Sunday, June 30, 2013

Who's afraid of the Latin Mass?




I mean, of course, the Tridentine Latin Mass, the Mass of all time, the EF Mass.

There certainly does seem to be a fear of this form of Mass (Latinophobia?) among many members of the clergy and, certainly among the laity, the bulk of whom, I suspect, have never attended a Latin Mass in their young lives.

We know, of course, that most of the English and Welsh Bishops are phobic about the old Mass but, leaving them on one side for a change let's examine the fear amongst priests and laity.

I believe that the 'fear' takes two forms.

Firstly the fear of the  unknown and of hearing or using a foreign language, and, secondly, the fear of what they believe the old rite of Mass might represent (old fashioned, fuddy duddy fire and brimstone type attitudes and smoke and bells pageantry).

Let us employ some aversion therapy:-

1. The Latin Mass is only 'unknown' because it is unfamiliar - you know how to crack that one don't you Father?
Just say the black and do the red.

2. Worried about the 'Latin'? - remember those initial summer holidays in France and how you struggled to muster enough French to order a round of drinks?
 Well, it's the same with Latin, only.....much easier.

Basically, you won't go far wrong pronouncing Latin more or less as it appears on the page.
Just a couple of exceptions...'J' is pronounced as a 'Yay' or a 'Yu' and 'C' can be either a 'Ch' sound (when it appears followed by a vowel as in 'Caeli' ('Chay-lee') or, as a hard 'K' sound when it is followed by an 'H', for example, 'Choro; becomes 'Kor-oh'.

There, that was easy wasn't it?

Also, if you are worried about how you can follow a Mass in Latin as a layman, your missal has a vernacular translation opposite the Latin text.

And if you still think that only Oxbridge graduates can speak Latin, remember that medieval peasants coped with it very well.

3. As for the ritual and smoke and bells, they all help to link us back both to elements of the Jewish tradition of the Old Testament and to the formation of the liturgy in the years following the crucifixion and resurrection. And they all have a meaning, they are not symbolic relics of a dimly remembered past, although, at times, some symbolism may be involved.

4. Lastly, some priests and laymen and women are worried that attendance at Latin Masses will change them in some way.
That is true. You will become less self focused and more God focused, you will be led down a route to greater reverence, you will comprehend the benefits of meditative prayer and you will understand the universality of the Faith.

Best of all, you will no longer be Latinophobic!

Tu Es Petrus




I found this little Tu Es Petrus video with images of Pope Francis.

May the Lord grant the Successor of St Peter, His Holiness Pope Francis, long life and a glorious and fruitful reign as the Chief Shepherd of the Faithful for the glory of God, for the Salvation of souls and for the wise and prudent governance of Holy Church. 

Sorry this gesture of affection and filial love comes a day late, Your Holiness, but that's what happens when the Bishops' Conferences are allowed too much authority. They'd move Christmas Day to the following Sunday if they could.


Saturday, June 29, 2013

Hillsborough

Jimmy McGovern highlighted 1989's Hillsborough tragedy in his Cracker episode To Be a Somebody. The death of 96 Liverpool FC fans in a crush spurred serial killer Albie Kinsella's (Robert Carlyle) misguided vendetta against the police, media and society in general. Stung by criticism of this show as insensitive, McGovern atoned by writing Hillsborough (1996). This iTV drama earns credibility by drawing on an extensive documentary record, yet proves compelling in its visceral anger.

On April 15th, 1989 Liverpool FC plays Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup match in Sheffield, England's Hillsborough Stadium. Fearing a riot, police crowd Liverpool fans into a small interior pen, resulting in a deadly crush. Trevor Hicks (Christopher Eccleston), who lost two teenaged daughters, organizes the Hillsborough Families Support Group to demand justice. Initially their efforts bear fruit, with Lord Justice Taylor's 1990 report damning the South Yorkshire police. But the government drags its feet holding anyone accountable, while Hicks and other survivors deal with media harassment and inexorable grief.

America's sports obsession scarcely touches British devotion to soccer; in many quarters, football is something akin to a religion. Even a cursory read of Hillsborough lays bare lingering class assumptions: that working class football fans are anarchic brutes who "behave like wild animals." Especially in Liverpool, an industrial city long regarded as England's armpit. While hooliganism has engendered many tragedies (from Heysel Stadium to 2007 riots in Catania, Italy), snobbish stereotyping provide a convenient excuse for official repression and political indifference.

McGovern and director Charles MacDougall take care not to sensationalize events, drawing on trial transcripts and eyewitness accounts. They show Hillsborough as the result of tragic mistakes rather than deliberate malice. But the self-serving official cover up, abetted by tabloids like The Sun, is inexcusable. From the beginning, the South Yorkshire Police seek to paint Liverpool fans as drunken animals; one tells a reporter he witnessed survivors robbing the dead. The full extent of police chicanery (including the doctoring of witness statements) didn't come to light until 2012's Hillsborough Independent Report, which makes McGovern's treatment seem generous.

