Faith Of Our Fathers...

St. Anthony Communications has brought out a new DVD about the English Martyrs. Featuring Fr. Marcus Holden and Fr. Nicolas Schofield, the film is rather like an account of a personal pilgrimage made by the two priests... it reminds me of the pilgrimage I made with Joanna Bogle a few years ago, to find out more about my patron saint, St. Anne Line.

It was a fascinating film, though I have to confess to being a little disappointed in not being treated to more stories of the martyrs themselves - however, the constraints of time probably prevented much being done. Maybe we will be treated to more in-depth analyses of the saints in future.

Christian Holden, brother to Fr. Marcus Holden, directed the documentary, and wrote an article about it for the Catholic Herald. In it, he explained that the stories of the martyrs were more important than ever in the current climate of increasing hostility to the Faith.

I must confess a vested interest in the success of this DVD - not that I get royalties - but some of my photos from the Chapel of the Venerable English College, Rome, were actually used in the DVD: the mosaics of the deaths of the martyrs at Tyburn and a couple of the maps used by the newly-ordained priests when planning their return to England featured in the film. I even got a mention in the credits (along with very many others!) I feel incredibly proud that my photos were good enough to be used in the DVD, especially since I'm not a professional photographer, and it has encouraged me to continue to snap away and make the photos available on Flickr.

If you want to have a better look at some of the mosaics, they are over on my Flickr page. To whet your appetite, I thought I'd include two trailers...

And if they have sparked your interest, you can buy the whole DVD from St. Anthony Communications.

Feast Of The Most Holy Rosary...

With a slight sense of horror, I realised that it has been nearly two weeks since I last posted anything. It didn't feel as long as that, and I'm very tempted to remove the dates from my blog posts so that I can't be made to feel quite so guilty of neglect... In my defense, I've been busy, but only with boring, everyday "stuff" which doesn't provide any useful blogging material, however it helps to keep the kitty cats and myself fed, and so is of paramount importance.

One little ray of sunshine broke through the mundane gloom - we had the opportunity to have a Solemn High Mass to celebrate the occasion of our parish's Patronal Feast.

The group Cantores Missae sang Victoria's Missa Ave Maris Stella for the Ordinary of the Mass, then Guerrero's Ave Maria at the Offertory, Victoria's Pange Lingua at Communion, and they finished up with Schubert's beautiful Salve Regina. It was a real treat, though I felt terribly decadent being out late on a weekday evening.

I did manage to get a few photos and they are now up on my Flickr page.

Thoughts On The Latin Mass...

A friend of mine sent me a link to the following YouTube video by Catherine, a Catholic student, explaining why the "Latin Mass" was worth the effort involved.

By "Latin Mass" I am assuming that she meant the TLM rather than the Novus Ordo Mass in Latin.

Personally, I felt instinctively drawn to the Extraordinary Form: the silence and stillness of Low Mass exerted a real pull for me, and I still love Low Mass for that reason. High Mass and the Missa Canata are attractive for different reasons. But at all forms of the TLM, I am most drawn to the fact that it is all about God, and that I am free to participate by following every word in the Missal or just immersing myself in the sights, smells and sounds, raising my heart and mind to God.

The TLM can take some getting used to, and I blogged about this a while ago with my Laywoman's Guide. The laywoman referred to is me, I hasten to add, so the guide is aimed at men too, and I realise that  not everyone will have the same thoughts and experiences, so it is only a pointer.

"The Mass should change us, not us change the Mass." So very true...

New Liturgy For The Ordinariate...

A new text has been devised for use by the Personal Ordinariates – the structures established by Pope Benedict XVI which allow former Anglicans who wish to enter the full communion of the Catholic Church to do so whilst retaining aspects of their spiritual and liturgical traditions, described as “precious gifts” and “treasures to be shared.”

The liturgy – the work of a special commission established by Rome and now approved by the Holy See – includes material from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as well as the Roman Rite. It will be unveiled with a Mass on Thursday, 10 October at 6:30 pm, to be followed by a media launch organised by the Friends of the Ordinariate charity, at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, Soho.

The Mass will be celebrated by the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, Monsignor Keith Newton, and the preacher will be Monsignor Andrew Burnham, Assistant to the Ordinary and a member of the commission which devised the liturgy, known as the Ordinariate Use. Music, drawn from the English tradition, will include Howells’ Collegium Regale.

Mgr Burnham said: “For some time, the Ordinariate has had its own liturgy, approved by the Holy See, for marriages and funerals and the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham already provides a daily office in the Anglican tradition. But the introduction of this new Ordinariate Use is very important because it means that we now have our own distinctive liturgy for the Mass which brings to the Roman rite beautiful Anglican words which have been hallowed for generations. It gives the Ordinariate unity and a corporate identity.”

The Roman Rite in both its ordinary and extraordinary forms remains available for use by Ordinariate priests and there will be no requirement for them to adopt the Ordinariate Use. However, all Ordinariate clergy will be expected to familiarise themselves with it. Some priests are expected to use it regularly, while others – especially in parishes with a large concentration of “cradle” Catholics in the congregation – may only wish to use it from time to time.

Congratulations to the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham on completing this great work.

Cardinal Furretti Is Unwell...

Unlike Jeffrey Bernard, Furretti was not intoxicated. She has, in common with most cats (especially longhairs), a tendency to hairballs. However, throwing up hairballs is quite a neat operation, and the results tend to come out in a long, neat tube of matted fur...

This was very different.

