More Trad Stuff...

We had the Greater Litanies today, with a procession around the car park, followed by Mass for the Rogation Day. Really awesome stuff. Next year, we'll have a procession going around the block...

Nothing much more to say, really. I shall let the photos speak for themselves! Well, ok, maybe just a little background...

We started off the Litanies in the church...

... And then processed outside, around the car park a few times...

... before making our way back into the church.

Mass was pretty much as normal: here we have the incensing of the priest after the Gospel...

And then, after Mass, we had a short service of Benediction...

I apologise if the photos aren't very clear: a combination of dazzling sunlight and clouds of incense. Stunning!

(Apologies if I'm inciting any of my blog readers to envy!!)

I've Got My Flat Back...

The electrician has finally finished. Apparently, none of the wiring in the flat was earthed. That has now been put right, so I shouldn't get electrocuted by my microwave oven. The fuse box has been replaced, and I have several more double sockets (with on/off switches) where I previously only had single ones, which means I can ditch a few extension leads.

The down-side is that the holes in the plaster need filling and then it needs to be painted over, and the kitchen is a real mess. My landlord said that he'll get it sorted... I just hope that he can do it without any of the major mishaps recounted in the Flanders & Swann song... and preferably when I'm away!

One Of Those Blonde Moments...

I got home a little late after the St. George's Night celebrations, and, instead of going straight to bed, I thought I would try and update my calendar in Outlook. I normally don't use Outlook, as I prefer Calendarscope for the PC and its mobile device companion, HandySync. I had been told, however, that Google Calendar could synchronise with Outlook, but not with Calendarscope, and I was keen to give it a go.

Unfortunately, somehow or other, I managed to delete all the calendar information from my mobile. I wasn't too worried, because I knew that I still had the information on Calendarscope; so I immediately went and synchronised the mobile and the PC...

... only to watch, aghast, as all the data disappeared from my PC as well... the wretched machines had synchronised the wrong way around!

I also discovered that it had been quite a while since I had backed up my files (I'd gone through a spate of backing up each week, but had gotten lazy, as I had a backup on the mobile!)

So, I've been feeling twitchy all day, desperately trying to remember all my meetings, holiday dates (vitally important) and other important events. Sometimes I wonder if I should just go back to paper and pens!

Checking Out SiteMeter...

... as one does if one is feeling unloved and insecure (well, no-one nominated me for the 2009 Canonball Awards), I discovered this little gem.

Mary Liz, the Sober Sophomore, is an alumna of that troubled institution, Notre Dame. She's a "pregnancy resource counsellor" (which sounds terrible) but a look at her posts and blogrolls indicate that she's one of the good guys...

Pop on over and say hello!

Sponsorship Needed...

I read this on Fr. Tim's blog yesterday, and was considering a post on it; and at lunchtime I received an email from Conor himself, asking if I could put the information up on my blog, so here goes...

Conor is planning to walk 75 miles in two days on the pilgrimage to Chartres, and any money raised through sponsorship will go to the Good Counsel Network. Conor, who is 21, promises that he will pray for all his sponsors.

I've blogged about the Good Counsel Network before: they do work which is similar to that of the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative in Scotland, namely helping women who have decided to have an abortion. Instead of abortion the Good Counsel Network offers counselling, advice and support (which includes housing, childcare, regular ongoing financial support, baby goods such as clothes, food, baby milk, prams, toys etc, and in getting their life back on track) in order to help to save the life of their unborn baby.

If you could see your way to sponsoring Conor, you can do so via this link.

Happy St. George's Day...

I have to confess to getting a little tired of hearing people assure me that St. George didn't actually exist. These are, of course, the same people who assure me that St. Peter wasn't actually buried under St. Peter's Basilica in Rome*...

Yes, there are no such things as dragons. Yes, the pictures usually show St. George slaying a dragon and/or rescuing a damsel in distress. No, that doesn't mean St. George doesn't exist. I guess "allegory" isn't in the National Curriculum...

