A Shoddy Piece Of Journalism...

A cheap and nasty distortion of one of Fr. Ray Blake's blogposts has been doing the rounds of the mainstream media - obviously some people think the traditional media "Silly Season" is still up and running, and can't find anything better to do than rehash a poorly-written and even more poorly-researched blurb (I hesitate to call it an article) from a local rag.

As the piece has been picked up by a few different sources, I am reposting Fr. Blake's response (as he asked on his blog.)

"I was saying that the poor, the really poor, turn our lives upside down. I know the local paper pays peanuts and expects its journalists to create stories in order to get onto the news networks but this is just a malicious and deliberate misrepresentation.

"It is very interesting to see what a disreputable journalist can do with a few carefully chosen adjectives. I didn't 'condemn', 'complain', 'blast' etc, and I am pretty certain that some of his other quotes are not my words, especially not, 'test my holiness', I don't speak like that, 'only God is Holy'. Though I admit in an informal moment I might question the marriage of the parents of someone who disrupts the worship of an entire congregation, especially if they consistently steal from the church or other poor people.

"It is interesting to see how an unscrupulous journalist can so easily put an entirely different slant on a simple theological reflection, presumably even basic Christian concepts are beyond the comprehension of some.

"Well, journalists are obviously as messy as the poor; except unscrupulous journalists can do more damage. Perhaps Mr Gardner might like to help on our soup run, it doesn't have to be 365 day a year, once a week would be fine, providing he treats our clients with respect, or maybe he could take Jason or Daryl or Pawel or Dawn out for a cup of coffee or a meal, or just come a clear up the next time someone comes in and vomits or bleeds all over my kitchen because he is drug or has been beaten up.

"Maybe next time I run out of money I could tap him for a few quid when some vulnerable 17 year old girl needs to top up her phone to speak to her mum because her boyfriend has beaten her up or she needs a roof over head because she is sleeping in a tent and it is just few degrees above zero and she is vulnerable, or maybe the next time I am arranging a child's funeral and someone comes to the door in need of someone to talk because they are suicidal I can send them round to Bill's place so he can spend a couple of hours listening to them.Here, to, I am neither complaining, blasting, lambasting or anything else, just asking.

"I understand Mr Gardner's little piece has been syndicated internationally, perhaps kind readers might, if possible post my response."

Fr. Blake is charitable enough to ask his readers to pray for the journalist who was attacking him, and for all in the media.

An excellent critique of the shoddy item in the Argus has already been written by Caroline Farrow. I really cannot improve upon it, so I recommend you go and read it for yourselves.

How Long Before It Happens Here...?

To say this is disturbing is a massive understatement.

I thought Germany, in view of its history, would be one place where the rights of parents to educate their own children would be sacrosanct. Hitler was, after all, very keen on youth camps and indoctrination of the young.

The Obama administration stopped one German family, the Romeikes, from seeking asylum in the US so that they could homeschool. The US administration argued in court that parents essentially have no right to determine how and what their children are taught, leaving the authority with the government.

And now we see the heavy-handed methods used by the German authorities to enforce the homeschooling ban on another family, the Wunderlichs. 20 social workers, special agents and police with a battering ram stormed into the family home in a quiet village at 8am. The children were frogmarched out and their mother was not even allowed to kiss them and reassure them as they were taken away. The youngest child is 7 years old.

So, if the rights of parents to educate their children are not being acknowledged in the US or Germany, how long before the government in the UK decides that it wants the same sort of control?

Happy Feast Day!

Today is the Feast of St. Anne Line. I know, it's also that of St. Margaret Ward and St. Margaret Clitherow, but I have a particular devotion to St. Anne (she was the patron I chose when I made my vows) and I feel that the other two are better known. I also tend to think of her more in February (she was arrested on the Feast of Candlemas, and martyred on 27 February 1601) but I quite like the idea of celebrating three significant feast days... besides which, the date of her death is usually in Lent.

I wrote a chapter about St. Anne for a book, English Catholic Heroines and I also went on a mini-pilgrimage with Joanna Bogle to find out more about "my" saint.

On that cheerful note, I am off for a celebratory lunch...

Housekeeping...

I'm going through one of my mad housekeeping phases - everything has to be tidy and sorted before the start of the new school year.

The room I originally designated as my study ceased to be a study when I got broadband - the connection was in the sitting room, and so the computer moved there too. Much of my work involved the computer, and thus the study gradually became that useful thing known to most single people - a large, scary cupboard where items which don't have any immediate use (but which might prove useful at some indeterminate point in the future) are dumped placed.

As the computer was in the sitting room, that is where I worked. Then the computer died, and, after much anguished consideration, I opted for a laptop. At about the same time, my ISP provided me with a nice new modem and I found that I had a WiFi connection. I was therefore no longer tied to the sitting room, and the acquisition of a tray table meant that I was able to work in my bedroom. The sitting room was in serious danger of suffering the same fate as the study...

However, today I have been tidying up and rearranging things. The computer monitor has been delivered to the Council's Re-use & Recycling Centre (a very nice chap came and helped me lift it from my car when he heard that it was fully functional.) The printer has been moved to the place where the computer monitor used to be. The shredder has taken the place of the printer. My scanner, laminator and guillotine have all found new homes within easy reach.

