out to His Hermeneuticalness that perhaps we ought not to let Matthew be thurifer in future, at least not without some serious training. I'm sure that the parish isn't sufficiently insured against injury to the fingers and thumbs of a professional concert pianist...