Here's what it says in my St. Andrew's Missal:

St. George, born of an illustrious family in Cappadocia, was promoted by Diocletian to the first ranks in the army. When the Emperor had published at Nicomedia his first edict against the Christians, St. George reproached him for his cruelty. Immediately cast into prison, he was subjected to such atrocious torments that the Eastern Church calls him the Great Martyr. He was beheaded in 303...

This patron of armies is venerated by Greeks and Latins... England chose him for her patron in the XIIIth century.

We have Mass in his honour in the usus antiquior later this evening, followed by burgers, hot dogs and other refreshments... 

* Yes, St. Peter was buried under the Basilica. Tours of the Vatican Necropolis (the Scavi) can be arranged through the Ufficio Scavi, but if you're not likely to be going to Rome any time soon, you can read about the Necropolis and also follow links to two complete books (by John E. Walsh and by Margherita Guarducci) about the discovery of St. Peter's bones.

An Ecumenical Post... (Not)

One day, while he was at the track playing the ponies and all but losing his shirt, Mitch noticed a Catholic priest who stepped out onto the track and blessed the forehead of one of the horses lining up for the 4th race. Lo and behold, that horse, despite being a very long shot, won the race.

Before the next race, while the horses were lining up, Mitch watched with interest as the old priest stepped onto the track. Sure enough, as the horses came to the starting gate, the priest made a blessing on the forehead of one of them.

Mitch made a beeline for a betting window and placed a small bet on the horse. Again, even though it was another long shot, the horse that the priest had blessed won the race.

Mitch collected his winnings, and anxiously waited to see which horse the priest would bless for the next race. Mitch bet big on it, and it won. 

Mitch was elated. As the races continued the priest kept blessing long shot horses, and each one came in first. By the last race, Mitch knew his wildest dreams were going to come true. He made a quick dash to the ATM, withdrew all his savings, and awaited the priest's blessing that would tell him which horse to bet on.

The priest stepped onto the track for the last race and blessed the forehead of an old nag that was the longest shot of the day. Mitch also observed the priest blessing the eyes, ears, and hooves of the old nag. Mitch knew he had a winner and bet every cent he owned on the old nag. 

He then watched dumbfounded as the old nag came in last. Mitch, in a state of shock, made his way down to the track area where the priest was standing.

Confronting the old priest, Mitch exclaimed, "Father! What happened? All day long you blessed horses and they all won. Then in the last race, the horse you blessed lost by a Kentucky mile. Now, thanks to you, I've lost every cent of my savings!"

The priest nodded wisely and with sympathy. "Son", he said, "that's the problem with you Protestants: you can't tell the difference between a simple blessing and the Last Rites".

Details For The Tyburn Pilgrimage...

I have posted this stuff before, in one form or another, as the Tyburn Pilgrimage run by the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom follows the same route every year, and I was wary of re-hashing the same old stuff. However, given that it's likely to be the last Tyburn Walk, and it's the centenary, I have received a couple of comments asking for more details, so, here goes...

The walk starts off at 2:30pm from the churchyard of St. Sepulchre's, which is sort of diagonally opposite the Old Bailey. You can't miss the churchyard: it's raised up and surrounded by railings. We start here because it's opposite the site of Newgate Prison (where most of the Tyburn martyrs were held before being dragged to the gallows) and there is a bell which was rung at midnight when prisoners were to be taken out from Newgate for execution.

From St. Sepulchre's, it's a short walk down Snow Street, Farringdon Street and then Charterhouse Street, to St. Etheldreda's, Ely Place. We stop inside the church and recite two decades of the Rosary.

From St. Etheldreda's, we go down High Holborn for a bit, and then scoot down a side-road (possibly Gate Street) to walk past the Ship Tavern, which is where Catholics used to hold clandestine meetings, and then go on to the church of St. Cecilia & St. Anselm, Kingsway.