But McGovern's as interested in the human toll as making a statement. Besides expected grief, Hicks deals also with his wife's (Annabelle Apsion) near-breakdown and public role heading the Support Group. Others don't handle it so well: Joe Glover (Scot Womack) receives the ultimate indignity of being blamed for his brother's death. The Support Group scenes crackle with drama, the survivors unable to maintain a united front against official indifference. After the coroner's inquest, a witness starts singing Liverpool's anthem You'll Never Walk Alone. Her colleagues are too consumed with rage to embrace this sentimental gesture.

Christopher Eccleston gives a commendable turn. Hicks is a difficult role, wracked with grief but forced to act as Hillsborough's calm public face. Eccleston nails both in a powerful performance, matched Annabelle Apsion's sensitive portrait of wife Jennifer. Ricky Tomlinson and David Womack provide less measured reactions; Tomlinson proves particularly powerful, unwilling to restrain his emotion. Maurice Roeves (The Last of the Mohicans) gives an odious performance, with Ian McDiarmid (Elizabeth I) provides the icy face of official justice.

Hillsborough is a remarkable work. While evincing the limitations of television drama, it conveys the raw anger and emotional devastation inherent in any disaster. Twenty-four years later, the quest for answers (and justice) continues unabated.

I'm with James Bond here......

.....I like my Marinis shaken, not stirred....

Georg Gaenswein, Piero Marini Pictures & Photos
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI giving Archbishop Marini a bit of a shake


I do hope that Laurence England's teaser post is wrong!

United in Our Differences


'In the Church, variety, which is itself a great treasure, is always grounded in the harmony of unity, like a great mosaic in which every small piece joins with others as part of God’s one great plan. This should inspire us to work always to overcome every conflict which wounds the body of the Church. United in our differences: this is the way of Jesus! The pallium, while being a sign of communion with the Bishop of Rome and with the universal church, also commits each of you to being a servant of communion. To confess the Lord by letting oneself be taught by God; to be consumed by love for Christ and his Gospel; to be servants of unity. These, dear brother bishops, are the tasks which the holy apostles Peter and Paul entrust to each of us, so that they can be lived by every Christian. May the holy Mother of God guide us and accompany us always with her intercession. Queen of Apostles, pray for us! Amen.'


'Dear Metropolitan Archbishops, the Pallium that I have conferred on you will always remind you that you have been constituted in and for the great mystery of communion that is the Church, the spiritual edifice built upon Christ as the cornerstone, while in its earthly and historical dimension, it is built on the rock of Peter. Inspired by this conviction, we know that together we are all cooperators of the truth, which as we know is one and “symphonic”, and requires from each of us and from our communities a constant commitment to conversion to the one Lord in the grace of the one Spirit. May the Holy Mother of God guide and accompany us always along the path of faith and charity. Queen of Apostles, pray for us!'
 ~ Pope Benedict XVI, Feast of SS Peter and Paul, 2012

"No, Laurence, its your round, I bought the last four..."
Does anyone detect a shift in emphasis?

"Where is Bobby Mickens? Ah, there you are. After this one the next pint is on me, Bobby. Your round, yeah? Thought so..."

Bobby and I are working on a new blog together. It's called 'Protect the Bishop'. It's been set up to protect Bishops, including the Bishop of Rome, from nasty divisive Catholics, especially from the evil traddie Catholics at 'Rorate Caeli'. 

Bobby and I are encouraging Deacon Nick Donnelly to pack up and go home now that the Pope has no proper enemies anymore and is near universally popular. Despite what Bobby thinks about the Catholic Faith and my own view on it which is informed by the Magisterium, our disagreements about a whole range of Catholic issues (almost all of them actually) have been put to bed because we are united in our differences. We bonded in a pub recently having admitted to each other that there are times when Popes are granted the heavenly gift of making us cry.

Here is what the Lord Jesus said about unity:

'As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for them do I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me; That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one: I in them, and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one: and the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast also loved me.'

Of course, it is most likely that the Holy Father was reserving his striking comment for the Orthodox and I'm not going to put the cart before the horse and say that it was for anyone else. It seems to me to be obvious that someone who campaigns for a change in the Church's teaching on any number of issues such as homosexuality, artificial contraception, clerical celibacy and an end to the 'policy' on women priests will find it difficult to be 'at one' with someone who adheres to the Magisterium of Holy Church guarded by the Successor of St Peter, defender of the Deposit of Faith.

In the light of this, I'm 99% certain the Successor of St Peter was talking directly to the Orthodox and that His Holiness desires only that the Eastern Churches may once more breathe with 'both lungs' in full and visible Communion with the Successor of St Peter. When that happens, the Latin Church and the Orthodox Church will be united despite some visible differences in liturgy. Oh what a glorious day that will be!

In which case, "Buy your own drinks, Bobby, I'm off. The only religious body around at the moment that are truly united in their differences are the Freemasons. I can't be doing hanging around with schismatics within the Bride of Christ. It's like banging your head against a brick wall."

