Musings on the Outer Edges of the Abyss

"Make her's a bitter. A pint, naturally..."

Damian Thompson and Fr Ray Blake today both post on The Tablet Trust Director, Dr Tina Beattie, who has appeared on nominally Catholic correspondent, Edward Stourton's, BBC Sunday Programme to voice concern over the shocking and revelatory conversion of Anglicans to Catholicism and the dreadful and poisonous increase in the number of Catholic priests that have resulted.

To find out just how damaging to the Church this injection of fresh blood into the Priesthood is and why these men should, in fact, be women, read Tina's blog here.

Damian Thompson gives us the fascinating exchange between two Catholics whose loyalty and love for the Most Holy Faith is about the same temperature as the average pint pictured left. Why is it that, in the Church, only the froth is at the top of the glass from which the public drink? I can think of so many public speakers on Catholic matters who could represent Catholicism better than Tina, but, hey, I guess that reputation is everything in the media game and having a 'Dr' before your name just gives you that special kudos to get on the BBC. Oh, and being a liberal Catholic and making a habit of being contentious and dissenting from Church's Magisterium helps enormously too...

Edward Stourton: 'Do all Britain’s Roman Catholics welcome the ordinariate, the body set up by Pope Benedict to allow disaffected Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while maintaining many of their own traditions. No, is the short answer. Tina Beattie teaches Catholic studies at Roehampton University and, Tina Beattie, your problem with this is what?'

Readers. Guess what...You're not going to believe this, but I get the distinct impression that The Tablet is not happy about the Ordinariate. I don't know what it is. Let's call it a hunch. Now, that is what I call a surprise.

Tina Beattie: 'Well, I don’t want to call it a problem, but I think many of us are perplexed about what this means in terms of the Catholic Communion, and indeed obviously for relations between our two Churches. The Catholic Church has a unity that’s not based on like-mindedness or sameness, and it’s very puzzling to know how this very homogeneous, small group of like-minded people, offered a quasi-independent place within the Catholic Communion, is going to fit in and become part of us.'

Us? Us? Is she talking about the Body of Christ or herself and the rest of The Tablet team? Us? Hmm...Interesting. Well, Tina, since their reception into the Church they are a part of us, though, I have to say that when you use the term 'us', I just think of that bit in the Gospel when the demoniacs start lashing out at Our Lord saying "my name is Legion, for we are many." Further, I may have missed a couple of news stories today, but since exactly when has the Catholic Church been called the Catholic Communion? Anyone would have thought that Tina gets mixed up between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church. It isn't that surprising, of course, because her vision of the latter is frighteningly similar to the reality of the former. I say frightening not because I am frightened of women, but rather of the liberal-in-guise diabolical insurrection taking place against God's Church and all the hellish havoc these heretics seek to wreak upon souls and Her.

Edward Stourton: 'And is your objection partly to do with the fact that you don’t like what they stand for? Particularly on the question of women’s role in the Church?'

Hilarious. You'd think these two had only just met! As if Mr Stourton isn't fully aware that the question of women's role in the Church is precisely the one thing (though, in fact, there are 'many') about which Tina is unhappy.

Tina Beattie: I’m not happy about that, no. And I think actually, dare I say it, it’s a peculiarly Protestant thing to join a church because of what one doesn’t like, as a gesture of protest – that’s where the word comes from. It would be wonderful if they were coming in for the positives, and the joy, and the wonders of being part of this worldwide Communion.

Gosh. Well, who says further education is a waste of time? The English Church's most gifted theologian-cum-teacher of 'Catholic studies' has informed us that the word Protestant is rooted in the adjective, 'to protest'. This is mind-blowing stuff. Yet again, Tina makes the same 'Communion' slip. Or is it? No longer is She the 'Universal Church', nor is She the 'One True Church', nor the 'Bride of Christ', nor the 'Ark of Truth' and 'Instrument of Salvation', but the 'worldwide Communion'.

Don't get me wrong, of course we Catholics rejoice that we are in Communion with our Priests, Bishops and Pope. Of course, Tina, it is of particular importance, as a Catholic, to be in 'Communion' in mind and heart with the Successor of St Peter since he is the Rock upon which the Gates of Hell shall never prevail. The Successor of St Peter. You know? The guy dressed in white, with the white hat, who instigated the whole idea of an Ordinariate that, much like the liberation of the Traditional Latin Mass, by-passed the tragically abused authority of the World's largely liberal-minded Bishops? You don't appear, by your musings on the edge of the outer abyss, to be in 'Communion' with the Successor of Peter. It's important you teach the importance of that to your students, by the way. No, what you seem to inhabit, is a kind of 'quasi-independent place within the Catholic' Church. Most Catholics loyal to the Magisterium, to the Successor of St Peter and to Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ are wondering just how and just when you and your professional Catholic friends are 'going to fit in and become part of us'.

Just as an aside, one of these days I am going to make a list of all the men and women who make really rather a lot of money out of being Catholic (especially in the media) and find out what percentage of these professional lay Catholics are actually Catholic. Tina, darlin'...this one's for you. Oh Tina! What 'a peculiarly Protestant thing' you are!

RIP John Barry

Film composer John Barry passed away at age 77.

Barry, of course, is best-remembered for his music for the James Bond films. I've never had a great attachment to Bond, though, and I'll deign to point out his fine work on films like Born Free, The Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy, Walkabout, Mary, Queen of Scots, Out of Africa and Dances With Wolves. And Howard the Duck, of course. My absolute favorite Barry work, of course, is his rousing score for Zulu. Certainly winning five Academy Awards is a commendable achievement.

A sad way to end January.

Smokey and the Bandit

Every once in awhile I enjoy dipping into the nostalgia well and revisiting movies I loved as a kid. When I was five or six, Smokey and the Bandit (1977) was the most awesome thing ever; during my car-loving phase it played in an endless loop with The Love Bug and Knight Rider. Revisiting it all these years later, Smokey holds up much better than either of those. Full of action, humor and likeable stars, it's a fun romp if you can turn your brain off for a few hours.

Shady businessman Enos Burdette (Pat McCormack) wants a trucker crazy enough to deliver a shipment of Coors from Texas to Georgia in violation of innumerable liquor laws. Ne'er-do-well driver Bo "The Bandit" Darville (Burt Reynolds) takes on the job, enlisting his trucker buddy Snowman (Jerry Reed) and his hound dog Fred for support. Along the way, Bandit picks up Carrie (Sally Field), a runaway bride, and strikes up an instant rapport. Unfortunately, Carrie's fiance (Mike Henry) is the son of Texas lawman Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason), a vulgar, motor-mouthed and obsessive Sheriff who engages the Bandit in a high-speed chase across five states.

Smokey and the Bandit is easily the greatest thing to come out of America's late-'70s obsession with truckers and CB Radio, a hideous fad that spawned dozens of horrendous imitators like Cannonball Run, The Dukes of Hazzard and (God help us) Convoy. Smokey puts this countrified garbage to shame with genuine skill, verve and entertainment value. The film is decidedly lowbrow, but the good kind: its brand of simple-minded redneck anarchy is appealing to the car-loving kid in all of us.

The plot is thin, but Smokey's brand of entertainment doesn't need such refinements as coherence and artistry. The script is loaded with wit and charm, helped by the cast's marvelous chemistry, and the movie's so fast-paced it doesn't approach boring. Stuntman Hal Needham delivers assured direction, staging his chase scenes and crashes admirably, satiating the lust of car and crash lovers. And Jerry Reed's blue grass soundtrack, especially the addictive Eastbound and Down song (which I had lodged in my memory from age 5), complements the film perfectly.

Burt Reynolds, at the height of his stardom, makes a perfect protagonist for this redneck romp. He exudes effortless charm and good-natured charisma that makes it easy for the audience to root for him. Sally Field is equally game, trading sharp quips with Reynolds and more than holding her own. Jerry Reed is saddled with a thankless secondary role; his musical contributions are far more worthwhile. Jackie Gleason is hysterical: his over-the-top, bloviating caricature of cornpone Southern lawmen can't help but steal the film, and Gleason's largely ad-libbed performance delivers an endless stream of crude but hilarious one-liners ("I'm gonna barbeque yo' ass in molasses!").

So yeah, Smokey and the Bandit ain't bad for 96 minutes of Good Ol' Boy entertainment. If you're looking for a film about redneck truckers, you could do infinitely worse: I point you again to Convoy. You know we live in a fucked-up world when Hal Needham can best Sam Peckinpah.