One day I shall reclaim the study, but it is much too scary right now.

A Holiday Of Sorts...

I usually visit Eastbourne in the Summer Holidays in order to look after my parents' two dogs while my parents go away on holiday. The dogs are quite sweet, but also more than a little irritating. Yorkshire terriers are not what I consider to be "real" dogs... they are small, yappy, and very needy. I do feel a little sorry for them - they are missing my parents dreadfully, and are moping around the house in a very forlorn manner. I thought a biscuit might cheer them up.

I am, of course, missing my own two hooligans dreadfully.

One consolation has been the opportunity to attend the TLM each morning. Fr. Charles Briggs and Fr. Tim Finigan are both in the area for a short break, and have been celebrating Mass at Our Lady of Ransom each morning - one priest at the High Altar and one at the Lady Altar (an agreeable form of concelebration, perhaps!)

After Mass today I met up with Annie who blogs for the Arundel & Brighton branch of the LMS and we had a lovely afternoon chatting over tea and scones at the Dickens Tea Cottage. Her husband, who had served one of the Masses, joined us for a while, but left after the first pot of tea. We ladies were made of sterner stuff and demonstrated real staying-power. I can heartily recommend the scones, by the way... and the tea... and the bacon sandwiches were rather good too...

Not sure what I'll do tomorrow... if it is sunny I shall try and get a few scenic photos for my collection...

A Wedding To Rejoice At...

On Saturday I was privileged to attend the wedding of friends of mine - two wonderful young people, and I wish them every possible happiness as they start their life together. I took a few photos which you can see on my Flickr page.

Quite apart from the solemnity of the occasion a couple of moments really made the day memorable for me personally.

The first was my (only partially successful) attempt to prevent the mother of the groom garotting the bride as they processed out at the end... to be fair, the bride had turned the corner of the aisle; unfortunately, her veil had not...

Next was my attempt to be helpful, taking His Hermeneuticalness' bag and Missal to the car while he had a brief word with Fr. Briggs. Halfway to the M25, I asked if he wanted the Missal brought back to Blackfen in time for the evening Mass...

"What Missal?" came a confused reply.

Alas, the Altar Missal that I had picked up was the one belonging to Chislehurst. I was soundly berated by my Parish Priest for making such a basic error...

Apparently next time I should accidentally pick up something worth keeping... like vestments, relics or candlesticks. Novus Ordo Missals are of no interest, it seems.

A Treat For Our Lady's Feast Day...

We are so very blessed at Blackfen. Not only do we have Mass in two forms of the Roman Rite (the vetus ordo and the novus ordo) but we also have a Mass most weeks said according to the Anglican Use of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. At the two sung Sunday Masses (one English, one Latin), we don't get the four-hymn-sandwich, but have the antiphons and the parts of the Mass sung.


Our Parish Priest delivers excellent sermons, and he has written down what he wants to say, so he doesn't waffle. There is even a summary of it in the parish newsletter. He doesn't treat the congregation as if they are a bunch of nine-year-olds, but covers Church history, doctrine, moral and social teaching, and usually bits from the lives and writings of the saints and the writings or speeches of the Pope (whichever one it happens to be.) The documents of Vatican II are frequently quoted (and we get Vatican I and Trent as well, just to demonstrate the hermeneutic of continuity in action.)

We have some really skilled and dedicated servers, a talented parish choir which has an amazing repertoire (lots of people sing different settings for the Kyrie, but how many times do you hear a small parish choir also knock out the Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei of Mass IV, for example?) and a marvelous team of people who clean the church and do all sorts of extra stuff in the sacristy (laundry of altar linens, mending vestments, making altar cloths) - the sort of thing that is only noticed when it isn't there.

And, as an extra-special blessing, we have Sisters who visit the parish. None of this "Nuns on the Bus" rubbish... these ones have full habits.

This is such an important witness for young women and girls - the priest is an obvious sign of a vocation in the Church, but most religious sisters in parishes are no longer "visible" at first glance. Even the teaching orders have pretty much disappeared from English schools.

The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate often pop over to Blackfen for Mass, and on big feasts of Our Lady's they will often come along and sing the Mass propers and a motet or two. I videoed the incensing at the Offertory, and the Sisters were singing something really beautiful - I'm not sure what it is, but hopefully one of them will let me know. It's only my little mobile phone, but it still sounds awesome, so I thought I would share...

I only took a couple of photos, but you can see them here.

Happy Feast Day...

The Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven...

Two More For The Kitty Kill Count...

Holidays are when teachers like me get to do housework properly... or at least a little more thoroughly than during term time. Hoovering the sitting room, I discovered two dead mice under different cupboards... Mind you, it could have been worse. My friend Fitzrufus tried to give me nightmares by tweeting a link to a report of a couple who found a dead (and dessicated) cat under the floorboards.

The most upsetting thing for me was that the cat looked so skinny. I rushed off to fill up the food bowls for my two hooligans...

