"Catholic-In-Name-Only" Education Service?

I am just so taken aback by the news, highlighted by John Smeaton and Damian Thompson, that the soon to be renamed "So-Called-Catholic" Education Service has appointed a Deputy Director with an anti-life, anti-Catholic voting record to make Tony Blair look like a candidate for sainthood.

Oona Stannard apparently welcomed the appointment, according to the Press Release. I'm sure she did... it'll take the heat off her after the shameful debacle over the Children, Schools and Families Bill...

The CES colluded with the Government in drawing up the Bill, and claimed that Catholic schools could continue to teach according to the tenets of the Church, despite statements from the Government stating the exact opposite. The only reason that the final version of the Bill omitted contentious clauses was because of the fuss made by ordinary Catholics - in the blogosphere and by letter - which made the Conservatives realise that there might be votes in opposing them, and the lack of parliamentary time available before the election meant that the clauses were quietly dropped because there wasn't time to get them through if there was any opposition.

Greg Pope's statement that "The CESEW is widely respected for the work that it is doing under Oona Stannard’s leadership and I am very proud to be joining this successful team" reveals that he is just as successful in demonstrating ostrich-like tendencies as the CES (how can anyone say that the CESEW is widely respected and keep a straight face?) which, come to think of it, is most likely the reason why he was appointed in the first place.

This is a truly appalling gaffe, and only serves to confirm that the Bishops of England & Wales need to get rid of the CESEW as soon as humanly possible.

Famous !!! ...Well, Ok, Maybe Not Yet...

I was watching the latest clip on Gloria TV News, and, on a piece about Terry Nelson's excellent blog, I saw a picture which seemed vaguely familiar. I checked back on my own blog, and, sure enough, discovered it was one of my early photoshopping attempts.

Sadly, I didn't get a mention on Gloria TV News...

(The relevant bit is at 1:47)

Keeping Up With The Joneses...

My mobile phone contract generally comes up for renewal a month or two before that of His Hermeneuticalness. I proudly demonstrate my latest phone, he has a look, makes admiring noises, and then promptly goes one better, as newer models have generally come out by then.

This time, I thought I had everything trumped: I had the latest iPhone, with the newest OS, and the largest memory... and all for free. Ok, not actually free, but I hadn't paid any actual cash over and above my usual contract. As far as I'm concerned, that counts as free.

It looked as if I was going to win this one hands down. Fr. Tim looked at the iPhone and decided that he simply had to have one for his next upgrade. And, as far as I could work out, there wasn't anything better on the market, so I really had out-gadgetted Father Gadget (as some of the youngsters in the Parish had taken to calling him.)

Unfortunately, it appears that I may have gloated a little too soon. An engineer from Apple seems to have dropped a prototype in a bar. I find that highly suspicious, as does at least one other source, but it seems that the iPhone 4G is due out in June. Speculation that this was a hoax has been pretty much squashed by the news that, when Apple found out that a technology website, Gizmodo, had paid for the prototype, they wrote and asked for it back.

The thing that has me chewing the table in frustration is that the new iPhone has two cameras (front for chat and back) and that it has a bigger camera lens than the previous iPhone, as well as a flash. I pointed out that the camera was the main thing to let the iPhone down. Alas, I am not due for an upgrade for about 22 months...

Pulling No Punches...

I love the way Gloria TV tells it like it really is...

"In a remarkable display of journalistic ignorance of Catholic teaching..."

Viva Il Papa!

Today was the fifth anniversary of the election of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. That day was certainly a memorable one, and deservedly so. I blogged about how I heard the news, and, if you fancy a trip down memory lane, go and check out the post - there are pictures and two videos to help jog the memory, and I have another clip from the year before!

As a way of marking the anniversary, there was a Solemn High Mass at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane. Fr. Tim Finigan was celebrant, Fr. Patrick Hayward was deacon, and Fr. Charles Briggs was sub-deacon.

The Mass was the one for the Chair of St. Peter, and, in honour of the occasion, Fr. Tim preached a rousing sermon. We finished with a Te Deum and then a few verses of God bless our Pope: I think I shall have to learn that one off by heart, as I never seem to have a copy of the words to hand when I need them!

