Midnight Mass 2013...

Just for once I'm organised with my photos - well, sort of. I have put them into a Flickr set, but haven't labelled them, or weeded any out (that may change if I get a bit of spare time.)

In the meantime, do go and have a look. I don't know of anywhere else in England & Wales that had a vetus ordo Solemn High Mass for midnight on Christmas Eve...

Fr. Finigan reported that he very nearly had his first Christmas without any phone calls to ask what time Midnight Mass was. Then, at the last minute, he got two enquiries... Better luck next year!

Telling The Christmas Story...

The use of social media for the new evangelisation? Most appropriately, this one's doing the rounds of Facebook...

Christmas Bells...

We have a lovely entrance bell in the church at Blackfen, positioned by the doors from the small hall. But when big processions or funerals enter via the main church doors, we have to rely on the organist (if there is one) spotting that the priest is ready, or a server (if there is one) ringing a small handbell.

Delia (I think), presented Fr. Finigan with a rather nice bell she had come upon in Greenwich market some ago. Unfortunately there wasn't a bracket from which to hang it. Jonathan, Blackfen's Senior MC, seems to keep a weather-eye on Ebay for useful items, however, and he spotted one which looked as if it might do the trick.

He managed to put it all together on Sunday, just in time for the big entrance procession on Christmas Eve...

If You Can't Win Using Theology...

The Anglican Divines failed to win a theological debate against Edmund Campion despite his having been racked beforehand. Four centuries on, and Canterbury has recognised the futility of continuing to use theological arguments. Instead, they have challenged Rome to a cricket match.

The Vatican now has an official cricket club, comprised of priests and seminarians from the Vatican and the Roman colleges. The match between St. Peter's Cricket Club and the Church of England's team will probably happen in September, possibly at Lords.

Australia and England fight to win the charred remains of a cricket bail. I wonder what trophy Rome and Canterbury will contest... ?

Needless to say, I would be extremely keen to go and watch this one!

Ikea Have It Sussed...

A while back, Ikea produced a video which did the rounds on Facebook. They videoed an "experiment" - releasing 100 cats into one of their stores overnight, just to see what would happen. There was precious little "experiment" about the whole thing; as far as I could see, the exercise simply demonstrated that Ikea had worked out the golden rule of internet marketing: if you put a cat in the video, it's an instant hit.

The video itself was a bit of a disappointment to many people, as there was far too much talking about the cats from their owners, and not as much actual footage of the kitties themselves. Watching it carefully, however, made me wonder if this wasn't actually just the first step - and that an actual advert starring the feline explorers would eventually be released.

I was absolutely right, of course, and here is the finished article...

However, it would appear that not everyone is quite as positive about our feline friends. There is a spoof version of the advert, with an alternative ending. I am posting it here for the entertainment of Jonathan, Blackfen's Senior MC, who is forever asking whether my two cats have been turned into vindaloo yet. Before you start sending him death threats, I should just point out that Jonathan actually built the cats some rather nice steps to help them get to the cat flap...

Kitty Envy...

I thought it was about time for a kitty update.

All is not peace and harmony chez Mulier.

Miaowrini seems to be the better hunter - quite apart from being out more than Furretti, she appears to be the one bringing mice home to play. Furretti is usually asleep by my feet when this happens. The first indication that there is a catch is that Furretti wakes from a deep sleep and immediately scoots out into the hall. This contrasts with her normal relaxed awakening which involves much stretching and licking of various limbs. The two cats then play with the mouse, unless I rescue it.

I was too ill to get up the other night, and figured that I'd leave them to it, unless I heard screaming. The next morning, to my surprise, the mouse was still very much alive, and being watched by two fascinated cats...

There does appear to be some sort of power struggle going on at the moment. Miaowrini sneaked onto the bed when Furretti was out, and curled up in the favoured spot next to me, under my tray table. Furretti returned, and was most displeased by this turn of events. She promptly tried to get under the table too. I blocked her by encouraging her to settle in front of me... unfortunately she decided that she preferred to curl up on my stomach, and I was then trapped. When I finally moved, I succeeded in offending both cats.

This evening Miaowrini made another bid for the bed while Furretti was out. Furretti was sulking in the kitchen when I came home. I didn't want to move Miaowrini, so I'm sitting on the edge of the bed prior to getting in. Furretti has upped the ante by stretching across on to my lap for attention, and is getting the evil eye from Miaowrini as a result...

In the meantime I am attempting to placate both kitties, and give them each plenty of attention. I suspect that I am destined to fail...

Time For A Commercial Break...