I Wasn't Planning Another Cat Post, But...

... I videoed Furretti responding to her name (or perhaps, to be more accurate, the sound of my voice). She must have been just by the catflap when I called (the other side of a fence at the side of the building) and she either scooted under or over the fence to come running.

She then decided to go and explore somewhere else in the sunshine, and despite all my blandishments, she hasn't come home yet. Miaowrini, on the other hand, came in demanding to be fed something nicer than dry biscuits... but I didn't get that on camera...

But I'm feeling loved and appreciated...

Faith Summer Session 2013...

I didn't manage to get to the whole of the Summer Session this year, but I did go along to Woldingham for the Wednesday - there is usually a Guest Speaker on the Wednesday afternoon slot.

My journey in was a little fraught - someone at London Bridge managed to drop a signalling paddle down the side of a train onto the track, and there was a bit of a kerfuffle in trying to retrieve it - and, as a result, I was a little late for Mass. I was delighted to discover that Fr. Guillaume was giving out First Blessings after the Mass... this has become a regular feature at the Summer Session, as there have been many young men ordained to the Priesthood after being formed through contact with the Faith Movement. As you can see, plenty of people wanted to get a blessing...

The weather was glorious, and I enjoyed the scenery while catching up with many dear friends. While waiting for the afternoon session to begin, I spotted two new inhabitants of the school grounds...

His Hermeneuticalness cut me to the quick when he asked why I had taken a photo of a door. I must be losing my touch with the camera angles.

My heart sank when I heard that the Guest Speaker was a Parliamentary Officer (*yawn*) and it positively plummeted when I heard the phrase "Catholic Bishops' Conference" though I think Scotland is in a slightly better position than England & Wales (remember the Papal Visit?). However, I was very pleasantly surprised: John Deighan gave a rousing talk about his journey into politics, the reasons behind the success of the campaign for same-sex "marriage" and his ideas for fighting back against secularism.

I started to live-tweet the talk, but my battery was almost completely dead by this point. (Reminder to self - get a couple of spare batteries!) However, if his talk was anything to go by, I'd say that John Deighan is well worth following on Twitter. The Scottish Catholic Parliamentary Office also appears very well organised, especially with regard to their internet presence. Eccleston Square could learn a few tricks.

There are a few more photos on my Flickr page.

Shall I Change My Name To Cassandra...?

As the Greek myths tell it, Cassandra, daughter of King Priam, was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but, after she refused his advances, he cursed her so that she would never be able to convince people her prophecies were true.

I pointed out, back in December, that Cameron's quadruple-lock "assurances" about churches not being forced to carry out same-sex "marriage ceremonies" were not worth much, because the European Court of Human Rights had already stated clearly that, if same-sex couples were allowed to "marry" then any church that offers weddings would be guilty of discrimination if it declined to marry same-sex couples.

One didn't really need to be Cassandra to foresee that, once same-sex "marriage" became legal, there was bound to be someone just itching to push for a full church wedding, with all the trimmings... Sure enough, less than a month after the legislation hit the statute books, one couple plans to sue the Church of England. I felt a grudging admiration for the blatant honesty in the comment: "I am still not getting what I want."

I very much doubt that it will stop there...

Orthodox Cat-holics Condemn The Bitter Pill...

Since most people read this blog for the cat posts (judging from the number of people who asked me about the kitties at the Faith Summer Session earlier this week) I thought it was worth posting...

I have no idea how, when or even if I made this gif image of the kitties showing their poor opinion of The Bitter Pill while leaving The Catholic Herald unscathed, but discovered it when I was checking through some old images.

Twitter Spats & Blog Comments...

Somehow or other, I got myself enmeshed in a spat on Twitter, all about blogs and comment threads. 140 characters just wasn't enough for this one, so I have decided to blog about it...

I usually take the stance that it's best to ignore the stupid stuff, and in general this attitude has paid off. I very rarely get abusive comments on the blog, for example, because I just delete them, and do not refer to them. Most people who want to be offensive want to provoke a reaction, so when the comment disappears without trace, it gets boring for them, and they go elsewhere.

I take much the same approach to Twitter: offensive tweets are best ignored - and much better never acknowledged, even to condemn them... Twitter feeds are pretty fast-moving, and if objectionable stuff is ignored, it will usually disappear without trace.

I moderate my blog comments. I do not necessarily agree with the comments I do publish, but if I don't like the tone of a comment, I am quite ruthless in deleting it. There is no discussion, and no appeal. It's my blog, and if someone objects, they are free to start their own blog. I suspect this is why I don't get many comments, but I don't blog in order to get comments...

I read blogs via Feedly. It shows me the blog posts as they are published, and saves me having to check whether or not someone has updated their blog. If I find a post amusing or thought-provoking, I might tweet a link to it, or I might actually put up a link from this blog. It does not mean that I agree with everything that has ever appeared on that blog.

Feedly does not show comments threads on blogs. Occasionally, I might want to comment on the blog, in which case I will visit the particular post and add a comment. This is rare - even more so now that I use my mobile phone for blog-reading when I have some spare time.

I do not consider myself responsible for the content of other blogs, still less for their comments.