I had remembered to bring my camera, and so managed to take a few photos - I shall try to make a YouTube video with them when I have some time, but, in the interim, here are the highlights...

As far as forward-facing altars go, this one is pretty good, but I still want to take a large bulldozer to it, as it really spoils the line of sight to the High Altar...

I hope I haven't disappointed the very nice lady sitting behind me - she congratulated me on being a really good photographer (she had seen my photos used on Fr. Tim's blog) - in reality, of course, all I do is point the camera and click. The results are rather snazzy though!!

It's All Greek To Me...

I sometimes regret that I never had the opportunity to study Latin at school. I don't feel my lack of Greek to quite the same extent. I did, however, really enjoy watching this clip from the classic series, Yes Minister, where Bernard gets to hog the limelight for a change...

Mantilla-twitch to Hilary.

An Amusing Observation...

I have noticed that the majority of articles on the ash cloud which has completely closed UK airspace refer to it as the eruption of "Iceland's volcano."

I thought Iceland had quite a few volcanoes, so I was looking for the name of the one that's just gone bang, and found that I had to hunt round for a while... I suppose that reporting on the Eyjafjallajokull glacier is a sub-editor's nightmare...

Matters Liturgical...

Our senior MC is quite strict on correct attire at our Extraordinary Form Masses. One of the servers ruefully pointed out that his socks hadn't quite passed muster, and he was going to have to change them.

"What's wrong with them?" I asked. So he showed me.

It seems that Jonathan isn't a fan of Dangermouse...

Ad Multos Annos...!

Happy Birthday to our wonderful Holy Father.

Testing Times...

Driving tests are very much a rite of passage these days: nearly every 17 year-old I know is having lessons, tests, more lessons...

I passed my test first time, to my complete and utter amazement. A few minutes into my test, a large refuse truck had trundled down the street, and had failed to pull over into a space, which resulted in my having to reverse back down the street and then try and pull into a small parking space... the truck kept coming, and I fluffed the manoeuvre. The truck eventually got past, but the men inside were laughing like hyenas. I turned to the examiner, apologised, and said that I was obviously more nervous than I'd thought. I was so convinced that I'd failed that I just went through the rest of the test with a rather gung-ho attitude.

I pulled out at a few roundabouts where I didn't have right of way, but I could see safe gaps and, not wanting to be a drippy blonde, I just went for it. Technically, I shouldn't have moved out. I didn't care - I'd failed anyway.

My best moment had to be the question session. "What," asked the examiner, "do the amber cats' eyes on a motorway signify?"

This was a tricky one. I couldn't recall having seen any. I decided to guess. "Lanes."

The examiner looked at me. I looked back.

"Errrm... yes, lanes...?" he said, as if waiting for more information.

I realised that I'd gotten the answer partly right. If I said anything else, I would risk getting it very wrong. I decided to play safe.

"Yes. Lanes."

He looked at me. I looked back, and waited.

"Ummm... yes...?" he tried again.

"Yes!" I declared, with a note of finality in my voice. And then I sat there. After about three minutes' silence, he bowed to the inevitable. "Ok," he sighed. "Next question..."

One young friend of mine recounted a very different experience. After two (or maybe three) near-collisions within the first ten minutes of the test, the examiner asked him to pull over to the side. She then informed him that he had failed, got out of the car, and walked back to the test centre, unwilling to risk life and limb any further...

I might ask him to text me whenever he plans to be on the road...

Linky Love...

The incomparable Fr. Z has done it again! He quoted one of my posts in its entirety... and then asked his readers to come and visit me anyway.

That was really sweet.

I had 1,000 visits in 8 hours. Assuming only half his readers bothered to click the link, that's around 6,000 visitors a day. Serious numbers... and deservedly so, because Fr. Z is the one who made that line-by-line fisking famous in the Catholic blogosphere: "My emphasis and comments" is so well-known that he can even use abbreviations!

So, I thought I'd spread the links a little.