The Man With the Golden Arm

Otto Preminger's become unfairly maligned. Well-known as a tyrannical director, his obnoxious later flicks like In Harm's Way, Hurry Sundown and Skidoo also ran his critical reputation to ground. Yet Preminger did more to push the Production Code envelope than anyone prior to Arthur Penn. With Exodus (1960), he helped break the blacklist by hiring Dalton Trumbo. The Moon (1953), Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Advise and Consent (1962) evince franker sexual content than most films of their era. Perhaps not a brilliant auteur, Preminger nonetheless deserves a fair shake as a Hollywood innovator.

Most impressive of all is The Man With the Golden Arm (1955). Unable to gain studio approval for this searing look at drug addiction, Preminger produced it independently, landing Frank Sinatra as leading man. True, it waters down Nelson Algren's grim source novel into a redemptive melodrama. But it's still a superb character study, featuring Sinatra's best performance.

Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra) returns after a six-moth stint in jail. Frankie's a recovered heroin addict, and hopes to work as a drummer to support his crippled wife Zosch (Eleanor Parker). But Frankie soon falls under the sway of crooks Louie (Darren McGavin) and Schweifka (Robert Strauss), who alternately seduce and entrap Frankie into his old lifestyle. Soon Frankie's back on drugs and running a crooked card game, jeopardizing everything he's worked for. Only Molly (Kim Novak), Frankie's sometime flame, seems able to help.

If not the '50s answer to Requiem for a Dream, Golden Arm nonetheless proves extremely harrowing. Frankie's addiction isn't something that simple willpower can shake. After six months in rehab, pressure of job hunting drives him back to the needle. His relationship with Louie has a disturbing, almost sexual connotation, as the latter seductively invites Frankie back to his place. Schweifka meanwhile entraps Frankie on a bogus shoplifting charge, dragooning him into a high-stakes card game. The local cops have no sympathy for a junkie. Everything feels stacked against him.

Frankie finds little solace in his home life. He retains massive guilt over Zosch's condition, though that turns out to be a put-on. His ambivalent relationship with Molly goes nowhere: Molly's disgusted by his drug use and dating a pathetic loser (John Conte). But she ultimately wises up to Frankie's problem and helps achieve a breakthrough. Some story elements are inflected with melodrama (especially Zosch's subplot), and the late introduction of a murder seems unnecessary. But the last 30 minutes are incredibly powerful, as Frankie confronts his addiction head-on.

Preminger scores with deft direction, making fine use of Sam Leavitt's deep focus photography. In particular, Preminger handles Frankie's breakdowns and fixes with still-disarming frankness. Like Anatomy of a Murder, he achieves a heightened sense of seediness with Elmer Bernstein's jazzy score and nifty Saul Bass animation. Unlike other Preminger films, Golden never feels too long: Walter Newman and Lewis Meltzer's script is tightly constructed, even the weaker elements fitting snugly into the narrative.

Frank Sinatra gets his finest cinematic hour. Sinatra sublimates his hipster persona almost completely: he's a quivering, desperate Everyman struggling to make ends meat. Sinatra shows perfect conviction with arguing with Zosch, fighting Louie for a needle, or especially in the grim final reels. You can tell when Old Blue Eyes really cared about his work: From Here to Eternity, Suddenly and A Manchurian Candidate are a world apart from his lazy star vehicles. But his turn in Golden Arm eclipses them all.

Kim Novak (Vertigo) does fine work, mixing sex appeal with an earnest desire to help Frankie. Eleanor Parker though seems overwrought; her scenes are generally the film's weakest. Darren McGavin (A Christmas Story) gives a strong villainous turn with Robert Strauss playing to comic effect. Arnold Stang, the proto-Eddie Deezen, proves surprisingly affecting as Frankie's crack-brained friend.

The Man With the Golden Arm remains a powerful experience. Buoyed by excellent acting, its deft handling of difficult subject matter still resonates today.

There Could Be Trouble Ahead...


Is this the most moving clip of the year?

Watching this clip reinforces my belief in the sanctity of the Extraordinary Form of Mass but, more than that, it makes me realise how privileged are the altar servers, there, standing within a few feet of the Body and Blood of Our Blessed Lord.

Witnessing the most intimate and reverent moments of the Mass, the Host lying helpless on the paten, the priest's fore finger and thumb locked to exclude any chance of dishonouring the Host by touching the Body of Christ with fingers that may have brushed across the altar server's sleeve or the cloth on the altar.

A happy and holy Feast of St Peter and St Paul to all!

My thanks to Fr J for guiding me to the video....


Friday, June 28, 2013

Cardinal Burke at Sacra Liturgia Conference in Rome


Cardinal Raymond Burke is speaking on the Sacred Liturgy at the Sacra Liturgia Conference in Rome. Fr Z, Fr James Bradley and others are live Tweeting his remarks on the importance of liturgy that is befitting for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the need for Sacred Ministers to adhere to the Church's rules and disciplines in Her Rites, as an example of love for the Lord and His Church. Some great quotes or digests of what Cardinal Burke is explaining are emerging on the live feed. Here are a few:

 'Discipline purifies man of self-centred thoughts and disposes him to lift up his heart to the Lord.'
'Liturgical law isn't rubricism but an expression of love for the Lord and his Church.'