My friends all know how much Coca Cola I drink, but I promise I haven't got shares in the company, and I'm not being paid to show this (unfortunately) but it made me smile, (and brought a lump to my throat) so I thought I'd share.

After all, we need to spread as much pro-life cheer as we can, right?

Oh, and there aren't any cats. But it still works.

Twitch of the mantilla to Matthew Archbold at CMR...

Finding St. Anne Line...

When I first decided to take private vows, my Spiritual Director advised me to adopt a patron saint, preferably one of the English martyrs. I had heard lots about St. Margaret Clitherow, but I couldn't find any sort of connection that made me want her as my patron, and so I started to look at St. Anne Line as a possible candidate.

The first thing I discovered was that there was very little known about her, other than brief accounts of her arrest, trial and her death at Tyburn. However, her feisty declaration, first at her trial and repeated on the scaffold, that she didn't repent of the "crime" of sheltering a Catholic priest but only regretted that she couldn't shelter more, really did grab my attention. I decided that Anne Line was the patron for me.

For a while, I knew very little else about my chosen saint. The internet, normally such a mine of information, yielded only three sources - one from the Catholic Encyclopaedia, one from Wikipedia and one on an American website with resources on the Faith for families. That was it.

A few years later, I got chatting to a friend of mine, Joanna Bogle, and St. Anne came up in the conversation. It transpired that Joanna had recently met a priest whose church was dedicated to the saint, and we decided to make a pilgrimage there. I've described in a previous post how we ended up going to visit a completely different church to the one we'd originally intended to visit before going on to our planned destination. That's what happens when you get two blondes in a car.

The two visits provided me with more valuable information about my chosen patron - much of which I used for my chapter about St. Anne in Joanna's book, English Catholic Heroines.

And now it seems that someone else has been interested in my saint. Martin Dodwell has written her biography, claiming that she was a muse for some of Shakespeare's work. Most appropriately, there is going to be a talk (and book signing) by Martin Dodwell held at the second of the two churches we visited - the church of St. Anne Line, South Woodford. Even more appropriately, the date of the talk is 2nd February - Candlemas - the 413th anniversary of St. Anne Line's arrest. The talk is at 3:30pm, followed by Benediction.

I am delighted to learn that the statue of St. Anne Line is no longer consigned to the presbytery garage (where it was being kept safe at the time of my pilgrimage.) Fr. Coveney reported to His Hermeneuticalness that the statue has been restored and moved inside the church in a place of honour, flanked by the framed account of her martyrdom and the famous painting of the Forty Martyrs, with votive candles in front. I can't wait to see it!

Only If They're Terminally Ill...?

I shouldn't be surprised. Babies are already killed legally through abortion, disabled babies can be killed legally right up until birth. Why should the mere fact of birth get in the way?

The Belgian Senate has voted to extend euthanasia to children. It's being called "voluntary euthanasia for terminally-ill children" but nothing on this earth is going to persuade me that a child is in any way able to "decide" that they want to die.

The scaremongering tactics ("Oh, but the disease has to be terminal and there must be unbearable pain!") are pretty clever. Quite apart from the simple fact that painkilling drugs such as morphine can be given so effectively that pain should not be experienced to that extent if the medical care is being given properly, there are several other points to consider. How much pain is unbearable? How do you quantify it?

I have been in what seemed to be unbearable pain which threatened to go on without any hope of treatment. I wanted to end it all. I actually considered it, but wasn't willing to put my family through the awfulness of coping with my suicide. This was some time before my reversion to the Church. As it turned out, the pain (caused by a combination of (iatrogenic) Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, chondromalacia patellae and the complete erosion of the front of my tibia) was easily treated once a correct diagnosis was made - but it took several years of misdiagnosis and increasingly severe pain before I got there.

Now the pain I was in was not due to a terminal disease, but the doctors I saw said that there was no cure for it. Why should a child in pain for which there is no "cure" be excluded from euthanasia on the paltry grounds that the disease causing the suffering isn't a terminal one? Where does one draw the line?

So, by allowing euthanasia for children in one scenario, the Belgian authorities have opened the way to killing children who are suffering from disorders that their parents cannot cope with, or that the medical establishment cannot afford to cope with...

It will only get worse. We need to pray for our legislators, and pray for the medical establishment.

Last Chance For The Ashes...

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm a jinx. England seem to have taken a turn for the worse since I started to take an interest in cricket. I listened to the Second Ashes Test on the radio each night as I drifted off to sleep, and it turned into a bit of a nightmare - even I didn't need anyone to tell me that England's first innings was a major disaster. It only got slightly better for the second innings, and I suspect it would have been much worse had Australia not declared early due to concerns about rain.