Fr Ray Blake on Gloria TV again...alongside Fr John Boyle and Fr Sean Finnegan!

I don't know who made this video, but its on Gloria TV's website. No sound, caption video only. I'm not sure these Priests would actually thank the maker of the video, but thought I should draw their attention to it. Their pictures come up at 1:50 mins. As far as I know, these Priests are not anti-Vatican II, but of a similar mind to the Holy Father that the two rites offer the Church's liturgy 'mutual enrichment'.

Christ the Consoler Statue and Black Victorian Cope for Sale at Snoopers Paradise

Snoopers Paradise: Second-hand tat sellers (not like the Open Market)

I came up with a script to aid my selling of a rather splendid Victorian black cope and a handless Christ the Consoler statue. I wanted to film it but was, perhaps unsurprisingly, not given permission to film inside Snoopers Paradise by the shop manager. So far I have had no word back from my suggestion that I act as a go-between for them for religious objects of devotion and the Catholic community at large.

It starts out as a spoof of Michael Voris's Vortex presentations on the Catholic Faith but ends up going a bit mental. Shame I was unable to film it. I (for one) would have found it amusing to get down on camera...Spoilsports! It would have been free publicity for their store as well...

"Hi, I’m Laurence England and welcome to The Cortex [twirls index finger around head], where lies and falsehood are trapped, exposed and injected into the brains of heretical corpses, whose heads are even more full of mush now…than they were when they were alive!

Today, a Bishop has shocked the Catholic community by saying that…Oh, I'm bored of bad news about the bishops…Let’s go shopping instead! You join me outside Snoopers Paradise, Brighton’s premier traders of local second hand goods, the kind of goods Brighton and Hove City Council call junk when its for sale at the open market ran by poor people. This is the trendy area of Brighton, so its different!

Somehow, I don’t think the Council will be knocking this building down because the traders aren’t working class. Still, let us be thankful, at least, for that, because at least they recognise that, when people who aren’t poor are selling stuff, that it isn’t junk. Just ask Mr Luzar of Luzar Vestments, who sells traditional and used, as well as those modern sacred vestments!

Readers. Three days ago, I was just a bum. Today, I’m probably, if not the most important antique dealers in the United Kingdom, then I’m one of them. Why? Because I give devout homes to objects of pious devotion that, scandalously, remain unloved in fleamarkets in Brighton and beyond. Firstly I would like to thank Nick Clegg and David Cameron, who have released the entrepreneurial spirit across the length and breadth of the country. Students! Don’t riot! Sell stuff instead!

However, be warned, readers, that the footage you are about to see may shock you, may disturb you, may indeed, horrify you. The awful truth is that religious objects remain alone, unloved, sitting in marketplaces across this country, once called Our Lady’s Dowry. Some viewers may find the following scenes upsetting...

Let’s go inside and investigate!"

[Walk over to religious stall]

"Behold readers, a black cope, of the Victorian era. A little frayed at the top but really rather beautiful. Perfect for that Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Here, to our left, we have….

Readers! It’s a Miracle! This statue of Christ the Consoler is crying!"

[Bend knees]

 "O Lord, I thank thee that Thou hast chosen me to be witness to this Miracle. I am not worthy, a poor sinner in Thy sight. Lord! Tell us, Lord, why are You crying?

Yes…yes…He says that He is crying because he is languishing in this flea market and belongs in a Catholic home, most favourably that of a Priest.

O Lord! Why do You favour a Priest?

Uh-huh…yes…He says because as you will see He has no hands on Earth but for the hands of Priests, without whom bread and wine would never become His Precious Body and Blood. But, Lord, why have You no hands? Was it modernists, Lord? Was it pagans? Was it vile protestants? Was it those Vatican II church wreaking modernist types?

 Uh-huh, yes, yes, uh-huh. Got it! He says it is not important but that the Priest that buys him will always recall that the Lord has no hands on earth but for those of His Priests. Not only that, but the Priest that buys Him shall enjoy a Happy Death and only spend 4 days in Purgatory.

Readers, read the fine print of this contract because it is said that to the Lord a day is like a thousand years.

Uh-huh, yes, yes, yes, yes, uh-huh, got it, yes, yes, uh-huh. Great!

He said he wants £500,000 and for this statue and for half of the money to go to the Building Restoration Fund of St Mary Magdalen’s Church, and for me, His humble instrument, to have the other half. 

Uh-huh, uh-huh, okay. Okay, Lord. He told me not to fib. He said £50. Well, readers, especially Priests, I would take those words very seriously because obviously I believe they came for Our Blessed Lord and if I believe it, then hey! It must be true! I'm off to Medjugorje to meet Marija, Vassula and other go-betweens between the Lord and humanity!

I’m Laurence England and I’m contacting the CDF straightaway about this stunning flea market private and yet public revelation and may God bless you. Buy, buy, buy!"

[Cue music and voiceover. "To help us to produce The Cortex, please send money to..."

New Posters for Sale

Readers! Buy your 'Priest Warns of Hedonistic Gay Lobby' Posters at The Bones's Catholic Store.

Postcards: £1 each

A4 Prints: £2 (framed £10)
A3 Prints: £5 (framed £20)
A2 Posters: £12 (framed £30)

I am thinking this might have particular appeal to Catholic students.

Hedonistic gays can also buy these posters, now available in pink...

Student BMJ: Marriage is good for men's bodies and women's minds

Interesting article from The Telegraph...

'A study published in the Student BMJ says that committed couples live longer than singletons, with the health benefits of companionship increasing over time.Meanwhile having lots of sexual partners can shorten lifespan and divorce can have a devastating impact, the editorial claims.

But spouses benefit from marriage in different ways. Married men are kept physically fit because their wives ensure they lead a healthy lifestyle, while women’s emotional health benefits because they value being in a relationship.

David Gallacher, a trainee at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, and John Gallacher, a reader at Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, write: “Love is a voyage of discovery from dopamine drenched romance to oxytocin induced attachment. Making this journey can be fraught with hazards and lead many to question the value of romance and commitment.

“Nevertheless, the impact of stable long term exclusive relationships on longevity is well established. In a study of one billion person years across seven European countries the married persons had age adjusted mortality rates that were 10-15 per cent lower than the population as a whole. So, on balance, it probably is worth making the effort.”

They cite evidence that romances among teenagers are linked to “increased depressive symptoms”, while relationships among young adults do not improve physical health. So it seems that a degree of maturity is required before Cupid is likely to bring a net health benefit.”

For more click here.

A Few Thoughts on the Traditional Latin Mass from a Non-Catholic

Last night Ben, who has somewhere to stay (for the time being - the Council are housing him for as long as the weather is 'very cold'. Presumably they'll kick him out of the hostel when it warms up) came along to St Mary Magdalen Church for the Latin Mass.

Long term readers will remember that this individual was once thrown out of Midnight Mass by a parishioner two years ago in a rather violent fashion and has never returned to the parish since...until yesterday. I think you'll concede that it takes a brave and courageous man to come back to a parish Church about which his only recollection is that someone hit his head against the wall of the building.

Thankfully, his experience this time was far more hospitable. Midnight Mass, with all the singing, the hymns, the active and vocal participation demanded by the Novus Ordo and the sheer volume of people attending was, looking back, not a very good time for an introduction to the Catholic Faith. In contrast, however, what a very much more pleasant introduction to the liturgy of the Church is a Low Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

I wasn't serving and so was able to sit by Ben. At first I showed him the red English-Latin translation Missal published by Ecclesia Dei. I started telling him the format of the Mass. Soon after Mass begun, however, I told him not to worry about the book. This is because a first-timer is going to find it hard to keep up with what stage of the Mass we are at anyway. I realised it is really best just to be at Mass. One gets this immense feeling at the Latin Mass that everything depends on God, rather than us, a sense that it is us who depend on God, rather than God, or the Mass, indeed, depending on us. We are allowing ourselves to be in the Presence of God who deigns to come to us out of His own pleasure. We are being fed. This is the liturgy in which God does the teaching.

Ben drifted in and out, not of the building, but in his being, dozed a bit at times, he told me. What he did say was that it is a "beautiful Church", that the Mass was "beautiful" and that it was very "peaceful". He said it gave him a special, "tingly" feeling that he remembers from his childhood. "Outside in the World," he said, "life is all about running around, its so hectic", whereas "this place is peaceful".