In St. Cecilia & St. Anselm's, which used to be the chapel of the Sardinian Embassy, we recite a decade of the Rosary. Like many Catholic churches in Central London, unless you know it's there, it's very easy to miss. I have had to tell taxi drivers exactly where it is on several occasions!

Now, the next bit of the walk is a little difficult for me to remember. For the past few years I have had some problem or other with my ankle and my knee (on two different legs, which makes it tricky) and so I have cheated by taking a taxi. And, when I did do the whole walk, I rarely bothered to notice which streets I was walking down: I just followed everyone else...

However, I think the route is basically back up Kingsway (right from the church), then left down High Holborn, and down to St. Giles High Street, with a brief stop at St-Giles-in-the-Fields, as this is the churchyard of what used to be the parish church of Tyburn. Many of the martyrs of the "Popish Plot" were buried here, and so the De Profundis is said for all those who died at Tyburn.

From there it is a very brief walk down a side road (possibly Denmark Place) to Charing Cross Road, then crossing over quickly to walk down Sutton Row to Soho Square and St. Patrick's. Inside St. Patrick's, we recite the last two decades of the Rosary, venerate the relics of St. Cuthbert Mayne and St. Oliver Plunkett, and sing Hail Queen of Heaven.

The walk then goes down Soho Street to Oxford Street, from there turning left, to walk all the way down past Oxford Circus, Bond Street, Marble Arch; crossing the Edgware Road brings you to the Bayswater Road, where the Tyburn Convent is located. Personally, I think that this is the most unpleasant part of the Walk, as the number of shoppers now out on Sunday makes it incredibly crowded.

Inside the convent chapel we recite the Litany of the London martyrs, sing Faith of Our Fathers, and receive Benediction. This bit starts somewhere between 5:30pm and 6pm, depending on how fast we have managed to walk...

I hope that helps. Fr. Tim did a very informative post a few years ago. I got most of the photos from Google Maps (the new street views are great fun... unfortunately, they weren't interested in getting the best shots of buildings, so traffic sometimes interferes, and they didn't go down every single road...)

Holy Card Blog

I have become more and more fond of prayer cards... the old-fashioned ones, with prayers actually on the front or back, or some important message, rather than the more modern reprints of old cards which are nothing more than pictures.

Don't get me wrong, I like pictures of the saints and Our Lady too, but I like them better if they have a prayer or message.

So I was delighted to find this site: so many of the cards are beautiful, the sort of thing one would want to keep carefully in a breviary or missal.

Twitch of the mantilla to His Hermeneuticalness.

Why Do I Love Thee, Blogs? Let Me Count The Ways...

(Serious apologies to aficionados of Elizabeth Barrett Browning!)

Fr. Tim suggested that Catholic bloggers demonstrate the good that Catholic blogs have done, and the reason why most orthodox Catholic bloggers object to The Tablet being allowed to continue to call itself a Catholic publication. So, for what it's worth, here is my contribution...

I love blogs. I especially love Catholic blogs. And I think that they are important - essential, even - in helping to spread the Faith.

The main reason I love blogs is the ability they give the ordinary Catholic to find out more about the history and practice of the Faith. 

For example, yesterday, in a light-hearted post, I quoted the Introit from the day's Mass, along with the translation given in my Missal. I happened to mention that I didn't really understand what was meant by the phrase "rational milk"; within an hour of posting, I received a comment from another blogger informing me that it was referring to knowledge of the Faith.

I have also recently started to pray the Office using the Monastic Diurnal: the book itself is not particularly clear (the Hours are all over the place, for example) and there is no separate section containing the rubrics, but I found a blog which is devoted to explaining the Ordo for the week and giving page numbers.

It is true that there is some information "out there" which is either misleading or inaccurate, but this is not much of a problem: one gradually learns that some blogs are more authoritative than others (and here the blogs by priests really are invaluable) but, because blogs are interactive (well, most of them are) any mistakes are quickly picked up and comments come flying in. There is a genuine concern among Catholic bloggers that the true Faith should be passed on.

