New Look...

A new academic year has started for us here in Merry Old England. It's a pretty exhausting time for teachers (IMHO) - at least until we've sussed out our new timetables and classes... and in some cases, new exam specifications as well.

To celebrate the fact that I'm not as zonked out as I was last weekend, I have revamped the blog layout just a little. I had a look at the "Dynamic Views" option as described by His Hermeneuticalness, and decided that I like the idea, so that option has found its way into the sidebar, as has the option to have updates from the blog emailed to you. Personally I prefer to use Google Reader for that sort of thing, but, if it floats your boat...

I think the colour scheme and background picture are pretty much set - it's my trademark "look," I think. Do tell me what you think of the overall effect, and I'm interested in any suggestions you may have for further improvements...

LMS Pilgrimage To Aylesford...

I was asked to publicise the LMS Pilgrimage to Aylesford, and I'm delighted to be able to do so. I thought Fr. Tim had advertised it already, but it seems that, in my slightly bemused state last week, I put up a (real) poster in the church porch...

The music at the Mass will be contemporary with St. Simon Stock, which is rather exciting.

Good News...

Ches and Mrs Ches have just announced the arrival of a daughter... do pop over and give your congratulations!

First Friday...

Not the first Friday of the month, but the first Friday on which Catholics in England & Wales had to observe the abstinence from meat as mandated by the Bishops' Conference.

I don't normally eat breakfast, but was absolutely starving this morning, so popped downstairs to the school canteen when it opened for breakfast. I eschewed the bacon rolls on offer, and one of the cooks made me an egg muffin instead.

There was a certain amount of satisfaction in the change from "an odd person who doesn't eat meat on Fridays" to "a Catholic."

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice & Pigeons...

I was going to do some serious blogging this evening. I even left work relatively early. After all, it's the anniversary of Summorum Pontificum... and the SSPX have been in talks with the Vatican... all very important stuff. Alas, I arrived to find the living-room seriously carpeted in feathers, with a mangled pigeon corpse arranged artistically in the middle of it all.

It was rather bloody and a bit smelly - I think Miaowrini has really gotten into her stride.

I spent the early evening hoovering and cleaning up, and then I poured myself into the bath, along with a glass of wine.

I did consider doing a little light blogging before getting to bed, but there are two cats staring fixedly at a bookcase. Given that my cats aren't usually interested in the Barchester Chronicles or Agatha Christie, I surmise that something is trapped behind the bookcase.

I don't want to know what it is, so I'm abandoning the computer, and I'm going to go to bed instead.

I might get the chance to blog tomorrow... Don't hold your breath.

First Sign Of Old Age...?

Earlier on today, while driving, I had an absolutely brilliant idea for a blog post.

Now I can't remember what it was...

*sigh*

If any of you have any idea what I was going to blog about, let me know...

By This You Shall Know Them...

I think it is wonderful that the Bishops of England & Wales have decided to reinstate the practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays. I understand that this is the practice in the US during the Fridays of Lent, but we didn't even have that - the only two days we were obliged to abstain from meat here in the UK were Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. There was a vague awareness that penance was supposed to be done on Fridays, but it was never really mentioned, and therefore was often forgotten.

Now it is compulsory. It isn't necessary to eat fish, and it's true that it isn't a major hardship to forego meat on one day a week, but that isn't the point. All Catholics will now be carrying out the same activity on a Friday, as a reminder that Our Lord died for us on a Friday. It's a reminder to ourselves, as much as to those around us. It is a reclaiming of our Catholic heritage, and a reaffirmation of Catholic identity.

It does take a bit of getting used to - when I first started observing Friday abstinence it seemed to be impossible - I always found myself tucking into that bacon sandwich at break time, only to recall halfway through that it was actually Friday. Eventually I got the hang of it, though up until now there has been that temptation to substitute another penance instead because it was allowed.

We might want to consider reintroducing some other Catholic practices - such as bowing one's head at the name of Jesus, crossing oneself as one passes a Catholic Church, and saying Grace before meals (especially when eating out.)

I'm sure that there are many more Catholic practices which used to be common. Suggestions in the combox please!

Happy Birthday...

The statue of Our Lady in Blackfen was decorated for her Nativity. Sadly, having gone to the church straight from school, I didn't have my camera with me. However, I have a rather nice photo taken on another important occasion...

It was rather nice having Rosary & Benediction on Our Lady's birthday...

Urgent Appeal For Help...

My eyes are propped open with matchsticks right now, and I'm desperate to get to bed, but I just had to respond to this one - Clare from the Good Counsel Network has sent out an urgent and heartfelt plea for help.