'Only by honouring God's divine right of worship does man find happiness in this life and the life to come.'

'We are face to face with real falsification of sacred worship.'

'Bishops are to 'exercise vigilance so that abuses do not creep into […] the celebration of the sacraments and sacramentals'.'

'The right understanding of the liturgy, and the relationship between Man and God, is safeguarded by the law.'

'Study of the juridical structure of the liturgy is vital; without it the Church's greatest treasure is subject to abuse.'

Already, in Rome, a Mass in reparation for the offensive remarks of Cardinal Burke has taken place.

More pictures as they come in...


Suicide

A Catholic man I knew has killed himself. Pray for his soul.

Aside from the grave act of evil that is suicide, suicide has a social dimension as I am now experiencing in all its depressing, horrific reality.

The last time I spoke to this man I tried to talk him out of taking his own life and urged him to come back to the Faith. There were probably things I should have said that I did not say. There were probably things I said that I should have said better. I will perhaps always live with this regret that I didn't call him more to reach out to him. His last words to me were, "It's been nice talking...don't leave it so long next time." It feels as if these words will forever be etched into my soul.

Suicide is not just the autonomous act of ending a person's life. This man was so consumed with his own grief that he forgot that I and those he knew were his brothers and sisters. He was so consumed with the grief that social services decided he could no longer see his daughter of 13 until she was 18 that he has left her and his friends to deal with news of his suicide. "If only I had said this, if only I had said that. If only I had cared more. If only I had called more. If only I had prayed the Rosary with you. If only I had done this and that."

Among the terrible things about suicide is the reality that your guilt and pain, shame and humiliation, frustration and even despair are not necessarily placed immediately upon the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Absolution, but are passed immediately onto those who knew you who spend their lives trying to absolve you and themselves. The guilt and pain that is yours is no longer a guilt, burden and pain shared, but a guilt and pain transferred to those who knew you. Suicide is an act that enlightens the consciences of those who knew you, but it does not forgive them. It leaves them seeking forgiveness for a sin which is singularly yours and when they want to apologise for the times they feel they let you down, there comes no answer, because you are no longer here. I can only be consoled by the thoughts of Pope Francis today, who talks of the Mystery of God's patience.

"The Lord takes his time. But even He, in this relationship with us, has a lot of patience. Not only do we have to have patience: He has! He waits for us! And He waits for us until the end of life! Think of the good thief, right at the end, at the very end, he acknowledged God." 

Pray for him because only God can judge him and His judgment alone is perfect. May his soul and the souls of the Faithful departed, through the great mercy of God, rest in peace.

My wife is now my husband.....

.....and I am her wife.



We may thank, for this ever so small, tweak of the gender designations, our NBF, the Same Sex "Marriage" bill.

It appears as if our civil servants, bless 'em, are making these changes in preparation for the flood of odd couplings that will be the fruit of this rotten tree.

So, if we follow this move to its logical conclusion we will have letters addressed to 'Mr & Mr' or 'Mrs & Mrs'.

It will probably be a hate crime to actually address a letter to 'Mr & Mrs' as it so excludes those who adopt perverse agendas (and genders).

Of course, we will no longer be able to refer to a male pig as a 'boar' or females as a 'sow' and my faithful Lithuanian Shrew Hound dog, is now a bitch!

The Daily Telegraph reports on the matter as follows:-

"Civil servants have overruled the Oxford English Dictionary and hundreds years of common usage effectively abolishing the traditional meaning of the words for spouses.
The landmark change is contained in the fine print of new official legal guidance drawn up for MPs and peers as the Government’s same-sex marriage bill is debated.
It comes as part of a Government initiative to “clarify” what words will mean when gay marriage becomes law.
But critics described it as the vocabulary of “cloud cuckoo land”.
It follows claims by opponents of the redefinition of marriage that universally understood terms such as father and mother might be simply deleted by bureaucrats on official forms".

What a load of bull!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Silence of the Lambs

Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is so iconic through parody and imitation that it's impossible to regard it fresh. It provided a tremendous critical and box office success, greeted like The Godfather and Jaws two decades prior: a pulp novel transmogrified into high art. Its influence proved pervasive, from lurid thrillers like Se7en through a slew of TV shows (The X-Files, Criminal Minds). Nonetheless, I found Lambs rather uneven, unsure if it's a gritty procedural or a Gothic horror pic.

FBI Agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) gets assigned by boss Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) to interview Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a psychologist-serial killer serving a life sentence. Their initial meetings go nowhere, but Hannibal hints he may have a connection with another killer. The FBI's tracking Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), a murderous transvestite who gets his jollies skinning women alive; he kidnaps the daughter of a US Senator, drawing intense media focus. Hannibal draws Clarice ever closer with tantalizing hints and penetrating insight, always eying his own dramatic exit.