The speed with which information gets out onto the blogs is amazing. Every pronouncement or document seems to find its way onto a blog somewhere in the world almost as soon as it is made public. Look at the number of different articles published just one day after Summorum Pontificum was released!

Catholic blogs are vital in countermanding the sneering attitude towards Catholicism perpetuated by the mainstream media, particularly in the West. It's easy to feel as if you are a freak, or in a freakish minority, because you believe what the Church teaches. You may not be as faithful as you'd like in following those teachings, but you know the teaching is there and it is true. Occasionally, when on a pilgrimage to a place like Lourdes, you get to see thousands of other Catholics who are facing the same struggles... but this is only an occasional thing. However, blogs allow you to connect with Catholics who are striving to be faithful all over the world. This really brings home the idea that the Church is Catholic, universal.

The biggest example of how blogs have helped to break the monopoly of the mainstream media is in the case of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. His words have been shamefully misrepresented in the press. The Catholic blogs have been instrumental in alerting many of the faithful to this manipulation. Bloggers have sent round several petitions of support (eg. HERE and HERE), and have protested about offensive material, such as the BBC cartoon PopeTown. 

Finally, here are a couple of examples of why The Tablet is so objectionable. 

In article 10689 (that's from November 2007), a former advisor to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor criticised the Holy Father and the Vatican, suggesting that its stance on denying Holy Communion to a politician who publicly supports abortion, or criticising same-sex couples who wish to adopt is uncharitable and authoritarian. Twitch of the mantilla to Ches for that one.

An editorial (article 9257) misrepresents Catholic teaching on homosexuality and homosexual acts, conflating the two:

"The Catholic Catechism says that Scripture describes homosexual acts as "grave depravity". This is far removed from the temper of the times, and probably no longer even reflects what a majority of practising Catholics believe about homosexuals. Many of them have gay friends and gay relatives; Catholic mothers have gay sons. Some of the most devout are gay themselves."

Condemning the sin is not the same as condemning the sinner: I believe that Crippen was considered to be a really charming fellow, but we're hardly going to consider murdering one's spouse as any more acceptable because of it!

I haven't got the patience to go through any more such articles: there's plenty of evidence on other blogs. Suffice it to say that, on returning to the Church, I picked up the occasional copy and glanced through it. I was disgusted then by the constant criticism of Church teaching as being out-of-step with modern society, and the calls for it to change. The publication hasn't improved over the years.

A Trip Down Memory Lane...

The indomitable Fr. Z has been encouraging everyone to reminisce about what everyone was doing on this day four years ago.

Whadaya mean, you can't remember?

Ok, clues... 19th April. Tuesday. Second day of the Conclave... When the Holy Father was elected...

Well, I remember exactly where I was. I blogged about it last year... go and have a look at the videos I posted if you fancy jogging your memories...

Quasimodo Sunday...

Masses were often referred to by the first words of the Introit, hence Laetare Sunday in Lent, Gaudete Sunday in Advent, a Requiem Mass (from Requiem in aeternum...) and so on.

I noted, many years ago when I read the book (and well before I knew about such things as Introits) that the hunchback of Notre Dame was named for the day he was found on the steps of the Cathedral.

Typing out the Rossini propers for the choir, I noted that today is, in addition to being called Low Sunday and Divine Mercy Sunday, also Quasi modo Sunday.

Quasi modo geniti infantes, alleluia: rationabiles sine dolo lac concupiscite, alleluia, alleluia.

As newborn babes, alleluia: desire the rational milk without guile, alleluia, alleluia.

(Any problems with the translation, blame my St. Andrew's Missal... though I'd dearly love to know what the rational milk is... )

Anyway, I went for a wander through You Tube, and discovered this wonderful gem...

Tyburn Pilgrimage

The Tyburn Walk this year has been moved from the first Sunday in May to the second Sunday, so the date of the Walk is Sunday 10th. May.