Well, they were Ben's thoughts and while Ben is not a Catholic they are really rather important. Whether Ben becomes a Catholic in the long term is a mixture of his choice and God's choice. That, however, is not the point of this post. The point of this post is to express the very positive experience of a man who came to St Mary Magdalen's Church who, though 'heavily burdened' found "rest". The question is, if it had been a Novus Ordo Mass, would he have found that same sense of "rest"? Well, he certainly didn't the last time and to be honest, while it was my fault that I left him unattended at the Midnight Mass (something which contributed to his being evicted, mea culpa), at this Mass I could have probably performed my Altar serving duties and not worried about him.

The Latin Mass is accessible to people who are not Catholic because people don't have to do anything but sit, or kneel if they choose, and simply be in the Presence of God. This is its timeless strength! As a newcomer to the Novus Ordo, one would naturally feel as if there was something one had to do, in order to participate. It is noisy and noisiness is just something one finds everywhere on the outside World. The World is full of noise and 'participation'. Ben said that during the Mass he forgot all about his worries, woes and cares. He felt lifted away from them for 40 minutes. He didn't feel like he needed a drink or a smoke or food or money or anything else but what was there. When he dozed, he said he wasn't sleeping, but "resting". The important thing is that, unlike at the Novus Ordo Midnight Mass, he did not feel like a 'fish out of water' but felt included. He felt included, yet he wasn't asked to do anything!

He came to the Presbytery for coffee and got along with other parishioners, though some of the conversations did perhaps leave him not knowing quite what was being talked about all the time. Ben gets evicted from everywhere, has been beaten all around town and is in some ways a 'man of sorrows'. Contrasting the two Masses that Ben attended, it really does make me wonder whether the Church may have lost many a poor man in the last 40 years who will have been put off by the noise of the Novus Ordo or who will have found the Mass in the modern rite difficult to comprehend, perhaps more difficult to comprehend than the Latin language itself...Say a prayer for him and say a prayer that more Priests will learn to say the Traditional Latin Mass, for its benefits to souls, Catholic and non-Catholic, are many and numerous.

Selling Blessed Objects

A reader pointed out to me that it is a sin to sell blessed objects. If the Catholic Store takes off and I sell on blessed objects then remember that what you are actually buying is this postcard of St Mary Magdalen's Church. The item that comes with it which is blessed is something that comes for free. So remember whether you are spending £2.50 or £49.99, you are buying this postcard of the Church, if the object I am selling is blessed.

I know this is alright because I went to an Abbey once where this is more or less what they did with Rosaries blessed by the Holy Father.

Seriously, I need advice on this, since simony is a serious sin. Any objects which we know are blessed should not really be sold. Perhaps I can ask for the cost of the postage to send the object on, as a service to the Catholic community, rather than making any profit out of it, for things like Rosaries. Only one of the objects posted so far, I know to be blessed. I'll remove the price tag for now, on Our Lady of Montserrat.

Nice postcard isn't it? Looks quite good in black and white too, when scanned in.

The Bone's Catholic Store on Ebay

I've set up an Ebay account and am in the process of putting stuff for sale from the Catholic Store on. If there is anything you want let me know and I can stick it up as a priority for you to buy. This means that even if you're in Azerbaijan, you can buy stuff off my blog on Paypal!

Today, I am going to Snoopers Paradise to see if I can strike a deal with one of the stall holders there to put her religious stuff on my Catholic Store. I'm hoping to film some of the stuff she has for sale and put it up on the blog.

Catholic Health Worker Wins Fight for Her Job

Thanks be to God.

Courtesy of Daily Mail

'A Christian health worker who faced the sack after giving an NHS colleague a booklet about the potential dangers of abortion has been allowed to return to work.

Margaret Forrester, 39, claimed to have been ‘bullied’ and ‘treated like a criminal’ for expressing her religious views, but said yesterday that she has now been offered a better job at the same NHS trust.

Christian campaigners yesterday hailed it as a ‘victory for freedom of conscience and freedom of speech’.

Miss Forrester, a Roman Catholic, claims she was suspended in November last year after she handed the £4 pro-life booklet called Forsaken – published by a charity – to her colleague.

It detailed the physical and psychological trauma experienced by five women from Taunton, Somerset, who terminated their pregnancies.

She said she offered it to a family planning worker during a private conversation because she felt the NHS did not give enough information about the potential risks of abortion.

The mental health worker, who has been employed by the NHS for six years, said there was no sign her colleague, with whom she had discussed abortion, was offended by the booklet or by their conversation.'

Read more here...

Foot Massager

Well, my days of paying hundreds of pounds a year for foot massages at the local foot masseurs are well and truly over. I found this delightful wooden foot massager at the open market for just 50p.

I can't put this on my Catholic Store blog, unless I fabricate a story about how this is the foot massager used for bizarre penitential practises by St Josemaria Escriva.

Business is slow and it looks like just 2 days into my life as a self-made Catholic objects for piety merchant, there has been a drop in sales from no sales to even fewer sales. This isn't a want, it's a need!

Still...there's no way I'm selling this.

The Long Voyage Home

This somewhat-forgotten John Ford entry is an underlooked gem. Dark, grim and downbeat, The Long Voyage Home is a fine anti-heroic drama, simply told and artistically expressed.

The SS Glencaim is a small British merchant vessel docked in South America when World War II breaks out. The vessel is assigned to deliver a cargo of high-explosives back to England. The return voyage is decidedly rocky: an American sailor, Yank (Ward Bond) is fatally injured in a storm, secretive Englishman Smitty (Ian Hunter) is suspected of being a German spy, and German aircraft provide a danger. Swedish crewman Ole Hanson (John Wayne) just wants to get home and away from the war, but when the ship arrives in London he's nearly shanghaied onto service with another vessel. Crewmate Driscoll (Thomas Mitchell), a bluff, amiable Irishman, won't stand for this and leads the crew in a rescue attempt.

Aside from some raucous fisticuffs at the beginning, The Long Voyage Home is definitely not your typical Ford film. Working off a series of short plays by Eugene O'Neill (The Iceman Cometh), Ford creates an "anti-adventure film" where the usual maritime heroics are completely absent. Life at sea is monotonous and dangerous, especially with a war on, and the movie is a series of effective vignettes detailing the crew's travails and sacrifices. The film's atmosphere and tone are very much in tune with They Were Expendable, Ford's superior Navy epic celebrating futile heroism (or heroic futility?), but without even that film's cold comfort conclusion.

As expected, Ford provides marvelous direction. The movie is deliberately paced and drags in a few spots, but despite being mostly talk the movie's never boring. Gregg Toland's photography is astonishing, moody, expressive and capturing the fog-shrouded monotony and danger of life at sea. The big dramatic scenes are perfectly staged: Yank's death, the revelation about Smitty and the air raid are phenomenal, and the cruel finale is a real kick in the gut.

The film has an ensemble cast in the truest sense: every actor is good but none really stand out. John Wayne, fresh off Stagecoach, gets top-billing for a tiny role: he's practically an extra with a single big scene near film's end. Thomas Mitchell has probably the biggest role, chewing scenery with reckless abandon. Ford regular Ward Bond gets a meaty role, and Ian Hunter (The Adventures of Robin Hood) makes the most of his tiny part. Mildred Natwick (3 Godfathers) has an excellent scene with Wayne as a desperate hooker. John Qualen plays an early version of the Swedish Chef caricature he'd "perfect" in The Searchers, and it's no less annoying in this incarnation. Other Ford regulars - Barry Fitzgerald, Arthur Shields, the ubiquitous Jack Pennick - populate bit parts.

The Long Voyage Home is another solid entry in John Ford's CV. Along with other films of the time (Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Grapes of Wrath) it shows the director at the peak of his talents.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme to...Repent all ye sinners!

Sunday I went to St Luke's Church (Anglican I think) and saw what they were doing for Brighton's homeless community. They lay on food every third Sunday of the month. St Luke's were low on Bible-thumping and high on music volume. While the liturgy of some Catholic Churches would suggest otherwise, hopefully we would never consider laying on a gig inside a Church even if it were for such a noble cause as performing for the homeless. That's what pubs and community centres are for, after all.

I was unable to film 'Dirty Old Town', which I personally liked, but managed to interrupt my game of Scrabble in order to film this band playing 'Scarborough Fair'. I liked them. The atmosphere of the place was warm, friendly and while you had the odd person going around offering to pray for homeless people with the 'laying on of hands' it didn't appear to me to be too 'full on'.