The Silence of the Lambs mostly succeeds as a high-toned thriller. Viewers expecting a warped gore fest will be surprised by Demme's restrained presentation: even a gruesome autopsy remains mostly off-screen. Rather than an absurd body count, Demme focuses on sinister atmospherics and character drama throughout: Clarice's struggles with FBI bureaucracy occupy as much time as Buffalo Bill's deprivations. Story elements strain credulity (how's Hannibal powerful enough to parlay with a Senator?) but Lambs scores with its well-crafted cat and mouse game.

It's Jodie Foster, though, who makes Lambs work. Clarice Starling transcends pretty much any female cop in movie history. Clarice is well-rounded enough to take seriously; her femininity isn't always an asset, but Clarice plays it to her advantage in disarming superiors. Her inexperience proves a bigger hurdle, as in her sloppy confrontation with Buffalo Bill. Foster gives an intelligent turn, subsuming deep-seated anguish within a smart, capable FBI agent.

But Demme and writer Ted Tally can't fully cast off Thomas Harris's overwrought source novel. The scene where police discover the gory aftermath of Hannibal's escape makes an arresting image, yet it's rather out of place after the grounded build-up. If Buffalo Bill's disturbingly credible, Hannibal is the sort of Renaissance monster who exists only in movies: smart, cultured, a psychologist who makes Robbie Coltrane's Fitz look like a novice, yet a killer with superhuman strength. When Hannibal eludes capture by wearing a victim's face, we've slipped into Texas Chainsaw territory.

And here's where I'll part ways with most viewers. Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for playing Hannibal Lecter, whose iconic villain status extends to two sequels. Yet frankly, I found Hannibal the Cannibal tiresome. Hopkins, brilliant in shows like The Bounty, The Remains of the Day and Nixon, indulges in endless hammy affectations: a sinister hiss, a strange affected drawl, leering and beaming monstrously. This ridiculous caricature weighs against the film's docudrama pretensions, especially when Hannibal's very involvement seems contrived.

The Silence of the Lambs is entertaining but hardly the masterpiece it's made out to be. Readers are welcome to dispute my dislike for Hopkins, but he's emblematic of the film's failing: It's part clinical thriller, part sanguinary cartoon.

If Michael Voris is right......

Why doesn't Pope Francis act at once?

My admittedly limited philosophical knowledge tells me that, either Michael Voris is right.....or, he is wrong.



If he is wrong, then, that may well account for the silence from Rome on this matter (and, why not?).

But, if he is right, (and the Holy Father, himself has admitted as much), why doesn't Pope Francis squash those who hold hard to the principle of catamites and all that such beliefs entail?

It's not hard, for goodness sake!

Our Lord booted out those in the Temple who were offering second rate doves and lambs etc., for sacrifice (and re-cycling them around the back to double or triple their profits).

Why does the Holy Father state that he needs to wait for a commission to sit and cogitate on this matter?

Leadership is all about stepping up to the mark and taking control.

Humility is easily assimilated into that; it is not a question of turning the other cheek; morality is the key issue here.

Prevarication is not good; in fact, it is bad.

Just do it, please, Holy Father.


A snapshot in time - Catholic England in the 1950s

Those were the days.

 We were happy in the knowledge that we belonged to a Faith that claimed to be the one true Faith where there was no such thing as liturgical change.

Three siblings in this photograph and, left of the celebrant,
Francis Scholes, future Editor of the Toronto Star

"I can categorically state" said Fr Barry, dipping his hand into a bowl of olives. "That there will never be laymen or women on the sanctuary" (apart from male altar servers, that is).

And we believed him, certain that rubrics and doctrinal truths were just that.

Parish life in Hounslow and nearby Heston seemed pretty idyllic.

In our parish, out of a combined total of circa 1,000 souls, only one couple were divorced; our lives centred around the church.

 Saturdays were church cleaning days for the girls whilst the boys served at either the 8am or 10am Masses and then ran chores for the housekeeper, a dear soul by the name of Miss McInernie.

Sundays offered a choice of Masses 8am, 10.30am and 12 noon (where the Irish navvies would gather at the back of the church in their navy blue Sunday suits, leaving before the Last Gospel because the pub opposite was open).

And, in the afternoon, Sunday School followed by Rosary and Benediction.

Parish notices were read out before the homily and special attention was paid to donations in the collection plate.

Weekly totals of the offerings were announced and special votes of thanks given to the three donors of the ten shilling note (50 pence) and the two donors of the one pound note and the donor of the five pound note (gasps of breath at this stage).
The average weekly wage was less than five pounds so a donation of that size would be today's equivalent of more than five hundred pounds!
There were no ten pound notes then.

The total number of altar servers was in the region of 30 plus and, at Christmas and Easter, the full number would turn out so that, at the sermon, the smaller boys had to sit in serried ranks on the altar steps; what a picture that must have painted.

And, as today, the MC post and that of thurifer, went to the aged ones until a new curate arrived and began training up the eleven year olds.
After a few weeks noses were well and truly put out of joint by a precocious eleven year old MC-ing at the Sunday High Mass.