Quite frankly, unmoderated comboxes are a magnet for idiots, and there is no shortage of people who wish to write very unpleasant stuff on the internet. If one comments on a thread on an unmoderated blog, then one shouldn't be surprised when the idiots pile in. That doesn't mean that it is right for abusive and vile comments to be published - and generally, when this happens, one can ask for the offensive comments to be removed... but one will have to ask, because "unmoderated" means that the comments aren't being checked beforehand, and not everyone has the time to check and re-check comments on old posts (or even on new ones), especially if the comments go up in the early hours of the morning!

Countercultural Father beat me to it, as usual, and he managed to summarise the whole thing much more effectively than me, so do read his excellent post!

In Case You Were Wondering..

One of the reasons why I haven't been blogging lately...

Cardinal Furretti rather likes sleeping on my laptop case, and sometimes I haven't got the heart to turf her off so I can retrieve the laptop...

Dressing Decently As An Act Of Charity...

The warm weather means that people are often rather scantily dressed. It interested me to note that, in an email sent round at work, people were asked to dress "decently" so that their choice of clothing did not cause embarrassment, distract or give rise to misunderstandings... in other words, to dress modestly as an act of charity to those around us.

Decent dress, according to the email, meant not showing bare midriffs, not wearing sleeveless tops, avoiding overly-translucent materials, and no low-cut trousers or shorts (of any length).

In other words, one does not merely dress to please oneself, but considers one's colleagues.

It is a shame that this attitude of charity towards one's neighbour appears to be ignored by so many when they are choosing what to wear for the worship of Almighty God...

UPDATE: As Caroline pointed out, it might be worth considering the spectacle presented by many ladies when they kneel at the altar rail for Communion if their tops are of the low-cut variety. Is it really fair on the priest? I have to confess that I used to wear low-cut tops myself when I first returned to the Faith. That stopped pretty quickly after one occasion when the Host accidentally dropped down my (not inconsiderable) cleavage...

Free The Word...!

Brandon Vogt recently got into hot water when, after making the texts of the Holy Father's encyclical available in electronic format, he was taken to task by the USCCB and the Holy See.

Brandon isn't arguing about the right of the Holy See to keep the copyright on Church documents, but what he wants is to petition for the documents to be made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license. This means that people would be able to copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of the work. It's an extremely popular way of safely distributing texts, especially digital content. Proper credit has to be given for the source, and the copyright is retained by the Holy See.

If you want to read more about how Brandon inadvertently fell foul of the copyright laws, and the reasons behind his proposals, check out his excellent post. You can also sign the petition by leaving a comment in his com-box.

Two Down...

Is it really four years since I started watching cricket?

I am having to watch the cricket without the benefit of expert tuition as both Jonathan and Zephy are away from the parish. Nevertheless, I was quite pleased with myself when I was able to say something vaguely intelligible after Mass when watching the Test Match in the Parish club. Unfortunately I can't remember what it was...

Although I haven't actually posted on it (for fear of saying something really stupid which will incur the wrath of cricket enthusiasts everywhere, and particularly in Blackfen) I have been keeping more than one eye on the Ashes Test Series. I have a very handy phone app which is rather useful - it tells me the score, whether the game is still on, who is in, who is out and how many runs are needed for one side to beat the other.

This year, the weather has not intervened to help out the Australian team, and, after their really disastrous first innings in the second Test, the Australians were well and truly thrashed by England.

So we only need to win one more Test out of the three in order to win the series...

I hope my support isn't going to prove the death-knell for England's chances of retaining the Ashes!

A Blessing For The Diocese

It was a very great pleasure to attend the Ordination to the Priesthood of five young men at St. George's Cathedral earlier today. 

Unfortunately, I'd had to set up for the Saturday morning Mass and Exposition at Blackfen, so I arrived late, and spent most of the occasion stuck behind a pillar. I got up to take this photo from the back...

Many congratulations to Fr. Samuel Davey, Fr. Valentine Erhahon, Fr. Stephen Haines, Fr. Thomas Lynch and Fr. Leonard Tatt. God bless them for their generous response to his call! And please do keep them in your prayers as they begin their priestly ministry.

UPDATE: There are a few photos up on the Catholic Church (England & Wales) Flickr pages.

If A Cat Doesn't Want To Know...

...lady, you can clap your hands all you like. That might get a response from a dog, but kitty cats have standards... no way is a cat going to play second fiddle to you as some sort of prop for your story...

It's Official...

Cardinal Furretti has decided that the weather is a bit warm, and so she's started to sleep in the sink...

Part of me is tempted to give her a trim...

Feeling Like Cassandra...

A fortnight ago, I had a little rant about the politician who had the gall to suggest that school Summer holidays were too long, and this was having an adverse effect on student attainment.

I pointed out that, since he went to an independent school, his holidays had been much longer, and I doubted that he felt disadvantaged. I went on to suggest that, actually, this was part of the Government agenda to keep children at school so parents would be free to work instead of actually getting to interact with their own children. After all, the parents might actually teach their children to question Government policies, and that would never do.

