Wow !

The Pontifical High Mass at Westminster Cathedral was everything I hoped for, and more. It was incredibly moving to see the Cathedral completely packed out with people. Once again, I noticed that Communion was a very reverent affair, without the chatter which often accompanies large Masses (usually Novus Ordo).

I took a few photos with Fr. Tim's large camera (which was rather unwieldy, so they might be a bit blurred) and I took a few photos on my own phone camera. Not sure when I'll get access to the photos from Fr. Tim... it depends on how busy he is!

I was delighted to meet up with some fellow bloggers, including a few I haven't met before, especially Mark, Mhari and the Hound of Heaven. The Hound confessed that Badcat is probably going to provide much more in the way of blog material than the Hound himself, so I shall keep an eye out for relevant posts. I also got to meet Mike, who is a recent addition to my friends on Facebook. The internet is just so much fun!!!

It's now way past my official bedtime, so I shall continue tomorrow. In the meantime, I will just direct you to Fr. Tim's blog, where he has posted a comment by Justin about the Mass which says all that needs to be said, only much better than I ever could.

The Excitement Is Building...

Not since the release of Summorum Pontificum has there been such a sense of anticipation and excitement among British Bloggers. In fact, since the release of the Motu Proprio, a whole new set of people have been introduced to the beauty and reverence of the traditional Latin Mass, and so the excitement caused by this imminent event is possibly even greater...

The "event" is, of course, the Pontifical High Mass at Westminster Cathedral, with Cardinal Hoyos as the celebrant. Someone said that it's the first such event since the late 1960s. I know of people who will be making the effort to get to London for the Mass from all over the country. Hopefully, a good attendance will demonstrate to the powers-that-be that devotees of the TLM are not a dying breed, desperately clinging to the past and trying to drag the Church backwards, but that there is mainstream support, especially from young people, and they just want to be allowed to worship God in the same way that Catholics have done for centuries.

I believe that Blackfen will have a respectable showing: Fr. Tim is second assistant Deacon at the throne (or some such thing), two of our senior altar servers have specific roles (one is mitre bearer) and at least two of the younger servers are also involved somehow (I think!) I shall be entrusted with Fr. Tim's big camera, and I suspect that my life will be not worth living if I don't manage to get a few good shots.

If anyone wants to meet up afterwards, quite a few of us are planning to go to the Buckingham Arms in Petty France (not too far from the Cathedral, near St. James' Park tube station) for a drink or two.

(BTW, I know that the photo is actually from Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane... I didn't have a nice photo of the TLM at Westminster Cathedral!)

Cars...

This time last year, some workmen managed to smash my driver's-side car window. The window mechanism gave up the ghost through shock.

This afternoon, I was driving down the A2 when I decided that I needed to let a little of the day's accumulated heat escape from my car. I didn't want to have my hair flying over my face, so, using the control on my door, I opened the passenger-side window. Once the heat had escaped, I tried to close the window.

Nothing happened.

It seems that the window mechanism in the passenger door has now died on me.

Fortunately, having been through the replacement of one mechanism, I thought that I was pretty much prepared for this one. I drove straight to the franchise dealer, and asked to buy a window mechanism.

Unfortunately, they didn't have one in stock. They could get one for Thursday.

Fortunately, the garage mechanics thought they could push the window up into place and wedge it shut until the mechanism arrived.

Unfortunately, this didn't work... and they told me that the door would have to be taken off in order to move the glass into place... and this would take more than an hour... and then they'd have to do exactly the same thing on Thursday... and, of course, they'd need to charge me twice...

I'd watched the last mechanism being replaced. It didn't take an hour. More like twenty minutes, and that included hoovering up broken glass.

I rang Autoglass, who informed me that, unless the window was smashed, they couldn't help. The thought flitted through my mind: "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned, I chucked a brick through my car window..." but it was only a brief consideration. The chap then added that, although a callout wasn't possible, I might have more luck if I popped in to one of their centres.

I rang my local one. The chap who answered was very helpful, and noted that there would be a mechanic around some time after 10pm tonight, though there wasn't anyone available before then. But he was sure that he'd be able to manoeuvre the window back into place temporarily for me, and he wouldn't charge me an arm and a leg. "Those dealership guys," he said, "they'd like to charge you for breathing the oxygen in their showrooms!"

The car window has now been levered up into place, and wedged in securely (I hope!) At least I'll be able to park in the school car-park without worrying about what will get pushed in through an open window...

More Plugs...

An unsolicited plug, this time... at least, the blog author didn't contact me, but a friend who works tirelessly for the pro-life movement alerted me to the start-up of this new blog.