A great sight was to watch these young boy MCs directing large groups of servers at the inclination of the head or a discreet movement of the hand, far better than their older counterparts who appeared to be as subtle as  Rome policemen directing traffic.

Socially, we had all the usual groups Children of Mary, Legion of Mary, SVP, Knights of St Columba (and Squires), Cubs, Scouts and Guides and St Stephen's Guild.

Every couple of months there would be a parish dance where Catholic girls would meet Catholic boys, inevitably resulting in a Catholic wedding a year or two later.

Young boys began serving on the altar at the age of five and were expected, at the age of seven, to be able to give the Latin responses of the whole Mass without the aid of a missal or a prompt of any kind.

You stood beside Fr Steer in the Presbytery and solemnly worked your way through the Mass.
If successful you were allowed to serve in what we called the "Right" position at Mass. This was the senior position for Low Masses.

The server taking the "Left" position would have done so following a quick consultation process in the sacristy; all others knelt at the side altar steps.

Weddings were always popular amongst the altar boys as you stood a good chance of a small consideration in the form of half a crown (12.5 pennies) for your services.

Requiem Masses were less popular due to the fact that mortuary refrigeration must have been pretty basic then and the custom was to receive the coffin sometimes two days in advance of the Mass.
This meant that the church stank to high heaven by the time the Requiem was held.

It is quite hard to conjure up a list of what was bad about those times.
Liberals would have you believe that we were swamped in a wave of lacy cottas and clerical repression but I would just call it a disciplined way of practising one's Faith.

I can only think of one 'bad' practice and that was the overnight fast before receiving Holy Communion at Mass the next day.

Masses were always punctuated by one or two people fainting as a result and creating noise and disturbance in so doing.

When the three hour fast was brought in, all breathed a sigh of relief and the crashing of bodies in the pews came to a halt.

Change could happen and for the better.

Jimmy who?

I would never like to risk upsetting my American brethren by making unkind remarks regarding their politicians but, in the wake of the peanut farmer's comments concerning Pope JP II, I think it is now open season.

The first peanut to be elected President of the USA


Those comments follow closely on from President Obama and his snide sideways swipe at Catholicism by stating that our Faith schools system is 'divisive'.

I think those are two reasons why I would vote for the  Republican Party, if I was an American citizen (which I would have been if my grandparents steamer passage from the USA had been delayed for a few days) - sorry for the tortuous grammar.

But we all know that this sort of petty nastiness is endemic among non Catholic politicians, of all shades of blue or red and of all nationalities.

Perhaps the final word should come from Lars-Erik Nelson, political columnist:-


“The enemy isn’t conservatism. The enemy isn’t liberalism. The enemy is bulls**t." 


Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Catching up


A few things to catch up on...

Most recent is the passing of Richard Matheson. One of the doyens of late 20th Century science fiction, Matheson amassed an extraordinary body of work. His post-apocalyptic novel I Am Legend (1954) has been filmed three times (none an all-time classic, but it's the thought that counts). He also contributed several memorable scripts to The Twilight Zone (most notably Terror at 20,000 Feet), and wrote screenplays for movies The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), The Raven (1963), The Devil Rides Out (1968) and Duel (1971), among others. 

This comes just a few days after James Gandolfini's shocking passing. Gandolfini was just 51 when he died of a heart attack last Wednesday. This remarkable actor will always be associated with Tony Soprano - not unjustly, as most consider The Sopranos one of television's greatest achievements. Lest we forget, Gandolfini had a memorable film career: True Romance, Get Shorty, The Mexican, Zero Dark Thirty. Notably, Gandolfini cited his portrayal of Al Love in A Civil Action (1998) as a personal favorite, and helped spread awareness of PTSD through the documentary Wartorn. Off-screen he always gave the impression of a friendly, humble guy a world removed from his gruff screen persona.

It's not all doom and gloom, though. Groggy's friends at Moviepilot accepted his pitch to write a column on classic movies. That won't effect this blog much, though - my schedule remains as erratic and eclectic as ever!

How to impress your Bishop...

....in five easy moves:-






1. When you greet him kneel and kiss the ring on his hand - do not be put off by him trying to withdraw his hand, it's all part of what is known as 'humility etiquette'.

2. Address him as 'My Lord' (Oh, he will love you for that).
Never ever refer to him as 'Bishop' or use his Christian name in association with the word 'Bishop' as in, 'Hello there Bishop Tom'.

3. Invite him to join in the theological game known as 'Hunt the Tabernacle' (the winning phrase is: 'Why is your chair where the Tabernacle should be?' - by now he will be hysterical!

4. This one is a winner, produce a copy of The Tablet and ask him the question: 'Pope or The Tablet, which do you prefer?' If he responds 'The Tablet' you knock his mitre off and shout 'Mennini' three times. If he is not rolling on the floor convulsed with giggles or something similar then he will have passed out - remember, all 'DNR' notices must be obeyed.