As an aside, do you think that politicians forget what they've been debating over the long parliamentary recesses?

Technically the news was focusing on schools being able to choose their own holiday dates, but I am rather a cynical type, and I griped that this would be a way for the schools to shorten the holidays without too much fuss, and added that I thought that schools would be encouraged to lengthen the school day too, so as to make collecting children on the way home from work easier...

Well, I never expected to be proved absolutely right quite so quickly!

Today's Telegraph Online reports that the Department for Education is planning to improve the provision of affordable childcare by (among other things) encouraging schools to open for more hours of the day and more weeks in the year.

They have even suggested that schools hold "sleepovers"...

Told you so...

Good Counsel Network Sponsored Walk...

Back in May, I advertised the Good Counsel Network's annual sponsored walk from Wandsworth to Wapping, and suggested that people might like to go along, sponsor someone, pray... or all three.

I doubt very much that it was my influence, but one of my fellow parishioners, Antonia, is planning to do the 13 mile walk with some (or possibly all) of her family. She's hoping to raise £500, and so, if you can, please go over to her JustGiving page and make a donation.

The Good Counsel Network relies totally on your donations in order to offer practical help and support to women who might otherwise think they had no alternative but to have an abortion.

It is all very well to be "pro-life" on paper, but we have to be ready to back it up by our actions. If you can't support the cause financially, then do remember to pray!

Dicing With Death...

This video of an obnoxious parakeet and a very patient kitty cat made me smile. It seems pretty obvious that the cat's restraint was purely because it was being recorded...

If either Monsignor Miaowrini or Cardinal Furretti had been in the same position, the parakeet wouldn't have lasted long...

Excuse Me While I Have A Rant...

I'm feeling a little peeved. Actually, I'm rather more than peeved. I'm seriously irritated. And annoyed.

Yet again, a politician has decided that the "long" school Summer holiday is considered fair game, and has called for us to shorten the Summer so that we remain competitive. Quite apart from the fact that a politician decrying a long Summer holiday is actually rather ironic, ("calling black kettle pot" - rearrange to form a well-known phrase) it is also inaccurate.

Some years, state schools get a full six weeks in the Summer. More often than not, it's five and a half, very occasionally just five. I am prepared to admit that the staggered start at the beginning of the Autumn term does make it longer for some students (and, as a teacher, I guess I'm biased.)

Chris Skidmore MP claims that children need shorter holidays because they "forget" everything over the break, and this lowers academic progress. He also thinks children find long holidays tedious.

Well, I've been a teacher for longer than he's been an MP and I can vouch for the fact that, should you ask a student what work they did before the weekend, most of them would have forgotten it. This is the reason that lessons start with a recap of what we did before. It's well-known that repeating things over and over again helps to improve retention. "Forgetting" stuff over the Summer isn't actually a problem. Children (and teachers) need to have a break from academic work.

Mr. Skidmore points out that the long Summer holidays are really a relic from our farming roots. Again, speaking from my years of teaching experience, I can vouch for the fact that students really don't benefit from being herded into hot, stuffy classrooms and forced to try and concentrate when the Sun comes out. All those high-achieving countries tend to have air conditioning as par for the course, I believe. The infrastructure for home learning is also there - Singapore regularly closes its schools to prepare against outbreaks of diseases such as swine flu, to check that everything is in place for home learning.

It is also interesting to note that independent schools in the UK have longer holidays than state schools. I haven't noticed a dearth of attainment in children who are privately educated. As a former student at Bristol Grammar School, Mr. Skidmore would have experienced holidays lasting 8 weeks in the Summer, which I dare say he found tedious, especially as the Autumn and Spring half term holidays were each a week and a half in length (state schools get a week for each), and Christmas and Easter are both three weeks long (state schools get two weeks for each of these.)

Does Mr. Skidmore feel he could have achieved more if he hadn't been handicapped by such onerously long holidays, or does he think it only applies to the children of the general masses who are too stupid to cope?

I suspect that what Mr. Skidmore really means is that the long Summer holidays are inconvenient for parents who have to work. His description of children sitting playing with their Super Nintendos (how very out of touch - it's all Wii now, I believe!) strongly suggests children who are home alone, without a parent who can encourage them to go out to museums, parks, swimming pools and so on. The emphasis in this country is not giving children a good all-round education (encouraging independent exploration of topics and subjects which interest the individual child over the Summer would do this) but providing childcare while the parents are out at work. Hence the proposals to shorten the holidays and calls to lengthen the school day.

Stalin would have given his right arm to get this sort of separation of children from their parents and putting them into the care of the State...

The Kitties Are Upping The Ante...

I'm not entirely sure if this is a warning or a reward, but I found this in the sitting room today...

I have no idea what bird it was - there were no obvious tail feathers in evidence - and it is very much the "parson's nose" end of the bird. I also don't know which kitty was responsible: though I'd hazard a guess at Miaowrini because she was very affectionate earlier. I assumed she was leading me to the kitchen to refill her food or water bowls, but they were both still full. She must think me very slow on the uptake...

It'll be a horse's head next. I'd probably better get in some smoked salmon...

A New Prayer Initiative...