Good Counsel (in much the same way as the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative) puts its money where its mouth is, and gives actual practical help to mothers in crisis pregnancies. These mothers would possibly have felt that there was no alternative to abortion without the help they receive from Good Counsel, and so the work that is done really does save lives.

I don't know if the Good Counsel Network would appreciate donations of actual goods via Amazon (as has been advertised before for the Sisters of the Gospel of Life when they have had an appeal) but funds are perilously low, so any money you can spare would be gratefully received.

The threat to the unborn is higher than ever, especially now. We need to show that we offer support for mothers who choose to keep their babies rather than have an abortion - something Marie Stopes and BPAS would never do. Please, please, help if you can, and everyone please pray for the work to succeed.

And With Your Spirit...

Yay!

This evening I attended my first Mass where the people's responses were taken from the new translation. I've been muttering "And with your Spirit" under my breath for a couple of months now, so I had no problems with that. I loved the fact that the Creed and the Gloria more closely reflected the structure of the Latin (I've become much more familiar with the Latin through singing it at the Extraordinary Form Mass) and the congregation didn't appear to have any problems with the phrasing.

Obviously there were slip-ups - it's all too easy to drop back into the version we've been using for so long - but that will soon pass.

I've been vaguely aware of negative murmurings - The Suppository's latest offering being a case in point - but claims that the phrasing is too clumsy for a congregation to recite are palpably untrue. A group of people can recite anything together if they practice. I've done it as a silly exercise in class: "All together now: Respiration is not the same as breathing!" What makes the difference is the person leading the group. If the priest reads the Confiteor, Gloria, Creed and Sanctus firmly and clearly, then the congregation will automatically modulate their speech pattern to fit in with him. It really isn't rocket science.

If the priest is positive about the new translation, then the congregation will take to it like ducks to water. It won't be absolutely perfect at the start, but I expect there were difficulties the last time too (funny how no-one ever seems to mention the frequent changes during the early phase of the Novus Ordo!)

Of course, if the priest is opposed to the idea of fidelity to the original texts, then he will find the phrasing very difficult, and the people will then find it hard to pick up his speech patterns, and the whole experience will become very negative indeed.

It would appear that the attitude of the priest is central to the whole thing... how very Novus Ordo! Oh well, if it's really too hard, one can always try it in Latin!!

That Talk...

Yes, the talk given by Michael Voris has finally made it onto RealCatholicTV, and it's now on YouTube. So, you no longer have to rely on my sketchy outline of the talk (though the subsequent blognic wasn't filmed, so I have the advantage there!) but can watch it yourself.

Major twitch of the mantilla to Paul Smeaton for organising the whole shebang. Michael Voris also did a piece on the Tyburn Martyrs, which you can watch over at Smeaton's Corner.

We Interrupt This Service...

The start of the Autumn Term is always a little fraught, in my experience. It is made slightly more fraught for me because of one fateful morning in particular (you can read more about it if you wish) which I'm always worried will recur.

So, not much sleep was had by me on Wednesday night. The longest stretch was about 20 minutes. I slept badly on Thursday night too. By Friday evening, I was pretty much dead on my feet. I sat down to put my aching feet up for half an hour, and woke up, bleary-eyed (contact lenses still in) but otherwise wide-awake at midnight.

I decided that I'd spend a little time preparing stuff for Monday. Before I knew it, it was 5:30am. I did consider trying to stay awake, but opted to have a nap, and set several alarms on my mobile phone so that I could get up in time for our Missa Cantata...

The next thing I knew, it was 10:15am. Mass on Saturday is at 10:30am. Oooops.

I decided to go along to Mass anyway (what was left of it) to say a few prayers and at least attend Benediction... Lunch at a local hostelry followed (I was awake at this time - a couple of large cokes did wonders) but I am now clock-watching. I am absolutely shattered, but I know that I have to stay up until at least 9pm in order to try and reset the old body clock. Then, hopefully, Sunday night will be relatively "normal" and I can get up bright-tailed and bushy-eyed on Monday morning, ready to face the hordes of eager Year 7s, all desperately keen and shiny-faced...

That's the plan. But you know what they say about plans...

In the meantime, until I get myself sorted, blogging might be a little sporadic.

The Body In The Library...

Today was my first day back at school, and, afterwards, I went straight to church for my Thursday evening dose of Rosary and Benediction.

When I finally arrived home, I found Miaowrini looking very pleased with herself sitting in the midst of a whole fresh pile of feathers. Further investigation revealed a dead bird in the living room (it is the room with most books in it, so qualifies as my "library"!)