5. Finally, you will win his undying affection if you fumble in your pocket muttering the words: 'Summorum Pontificum' and 'Stable Group' - do not be surprised if, overcome with affection, he grasps you around the neck with both hands....it's the new kiss of peace you know!


A little romance?......A little drama?...and a major tragedy

Today is the anniversary of Alfred Noyes, Catholic convert who died in 1958.


Although born in Wolverhampton, the Noyes family moved to Aberystwyth where Alfred's father taught Latin and Greek at the University.

Most people will associate Noyes with the romantic poem, 'The Highwayman', published in 1906 comprising seventeen verses of the sort of prose and subject matter designed to stir the blood of the youth of the time.

The following year Noyes married an American girl called Garnett Daniels, daughter of a US Army Colonel who fought in the Civil War.

The marriage ended tragically with Garnett's premature death in 1926.

Alfred Noyes then married his second wife, Mary Angela Mayne, herself a widow and a Catholic linked to the famous recusant Weld family in 1927.

Within twelve months, Noyes was received into the Church and was influenced greatly by the Catholic Faith in his later writings.

He died on the Isle of Wight and is buried in the Catholic cemetery at Freshwater.

'The Highwayman' is a tale of love, jealousy, betrayal and, ultimately, with the death of Bess, self sacrifice.

THE HIGHWAYMAN
PART ONE

I

THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, 
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, 
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, 
And the highwayman came riding— 
Riding—riding— 
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

II

He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin, 
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin; 
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh! 
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle, 
His pistol butts a-twinkle, 
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

III

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard, 
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred; 
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there 
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter, 
Bess, the landlord's daughter, 
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

IV

And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked 
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked; 
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay, 
But he loved the landlord's daughter, 
The landlord's red-lipped daughter, 
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—

V

'One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night, 
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light; 
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day, 
Then look for me by moonlight, 
Watch for me by moonlight, 
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.'

VI

He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand, 
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand 
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast; 
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight, 
(Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!) 
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.



PART TWO

I

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon; 
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon, 
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor, 
A red-coat troop came marching— 
Marching—marching— 
King George's men came matching, up to the old inn-door.

II

They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead, 
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed; 
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side! 
There was death at every window; 
And hell at one dark window; 
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

III

They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest; 
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast! 
'Now, keep good watch!' and they kissed her. 
She heard the dead man say— 
Look for me by moonlight; 
Watch for me by moonlight; 
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

IV

She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good! 
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood! 
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years, 
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, 
Cold, on the stroke of midnight, 
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

V

The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest! 
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast, 
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again; 
For the road lay bare in the moonlight; 
Blank and bare in the moonlight; 
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain .

VI

Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear; 
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear? 
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill, 
The highwayman came riding, 
Riding, riding! 
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!

VII

Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night! 
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light! 
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath, 
Then her finger moved in the moonlight, 
Her musket shattered the moonlight, 
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.

VIII

He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood 
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood! 
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear 
How Bess, the landlord's daughter, 
The landlord's black-eyed daughter, 
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

IX

Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky, 
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high! 
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat, 
When they shot him down on the highway, 
Down like a dog on the highway, 
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.

X

And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees, 
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, 
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, 
A highwayman comes riding— 
Riding—riding— 
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

XI

Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard; 
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred; 
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there 
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter, 
Bess, the landlord's daughter, 
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair. 








Latin Masses banned here


Are we talking of totalitarian Russia, some distant gulag where the sun never shines?

Or, maybe it's Kim Jong-un's North Korea where to even mention the word 'Latin' would result in several life sentences doing hard labour two miles down a mineshaft?

But no, it is neither of those, it is our own dear capital city of Wales, centre of couth and culture.....'cept that you can't have any Latin Masses see?

"Else we'll send Bob the Basher round to sort you nasty little Tridentine swine out..."

Nicandro Porcelli has a report on how a small (but stable group) asked for their rights (Mass in Latin).

Read Nicandro's far too charitable report on being 'Welsh, warm and fuzzy) HERE

Monday, June 24, 2013

Gather with Peter


No pun intended, but I find the 'empty chair' image quite disconcerting. Far be it for me, a lowly, if not particularly humble layman, to criticise the Holy Father. I have to reserve my disquiet, since we are talking about the Successor of St Peter, under whom we gather as children of the Lord in unity.

Would St Francis of Assisi have attended a concert in his honour? No, but then St Francis was never a Pope, nor a Bishop, nor a Priest, and again we see here the striking discordance between the role of anyone who wishes to imitate the poverello and stand in the shoes of St Peter, Prince of the Apostles simultaneously. 

The Lord Jesus knows what I've been thinking about the Holy Father's recent public action (or omission) and I'm certain that my thoughts have been uncharitable enough to warrant a Confession if only because we may not have the real/full story. Harbouring resentment and grievances is always wrong, and to do so against your spiritual Father, the Chief Shepherd on Earth, is not good. It is sinful, it damages our Faith and fosters discord and disunity. The good news is that 'out there', outside of the uptight Catholic blogosphere and in the real (virtual) world, there is universal applause for the Holy Father as evidenced by this Yahoo report. This is good because the Pope has won headlines again and even atheists are shouting, 'way to go, Pope!' with others saying 'This Pope might bring me back to the Church.' If that is the case, Deo gratias!