The poor puss jumped onto my chest of drawers last night, opened her mouth and promptly released a stream of fluid - not quite projectile vomiting, but pretty close! It landed all over my old iPhone (which I use as a sort of iPod for playing audiobooks.) Fortunately, it doesn't appear to have suffered any ill effects... the cat, on the other hand, was looking very woebegone...

Today she appears to be feeling much better...

Urrghhhh...

Pretty much sums it up, really... (except that I didn't get to hide under the duvet all week!)

Young Catholic Adults' Retreat...

I was asked to advertise the following event for young Catholics, something I am delighted to be able to do, despite no longer qualifying...

Book now for the Young Catholic Adults weekend event at Cold Ash Retreat Centre (a couple of miles from Douai Abbey, which was booked up this year).

 * It will include the following speakers:- Fr Gregory Person OP, Fr Matthew
Goddard FSSP, Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP, and Br. Gabriel Wilson O.S.B.

* There will be a Marian Procession, Rosaries, Sung/High Masses, Confession and socials.

* Gregorian Chant Workshops will also be running, this year led by the Schola
Gregoriana of Cambridge.

How to Book for the retreat

Prices start at £35 per night. For more details/options,  please see:- http://www.youngcatholicadults.co.uk/events.htm for the online booking service, or see the booking form on the events page.

If you have any queries, please ring Margaret on 07515 805 015 or Damian on 07908 105 787.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross...

We were very blessed at Blackfen for the sixth anniversary of Summorum Pontificum. First we had a Missa Cantata organised by the Sodality of the Five Holy Wounds.

This was (as is the custom at Blackfen after a Saturday Missa Cantata) followed by a short service of Benediction. But the icing on the cake was that, for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we were privileged to have the opportunity to venerate Blackfen's Relic of the True Cross...

More photos over at my Flickr page.

The Forest Has Stopped Murmuring...

I'm still trying to catch up with my blogging backlog, but Flickr has decided it's on a go-slow at the moment. However, I did manage to sneak in one photo I took last Sunday.

Fr. Michael Brown, of Forest Murmurs fame, popped down to see Fr. Briggs in Chislehurst, and Fr. Finigan was invited for lunch. As chauffeur, I got to join them for coffee, and, with an eye to my paucity of blog activity and resultant drop in readers, I promptly demanded a blogging scoop - the three priests together in a photo. Trying to decide where a good place for a photo might be, we plumped for a group around Michael Davies' grave. Michael Davies was a stalwart defender of the TLM in the days before Summorum Pontificum...

Fr. Brown has moved parish, and so has stopped blogging on Forest Murmurs. Readers will be delighted to hear that he is continuing to blog at Gateshead Revisited.

Continuing Professional Development...

I have been attending to gaps in my subject knowledge, ably instructed by Blackfen's senior MC.

Yes, I finally got to see my first real cricket match - at the Oval, no less! To my shame, I see that this was actually two whole weeks ago, but the start of term is always hectic and I just haven't had the time or energy for any blogging.

Surrey were playing Derbyshire, and since Surrey hadn't won a single match all season, they were facing relegation - much to the chagrin of the MC, who likes Kent and Surrey to be in different leagues so as to maximise his available venues.

As a member of Surrey's Cricket Club, Jonathan was able to watch from the Pavilion. Our arrival was later than planned due to the closure of the Northern Line tube for the ubiquitous "engineering works" and so we arrived just after the players had returned from lunch. We went to the restaurant for our own lunch (having hot-footed it from Blackfen's Saturday morning devotions), and found ourselves at a table right behind the bowler's arm - a spectacularly good position.

With the MC at my elbow to explain some of the tactics (calling for a new ball after 80 overs... or not), conventions (not moving from your seat until the end of an over) and gestures (lifting one's thigh and slapping it means a leg bye) I found myself completely hooked, and almost forgot to eat... but only almost, because lunch was excellent.

During tea, there was a pitch invasion as spectators went for a walk around... this is, apparently, quite normal.

Jonathan took me on a tour of the Pavilion, and I had a look in the museum and the library. I was told that a cricket pitch is one chain in length... and a chain is 22 yards or 1/80th of a mile - just over 20 metres.

One particular cricket ball in the museum had a very amusing inscription beside it...

"This ball in the Bridegroom's hands obtained 4 wickets in 1 over. May the happiness of Mr. & Mrs. Richardson's married life abound in the same degree."

When the day's play ended, things were looking pretty dicey for Surrey, but they were still in with a chance. On the Sunday morning the situation became very grave indeed. Fortunately, Surrey managed to pull themselves together and ended up winning the County Championship Match by four wickets...

You can see a selection of photos on my Flickr page...

Support For Fr. Blake...

The poster says it all, I think. You can read the background in a previous post I wrote last week.

Twitch of the mantilla to Bones for the poster!

Praying For Peace...

At Benediction this morning in Blackfen, we had a prayer for peace in Syria. At the Missa Cantata which preceded it, Fr. Finigan reminded us that the title of Our Lady Queen of Peace was a very old one, despite only (relatively) recently being added to the Litany of Loreto, and that we should pray to her for a miracle. Given the tangled knot of Middle Eastern politics, it occurred to me that we might also pray to Mary under her unofficial title of Our Lady, Untier of Knots.

There was also a Votive Mass for Peace in the parish this evening. I get the distinct impression that Catholics all over the world have responded to the Holy Father's call for a day of prayer and fasting. I have seen reports that 100,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square for a Peace Vigil.

It doesn't appear to have been deemed important enough to feature on the BBC's website...

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!