The bird had been chewed. Looks as if Miaowrini has finally figured out what to do when she catches her pigeon...

Water Cannon Used On Rioters...

...Errrrmmm, sorry, that headline was not quite right. My bad!

These young people were actually at World Youth Day, and were sprayed with water by firemen to keep them cool in the soaring temperatures. The pilgrims also had sympathetic local residents flinging buckets of water over them as they walked passed en route to some of the events.

Young people = 1,500,000 (minimum); Riots = 0.

Mantilla-twitch in the direction of His Hermeneuticalness.

Something To Smile About...

A little bit of good news... I have just arrived home after a horrible journey on a crowded bus to find two kittens waiting for me inside the house (one has now gone off gallivanting, the other is having a nap on the sofa... it seems that they like to know I'm safely at home before they go off and do their respective things!) and one car waiting for me outside the house, new alternator and new front tyres fitted.

Deo gratias!

(And no, you cynical people, the kitties were not waiting to be fed. There was food in the bowls. The kitties love me... Yes, they do...)

Blackfen Brandsma Blognic...

The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma is holding a meeting at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Blackfen, on Saturday, October 1st 2011.

Mass is at 10:30am, Vespers is at 2:30pm. Lunch, a talk and a meeting will happen in between. The pub may feature after all that...

Everyone is welcome - "bloggers" being a very loose term!

Old ICEL RIP...

I have to confess to feeling a little bit strange, knowing that tonight was the last time we shall use the old ICEL translation for the responses at Sunday Mass (still a few more days until September).

Don't misunderstand me, I am absolutely delighted that the "lame-duck translations" (as the inimitable Fr. Z terms them) have finally shuffled off this mortal coil. We have had the new translation of the Canon for a while, and it is a vast improvement. I have been mentally responding "And with your Spirit" to help get myself accustomed to the changes. And I shall make an extra effort to attend the 6pm Mass next Sunday so as to usher in the new responses.

But part of me is experiencing a pang. Not a pang of regret. Definitely not! A lot of people feel uncomfortable with change, and "Better the devil you know" is a saying most people can relate to, but it isn't even that - the new translation is such an improvement, that I am eager to use it. I guess that it is just the realisation that we are witnessing the end of an era. The old translation is the only one I've known (at least it was, before I encountered the Extraordinary Form of Mass), and I didn't need to read the responses from a missal or mass sheet...

As I said, it's just a little... strange!

(Oh, and before you say anything, yes, I know the photo is of the Divine Office, but the shoddy workmanship of that liturgical book rather exemplifies the state of the old ICEL translation!)

Another Tale Of Woe...

No, I didn't forget to add oil... or water... or petrol... I wasn't filling up the wrong bit. And I didn't leave my car lights on either. No, this time it is definitely the car's fault.

This morning I intended to get to Mass, Adoration and Benediction as usual on Saturday morning in Blackfen. It looked like it was going to be a nice day, and so I thought I might go out for a little drive afterwards as well. Sadly, the car had other ideas. I turned the key in the ignition and nothing happened.

I have the home start option on my breakdown cover, so I called them out. The chap thought it was probably a flat battery, and started to charge it up. I immediately cheered up - I've had flat batteries before (though usually because I've left the lights on) and prepared to drive to church. The chap then broke some bad news - the battery wasn't charging up at all, so it was probably the alternator...

A phone call to my usual garage mechanic indicated that there was no chance of getting the required part on the Saturday before the Bank Holiday Monday. It could be fixed on Tuesday if I got the car towed to the garage...

I arrived at the church just in time to join in with the Marian anthem after Benediction, and said a fervent prayer that all would go well on Tuesday... after all, school starts again on Thursday, and I do need to be able to get there...

Michael Voris Hits London...

For anyone who has spent the last month and a half in solitary confinement, this week saw the arrival in London of Michael Voris, the founder of St. Michael's Media and RealCatholicTV, to give a talk on living the Catholic Faith.

Several people have given excellent summaries of the talk itself and their reactions: Robert Colquhoun (Love Undefiled) actually has a recording of the talk and the questions. Francis Phillips wrote a piece for the Catholic Herald, and the Reluctant Sinner has blogged about the evening, as have Joseph Shaw (LMS Chairman), Annie Elizabeth (Defénde Nos in Proélio) and Leutgeb (Bara Brith).

Michael Voris isn't to everyone's taste - I don't agree with everything he says, and occasionally I disagree with the manner in which he says the stuff I do agree with - but I felt he had been getting rather a bad press of late. It reminded me of the run-up to the Holy Father's visit to the UK. Lots and lots of negative press - though in this case it was from the blogosphere rather than the mainstream media.