One of the organisers was interested in my suggestion of seeing if we could form a band with the homeless because I know that some have musical talent. He said he'd been giving it some thought already for quite some time and that the church could be used for practise on Sundays. The drum kit, amps, mics are already there, so if people were interested in it, the idea could take off, could kick off or could go, which is most likely, down in flames.

As the week for Christian Unity in the One True Church gathers apace I attended a Bible-study group at Montpelier Baptist Church, where, alas, I was unable to hold my tongue in conversation with Pastor Stephen Nowak. I shall not go into too much detail, but, suffice to say, the pastor ended up giving me his card and telling me that it is "probably best" if I don't attend groups on a Wednesday because he and I only argue and cause a scene.  He kept referring to 'the Church' throughout the evening, so I asked him whether I am in the Church. He said there were conditions;

(1) That I "believe that Jesus Christ is the Incarnate God, Saviour of the World, that He died and rose again", to which I replied, "Yes, I believe that. So, Catholics are in the Church", I said. 

"Ah yes, (2) but you must be born again..." said Steve.

"...of water and the spirit - Baptised, you mean," I said.

"No, but you must be born again...you don't understand..." he said.

You know the story...

I lost my temper a little and told him that he can give it out when it comes to preaching but he can't take it and asked him why he doesn't take the words of Our Lord literally and seriously when He says, "This is My Body...This is My Blood," since it is clear as day what He meant. The reply? "Jesus spoke in parables. That is a parable."  He said he believed in "liberty of conscience" and that the Catholic Church shouldn't dictate to people how to live their lives. This is not in any particular order, you understand. I asked him what "liberty of conscience" the homeless had when they had to do Bible study before they were able to eat. My project of ecumenical work reaching out to other 'ecclesiastical communities' is, sadly, unravelling. Fair enough, really...it is his 'turf' and all.

The Bible reading was 1 Corinthians 15, on the Resurrection and how our faith would be in vain were it not for the Lord's rising from the dead. See, there is so much on which we Christians can agree! I don't know, however, how he is going to convince the homeless of something so contrary to reason as the Resurrection when he thinks that the idea that Our Lord actually meant what He said about His Body and Blood, rather than it being an example of Our Blessed Lord "speaking in parables" is, in his words, "ridiculous." Still, he knows best. I mean, after all, he's "studied theology and knows the Greek". We ended with a mutual "God bless", the basic Christian courtesy we all wish Protestants had extended to Catholics instead of them being beheaded, disembowled or hung, drawn and quartered for not renouncing the Faith and for not denying Christ and His Church (Stephen was under the impression only Catholics killed other Christians).

If you want to send him some CTS pamphlets, you can do so by sending them to Pastor Stephen Novak, Montpelier Place Baptist Church, Montpelier Place, Brighton, BN1 3BF or you can email him papal encyclicals at stephennowak@btinternet.com. I think I am joking.

Oh, and "all Christians are Saints", apart from St Paul because Saints are things the Catholic Church "made up". The Saints are just "believers in Christ". Uh-huh...Hang on...that David Koresh guy...wasn't he a "born again" Christian? So he was a Saint, after all that! Gosh...it's always the quiet ones isn't it!

Brighton's Open Market to be 'Re-Developed'

Brighton's open market in happier days...

I can't help thinking that Brighton, perhaps Britain, is closing down. Brighton's open market is to close in June for 're-development'. I just talked to one of the stall owners who is very depressed indeed. Livelihoods will be lost.

The market is to be flattened by developers from June to make space for flats and a new, modern market. Those currently trading there will have no priority over the new leases when they come up after the 18 months it will take before the site re-opens for business. I expect that stalls will be taken over by middle-class cheese and chutney sellers, somehow. Don't get me wrong, because I love cheese and chutney, its just that, speaking to one of the stall traders, it became obvious that the demolition of the market (and the livelihoods therein) is part of a Council plan to 'clean-up' the area.

The site is owned by Brighton and Hove City Council. Since the closure of Mears and Sons fruit and vegetable stall (though Mrs Mary Mears still owns the lease on the shop while it remains closed) the market has been decimated with a huge drop in the numbers of customers walking through the market, since the entrance from the Lewes Road side is derelict and hardly looks inviting for custom.

What is sinister is that I am told that it is Mary Mears, who is a Council leader, has most to gain from the re-development of the site, while other stall holders have the most to lose. According to the Open Market website...

'Pat and Mary Mears are often present. Pat's grandfather was among the earliest traders in Brighton's Open Market in the early 1920s - one of those returning from World War 1. In the early years, 90 % of Brighton's residents bought their produce at the Open Market, which boasted 16 greengrocers originally. Pat and Mary are among the 6 or 7 traders who are preparing plans for a £11 million make-over of Brighton's Open Market.'

It looks very much like Mary is selling the rest of the stall traders down the river and that her pocket will gain most out of the proposed redevelopment. Sainsbury's is just up the hill from the Open Market and that has hit the traders. Meanwhile, the 99p store on London Road, just opposite the London Road entrance will not have helped. The Argus reported that Mrs Mears was due to keep her stall open, having sorted out cash flow problems and arrears that she apparently owed for the stall. Yet, as one man told me today, that never happened. It never did re-open. Strangely, nobody else can take over the closed area either, since she hasn't let go of the lease. Much like the fish counter of the market, something smells fishy...

The website continues...

'The £11 million revamp will make provision for 56 permanent market stalls, 58 art and craft workshops, a café and 26 one, two and three-bedroom flats (40% of which will be affordable).

These enterprising traders have taken time to study successful markets in other parts of the UK. Their experience and research has now been incorporated into a complete plan, drawn up by Lomax Cassidy Edwards, the architects behind Brighton’s £14 million, award-winning Jubilee Library. Inspiration has also been taken from study of old Spitalfields Market and Borough Market in Southwark near the banks of The Thames.'

Shops are closing down all over Brighton along the Western Road and here on the London Road. Major stores like Millets have closed down a shop. Long-standing, established firms like Sussex Stationers and British Bookshops are axing staff and closing down more of their shops.

The decimation of a working-class trading community in Brighton

I was going to enquire about the rent rates of the market in an effort to start a stall with some friends, but obviously there is no point considering hiring a space to sell things because, in June, the whole historic area is going to be demolished and replaced by a modernised residential and refurbished market area. One stall owner who I talked to didn't know what he was going to do in June. Sign on, I guess. The stall doesn't make much money, he scrapes by, and he has no existing plan of action for when his livelihood will be taken away from him by Brighton and Hove City Council and the new developers.

I am sure there has been some shady dealings going on. The Argus reported in December 2009 that...

'A tyre dealer is moving to make way for the £17million redevelopment of Brighton's Open Market. Fields Tyres is relocating from Francis Street, Brighton, to a new site in Hove. The move was agreed with Brighton and Hove City Council which is helping the firm to relocate. Developers Hyde-Marlet want to build 87 homes on the site to help fund a dramatic redevelopment of the Open Market.'

It sounds rather like certain lynchpins of the trading community are being bought off individually to gain access to the lucrative land. Apparently, something similar happened in parts of the east end of London, especially near the docks, when developers moved in on working class communities and basically got rid of working class traders only to replace them with new, post, expensive flats and market traders with money who set up their dream delis. This aspect of 'regeneration', I believe, is traditionally called gentrification, something that marks Brighton out, perhaps even a little more than other towns, because property here is so sought after.

Whitehawk and Moulscombe were designed, built and created far out of the town centre in the 1950s and 60s so that 'slum areas' of the town could be cleared and made safe. Rather, what actually occurred was that slum areas were indeed cleared but the slum dwellers, the poor, were moved out of town to two outposts where, surprisingly, there is a higher crime rate, the community is more deprived and the whole areas both have terrible reputations. I believe that the intention in the case of the open market is rather similar in motive.

Life is not fair, I know that. Bad things happen, money talks. Yet, at a time of recession, it looks rather like, under the guise of 'regeneration', a buzz-word that makes you think of children playing in nice parks and nice houses being built for poor people, London Road's communities of traders are being roundly spat upon by big business, big developers, the Council and even some of their fellow traders. My mum came to visit only the other day and told me how cheap it was to get some eggs and bacon and stuff, telling me I should go there more. When the market re-opens, somehow, I think cheap eggs will no longer be sold at the open market.

Regarding the new leases, when they are finally available, the website tells us what kind of stall traders they will be looking for when it finally re-opens in 2012/13...

'There would be space for somebody who wanted a print and design workshop, a nail-polishing stall and even perhaps a local solicitor’s office. However, they would resist any trader who was selling anything too inferior in order not to invite people who merely want to offload junk.'