I'm not entirely sure about tactics - the importance of batting position, for example, escapes me. Why does it matter whether Root goes in at Number 3 or not? And if you have a bowler who gets lots of wickets, why bother to change him? As for "sledging" - it's just the equivalent of playground name-calling, isn't it? So why are grown men making such a fuss? I obviously still have much to learn...

Anyone For A Tuna Sandwich...?

Everyone seems to love cat videos. Quite simply, on the internet, cats rule.

However, even in real life, cats have the edge on other mammals. These people have presumably paid to see the dolphins, or feed the dolphins, or maybe even swim with the dolphins, and all you can hear on the video is "Hey, look at the cat!"

Yes, it's sweet. But the cat isn't kissing the dolphin. Cats aren't that stupid. It isn't even "playing." I suspect that it can smell the dolphin's tuna-breath...

I Couldn't Resist...

Yes, yes, I know! It isn't Christmas yet... but it makes me smile, so...

First Celebrate Advent...

This was posted on YouTube last year, but it still bears repeating...

A Digital Advent Wreath...

Jeff, the Curt Jester, very kindly allows his fellow-bloggers to make use of his cool Advent Wreath, which I have stolen for my sidebar. Each week, another candle is lit, and Christmas itself is welcomed by a picture of Our Lady holding the newborn Jesus.

If you want to get the image for your own blog, you can find the Javascript code over at the Curt Jester's blog.

Thanks again, Jeff!

First Vespers of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception...

My Renewal of Vows on Saturday was followed by the celebration of First Vespers of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which was a fabulous way to round off the day (and made up for the fact that I felt like death warmed up!)

I love this particular feast - there is something so right about it. Just think, if you were God, and could choose your own mother, wouldn't you want to make her as perfect as it was possible to be, untouched by Original Sin (with all that entails)? Well, Jesus is God, and he did just that...

And then, on Sunday morning, we had the Mass for the Feast itself... (it takes precedence over the Second Sunday of Advent in the Extraordinary Form calendar.)

The Guild Meeting...

The only two bloggers willing to pose for photos at the excellent Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma meeting back at the end of November were the two priest bloggers, Fr. Ray Blake and Fr. Timothy Finigan...

I've been snowed under (and very stressed) at work, so hadn't gotten around to blogging any sooner, but there have been other first-class reports of the proceedings from Richard Collins (aka Linen on the Hedgerow) and from the lovely Bones (Laurence England.)

Lunch was provided by Annie Elizabeth (Defénde Nos in Proélio) though I almost caused a major diplomatic incident by refusing to eat the pea and ham soup (on the basis that I loathe vegetables in general, and pulses in particular) and so was very nearly banned from having the sticky toffee pudding... She relented when my lip started to wobble (Annie's sticky toffee pudding is legendary!) but I suspect that I am paying for it now with a very bad cold (which Annie will, no doubt, inform me would have been avoided if I'd eaten my veg!)

The talk was a subject very dear to my heart - some of the miracles at Lourdes - given by Dr. Adrian Treloar. I did my best to live-tweet some of the main points. Adrian asked me to give the Catholic Medical Association a plug: something which I am more than happy to do. The CMA is responsible for producing the journal, Catholic Medical Quarterly, which is being made available online. As it happens, the May 2013 issue has an editorial by Alison Davies, a staunch defender of the pro-life cause who died just a couple of days after the Guild meeting. You can read more about Alison Davies over at Fr. Finigan's blog (he gives further links.)

Eccles also has posted an amusing account of the Guild meeting, courtesy of his Anti Moly...

A Seriously Blonde Moment...

Off to lunch this afternoon, I had a bit of trouble getting the car to start.

As I started to drive off, Fr. Finigan asked me why there was a red light flashing on my dashboard. I couldn't remember what the light was for. It wasn't the oil light. It wasn't the water light. The temperature was ok (well, actually the car hadn't had the chance to warm up) but this little red light kept blinking.

A few minutes later, driving along the road, I remembered that the last time it had been on, it was the immobiliser thingy. It used to come on when you pressed the clicky thingy for the whatsit...

My ability to explain myself wasn't helped by the fact that Father was making amused comments about the terms I was using, and the likelihood of finding "clicky thingy" in the index of the car handbook.

Then I noticed that the light went off.

"Ah!" I exclaimed, "Good. It's gone off... Oh! It's come back on again... Ah, it has gone off again... oh, no, it's back... Ah! It's sorted... umm..."

Did I mention that the bulb was blinking...?