However, I believe that part of the reason that Catholic catechesis has failed in the past four decades is the idea that we mustn't say anything which might offend other people. If you never say anything which might cause offence to someone, you will probably never say anything at all. As Voris himself pointed out, sometimes you will offend people for no other reason than you just walked into the room!

I've experienced that one - I was once challenged: "How dare you claim to be a better Catholic than me!" I hadn't claimed any such thing, in fact I hadn't said anything. What I had done was to wear a mantilla at Mass, and for some obscure reason this caused offence! So, as far as I'm concerned, Voris deserves great credit for being willing to speak out about the Faith, and for telling it straight.

Michael Voris spoke very engagingly, and, although he didn't say anything new or earth-shattering, it was good to have some affirmation of what many of us are trying to do, namely to follow the teachings of the Church as faithfully as we can. It was, if you like, a pep talk, a bit of encouragement. In the flesh, Michael Voris is quiet and unassuming, and very entertaining. Yes, it was very different from his on-screen persona, but then, those appearances are shot with the intention of making a particular point, and are carefully scripted for that purpose, so they would be rather more direct and "in your face."

It became a sort of impromptu blognic, especially when we all decamped to a local pub - I spotted several of the usual suspects, and some new ones. I was particularly gratified when, giving my name to one of the people organising things as I arrived, he appeared to know who I was (fame at last!)

As well as the bloggers I've already mentioned, it was fantastic to meet up with the indefatigable Bones, the irrepressible Paul Priest (OTSOTA), the sultry and sophisticated Red Maria (Dolphinarium), the charming Multum Incola Fuit Anima Mea (who couldn't resist letting me know who he was, though I'm sworn to secrecy), the very Ecumenical Diablogger, and the gorgeous and giggly Blondpidge (Catechesis of Caroline) who was being let out for the evening, and, in between feeds, passed round the most beautiful and placid baby I have encountered in quite a long time. Normally babies take one look at me and scream. Little Miss Pidge gurgled and cooed and snoozed her way through the evening. John Smeaton and Juventutem were also on good form. I was delighted to make the acquaintance of Giles Pinnock, former Anglican clergyman, who blogged as OneTimothyFour before he swam the Tiber - I sincerely hope he will start blogging again soon. There were many blog readers present too, and I particularly enjoyed meeting Marianne Cuthbertson for an entertaining gossip... great minds think alike, and all that! Her daughters had made it to the talk hotfoot from World Youth Day.

During the break between the talk and the questions, I managed to join Red Maria, Blondpidge and Peter Williams outside for a breath of fresh air. Peter is one of the speakers for Catholic Voices, and he tweets as @PeterDCXW, though he has been threatening to start a blog since the Faith Summer Session. He couldn't resist the charms of Little Miss Pidge as he called her...

Michael Voris stepped up to the plate to do some Pidge-handling to give her mother a break...

And finally, many, many thanks to Paul Smeaton, who pulled off the amazing coup of organising such a fantastic and successful event, seen here with Michael Voris (and Little Miss Pidge.)

Is The BBC Biased Against Catholics?

Is the Pope a Catholic? Do bears etc. etc?

A conservative estimate of 1.5 million young people, or a more generous (and possibly more accurate) figure of 2 million young people, you'd think that would constitute news, wouldn't you? I mean, how many young people were rioting in the UK? That made the news worldwide.

But no, the BBC chose to concentrate on 5000 protestors.

Fr. Ray Blake has a brief summary, as has Bones. The Idle Rambler has a post which goes through the figures, courtesy of Rome Reports.

Annie Elizabeth, of Defénde Nos In Proélio opines that the protestors are all miserable and angry, whereas the pilgrims are filled with joy. Presumably only misery and rage are newsworthy as far as the BBC is concerned.

Milo Yiannopoulos of the Catholic Herald and Damian Thompson of the Telegraph are both of the opinion that the BBC coverage of World Youth Day events in Spain has been disgraceful. Even more surprisingly, even Andrew Brown of the Guardian actually agreed, and that's a telling indictment.

The Reluctant Sinner really exposes the double standards of the BBC in its reporting of World Youth Day (given all of 30 seconds) compared to a piece on an offshoot  of Hare Krishna, namely ISKCON, run by a chap called Richard Slavin. Dare I say that, looking at some of the allegations against Slavin, I can't help wondering what sort of treatment he'd have received if he had been Catholic...

If you want to complain, I suggest you do so here. You might even get a reply. But don't hold your breath.

Twitch of the mantilla to Et Expecto for getting the link to the BBC passed round a few blogs!