Pat Buckley is the director of European Life Network. He's only been blogging since June 4th. I suspect that the European Union is an even more dispiriting place in which to attempt to promote pro-life issues than the UK, so pop on over and boost his visitor stats (unfortunately it doesn't appear to be possible to leave comments... yet!)

Plugging Away...

The Hound of Heaven has commented and begged me to give him a plug, if I liked what I read on his new blog.

As a further inducement, the Hound informed me that he has a cat called Oliver, known locally as Badcat. This appeal to my fondness for all things feline is, in my opinion, totally shameless... and totally unconvincing when, given that his pet dog got a whole post to himself (along with a mention in the profile), Badcat does not feature once on the blog... not even in passing.

This discrimination must cease forthwith, and Badcat should be accorded the lofty status which (as a feline) is nothing more than his due.

UPDATE: Oliver's Exploits have indeed made it onto the Hound's blog. He sounds like a fascinating character, and deserves to be better known. His choosing to sleep on top of one of your elderly neighbours just demonstrates what a very affectionate creature he is...

A Quick Plug...

I've been asked to put up the following plug for St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association.

St. Conleth’s Catholic Heritage Association has been working for the provision of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin since 1995. We’d be very glad if you could (a) post about the new blog and (b) link to it.

In particular, we’d be glad if you could bring to the attention of your readers the news that there will be a Walking Pilgrimage for Vocations on Saturday, 12th July, 2008, commencing at 11 a.m. in St. Brigid’s Church, Milltown, County Kildare, Ireland, with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Missal of Blessed John XXIII) for which the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin has granted, under the usual conditions, the Plenary Indulgence for the Pauline Holy Year.

"Open Day" With A Twist...

I have a ghoulish sense of humour. The mental images conjured up when I saw the poster advertising our local cemetery "Open Day" made me chuckle. Apocalyptic visions interspersed with comparisons of coffin styles sprang to mind. Then I read the poster more carefully, and discovered that it was actually the crematorium which was having the Open Day, not the cemetery...

On being told that everything was open for viewing, I decided that this was just too good an opportunity to miss. I have always loved murder mysteries, and the best way to dispose of the evidence has got to be cremation. None of this "let's exhume the body and get the evidence several years after the event" mucking around.

I knew there was to be a service blessing some new memorial niches, and a Remembrance Service, but I was really keen to see the hardware. I rather sheepishly asked someone about the advertised guided tour (I didn't want to appear ghoulish!) and he immediately offered to escort me round. In fact, so immediate was the response, that I started to wonder if I might actually end up as part of the exhibition: "Please just walk in, Madam... don't panic, I'll just shut the door behind you so you can get a feel for the place, mwah ha ha..." and now, ladies and gents, here's one we prepared earlier...

Anyway, the chap brought me round through a chapel and into the room with all the ovens. He told me a bit about how it all worked, and then took me through to the automated control room. There were already several examples which had indeed been "prepared earlier" - in two categories: those who were to be placed carefully in the memorial garden under a rosebush or something (the location was carefully documented) and those referred to as the "takeaways."

Fast food will never seem the same again.

At this point another guide showed up, and took me in hand. Apparently the first guide shouldn't have been showing people round the ovens at all, he should have been taking photographs in the gardens... somewhat crestfallen, he reluctantly relinquished custody to the official guide. I think he'd been enjoying himself...

I was taken back to the ovens, and lots more information was given. I now know that the ovens operate at 800°C... and that the gases are not released immediately, but are held for 2.5 seconds to allow the dioxins to react fully (or something like that) ... I even got shown the cremulator, which basically ensures that all the bones are ground to a fine dust, and various metal bits can be sieved out...

I did begin to wonder whether maybe I was being mistaken for someone else, as several times I was reassured that environmental pollution standards were being adhered to... and that all the certification which came with each body had to match up, and that the documents for each person were moved with the body at each step (outside the ovens, obviously!) And then I realised that it was probably even more basic than that: I suspect that the people at the crematorium don't generally get to talk to others about their work. I guess that the people they usually see are generally rather upset, and not terribly interested in the mechanics of how darling aunt Mabel is being disposed of.

It did occur to me that this would make a brilliant Science trip for school...

The afternoon finished up with a Remembrance Service. This turned out to be hugely entertaining. The organist appeared to be enjoying the opportunity to interact with his audience, and started us off before the service with requests, which he played very well (without sheet music, as far as I could see) on the organ (which didn't do him justice, in my humble opinion... though a proper musician might correct me on that.) I requested (and got) Bach's Ave Maria, someone else asked for Handel's Largo, another person asked for Greensleeves. With each piece of music, the organist told us whether it was a popular one for funerals, who the composer was, or some little snippet of information.