How insulting! Well, I've just picked up some things to sell on from one of the stalls. Some people like 'junk', after all! Why do you think people go to car boot sales?! As far as I can see, this is just appalling, downright, Victorian-era snobbery from the Council, lording it over a traditional working-class market where people sell things, second-hand items, to get money to feed themselves and their families and kids. What do charity shops (and there are loads of them on the London Road, Scope, Oxfam, British Heart Foundation, Age Concern etc) sell, if it isn't junk!? It really makes me quite furious that the space now dwelt in by one of the traders complaining to me of what is taking place will eventually be taken by a solicitor! I like junk! Everyone, send me your junk, especially if its even vaguely Catholic!

There is no doubt that London Road is very poor, that the shops along it are a bit naff, loads of them are charity shops, it is in a valley, away from the town centre and independent businesses find it hard to survive here. However, what with the closure of the London Road open market and its redevelopment into nice flats and market for cheese sellers, along with the police's consistent entrapping of homeless men and women in order to get them arrested, and put in jail it is more likely that, rather than the Council and the authorities truly aspiring to the 'regeneration' of London Road, they want to clear the area of the very poor, homeless and now working-class people too. So much for the 'entrepreneurial spirit and the 'Big Society'! I wonder what Caroline Lucas MP makes of it...

The Bones's Catholic Store

Following a suggestion by a well-known Priest, I have started a new, online, second hand Catholic shop selling religious items, imaginatively called, The Bones's Catholic Store.

As well as selling items that I find in charity shops, second-hand stores and donations, as well as stuff I find around my flat, I can act as a seller for readers of this blog who wish to find a devout home for Catholic devotional items which they no longer use.

Many of us have more Catholic items than we really want. As pilgrims we pick them up along our journey - books, statues, prayer cards, medals and some of them end up in a drawer somewhere. Some people have religious objects which belonged to other members of their family that they do not want, but may wish to find a home for them with someone who would use these items for their Catholic devotion.

If you have any Catholic items that you no longer want, that you would like me to sell then you can either leave a comment in a post or contact me at englandsgardens@googlemail.com. I will sell it online for you and I can then send you the address of the buyer. If you would like to buy anything, similarly, contact me either via the blog or at my email address and I can send you the item, or, in the case of another selling on my website, send that individual your address.

For the time being, I have not set a price for any of the items. Imagine, if you like, that this is an online car boot sale and that I am asking you to make me an offer.

10% of any money I make from selling will go to the Building Restoration Fund of St Mary Magdalen's Church, whether I sell something that I have found, or whether I sell something that I have sold online for someone else. 10% of the money goes to me, for my living expenses. If I sell for you, the remaining 80% of the money is yours. If, on the other hand, you wish to donate this money to the Building Fund of the Church, to a charity of your choice, or even to me, then that is your choice and it can certainly be arranged.

As well as browsing the items that I have posted so far, let me know if you would like to buy anything from my new Catholic second hand store. If you would like me to sell something for you, icons, statues, crucifixes, rosaries, medals, books, traditional missals etc, then send me a picture of the item, I will post it and then we'll take it from there. In the case of selling your items, you can set the price!

So have a dig around your house, see what you'd like to find a home and spread the Catholic faith!

God bless you, readers!

Oscar time

Well, it's that time of year again. Oscar nominations are out:

Best Picture
'Black Swan'
'The Fighter'
'Inception'
'The Kids Are All Right'
'The King’s Speech'
'127 Hours'
'The Social Network'
'Toy Story 3'
'True Grit'
'Winter’s Bone'

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, 'Black Swan'
David O. Russell, 'The Fighter'
Tom Hooper, 'The King's Speech'
David Fincher, 'The Social Network'
Joel and Ethan Coen, 'True Grit'

Best Actor
Javier Bardem, 'Biutiful'
Jeff Bridges, 'True Grit'
Jesse Eisenberg, 'The Social Network'
Colin Firth, 'The King's Speech'
James Franco, '127 Hours'

Best Actress
Annette Bening, 'The Kids Are All Right'
Nicole Kidman, 'Rabbit Hole'
Jennifer Lawrence, 'Winter's Bone'
Natalie Portman, 'Black Swan'
Michelle Williams, 'Blue Valentine'

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, 'The Fighter'
John Hawkes, 'Winter's Bone'
Jeremy Renner, 'The Town'
Mark Ruffalo, 'The Kids Are All Right'
Geoffrey Rush, 'The King's Speech'

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, 'The Fighter'
Helena Bonham Carter, 'The King's Speech'
Melissa Leo, 'The Fighter'
Hailee Steinfeld, 'True Grit'
Jacki Weaver, 'Animal Kingdom'

Best Animated Feature Film
'How to Train Your Dragon'
'Illusionist'
'Toy Story 3'

Best Foreign Film
Mexico - 'Biutiful'
Greece - 'Dogtooth'
Denmark - 'In a Better World'
Canada - 'Incendies'
Algeria - 'Outside the law'

Best Original Screenplay
'Another Year'
'The Fighter'
'Inception'
'The Kids Are All Right'
'The King's Speech'

Best Adapted Screenplay
'127 Hours'
'The Social Network'
'Toy Story 3'
'True Grit'
'Winter's Bone'

Best Art Direction
'Alice in Wonderland'
'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I'
'Inception'
'The King's Speech'
'True Grit'

Best Costume Design
'Alice in Wonderland'
'I Am Love'
'The King's Speech'
'The Tempest'
'True Grit'

Best Original Song
'Coming Home' - 'Country Strong'
'I See the Light' - 'Tangled'
'If I Rise' - '127 Hours'
'We Belong Together' - 'Toy Story 3'

Best Original Score
'How to Train Your Dragon' John Powell
'Inception' Hans Zimmer
'The King's Speech' Alexandre Desplat
'127 Hours' A.R. Rahman
'The Social Network' Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Best Documentary
'Exit Through the Gift Shop'
'Gasland'
'Inside Job'
'Restrepo'
'Waste Land'

Best Film Editing
'Black Swan'
'The Fighter'
'The Kings Speech'
'127 Hours'
'The Social Network'

Best Makeup
'Barney's Version'
'The Way Back'
'The Wolfman'

Best Sound Editing
'Inception'
'Toy Story 3'
'TRON: Legacy'
'True Grit'
'Unstoppable'

Best Sound Mixing
'Inception'
'The King's Speech'
'Salt'
'The Social Network'
'True Grit'

Best Visual Effects
'Alice in Wonderland'
'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1'
'Hereafter'
'Inception'
'Iron Man 2'

Best Documentary (Short Subject)
'Killing in the Name'
'Poster Girl'
'Strangers No More'
'Sun Comes Up'
'The Warriors of Qiugang'

Best Visual Short Film (Animated)
'Day & Night'
'The Gruffalo'
'Let's Pollute'
'The Lost Thing'
'Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)'

Best Short Film (Live Action)
'The Confession'
'The Crush'
'God of Love'
'Na Wewe'
'Wish 143'

Quick thoughts:

I've seen six of the ten Best Picture nominees, and aside from 127 Hours I've no great desire to see the rest. As I've expressed my loathing for the ten nominees system before, I don't see the need to waste time and money on padding anyway.

It's nice to see True Grit getting nine nominations. But does it stand a chance of winning any? Maybe Steinfeld and Deakens.

It seems The Social Network is the prohibitive favorite right now, and if it won Best Picture I'd be satisfied. It was a good flick.

The King's Speech and Toy Story 3 I'm more or less indifferent about, but I'd have no problem with either winning (like Toy Story 3 has a chance in hell).

Screw Inception and Black Swan. Vapid hype and hot air ought not be the stuff of Oscar nominations.

I haven't seen enough of the performances to pick winners there, though I'm pleasantly surprised to see Geoffrey Rush get a nomination.

I might actually watch this year since I have a dog or two in the fight. Plus not holding the Oscars over spring break helps, too. We'll see.

I will definitely keep an eye on TCM, as usual, since their 31 Days of Oscar is starting soon.

And finally, a nice piece detailing why True Grit is a hit. Good man, you've saved me the trouble.

Army of Crime

It seems like all of the interesting World War II movies are now coming out of Europe. Save an occasional gem like Valkyrie, Hollywood's recent takes on the subject have been cliched, forgettable garbage like Defiance and Flags of Our Fathers, showing perhaps that America's fascination with killing Nazis and Japs has finally reached a saturation point. (Forget Inglourious Basterds, which is unique only in a terrible Tarantino way.) Recent European efforts like Black Book and Downfall show, however, that there are still interesting stories from history's biggest conflict if filmmakers are willing to veer from Hollywood convention.