My favourite photoshopper is, of course, Vincenzo. I have come to the conclusion that one cannot believe a single photo on his blog, he's far too good... but his posts are excellent. Vincenzo decided to show that I'd been pinged... though I do think that Sean Connery ought to have been gazing at my gorgeous profile picture for it to be taken seriously... (heheheheheh... a girl can dream, can't she?)

Next blog up for a mention is that of Nazareth Priest - he's a regular commenter here, and he's always encouraging. His Community has a pretty snazzy website selling icons as well.

Vexilla Regis is another blog which has come to my attention fairly recently - he doesn't post much, but then, with two other blogs on his family history to maintain, that's hardly surprising. Anita Moore has an excellent blog of her own, as well as contributing to two others. I particularly like her acerbic sense of humour... two snippets:

"How will the liberals cope with being torn between outrage over the end of the Age of Mahony and political correctitude in the matter of L.A.'s first Hispanic archbishop?"

and

"Since nothing he does will please the liberals, and he might as well start antagonizing them sooner rather than later, I hereby proffer my humble suggestion for Archbishop Gomez's first official act as head of the archdiocese: have the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels hauled away as scrap."

Doctor Eric has some gems on his blog... but you have to hunt for them in amongst the homeopathic remedies. Still, that's an education in itself! For those of you who need a bit more liturgical eye candy, I can recommend Fr. Augustine Thompson's blog on the Dominican Liturgy... how about this for a requiem?

An intriguing blog, The Authentic Update, belongs to Chironomo. I wasn't able to access his (??) profile, but he seems to be particularly concerned with good music in the Liturgy... and since he is a fan of the Holy Father, (and has added me to his blogroll) he deserves a mention! And, finally, Faithful Catholic has a student's perspective to share on the liturgy. I rather enjoyed reading his advice to altar servers... so true!

*Sigh*...

I don't know why people do it.

If you feel you have had enough of blogging, that's fine by me. I have no problems with people stopping blogging. After all, I've gotten to feeling like I have reached that stage a few times myself.

However, if you decide to stop blogging, please, please, PLEASE... do NOT delete your whole blog. Just leave it alone. Don't post any more... but please don't delete the whole thing.

For a start, it means that all the links you were given are now dead links.

This might seem a minor point. After all, blogrolls can be edited fairly easily now.

But it isn't just the blogroll. I'm not a big-time blogger by any means, but my daily visitor numbers (at about 350 a day, when I blog regularly... it's dipped a bit lately) aren't bad for a Catholic lay woman who isn't a professional journalist. I appreciate the leg-ups I've had from other more established bloggers, and I try to help by giving links to other bloggers in my turn.

Yes, it's all about linky love...

I have noticed, however, that when a blogger quotes another blogger, if the whole item is included in the first blogger's post, then the comments (and visitors) often stay on the first blogger's blog - especially if people are reading through an aggregator such as Google Reader. So, in order to give other bloggers credit, one will often just give an indication of what is being said, and whether one agrees... and then provide a link so that visitors will be encouraged to go and visit.

The next blogger then gets to see that a particular post has proved popular, or controversial, or whatever... and this gives them ideas about further posts and discussion threads, and so on.

But, if you then go and delete your whole blog, the link is no longer available. Sometimes this is more than a minor inconvenience, and can ruin a whole post.

It also discourages bloggers from making links in posts that are anything more than acknowledgements of where one has seen something... because you can't guarantee it will still be there in a few months' time...

So please... DON'T DELETE BLOGS.

I've been checking my blogrolls for dead and inactive links... if I have culled your blog by accident, feel free to let me know, and I'll reinstate it. Likewise, if I haven't linked to you before, and you would like to be added, leave a comment...

Linky love makes the blogosphere go round, after all...

Blog Discovery...

I wonder how I managed to miss this excellent blog by Clare?

I seem to recall spotting the header photo somewhere a while back, but cannot remember where. However, Clare was unwise enough to comment on my blog, so I followed up the links, and wow, she has a blog and a half!! A pro-life home educator, I wonder how she finds time for it all.

Check out her blog, Battlements of Rubies. It's awesome!

More On Why The Pope Is Under Attack...