Well, ok, not so new - it seems to have been going since last December, but I've only recently heard of the iHope London vigils, which are designed to pray for the workers of the abortion industry (particularly IPPF), that they may experience a conversion of heart.

As the website explains:

"There are many organisations that, misguidedly, promote and perform abortions, arguing not only that it is a right but also that it benefits babies, women, families and our society. The leading business in this field is IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation), with its headquarters near to London Bridge. IPPF’s employees are convinced that they are doing good and necessary work. Have we prayed for them today as Jesus did for His executioners, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they do!"?"

The processions, Masses and vigils take place on the 12th of each month, unless this occurs at the weekend, when it is transferred to the Monday. As the emphasis is on prayer and (silent) witness, people on the vigils are asked to prepare themselves spiritually:

To fast for the day of the vigil, from midnight until 3:15pm (the end of the procession) and, in addition, to:

1) be in a state of grace, having being to confession
2) be prepared to receive Holy Communion (to be a temple of the Blessed Sacrament)
3) give alms secretly to a Religious Order, faithful Catholic charity, a family in need
4) during the vigil be prepared to pray only
5) do a kind deed for someone, even a stranger
6) bring your Rosary and a heart full of love for the unborn, their parents and IPPF employees.

I'm sure that many of us who are unable to attend the vigils and processions themselves would perhaps consider supporting the initiative spiritually through prayer and fasting.

Transferred Feasts & Birthdays...

My birthday felt a bit weird this year. It all started when my parents rang me up to sing "Happy Birthday!" down the phone... I listened, thanked them warmly, and pointed out that it wasn't actually my birthday for another two days. Forgetfulness on the part of one's parents is only to be expected when you have clocked up as many years as I have, but then to have to send a scan of one's passport in order to convince said parents that you aren't winding them up has got to be a first.

So my birthday, when it actually arrived (yesterday), felt like a bit of an anticlimax.

However, it has been pointed out to me by the Senior MC that, since I arrived in the afternoon, I was actually born after First Vespers of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and so I should really celebrate on the 29th anyway. As we had a Missa Cantata arranged for the Feast, this seemed like a very good idea!

There was a very festive feel in the Sacristy after Mass as we had acquired a beautiful vestment press via Ebay. The Senior MC explained that he only just got his bid in on time (20 seconds before bidding closes is apparently the optimum time to prevent price hikes) as the celebrant at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane on Monday night unexpectedly preached for the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Fortunately mobile phone reception in Maiden Lane's sacristy is reasonable!

Lots of people came in and admired it, and the Sacristy Team is now pondering which items should go into which drawers. This is not as easy as you might think...

After Mass I was presented with a chocolate cake by Annie Elizabeth's children. There was no point in me taking a whole chocolate cake home just for me, so I thought I'd better share...

After an excellent lunch, I then drove down to see another friend for tea and a chat at a local garden centre. Alison's also a Science teacher, and we've been friends ever since training together on the PGCE course at King's. We often go to her local garden centre, mostly because she's into plants and ecology stuff in a big way, and also because they have rather nice tea rooms...

As we arrived in the car park, we discovered that there was a special Spitfire flying display (arranged to celebrate Armed Forces' Day.) Watching the plane was great fun, though my attempts to snap the plane as it came really close were thwarted by the bright sunlight.Still, I succeeded in getting a couple of shots which you can see on my Flickr page.

All in all, a really lovely transferred birthday... And I shall be sure to celebrate the Octave too!

The Homecoming Present...

When Zephyrinus posted an exclusive photo of the "welcome home" present obtained (at great expense) for His Hermeneuticalness by the sacristy team concerned that he might be missing the warmth of the Australian climate and people, there were some who suggested that this was merely photoshopped, as a light-hearted joke.

Even Fr. Finigan assumed it was photoshopped.

He should have known better. Zephy is a nice chap, but he's not au fait with the intricacies of Photoshop.

So, when he stepped into the sacristy on his return from the land of Oz, Fr. Finigan found his homecoming present waiting for him on the vestment press. I was a little worried he might blame it on the jetlag and think he was hallucinating, but he doesn't seem to be any the worse for wear.

And just to prove it, here's another photo...

A Little Nonsense (Thought I'd Share)...

Back in the mists of time when I was a schoolgirl (not quite prehistoric) teachers used videos in lessons. The videos were taped off the TV, usually the "schools programme," and they consisted of adults in very odd clothes talking a lot. Not very exciting, but it made a break from listening to the regular class teacher and copying from the blackboard.

The videos mostly lasted for the whole lesson - the television and video machine were usually wheeled in on a special trolley, and it took a while to get everyone arranged around the screen so that we could all see. Then the video would be started... and we'd find that the last teacher to see the video hadn't rewound it back to the beginning, so we'd wait patiently a bit longer. We'd watch the video and maybe discuss it the next lesson.

All the hassle involved meant that videos were shown in their entirety.

By the time that I started my teacher training, (many years later) it was recognised that short clips designed to illustrate a particular point were probably of more use in the classroom. A whole lesson watching some university professor in seventies get-up talking to the camera just wasn't going to hold the attention of kids used to watching Independence Day, Scream, Jurassic Park and Mission Impossible.