The problem is - and I've said this before - that with every bold, surprising, external gesture of poverty, simplicity and humility, His Holiness makes it more difficult for a Pope to enjoy some music with his Bishops and Cardinals ever again and makes Cardinals who enjoy Beethoven look bad, while His Holiness looks good, even though this was arranged ages ago. Let us be clear, however. The Lord Jesus sees into the heart. He knows 'what is in a man'. External appearances mean nothing to Him. That which rises high in the sight of men can be loathsome to God.

Maybe it is a bit indulgent to go to a concert in the Year of Faith called by the music-loving Pope Benedict XVI. Maybe the Princes of the Church shouldn't be publicly entertained with beautiful music. Maybe they should be out washing the feet of the poor instead. Maybe that's true, so maybe next year why not cancel this kind of thing and do something else more 'Gospel' orientated rather than the whole thing becoming a PR sensation and leaving some wondering if it is possibly a carefully manicured publicity stunt.

What I do not like about the 'empty chair' signal is that it could be interpreted that here we have a Pope who is willing to make others look bad in order to look good and to accept worldly honour while throwing his Cardinals under a public relations bus. It will displease many to hear it, but I consider it more sinful to seek headlines, fame and honour from the World than to enjoy a relaxing bit of Beethoven with your Brothers and, in this case indeed, spiritual Sons. Are we really saying that a Pope cannot be seen in public doing anything that isn't radical, public, touching or sends a potent Gospel message? Must the Pope always be seen 'doing' something radical? Is the Papacy to be transformed into a 'show'? Let's be frank. The Pope is still enjoying good headlines, but it was not 'great PR' and the admiration of the World that got St Peter crucified upside down.

Not every Pope will be like Francis, so how can any Pope come after Francis? What does the evidence of Francis's humility mean for perception of all of his predecessors? How can anyone be a 'normal run of the mill Pope' again? Humility is hard for all of us. It goes against our natural inclinations towards the elevating of the self. We are told to reject the Devil and all his pomp and all his works and all of his 'empty show'. As Pope, Benedict XVI had the humility to see that not everything depended on him. His critics often found it hard to see his own simplicity and quiet humility as he pointed to Jesus. The challenge to the critics of Pope Francis is not to recognise his great humility - because that is evident to everybody. No. Pope Francis's critics need to recognise Peter, under whose pastoral care we share communion and visible unity. Whatever our thoughts of the first months of Pope Francis's pontificate, he is the Successor of St Peter and where Peter is, there is the Church and where the Church is, there is eternal life.

Just time, if you are quick

The Welsh Government's Human Transplantation (Wales) Bill is due to have its
Stage 3 debate on final amendments on July 2nd.

The closing date for Government amendments is the 21st June but that for amendments from Assembly members is 25th June.

While we do not yet know which amendments may be available on July 2nd,
there are several amendments that those who oppose the principle of deemed
consent may support, in good conscience, because they will ameliorate the
effects of the Bill.

Please email this letter to Suzy Davies AM (before close of play June 25th):




Dear Ms. Davies,
                               The Welsh Government is due to discuss the Stage 3 amendments on July 2nd. I hope that you will be willing to support amendments which may ameliorate this unnecessary Bill.

                          The donation figures published on 11thApril 2013 showed that all the other U.K. countries had achieved the target of 50% increase in donation rates set by the U.K. Organ Donation Task Force; only Wales failed miserably, and this in spite of leading the way in earlier years. The
recommendations of the UK ODTF as to how improvement could come about were working well and Wales achieved a 49% increase in 2011/12. This year, the figures slumped to 15.6% although organ donation was widely publicised as a result of the consultations and debates on the Human Transplantation Bill. This is very disappointing when N. Ireland, for example, achieved an increase of over 80%.

                     I noted your speech in the Assembly during the debate at Stage1  and I  note that you were especially concerned that there was no family veto on the face of the Bill. Even Spain, the best country in the world for donor rates, always asks the family and never takes organs without the family’s consent; if Wales wants to follow the example of Spain, it will always ask for the family’s permission. Moreover, the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, on the 10th May 2010 told the Observer "We have decided on soft presumed consent, where relatives can veto organ donation, because we want to make it as easy as possible," he said. "At the moment, if people are not carrying donor cards then it is presumed they didn't want to be a donor. If we presume everyone does – unless certain conditions are met–we don't want to be in a position where we are taking organs against the wishes of the family. There  is no question of that."
                 
                         I hope you will remind the First Minister of his promise. Will he keep his word and put this veto on the face of the Bill? Perhaps, Darren Millar, as Shadow Health Minister, will propose this amendment with your support.


                            Yours sincerely,

Here is her email address:           suzy.davies@wales.gov.uk