Add Army of Crime to that list. This little-seen French film from 2009 provides a remarkably complex portrait of Nazi-occupied France beyond the usual glamorous resistance cliches. It's a truly excellent film, a taut thriller that provides a thoughtful portrayal of a painful time in French history.

At the height of the German occupation of France, a disparate group of left-wing resistance fighters emerges. Among the prominent members are Missak Manouchian (Simon Abkarian), an Armenian emigre who survived the Turkish genocide of WWI only to find himself in the midst of the Holocaust; Thomas Elek (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet), a hotheaded, impulsive young Hungarian Communist; and Marcel Rayman (Robinson Stevenin), a Polish immigrant athlete. Along with an additional gaggle of Jews, immigrants and leftists, they form the Manouchian Group, engaging in a campaign of assassinations and terrorist bombings against the Nazis. However, their efforts bear little fruit, as Nazi reprisals discourage popular uprising, and the Paris police crack down on the Resistance, ensuring that the Manouchian Group's days are numbered.

American films from Hangmen Also Die! to The Train tend to present the Resistance in an idealized light, with fearless Frenchmen/Czechs/Dutch/etc. uniting against Nazi tyranny. The international co-production Is Paris Burning? admirably tried to show the complexity of the French Resistance and the difficulties of mounting an uprising, but that over-ambitious epic collapsed under its own weight. Occasionally a more nuanced foreign effort appears, like Melville's Army of Shadows (1969) or Verhoeven's Soldier of Orange (1977), but these are few and far between.

Army of Crime points up an uncomfortable truth: most French people willingly collaborated with the Nazis, whether out of fear or ideological solidarity. An early scene has Thomas confronted by an anti-Semitic creep, and later the arrest of the gang's key figures is abetted by ordinary Frenchmen. The local police work hat in hand with the Nazis, with the police Commissioner's (Yann Tregouet) brutal methods impressing even the SS. A German officer proudly remarks that a mass round-up of Resistance suspects went off without a single German present. Constantly, our protagonists claim that they're fighting Germans, and indeed their targets are almost exclusively Wehrmacht and SS troops, but it's their fellow Frenchmen who ultimately doom them.

As elsewhere in Europe, the Germans harnessed French nationalism by declaring their counterinsurgency a crusade against Communism. The Manouchian Group was a particularly appealing target, its members a mixture of immigrants, Jews, Communists, and former members of the International Brigades who fought Franco in Spain: hardly a collection of patriotic Frenchmen! Any sputters of serious resistance were met with hideously disproportionate reprisals, "fair but merciless repression" in the words of a propaganda broadcaster. Even after the liberation, surviving leftist groups were shafted by the Gaullists, whose triumphal march into Paris gave them carte blanche in the world's eyes.

Army of Crime accompanies this fascinating thematic content with an engrossing story and characters. Our protagonists are an eclectic bunch whose dedication to the cause is matched only by their ill-experience. Missak is the most interesting of the bunch; having survived one genocide in Armenia, he's not willing to let another take place, yet his reluctance to kill hampers his effectiveness as a guerilla. Monique (Lola Naymark), Marcel's girlfriend, wants to join the cell even though she's sleeping with a police inspector (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) to ensure Marcel is treated well in prison. Unquestionably their portrayal is romanticized; the movie makes a point that they won't kill innocent bystanders, even Germans, which seems hard to swallow. But they're certainly compelling, and the film's grimly down-to-earth atmosphere balances out the potential for hero-worship.

The biggest complaint that can be leveled against Army of Crime is that its story structure follows the standard Resistance film framework; veterans of WWII movies can see most plot developments and character arcs develop well in advance. But when the film's events are so gripping and well-staged, why complain? And in any case, its thoughtful and unusually complex portrayal of events overwhelms such minor concerns.

Director Robert Guediguian helms a fine production. The film is slow-moving but never boring, with beautiful photography and well-staged set-pieces. A few mildly-annoying style choices crop up: several terrorist attacks are interrupted by flashy slow motion and ill-advised, iconographic double exposures of the Resistance fighter committing said act. But these are minor blips in otherwise commendable film.

Simon Abkarian (Persepolis) is perfectly cast as Missak, a passionate intellectual who has trouble becoming a man of action. Virginie Ledoyen is equally strong as his devoted wife, just as willing to sacrifice herself for the cause. Robinson Stevenin and Gregoire Leprince-Ringuent do fine work as the Resistance's young hot-heads whose devotion outweights common sense. Yann Tregouet and Jean-Pierre Darroussin and play notably slimy villains.

Overall, Army of Crime is a stellar depiction of the French Resistance and Nazi occupation of France.

"You Don't Have to Be Gay to Teach Here, But It Helps!"

An absurdly crude stereotype of of the homosexual culture

"Hi, kids! So, today we're teaching maths. Look. I've got here with me two friends. Now, who can tell me, if I have sex with these two men consistently over a lifetime, how many children will result from these encounters?"


The Telegraph today reports that....

'Children are to be taught about homosexuality in maths, geography and science lessons as part of a Government-backed drive to "celebrate the gay community".

The mind boggles. Gay maths? Gay geography? Gay science? How the? What the? For more information on the section of the Stonewall website entitled, ahem, 'What We Do...At Schools', click here.

Try and Get Me!

Kudos to Netflix for inexplicably having this super-obscure, unavailable on DVD film in the deep recesses of their Instant Watch collection! Who knows what treasures I'll next uncover there? The missing cut of The Magnificent Ambersons? The full version of Greed? The lost footage from Major Dundee? Oh right, there's a movie to review.

Cy Endfield's Try and Get Me! (1950) (also known as The Sound of Fury) is one of the most angry, bitter and cynical films noir out there, which is saying something. A heavily-fictionalized telling of the infamous Brooke Hart murder and lynching, it uses the case to a cast a grim light on post-war America as an unfeeling, materialistic place easily whipped into a violent frenzy.

Howard Tyler (Frank Lovejoy) is a decent guy who can't catch a break. He already has one kid by his wife Judy (Kathleen Ryan) and she's pregnant again. While bumming around town, Howard runs into Jerry Slocum (Lloyd Bridges), a charismatic hood who convinces Howard to join his small-time criminal enterprise. The two graduate from petty robberies into the big time when they kidnap a local college student for ransom - though Jerry complicates things by deliberately murdering him. As the two languish in jail, journalist Gil Stanton (Richard Carlson) writes sensational stories that inflame the townspeople, until a mob of thousands gathers outside the jail to avenge the murder.

In 1933, college student Brooke Hart was kidnapped and murdered by two petty criminals in San Jose, California. The two were arrested, but fear that they might be let off for a legal technicality whipped the townspeople into blind rage. A crowd of 6,000 men, women and children stormed the jail, beat off the sheriff's deputies and lynched the two criminals. Only one of the mob was ever tried, and California Governor Sonny Rolfe, who had refused to dispatch National Guard troops to guard the jail, openly praised the mob in interviews. It's one of the most shameful and repulsive events in modern American history, and makes for a great social drama.

At least four movies have been inspired by the incident, including two recent indie films. Fritz Lang's Fury (1936) used the case for an overwrought, contrived allegory condemning revenge. Try and Get Me! is no less angry than Lang's film, but lacks its silly story and feverish speechmaking. Unlike Fury and The Ox-Bow Incident, it's notsomuch an anti-lynching tract as a stark criticism of American society.

Endfield and writer Joe Pagano paint a decidedly ugly picture of America. Howard's a basically decent guy who is driven to crime by desperation, the purest form of liberal, Hollywood criminology. The gossiping, materialistic townspeople are indifferent to his plight and readily turn on him when the crime. The film saves its strongest venom for the media: a local newspaper runs sensationalist stories about the crime spree, providing a catalyst for the lynching. (The media blowing a story way out of proportion? Say it ain't so!) As in the real case, a gaggle of college students are prominent in the lynch mob, joining ordinary townspeople to transform a grim lynching into a fun night on the town.

On an entirely different level is the Howard-Jerry dynamic, an odd bundle of nerves and neuroses. Their relationship owes much to Leopold and Loeb, with the cagey, very masculine Jerry dominating the weak-willed, wimpy Howard. A bizarrely homoerotic scene early on makes explicit that contemporary films like Rope only hinted at. And it's very much to Endfield's credit that, unlike Fury and other similar films (The Bravados, anyone?) the two crooks are unquestionably guilty. Aside from In Cold Blood's pair of psycho killers, it's hard to think of a more twisted and hateful criminal duo.