The service proper was conducted by an Anglican priest, a Catholic priest (Fr. Tim) and a humanist "minister." The humanist refused to sit out at the front with the two priests, on the chair provided for him. There were three hymns and some readings from the Bible, and some prayers... the humanist seemed to be rather out on a limb, and his choice of reading (from The Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam) was pretty bizarre... I mean, it probably would have made total sense at a humanist cremation (though a bit insensitive - the upshot of the piece was that we're here for a time, and then it's curtains, and that's your lot, matey!) but I doubt that you'd get many humanists at a service where the aim was to pray for the deceased! So the people present didn't seem to know what to make of his reading at all... and I was trying very hard not to laugh...

All in all, a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Tiny Feet Friends

The wonderful Sisters of the Gospel of Life have come up with a new initiative. I assume that it's called "Tiny Feet" because of the pro-life symbol worn by many, showing a baby's feet, perfectly formed, at ten weeks' gestation (I could be wrong here!)

The Tiny Feet Friends Project Pack has been developed with primary school children in mind. I can't do better than quote from their own blog:

The project involves the spiritual adoption of an expectant family, praying to Jesus that the family will be happy and loving, to Our Blessed Mother that the mother and child will be kept from all harm and to St Joseph that the baby’s father may have the strength and wisdom to be a good dad.

Each week the child will follow the development of the baby, relating it to the experiences of their own family and keeping a record of all that they learn. Each week as they pray and learn, they’ll raise money in different ways to support the work of the Initiative.

The pack contains all the resources, information and ideas needed to follow a spiritually adopted child from conception to birth. We’re assuming a fairly significant degree of adult support each week, and each parent or guardian is of course free to decide how much their child is ready to know and the level of detail they want to go into. If you think that this is something your family, or a family you know, might be interested in getting involved in, you can phone us on 0141 433 2680 or email us at gospeloflifesisters(at)googlemail(dot)com.

Petition For The Latin Mass

Someone has started a petition asking the Bishops of England and Wales to provide more Sunday Masses in the Extraordinary Form.

I think that the idea is to present the petition to Cardinal Hoyos when he visits Westminster Cathedral next weekend.

You can sign the petition by following THIS LINK. Don't be fooled by the request for a donation from iPetitions... you can actually skip that bit at the end, your signature will still appear (mine did, and I didn't give any payment details.)

Twitch of the mantilla to Damian Thompson.

Receiving Communion Reverently...

One of the major problems at any Mass attended by large numbers of people seems to be how to give Holy Communion to the faithful. I've noticed this at places like Aylesford, but most of all it is something of a problem at Lourdes, particularly at the International Mass. Watching people converge on the nearest priest from all directions makes me intensely uncomfortable. On one occasion, I saw a priest spin round on the spot, giving Communion practically in a circle round himself. Sometimes the line for Communion resembles a rugby scrum more than people going up to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

I had assumed that this was due to the large numbers, and that the actual queues for Communion would never be reverent, no matter how reverent the individuals might wish to be.

This video, taken at Lourdes by Fr. Tim, proves otherwise...

Another few points to note: young people (lots of them) totally engaged by the liturgy. No liturgical dance. No clowns. No guitars. Lots of Latin. And plainchant. And polyphony.

(And no serviettes, napkins or stealth priestesses, despite the large number of women and girls present in the congregation!)

Pastoral Sensitivity...(Or Lack Of It)

I've been to St. Etheldreda's, Ely Place, only a few times, and only once for Mass, but the news reported by Damian Thompson made me very sad indeed.

St. Etheldreda's has quite a history. Built around 1250, it is the oldest Catholic church in England and one of only two remaining buildings in London from the reign of Edward I.

I attended one of the last Masses celebrated by the parish priest just before he retired. It seems that the new parish priest has decided to make some pretty drastic changes, and has gone about them with all the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop.

The biggest change is that he no longer wants to celebrate Mass ad orientem, but wishes to face "the people." Given the layout of the (very small) sanctuary, I dread to think what wreckovations will have to follow in order to get the altar moved. Anyway, the new parish priest has upset more than a few people after just one Sunday Mass in the parish.

Twitch of the mantilla to Fr. Z who spotted this one first!

Caption Competition...?

"This woman tried to have me WHAT...?"

Ok, perhaps that wasn't in the best possible taste. But the fact remains that, because of medical advice, this mother was prepared to have an abortion.