It will be the 100th Tyburn Walk, and Monsignor Anthony Stark told me today that it would be the last, as numbers have been dwindling of late. I think it's a real shame if this turns out to be the case: the Tyburn Walk, organised by the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom, has been responsible for teaching me (and many others) about the English & Welsh Martyrs, correcting my very sketchy impressions of the Reformation period provided by a Catholic education (what hope has your average schoolchild got when the Religion Section of the Millennium Dome Experience described the Reformation as "a time when Catholics and Protestants agreed to worship God differently"...??)

I've described the Walk HERE and HERE, and last year's post gave brief details of the route. Fr. Tim, who gives the final Benediction at Tyburn Convent, has also put up posts about the Walk HERE and HERE.

The Suppository's Attempts At Comedy...

This really is too funny. The Suppository is continuing its campaign against blogs. The editorial board must really have managed to get its collective underwear in a twist after the negative reaction in the Blogosphere to its underhand little piece about Blackfen.

The Editorial in this week's issue starts off with a high moral tone: those nasty political bloggers causing problems for Number 10. Tut, tut! The editorial then goes on to explain that blogs "were invented in America, where they still thrive, particularly among the political and religious right wing."

The tone of astonishment here is rather amusing... The editorial then settles down to its main thrust... "In Britain, too, there are Catholic bloggers, again often right-wing, polemical and vituperative."

Then a note of hysteria can be detected in what follows... "The targets in this case often seem to include The Tablet, in some sort of fantastical conspiracy with the bishops."

Oh dear. The Suppository feels a little bit "got at" does it? I wonder why that might be? After all, until Elena Curti did her (badly written) hatchet piece on Fr. Finigan and the parish of Blackfen, the majority of bloggers outside the UK had never heard of the publication.

The only "conspiracy with the bishops" is the one which allows The Suppository to call itself a Catholic publication despite consistently attacking the Holy Father and continuing to dissent from Catholic teaching in matters regarding marriage, sexuality and contraception (among other things) without being called to account by those Bishops... in fact, so far is it from being called to account by the Hierarchy that this dreadful rag is even on sale in our Cathedrals...

Two sentences in particular had me laughing until the tears ran: "Generally, blogs are far from an idealised forum for an exchange of intelligent ideas that would be constructive. More often they indulge in straight poison-pen character assassination without reference to any requirements of accuracy or balance."

Pots. Kettles. 'Nuff said!

Twitch of the mantilla to Damian Thompson, and The Sensible Bond who appear to find the editorial equally entertaining!

The Latest Stupid Comment From The Suppository...

Robert Mickens, the Rome correspondent of The Suppository, decided, last week, to indulge in a little petulant whining:

"...it is extraordinary that ordained ministers can find so much free time and energy to "feed a blog". Is it possible that they have no housebound, hospitalised or imprisoned parishioners in need of their presence and ministry? It is also extraordinary that their bishops allow this. But then again we are living in extraordinary times."

I know that The Suppository, like most tabletista-oriented organisations, hasn't quite caught up with the idea behind the whole interweb thingy... they expect people to pay to read their online drivel, for heaven's sake! But this comment from Mr. Mickens is really pretty pathetic...

Anyone who actually blogs knows that it doesn't take very long at all to type up a post or two. You only need one or two posts a day to keep the stats up. Obviously, one has to have something interesting to pass on, or at least something mildly amusing, or no-one will bother to read the blog. The content also has to be reasonably well-written: poor grammar and poor punctuation get pretty short shrift from fellow bloggers. There is a whole world of would-be sub-editors waiting to catch you out.

But the point about blogging is that it's a minor diversion: it isn't one's whole life. If it were, one would soon run out of anything original to write, and no-one wants to read a mere re-hash of what everyone else is saying.

As for Mr. Mickens bewailing the lack of ministry to housebound, hospitalised or imprisoned parishioners, well, it's obvious he's stuck in some sort of parallel universe. Very few people appreciate being called on unexpectedly, and visits before 9am or after 8pm would, in my estimation, probably be as welcome as a dose of 'flu. In a similar vein, hospital nurses are apt to get shirty with visitors outside the hours of 9:00am - 8:00pm unless the patient is actually in extremis. And, somehow, I suspect that prisons are not too keen on out-of-hours visitations...