Sometimes I worry about me...

(Once he had stopped laughing at me, His Hermeneuticalness did confirm that it had been blinking at slightly erratic intervals, and that I wasn't actually as mad as all that sounds...)

All Animals Are Equal, But...

I've said it before. That Same-Sex Marriage thing was nothing to do with equality.

The case of Mr. & Mrs. Bull, the B&B owners who refused to allow a homosexual couple to share a double bed back in 2008 have lost their appeal in the Supreme Court.

For my transatlantic readers, a B&B isn't quite the same as a hotel or motel. It is usually a private house (often quite small) where some of the bedrooms are rented out. The owners live in the house.

Despite the fact that it was proved that Mr. & Mrs. Bull applied their policy to all unmarried couples equally, the court ruled that the policy constituted illegal discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

I don't quite get it - maybe I'm missing something here. A heterosexual unmarried couple could be refused a double bed, but refusing one to a homosexual unmarried couple is discriminatory...

So, one rule for heterosexuals and a completely different one for homosexuals.

And that is meant to be equality?

I suppose that, if the powers-that-be can redefine "marriage" then they can redefine "equality" too...

Mea Culpa...

Having posted a brief reminiscence on my visit to the tomb of St. Peter last year (prompted by the recent exposition of some relics of St. Peter) I decided to have a look back at my posts from my visit to the Eternal City.

I was rather disconcerted to find that I'd only written two posts - one on my first visit to St. Peter's itself and one on my visit to the Venerable English College. I then remembered that I had intended to finish captioning all my photos before actually posting any more, and somewhere along the way I'd forgotten to finish the job. Also some of my photos were locked.

I still have to finish the captions for days four and five of my visit, but I shall try to get that done as soon as possible. Part of the delay is partly because, after a while, the churches started to meld into one another, and I've had to spend a lot of time checking where exactly I went, and what I saw... I meant to check some of it with His Hermeneuticalness, but he's been busy...

I must just recount one of the funniest episodes of the trip.

In Santa Maria sopra Minerva there is the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena. I wanted to go and pray before the tomb (as well as get a good photo) so I walked closer. Now I have problems with both my knees and one of my ankles, but steps up (if not too steep) are actually less of a problem than going down. I didn't actually notice how high the altar was until I finished praying and turned to come back down...

There wasn't a handrail.

Fortunately, I noticed a sort of plinth to the side of the altar - there was a large statue on it and the bottom formed a convenient ledge to lean on as I made my way gingerly down the steps. The statue was a little unstable and rocked slightly, but I wasn't leaning heavily on it.

His Hermeneuticalness was waiting patiently at the bottom, looking slightly amused.

When I reached ground level, he asked in a casual tone, "Mac, you do realise, don't you, that the statue you were just leaning on was carved by Michaelangelo...?"

Once my heart started beating again, I just had to take another photo. It is rather blurred because I couldn't stop giggling...

The Relics Of St. Peter...

The end of the Year of Faith was marked by a Mass where relics of St. Peter were brought out for veneration for the first time since they were unearthed in the 1940s.

The BBC, with typical lack of sensitivity towards the beliefs of billions of Catholics around the world, put up a headline which read "Pope puts 'St Peter's bones' on public display." The quote marks around St. Peter's bones indicate clearly that the author of the piece doesn't agree in their authenticity.

I haven't seen the relics themselves, obviously - they've only just been brought out. I have been down to the tomb - or rather, the chapel where the tomb is. Looking at the maps of the Vatican Grottoes, I see that this is the entrance to the Confessio, and I think that the remains of St. Peter are (or were) behind the grill by the mosaic of Christ. If I'm right (and I'm very bad at following maps, and have a lousy sense of direction), the grill actually backs onto another chapel - the Clementine Chapel - which we didn't go in to because there was a Mass being celebrated at the time. It was a spine-tingling moment being even that close, and I was almost in tears. Fortunately I pulled myself together and got some photos, which you can find on my Flickr set.

Throughout the history of the Church, the location of St. Peter's remains has been said to be under St. Peter's Basilica... underneath the High Altar, to be precise.

When excavations under St. Peter's were carried out, they discovered a tomb below the High Altar with "Peter is here" (or words to that effect).

The Church hasn't been around that long - 2000 years, give or take. 266 Popes - and we know the names of all of them. Something as important as the burial place of the first Pope is likely to have been passed on with great care. So finding remains labelled "Peter" under the High Altar of St. Peter's Basilica shouldn't come as any great surprise.

Of course, no one is obliged to believe that the bones belong to St. Peter...