Not only did the abortion not work, but the serious life-threatening kidney condition turned out to be somewhat less serious than originally thought.

Medical science got that pretty wrong.

Regular followers of abortion statistics will not be surprised to learn that the mother was taking the contraceptive Pill when she conceived.

One wonders what else medical science manages to get wrong... how about, say, the amount of pain a baby can feel during an abortion...

You can read the whole story HERE.

Proof...

...Just in case some of you aren't completely convinced that pilgrimages aren't all prayer and hard work...

We book half-board at the hotel, as this allows a space in the afternoon where it is possible to relax in the Domaine (especially as most of the other pilgrims have to dash back to their hotels for lunch) or take time exploring the town, or it allows one to have just a light sandwich, if that is all one fancies (breakfast, and two three-course meals every day can prove hard work!)

I'm very, very fussy. I hate vegetables, and I'm not really into fish. The hotel where we stay puts up their proposed menu for dinner each day, and occasionally, I feel that a little gastronomic exploration at lunchtime might be in order...

One such exploration demonstrated that a mushroom omelette starter can be something rather special:

and resulted in me getting to indulge my passion for roast duck breast:

After a delicious meal, I thought that a little peach ice-cream would go down a treat... alas, to my disappointment, it turned out to be a peach with ice-cream... but I accepted the penance joyfully!

Lourdes Round-Up...

I've finally managed to sort through my photos of Lourdes. I found I had taken far fewer than I had thought... and then realised that Fr. Tim had given me his camera on several occasions (he knows how much I hate being photographed myself.) One or two of the photos have already made an appearance on his blog. I shall have to see if I can get copies of the others.

Here you can see most of the children with the two chaplains (Fr. Tim Finigan and Fr. Charles Briggs - the latest non-blogging priest to keep cropping up on the Catholic Blogosphere!) outside the old Presbytery where Dean Peyramale lived. The pilgrimage was really great; having eleven children along made it that little bit more special - they really seemed to enjoy themselves. I guess that a pilgrimage to Lourdes isn't the most obvious place to take young children, but they can get a lot out of the experience, and they then know first-hand what a pilgrimage actually is... so many times, when I was teaching RE, I heard children dismiss the idea of going on pilgrimage because it would be "just praying all the time!"

Wednesday morning is the International Mass in the Underground Basilica. I already knew, from previous visits, that, in order to secure a seat, one had to turn up early... however, this year was the first time that I found all the seats completely taken a whole hour before Mass started...

The Basilica comfortably seats 10,000. I was told that 40,000 attended this Mass. I didn't - after having come down early, I took one look at the crowds already there, and another at the crowds still pouring in, and, after taking this photo, I turned tail and fled!

The sheer number of people was quite a shock. We went on our "Jubilee Way" walk on the Wednesday afternoon, and found that rather a lot of other people had the same idea... The photo on the left shows the street outside the Cachot, the condemned prison where the Soubirous family were living at the time of the Apparitions.

By the time we battled through and collected our stickers we were feeling a little shaken... when we arrived at the Parish Church where Bernadette was baptised, we realised that the children would be in serious danger of getting squashed... and I had no intention of trying to get up the front steps without being able to use a handrail. We said our prayers outside the church, decided to give the Hospital Chapel a complete miss, and headed back to the Domaine.

The number of pilgrims present made finding a place for quiet prayer very difficult. The area across the river from the Grotto was quite a good spot, as was the walkway between the river and the Reconciliation Chapel. I have to say that the huge crowds really did seem to change the atmosphere of Lourdes: people were less tolerant and more impatient than usual, though the atmosphere was still much better than you'd find elsewhere with these numbers.

Just to give you an idea of the difference: the first two photos are from this year's pilgrimage - taken from outside the Chapel St. Michel, the third one is taken from about the same place, though last year...




Don't misunderstand me - Lourdes was still an amazing place to be. And the majority of people were fabulous. It's just that the sheer numbers made things a bit more tricky than usual.

A Little Light Entertainment...

A friend sent me this by email, and it made me chuckle... (in between coughing-fits) so I thought I'd share...

To my darling husband,

Before you return from your business trip I just want to let you know about the small accident I had with the pick up truck when I turned into the driveway. Fortunately not too bad and I really didn't get hurt, so please don't worry too much about me.

I was coming home from Wal-Mart, and when I turned into the driveway I accidentally pushed down on the accelerator instead of the brake.

The garage door is slightly bent but the pick up fortunately came to a halt when it bumped into your car.

I am really sorry, but I know with your kind-hearted personality you will forgive me.