The difficulties involved in arranging to use a TV and video (still on the same lumbering old trolley), getting it into the classroom, getting the students into position and finding the right point on the video (which couldn't be done before, unless you were very lucky, as there was only one machine for the whole department and someone else had booked it for the lesson before) before the students got restless and started climbing the walls, meant that the use of video clips was quite rare. Nice theory, not done much in reality.

Fast-forward to the present and most schools have interactive whiteboards (or, at the very least, computers, projectors and screens) taking up the space where the blackboards used to be. There is an internet connection (when it works) and, since Ofsted is quite keen on multimedia in lessons, the YouTube video clip is king. There is lots of useful stuff there, and most of it is short. What's even better, from the point of view of the teacher, is that the link to the exact video you want can be embedded into the PowerPoint presentation (or Smartboard/ActiveInspire lesson) and is therefore just a click away (so no need to turn your back on the little darlings!)

So, now, every teacher uses YouTube clips. It is necessary to compete with one's colleagues to find the best clips so as not to elicit a groan from the students: "But Miss, it's boring!"

Different groups respond in different ways, but overall I find that humour works best. This little snippet made a great starter for discussion of how gravity is a non-contact force...

Of course, now the difficulty lies in not getting sidetracked! ("Miss, do you believe in alien abduction...?")

(BTW, be sure to watch right to the end... there's a little twist - though you can only hear it!)

Kudos To Shrewsbury Diocese...

Shrewsbury Diocese tweets under the Twitter handle @ShrewsRCnews and Simon Caldwell has been busy tweeting about the flooding in Lourdes because it will affect the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes planned for the end of July.

It looks as though the Grotto itself will be opened up from Monday (possibly sooner) but the Domaine has suffered serious damage which will cost millions to repair. Several hotels have been forced to close because of flood damage, and are unlikely to reopen this season. The Underground Basilica of St. Pius X was flooded out (I saw it on one of the video clips) and it's hard to believe that it will be opened any time soon. The Church of St. Bernadette (opposite the Grotto) will have to remain closed all season because of serious structural damage.

Despite the difficulties this will cause, the diocesan pilgrimage will still go ahead. In addition, they plan to donate €5000 towards repairs (along with any other donations people care to contribute.) Apparently they did the same thing after the floods last October.

If anyone else wants to contribute, details can be found on the Diocese of Shrewsbury News Updates page.

Disability Discrimination ?

Disability groups have fought hard for years against discrimination, and rightly so. The 2012 paralympics was lauded as a tremendous sign of triumph over adversity, an indication of what people with all sorts of disabilities can achieve - and, quite frankly, all of the so-called "disabled" sportsmen and women could wipe the floor with me in any of the sporting events.

But there is one teensy little point which very few people appear to have mentioned. Society at large (and British legislation in particular) actively encourages direct discrimination against disabled people in one case: any person with a disability can be aborted up to birth.

According to Section 1 of the Abortion Act 1967, the legal limit for an abortion in the UK is 24 weeks. After 24 weeks, presumably, the medics and legal bods have decided that the baby "becomes" a real person, because Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 come into play.

However, if the baby has a substantial risk of being born with a disability, then the 24-week limit doesn't apply. Note that the disability doesn't have to be definite, there just has to be a substantial risk. No-one has, to my knowledge, actually gone as far as defining what constitutes "substantial." I doubt that any hospital, clinic or doctor would be too keen on insisting that the risk was only a small one and so refusing to give an abortion, just in case the baby did have a disability and the parents subsequently sued. It might put a sizable dent in the Health Trust's budget!

I have read of more than one case where an abortion was carried out, and the disability turned out to be a cleft palate.

And did I mention that the disability doesn't have to be a physical one? Mental abnormalities are also included. What those abnormalities have to be before the baby qualifies as an exception to the Offences Against the Person Act are similarly undefined.

When the Abortion Act was brought in, it was thought that there were sufficient safeguards to keep abortion from being used too freely. Unfortunately, fallen human nature being what it is, we can't see a boundary without pushing it as far as it will go... and then pushing a bit more.

So it's ok to discriminate against disabled people up until they are born... and then it is no longer acceptable.

Well, that could be about to change too...

The Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG), representing doctors in the Netherlands, has said that distress felt by parents can justify "euthanasia" of a dying newborn, making it acceptable, or even necessary. Already, the 2004 Groningen Protocol sets out medical guidelines on "euthanasia" for minors, and this has allowed medical practitioners to end the lives of many children with spina bifida. Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, for example, would never have been given the chance to win her 16 Paralympic medals, nor would many others be allowed to show what they could achieve, being "weeded out" early on so as not to cause their parents distress.

It is all very well to say that this law would only be used for children that were already dying - but, as shown in the case of Tony Bland, it wouldn't stop there. He was neither dying nor in pain, he was simply in a vegetative state... until they stopped feeding and hydrating him. "The lack of quality of life" would soon be invoked for many children born with disabilities...

So it would seem that we have come full-circle, and discrimination against people with disability is not just considered acceptable, but actually necessary.