The film isn't without flaws. Endfield's leftism gets away from him at times, and the movie can't help but make its share of Stanley Kramer-ish speeches. An Italian professor (Renzo Casana) lectures the other characters on the "root causes" of crime and violence. The exchanges between the mob and the police at film's end turn into an obvious mess of author's messages, and the scenes with a blind preacher haranguing the townspeople clunk. Such obnoxiousness is the stock and trade of "message films," and perhaps oughtn't be criticized too much. What counts is the material surrounding these bits, and Try and Get Me! is otherwise a solid film.

Director Cy Endfield is best-remembered for Zulu, his iconic British war epic, but in 1950 he was an up-and-coming Hollywood director fresh off his biggest hit, The Underworld Story. A year after Try and Get Me!, Endfield was hauled before HUAC, and spent the rest of his career abroad, Hollywood's loss and Britain's gain.

Endfield's direction is masterful. The film has a wonderful air of claustrophobia, with Guy Roe's tight photography (heavy use of Dutch angles) and George Amy's sharp editing creating a remarkably oppressive film. The lynching finale is a remarkable set-piece, using a cast of hundreds to simulate a chillingly real and horrifying act of mob violence. It's a savage and brutal climax, and our protagonists don't stand a chance.

Frank Lovejoy makes a fine protagonist, completely believable as the desperate, destitute Everyman dragged into a life of crime. Stealing the show, however, is Lloyd Bridges, who was never better than here. His Jerry is a truly repulsive character, a creature of passions with no remorse for his crime and no concern about consequences. The beautiful Kathleen Ryan (Odd Man Out) is perfectly cast as Howard's tragic wife.

Try and Get Me! is a remarkably unique film, and it's a real shame that the film's not more readily available. Thank God for Netflix I suppose.

"God hates..."

God 'hates' gays, abortionists, shrimp, figs and Catholics...

Catholics, apparently! I met a lady after Mass today who is really rather poor. By co-incidence she told me that she recently went to Montpelier Baptist Church, on a Wednesday evening, because she is living on the breadline and needed some food. Say a prayer for her mother who is gravely ill.

Apparently, when the pastor found out she was Catholic, due to his enthusiastic embracing of what can only be some kind of equal opportunity scheme in the distribution of Christian charity, he told her she shouldn't really come to the Baptist Church for food because, er, she's a Catholic!

I guess, what with being a Catholic, she is already a "lost sheep" in the eyes of pastor Stephen, ensnared, as she is, in Popish superstition, sacramental folly and abject rejection of sola scriptura theology. He indicated to her that because she doesn't go to the Baptist church, she shouldn't come for food. If, by some Miracle, I am allowed back in this Wednesday, I'll gladly point out to him that, as far as I am aware, none of the homeless and poor of Brighton go to attend Sunday services at the Baptist church, so why pick on just the Catholics?

After all, shouldn't he be thanking us since it was the Catholic Church that compiled and translated the Bible from the original Hebrew, then Greek, then Latin or whatever? No Catholic Church = no Bible = no Baptist church = no pastor Steve! It's simple maths! In this week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it only seems fitting to remind him of Christ's proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven to the Poor and that true Christian unity is to be found in God's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I'll give the lady in question a bell this week and see if she fancies praying the Rosary in the corner of the room while pastor Stephen gives his biblically-based exegesis on why God sends all Catholics to Hell, or pick him up on any erroneous doctrines that result from his Bible study.

When is a Marriage Not a Marriage?

The Bulls: "Not while you're under my roof, you don't!"

The Last Knight, whose blog, Noise of the Crusade, is producing some welcome online activity, has posted some thoughtful legal analysis of the Hall and Preddy v Bull and Bull case in which Judge Rutherford assessed that there is no difference, in application of the Equality Act, between a civil partnership and marriage.

On 18 January 2011 His Honour Judge Rutherford handed down judgment at Bristol County Court in the case of Hall and Preddy v Bull and Bull. Martin Hall and Steven Preddy, who had contracted a civil partnership with each other under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, had booked a double room at the Chymorvah Hotel, run by Mr and Mrs Bull, for the nights of 5 and 6 September 2008. The learned Judge appears to have accepted that they made the booking in ignorance of the fact that the hotel operated a policy whereby double rooms were let to “heterosexual married couples only”. Mr Hall and Mr Preddy were informed of this fact by an employee of the hotel on their arrival and left to secure alternative accommodation. They then proceeded to bring a claim against Mr and Mrs Bull for damages and a declaration to the effect that they had been subject to unlawful discrimination. The claim was founded on the provisions of the Equality Act (Sexual Discrimination) Regulations 2007.

The relevant provisions of the Regulations are as follows. Under Regulation 3(1), direct discrimination is defined as the state of affairs which obtains when “A treats B less favourably less favourably than he would treat others” on the grounds of B’s (or another’s) sexual orientation “in cases where there is no material difference in the circumstances”. Indirect discrimination is defined by Regulation 3(3) as a criterion or practice (a) applied equally by A, but which (b) “puts persons of B’s sexual orientation at a disadvantage compared to some or all others”, (c) “which puts B at a disadvantage compared to some or all persons who are not of his sexual orientation”, and (d) which A cannot reasonably justify by reference to matters other than B’s sexual orientation. As with Regulation 3(1), it applied where there is “no material difference in the circumstances” of B and those with whom he is compared. Regulation 3(4) reads thus: “For the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (3), the fact that one of the persons (whether or not B) is a civil partner while the other is married shall not be treated as a material difference in the relevant circumstances....”

For full article click here.

Something tells me the Last Knight has some legal knowledge!

The Sea Hawk

In the '30s and early '40s, Michael Curtiz and Errol Flynn were a dream team, producing some of Hollywood's best Golden Age action films: Captain Blood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Adventures of Robin Hood. These lightweight but lavish costume epics make for thrilling entertainment, with lavish sets and costumes, witty screenplays, meticulously-staged swordfights and Eric Wolfgang Korngold's rousing music.

The Sea Hawk (1940) is an entertaining film, but not one of the better Curtiz-Flynn collaborations. Released at the height of the Battle of Britain, its paralleling Elizabethan England to World War II America is unmistakable and makes it more than just a stylish swashbuckler. It's a reasonably entertaining film that suffers from an uneven pace and some heavy-handed political content.

It's 1585, and Spanish King Phillip II (Montagu Love) is preparing his Spanish Armada to subjugate England. His new ambassador, Don de Cordoba (Claude Rains), and his niece Maria (Brenda Marshall) are intercepted during his voyage to London by privateer Geoffrey Thorpe (Errol Flynn), a gallant captain waging covert war with Spain with the tacit approval of Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson). Thorpe falls for Maria, but before their romance can blossom he sets sail for Panama to raid Spanish treasure ships. Unfortunately, he's been betrayed by Lord Wolfingham (Henry Daniell), a treacherous member of Elizabeth's court, and Thorpe and his crew are press-ganged as slaves for the Spanish fleet. Thorpe must escape and get back to England to expose Wolfingham's perfidy, warn Elizabeth of the impending Spanish invasion - and get the girl, of course.

The Sea Hawk retains most of the humor, frivolity and cheerful anarchy common to these films. "It would be just like those Spaniards to surrender and spoil our fun," sneers a pirate before the curtain-raising battle scene. The excellent sea battles and swordfights are staged at a pure fantasy level, and these bits are nothing short of exhilarating. However, the film has pretensions to topicality and seriousness that undermine the cheeriness a bit.

The movie's politics are rather obvious, giving The Sea Hawk a more pointed edge than its peers. King Phillip is a power-mad egomaniac with a world map painted in his office (recalled in the Pirates of the Caribbean films), dreaming of global Spanish hegemony. Elizabeth and her advisors publicly try to keep peace, with Flynn's gang an Elizabethian Eagle Squadron fighting evil on their own initiative. The dastardly Wolfingham is not a misguided conservative but actively allied with the Spaniards. Tellingly, the film ends with Elizabeth's pre-battle soliloquy rather than the Armada battle itself, a stirring cry for the defense of freedom: the real battle is yet to be fought.