...computers and the internet, on the other hand, actually work pretty well outside office hours, and if one is clever enough to have mobile broadband, they work pretty well just about anywhere.

The comment is rather obviously directed at our more high-profile priest-bloggers, so I strongly suspect that a few journalistic knuckles may have been rapped after the Blackfen blunder...

Twitch of the mantilla to Ttony and Fr. Brown for the quote.

Happy Birthday, Holy Father !

82 today, and still going strong. To quote a bumper sticker I saw a while back... "I love my German Shepherd!"

Silver Linings...

My electricians have very kindly offered to leave me alone for the remainder of my Easter holiday!! They will return next week, while I am safely at school...

Obviously my being present in the flat yesterday proved inconvenient... a bit like moving into a house before the builders have quite finished in order to keep their minds focussed. Definitely a tactical move of sheer brilliance on my part.

Either that, or they have another job somewhere else which has suddenly proved to be urgent.

Whatever.

I am rejoicing at the return of my flat and the (partial) restoration of my electricity supply. I can blog and make myself a cup of tea without having to unplug either the computer or the fridge.

Everything is a mess, and completely covered with plaster dust, but that is a small price to pay. It also means that I cannot even consider doing any housework for the remainder of my holiday. Such is life...

I Need Cheering Up...

... so I'm putting up this photo from the icanhascheezburger? site. Sums up my views on rabbit food purrfectly, I'd say!

Progress Report...

I am beginning to wonder just how prophetic that Flanders & Swann song might turn out to be...

I had thought that they would start in one room and work their way around the flat, room by room, allowing me to maintain some semblance of normality, albeit without electricity for seven hours a day.

No such luck. I returned from Mass this morning to find furniture in every single room had been moved away from walls, and bits of wire and cable sticking out of holes in those walls. I will be better off: the single plug sockets with which the flat was furnished are being replaced with double sockets, reducing my dependence on extension leads. As the chief electrical chap said, three electrical sockets in the living room is just not practical in this day and age. And, as an added bonus, all the sockets will now have on/off switches (that might give you an idea of how necessary the work was!)

Unfortunately, it has left my flat looking like a bomb site. A thin layer of plaster dust has settled on everything, and the air is full of it... I put my mobile down on a table, picked it up an hour later and found that it was covered.

To be fair, the chaps are trying to leave the place tidy each evening, but it actually is more hassle moving the furniture back and forth each day: the less furniture they have to move, in my estimation, the faster the work will progress, so I've told them to leave it where it is. Similarly, the landlord provided dust sheets... but I think he was expecting the room-by-room approach as well. It's just not practical to cover everything in the flat.

Sylvester is really unhappy. He made rapid use of the cat-flap fairly early on in the proceedings, and came back once the workmen had gone for the day, but he's all unsettled and jumpy.

I have been left with two extension leads: one which is in the kitchen (with the fridge attached) and one which I am supposed to move round from room to room with me, which is how I'm able to blog now: the modem and the computer can both be plugged in.

I'm not quite sure what will happen tomorrow: apparently today was the "noisy" day for drilling and whatnot... and I am not sure how soon the plastering and redecorating will get done...

*sigh*

So Much For The PCC...

The Press Complaints Commission has, unsurprisingly enough, decided that the cartoon depicting Pope Benedict XVI with a condom on his head did not breach the Code of Practice.

Several people complained that the cartoon discriminated against the Catholic Church as a whole: this takes it out of the remit of the Code, as Clause 12 was designed to protect the rights of individuals. The Holy Father would have to complain personally before the PCC could investigate an alleged discriminatory reference to his religion.

So that's ok then. As Phil says, let's wait and see what happens when a cartoon of, say, the Prophet Mohammed is published...