And this is supposed to be "progress"...

Oh, and did I mention that the Dutch also want to be able to decide to "euthanise" adults with Alzheimer's or other dementias if they have been judged to be "incompetent"? Twitch of the mantilla to Deacon Nick Donnelly for highlighting this.

Day With Mary In Dartford...

I happened to be shopping in Dartford on Monday afternoon. Despite Dartford being only 5 miles away, to my shame I hadn't managed to get to see Fr. Stephen Boyle since his appointment as Parish Priest to St. Anselm's last September, so I stopped off for a coffee and a chat. Fr. Stephen doesn't have a blog, but he does like appearing on them. The parish website, however, is run on a Wordpress template - technically that is a blog, but I suspect that someone else maintains it!

I was interested to see a certificate in the presbytery commemorating all the Rectors and Parish Priests of Dartford...

Unfortunately the lighting meant I couldn't get a clearly focused photo on my phone (I will try again the next time I'm there), but the names go all the way back to the 12th century (with a gap for the Reformation period when it states that there may have been priests living clandestinely in the area). Sadly there hasn't been room for the last two parish priests... maybe Fr. Stephen will start up a new inscription.

I also had the chance to admire the new lighting which has just been installed in the church.

Fr. Stephen told me that the Day With Mary team will be visiting his parish on Saturday 29th June. To my great disappointment, I missed the one in Blackfen back in March, so I want to try to get to part of this one.

The Day With Mary apostolate is a wonderful thing, with days of prayer organised in different parishes, usually on Saturdays. A couple of processions (one with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, one with the Blessed Sacrament), the Rosary (all of the mysteries except the Sorrowful ones - they are replaced by meditations of the Stations of the Cross), Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction, enrolment in the Brown Scapular, a couple of sermons on Our Lady, the opportunity for Confessions and, of course Mass. It's not so much a boost to one's spiritual life as a full-blown explosion...

For those of you who can't make it to any of these days, the Day With Mary team now put the talks online on their website - if you click on a video near the bottom you need to scroll back up to watch it as it won't open as a pop-up (I was clicking on several videos for ages before I twigged... a real blonde moment!) However, these short talks don't convey the atmosphere and impact of the days themselves (though a previous post of mine might give you a glimpse), so, if you hear of one happening near you, I really do recommend that you go along!

Pray For Lourdes...

The flooding is much worse than last year - and it is happening at the height of the pilgrimage season, which will affect many of the townspeople who rely on the pilgrims for their livelihoods.

The video was made early on in the flooding. Screenshots I took from the BBC News video show how much worse it has become...

The bridge over the Gave de Pau from the hospital side... (For comparison, have a look at the same bridge in a video from the floods of last year)

And this year the bridge itself has been partially submerged...

A view of the Grotto - you get a clear idea of how high the water has risen when you see where the statue of Our Lady is...

The water level of the Gave de Pau does seem to be going down, but it depends on whether or not there are further storms. Mark Lambert has a more detailed report of the damage identified so far. Please pray for everyone concerned.

UPDATE: The sight of the Domaine in front of the Rosary Basilica under water in a later video was a real shock. First, the Crowned Virgin can be seen in the top right hand corner of the photo...

Then, as the camera moves back, you can see where the water has reached (the van hasn't moved)...

And here is the latest video (twitch of the mantilla to Fr. George Byers - he must be terribly upset, as he was a chaplain in Lourdes for many years.) Flooding in the town is also shown in the video...

Innondation à Lourdes le 18 juin 2013 by Lourdesactufr

Lourdes Underwater Again...

I was heartbroken to hear that, once again, the Grotto at Lourdes is under about 3 feet of water. Fr. George Byers posted the photo on his blog. Lourdes is one of my favourite places. The webcams at the Grotto appear to be down, so no idea when things will improve.

The last major flood was just nine months ago...

Pray that all pilgrims, and all the local inhabitants of Lourdes may be kept safe.

News to Gladden The Heart...

The BPAS abortion centre in Bedford Square is due to close. The site will still run contraceptive services such as vasectomy, but the abortions will no longer happen there.

I have no doubt that the prayers, vigils and fasts held by many people over the years, as described by Clare in her latest post, have resulted in this victory. The abortion industry wouldn't close a clinic unless it was losing money, and so there must have been more and more women changing their minds about killing their unborn babies, some directly as a result of contact with the pavement counsellors, and some because of a change of heart inspired by the Holy Spirit after heartfelt prayers from faithful souls.

Deo gratias!

Speculation...

After this morning's TLM in Blackfen, I asked Fr. Logan (covering for His Hermeneuticalness while he is in Oz) if he minded me taking photos of him and uploading them to the blog.

"What, to go with the cats?" was the swift rejoinder.

I was delighted to discover that Fr. Logan reads my blog, and follows the adventures of Cardinal Furretti and Monsignor Miaowrini avidly. Later, he asked me if I knew who Eccles was?

He denied being Eccles himself, claiming that he only read the blogs. But I'm not entirely convinced...

(I didn't actually take any photos today, but I shall endeavour to do so next week!)