Dramatically, The Sea Hawk is a mixed bag. Because of its thematic baggage, the film is very talky, with Flynn and his co-stars having to navigate long swaths of dense dialogue, from political speeches to exposition. These lengthy debates and speeches, and a long digression in Panama drag the film to a crawl in spots. The middle third seems to drag on forever, though the action picks up in time for the rousing finale. Still, compared to the brisk pacing and breakneck action of, say, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk is slow and uneven.

Behind the camera, Curtiz is as good as ever, and despite a lack of Technicolor it's certainly a beautiful and visually captivating film. The battle scenes are rousing and well-staged, with appropriate scope and excitement. The highlight is the climactic duel between Thorpe and Wolfington, an intricately-staged, thrilling set-piece that may well be the best swordfight in film history. Anton Grot delivers remarkable set design and costuming, and it wouldn't be a Curtiz film without a beautiful Korngold score.

Errol Flynn is in top form, as chivalrous, witty and heroic as ever. Brenda Marshall is fine replacement for Olivia de Havilland, and Flora Robson (55 Days at Peking) makes a wonderfully regal and commanding Queen Bess. The supporting cast is made up of dependable Warner Bros. stock actors: Claude Rains (Casablanca) and Henry Daniell as slimy villains, Alan Hale (The Adventures of Robin Hood) as Flynn's sidekick, Donald Crisp (The Man From Laramie) as a sympathetic nobleman and Una O'Connor (The Informer) in comic relief. Other familiar faces like Whit Bissell (The Magnificent Seven), Edgar Buchanan (Ride the High Country) and Gilbert Roland (The Furies) can be spotted in bit parts.

The Sea Hawk is worthwhile, even if it's far from a masterpiece. Bogged down a bit by topical" concerns, it's still respectable matinee entertainment.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider Calls for New Syllabus to Clarify Vatican II

A excellent speech by Bishop Athanasius Schneider has been doing the rounds on the blog-o-sphere. For anyone who missed it, here it is....

The Challenge of Opposing Interpretations

by Athanasius Schneider

'For a correct interpretation of Vatican Council II, it is necessary to keep in mind the intention manifested in the conciliar documents themselves and in the specific words of the popes who convened and presided over it, John XXIII and Paul VI.

Moreover, it is necessary to discover the common thread of the entire work of the Council, meaning its pastoral intention, which is the "salus animarum," the salvation of souls. This, in turn, depends on and is subordinate to the promotion of divine worship and of the glory of God, it depends on the primacy of God.

This primacy of God in life and in all the activity of the Church is manifested unequivocally by the fact that the constitution on the liturgy occupies, conceptually and chronologically, the first place in the vast work of the Council.

The characteristic of the rupture in the interpretation of the conciliar texts is manifested in a more stereotypical and widespread way in the thesis of an anthropocentric, secularist, or naturalistic shift of Vatican Council II with respect to the previous ecclesial tradition. One of the best-known manifestations of such a mistaken interpretation has been, for example, so-called liberation theology and the subsequent devastating pastoral practice.

What contrast there is between this liberation theology and its practice and the Council appears evident from the following conciliar teaching: "Christ, to be sure, gave His Church no proper mission in the political, economic or social order. The purpose which He set before her is a religious one" (cf. "Gaudium et Spes," 42).

One interpretation of rupture of lighter doctrinal weight has been manifested in the pastoral liturgical field. One might mention in this regard the decline of the sacred and sublime character of the liturgy, and the introduction of more anthropocentric elements of expression. This phenomenon can be seen in three liturgical practices that are fairly well known and widespread in almost all the parishes of the Catholic sphere: the almost complete disappearance of the use of the Latin language, the reception of the Eucharistic body of Christ directly in the hand while standing, and the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice in the modality of a closed circle in which priest and people are constantly looking at each other.

This way of praying – without everyone facing the same direction, which is a more natural corporal and symbolic expression with respect to the truth of everyone being oriented toward God in public worship – contradicts the practice that Jesus himself and his apostles observed in public prayer, both in the temple and in the synagogue. It also contradicts the unanimous testimony of the Fathers and of all the subsequent tradition of the Eastern and Western Church. These three pastoral and liturgical practices glaringly at odds with the law of prayer maintained by generations of the Catholic faithful for at least one millennium find no support in the conciliar texts, and even contradict both a specific text of the Council (on the Latin language: cf. "Sacrosanctum Concilium," 36 and 54) and the "mens," the true intention of the conciliar Fathers, as can be seen in the proceedings of the Council.

In the hermeneutical uproar of the contrasting interpretations, and in the confusion of pastoral and liturgical applications, what appears as the only authentic interpreter of the conciliar texts is the Council itself, together with the pope. One could make a comparison with the confused hermeneutical climate of the first centuries of the Church, caused by arbitrary biblical and doctrinal interpretations on the part of heterodox groups. In his famous work "De Praescriptione Haereticorum," Tertullian was able to counter the heretics of various tendencies with the fact that only the Church possesses the "praescriptio," meaning only the Church is the legitimate proprietor of the faith, of the word of God and of the tradition. The Church can use this to fend off the heretics in disputes over true interpretation. Only the Church can say, according to Tertullian, "Ego sum heres Apostolorum," I am the heir of the apostles. By way of analogy, only the supreme magisterium of the pope or of a future ecumenical council will be able to say: "Ego sum heres Concilii Vaticani II."

In recent decades there existed, and still exist today, groupings within the Church that are perpetrating an enormous abuse of the pastoral character of the Council and its texts, written according to this pastoral intention, since the Council did not want to present its own definitive or unalterable teachings. From the same pastoral nature of the texts of the Council, it can be seen that its texts are in principle open to supplementation and to further doctrinal clarifications. Keeping in mind the now decades-long experience of interpretations that are doctrinally and pastorally mistaken and contrary to the bi-millennial continuity of the doctrine and prayer of the faith, there thus arises the necessity and urgency of a specific and authoritative intervention of the pontifical magisterium for an authentic interpretation of the conciliar texts, with supplementation and doctrinal clarifications; a sort of "Syllabus" of the errors in the interpretation of Vatican Council II.

There is the need for a new Syllabus, this time directed not so much against the errors coming from outside of the Church, but against the errors circulated within the Church by supporters of the thesis of discontinuity and rupture, with its doctrinal, liturgical, and pastoral application. Such a Syllabus should consist of two parts: the part that points out the errors, and the positive part with proposals for clarification, completion, and doctrinal clarification.

Two groupings stand out for their support of the theory of rupture. One of these groupings tries to "Protestantize" the life of the Church doctrinally, liturgically, and pastorally. On the opposite side are those traditional groups which, in the name of tradition, reject the Council and exempt themselves from submission to the supreme living magisterium of the Church, from the visible head of the Church, the vicar of Christ on earth, submitting meanwhile only to the invisible head of the Church, waiting for better times. 

In essence, there have been two impediments preventing the true intention of the Council and its magisterium from bearing abundant and lasting fruit. One was found outside of the Church, in the violent process of cultural and social revolution during the 1960's, which like every powerful social phenomenon penetrated inside the Church, infecting with its spirit of rupture vast segments of persons and institutions. The other impediment was manifested in the lack of wise and at the same time intrepid pastors of the Church who might be quick to defend the purity and integrity of the faith and of liturgical and pastoral life, not allowing themselves to be influenced by flattery or fear.

The Council of Trent had already affirmed in one of its last decrees on the general reform of the Church: "The holy synod, shaken by the many extremely serious evils that afflict the Church, cannot do other than recall that the thing most necessary for the Church of God is to select excellent and suitable pastors; all the more in that our Lord Jesus Christ will ask for an account of the blood of those sheep that should perish because of the bad governance of negligent pastors unmindful of their duty" (Session XXIV, Decree "de reformatione," can. 1). 

The Council continued: "As for all those who for any reason have been authorized by the Holy See to intervene in the promotion of future prelates or those who take part in this in another way, the holy Council exhorts and admonishes them to remember above all that they can do nothing more useful for the glory of God and the salvation of the people than to devote themselves to choosing good and suitable pastors to govern the Church."

So there is truly a need for a Syllabus on the Council with doctrinal value, and moreover there is a need for an increase in the number of holy, courageous pastors deeply rooted in the tradition of the Church, free from any sort of mentality of rupture, both in the doctrinal field and in the liturgical field.

These two elements constitute the indispensable condition so that doctrinal, liturgical, and pastoral confusion may diminish significantly, and so that the pastoral work of Vatican Council II may bear much lasting fruit in the spirit of the tradition, which connects us to the spirit that has reigned in every time, everywhere and in all true children of the Catholic Church, which is the only and the true Church of God on earth.'