I love the start of this video: "The Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ on Blessed Peter for the salvation of souls, and because of its divine origin it is superior to every other religious system in the world. Period... and according to logic, it's either true, or it's not... there is no middle ground."



Aside from that, RealCatholicTV.com are running a week's series on the sex abuse crisis. Here is today's clip...

Feeling Smug...

This is pure geek stuff, so feel free to ignore it.

I am feeling rather pleased with myself.

I had noted that the date on my blog posts had shifted mysteriously so that the decorative arrows were actually merging with it. I even managed to get a screenshot...

It did occur to me that it might just be my computer, but it seemed to be the same when I checked on my iPhone as well...

I had a look at Auntie Joanna's blog (she uses the same template, just in green instead of blue) and saw that she had the same problem.

So I went over to the template. By careful experimentation, I managed to identify the HTML code which was responsible... and I changed it. Hah!

Who's a clever bunny then?

Just In Case The Message Isn't Getting Through...

The attacks in the media on our Holy Father have been vicious, and there is a "feeding frenzy" feel to it all. I have refrained from comment (for the time being) as I wanted to see exactly what was going to be trotted out as the accusations mount up. As I suspected, the accusations (against the Holy Father) are pretty much without foundation.

One of the best articles demonstrating this, by Phil Lawler, can be found HERE.

Twitch of the mantilla to Auntie Joanna, who writes on the attacks on the Holy Father and reproduces the article by Phil Lawler.

It's Been A While...

I have resisted putting up cat pictures for far too long. This one sums up how I've been feeling lately...

Hoisted On My Own Petard...

Every now and then I get provided with a cue for a smart, tongue-in-cheek remark, and I just can't resist...

Today, the tables were turned...

A few of us were having a cup of tea after Mass, and I started to speak: "I was just listening to Jesus of Nazareth on my iPhone..."

To which came the reply, "No, Mac... He's in heaven..."

Requiescat In Pace...

Aine Cooper, the wife of "Sir Dan of the Nesbitry", passed away earlier this week, fortified by the rites of Holy Mother Church.

Her funeral is on Thursday, 15th April, 2010, at the John Fisher School Chapel, Purley, at 12:15pm. Dan requested no flowers, but indicated that donations in memoriam can be sent to the Sisters of the Gospel of Life at 106 Dixon Avenue, Glasgow, G42 8EL or via their PayPal account.

Aine was a wonderful person, with a great sense of humour, a caring and conscientious nurse, and a staunch upholder of the pro-life cause. She will be sorely missed by all who had the privilege to know her.

Pray for the repose of her soul, and for her husband, Dan.

A Call For Caution...

Ok, having endured the intense coverage of the Healthcare stuff from all the US bloggers on my blogroll, now it's time for me and all the other UK blogs to start banging on about the upcoming British election.

*Ahem*

Actually, I find the whole topic intensely tedious, and won't be posting a blow-by-blow analysis of voting trends, marginal whatsits, safe swings (sorry, seats!) yada yada...

I will, however, vote. As yet, I don't know for whom. I need to ask questions.

I have heard people criticise "single issue" voters. Government is too important, they claim, to vote on a single issue.

I beg to differ.

As far as I am concerned, there is only one issue. Is the candidate pro-life or pro-death?

Because, you see, that pretty much covers everything. I just want to know: will the vulnerable be protected? That includes the unborn, the disabled, the mentally incapacitated, the terminally ill, the elderly... and, ultimately, me. Because one day, I'm likely to be taking up that "valuable hospital bed" or will be unable to say that I don't want to be starved to death... or might be so depressed that I agree I shouldn't be a burden on society, and would be better off dead...

I also don't think Britain has anything to be proud of when politicians claim that our laws mean we are at the forefront of research into human-animal hybrids and embryonic stem cells. Killing babies is nothing to be proud of.

So, as I said, only one issue matters.

Some politicians have realised this, and are being very careful in how they present anti-life policies to prospective voters.

John Smeaton's blog gives some cautionary advice on the Conservative Party's latest pronouncements... as well as telling a few home truths about the other parties' positions. Check it out.