You know how much I love you and care for you, my sweetheart.
I am enclosing a picture for you.

Your loving wife.
XXX

P.S. Your girlfriend called.

Under The Weather...

... I think I need one of those contraptions. I felt a bit grotty yesterday, hence the lack of blogging. I'm feeling even grottier today, but am also feeling neglected and unloved because I haven't had any comments on my blog... hence my playing of the sympathy card!

Alas, I am well enough to go to work...

The "Down" Side Of Travel

I'm delighted to see that my use of Blogger's scheduling service seems to have worked... I've got a post up for each day. Of course, these posts were explaining what I'd planned to do each day... the reality proved a little different in some cases.

I am now absolutely shattered. I have checked my emails and even gone as far as answering a few. I've updated my situation on the Ikariam game... no mean feat when one has three colonies to govern! I've checked a few friend requests and posts on Facebook. And I've moderated my blog comments.

I ought to go through my favourite blogs and find out what I've missed over the past six days... but I'm just too tired. In addition, I have to finish praying my Office, I need to unpack, and I need to sort out what I'm teaching tomorrow morning... and to whom. Sylvester is all over me like a rash... and I feel I need to make a little bit of a fuss of him (especially as I shall be out at work all day tomorrow.)

Finally, I need to sleep. I was up at 2am (Lourdes time - it would have been 1am in the UK) after finally getting to sleep at about midnight. The coach left for Toulouse at 3am. I think I dozed off for half an hour. The plane left for Gatwick at 6:45am... I dozed off for another half hour. It is now 7:30pm, London time. This means it is 8:30pm in Lourdes. I suspect I "fell asleep" for a couple of minutes during lunch, but I think I got away with it... (uh-oh!) And now I'm really, really tired...

I guess I'll leave the blogging until tomorrow!

The Party's Over...

At the end of a wonderful week, it is sadly time to return home. The one blip on my perfect pilgrimage is the fact that all the lunchtime flights were taken by the time I booked the tickets for our group, and so our return flight from Toulouse is at 6:45am. No, that was not a typo. Ante meridian...

...even more horrendous is the fact that we have to be at the airport two hours beforehand. Which means that we leave Lourdes at the rather unfortunate time of 3am.

So, if there are no delays, we should be back in Blackfen at about 9:30am... just in time for Sunday Mass, in fact, which should aggravate the usual Sunday gridlock in Blackfen in a most gratifying manner.

One of my friends pointed out that I would at least be able to catch up on sleep on Sunday. Alas, I think that my Parish Priest has arranged a rather busy day for me (probably as revenge!)

Feast of the Visitation

Another wonderful day ahead of us in Lourdes. This will be the first time I've been here for a Saturday, so it will be interesting to see if there is any difference in the way the Domaine "feels."

We're starting with Mass in the Grotto itself at 8:30am. There will be a video on the life of St. Bernadette shown at the Forum Information at 9:30am, and then, in recognition of the fact that we have to leave Lourdes very early on Sunday, there is pretty much a free day, until the first Sunday Mass at 4pm, which we're celebrating in the Chapelle Saint Michel again. Then more free time until dinner and the torchlight procession.

I'm not entirely sure that it will be worth going to bed afterwards...

Feast of the Sacred Heart

A pretty gentle day ahead of us. We will start off with Mass in the Chapelle Saint Michel, which is to the right of the Crypt Chapel. It's the twin chapel to that of St. Gabriel, but the road runs right past that one, which means that it is very noisy, and tourists and pilgrims are more likely to try to wander in for a look round... which isn't really ideal, as the door is right next to the altar!

The Chapelle Saint Michel is on the side above the Grotto and the Gave river, and there is a gate which is often locked, so people don't often try to go through. I took this photo last year, from just outside the chapel door, looking down. The group of people at the bottom of the picture are attending Mass at the Grotto, and further back you can see the candle stands and the baths.

Then, after Mass, we'll have our official group photo taken in front of the Rosary Basilica.

There's free time until the Stations of the Cross at 4pm. We'll have two groups - the more agile pilgrims will make the traditional stations on the Espélugues Hill. They are the most beautiful stations, but the hill is very steep, and the pathway rather treacherous underfoot, especially if there has been any rain. It's deceptively easy on the way up, though steep. But, the last time I went, I had to hold on to a friend's arm on the way down at the end, and I realised that it really wasn't a good idea to repeat the experience.

The second group will make the Stations over on the other side of the Gave. These stations have been updated in time for the Jubilee celebrations, and I'm very keen to try and get a few photos.

Once again, we'll finish the day with the torchlight procession at 9pm.