A Mass, miracles and a meeting

The annual meeting of The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma took place at Blackfen Blogfen last Saturday 30th November.

The day commenced with a Low Mass in the Old Rite, celebrated by the Guild's chaplain and host for the day, Fr Tim Finigan.

An exposition of the Blessed Sacrament followed and, for one hour, parishioners and Guild members were able to worship and meditate in silence.

After Mass and the Holy Hour, the group listened to Dr Adrian Treloar give a learned but fascinating account of some of the Lourdes miraculous cures from a medical perspective.

For my own part, I was under the impression that I had a pretty good grasp of the extent of the cures but, when you see an x-ray on-screen, showing the result of a cancerous tumour on a pelvis, where any evidence of bone has been reduced to a poisonous mass and then compare it with an x-ray post Lourdes, that clearly shows a healthy pelvis that had not existed before going on pilgrimage, you gain a very profound concept of the full meaning of the word 'cure'.

St Bernadette at Nevers.
Free from corruption and from artificial restoration processes

And then Adrian showed a slide of the incorrupt body of St Bernadette, emphasizing that the saint has not been subject to any form of embalming treatment as in the cases of Lenin and Mao.

 Again, it hit home that there, in Nevers, is living evidence of the power of Almighty God, visible for all to see.

Finally, after a hearty lunch provided by Defende nos in Proelio together with her husband and beautifully behaved children, and a glass of the 'O be joyful' kindly bought for me by Mulier Fortis, the Guild meeting took place.

It was so good to meet eminent bloggers such as Zephyrinus and to catch up with Dylan Parry and the many commentators present, in particular, Pelerin, Dilly, Graham, Nicholas, and others.

However, the highlight, for me, was to sit in the company of two of our best loved priest bloggers,
Fr Tim Finigan and Fr Ray Blake.

And the venue for the next meeting?
 Brighton in the Spring. Hotbed of hedonism and home to both Fr Ray and the new Guild Chairman, Laurence England (as well as a few more famous bloggers).

Something to look forward to.

To Blackfen, the bloggers' parish of Our Lady of the Rosary

Memories of the inaugural meeting that
determined the establishment of the Guild

Tomorrow I shall board the Iron Horse in Pembrokeshire to begin my journey to Blackfen where, on Saturday, 30th November, Feast of St Andrew, the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma will gather for Mass at 10.30am followed by Benediction and Confessions and then a talk by Dr Adrian Treloar on 'Medical aspects of Miracles: Drawing us to Faith'

And, at 1pm a fine lunch in the Parish clubhouse (donations to be made for the victuals).

Finally, at 2.30pm an informal meeting.

All good, sound, orthodox Catholic stuff.

I look forward to it immensely.

If you are joining the merry throng, you may find the 'How to get to Blackfen' directions from the parish website helpful.
They are to be found HERE.

And, if you are unable to be there, please spare a prayer for the Guild and its followers.

So, there will be a brief intermission and posts will resume as normal on Monday 2nd December.

Dress code for the Guild meeting

News has reached me that members and guests at the proposed Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma meeting due to be held at Blackfen on 30th November are to be asked to observe a dress code.
.
Ordinary members and guests should all wear cravats (if male) and burkas (if female).

The Chairman and officers of the Guild will be expected to wear the special regalia as shown below.

The ordinary form of Guild regalia, the extraordinary form
is more elaborate
 

 

Any priests attending are expected to conform with the special clerical garb of The Order of Guild Chaplains as shown by these previous chaplains...

 

 

 

Rumour  also has it that a brother blogger will make an appearance although, it is said that he wishes to remain anonymous.

I have something of a scoop in what I believe is the only known image of this blogger, although, this picture has not been verified as being totally accurate.

Although calling himself 'Bruvver' he could well be a she and, in reality a Sista!

Who can tell from the photograph below?



 

30th November at Blackfen....

Open to all who use the new media....commentators, FB-ers, Twitchers...and, even, Bloggers

Oh yes! A new best pub!

Not that I am in any way preoccupied with pubs or alcohol, other than a modest indulgence in the odd good pint or two of bitter and the occasional glass of vin rouge but, yesterday, whilst travelling up the great River Thames from Kingston, I espied a pub with a rather intriguing (not to say wonderful) name: the 'Bishop out of Residence'.

 

 

It all looks very wholesome but, sadly, time did not allow for further market research.

 

It will have to wait for another occasion, maybe a good venue for a Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma blognic?

 

I just wish we had more Bishops out of residence in England and Wales (pubs, that is. I do hope you did not misconstrue my meaning). (Cough).

 

"Facebook is the new parish hall"

A meeting between the US Bishops and Catholic bloggers has produced some interesting results so far.

One statistic that has been bandied around is that, in the USA, less than 5% of Catholics read Catholic blogs.

Hmm...that figure seems depressingly small....except that, in the US you have something like 77 million Catholics which means over 3.8 million of them read the blogs....can that be right?
Apply that to the UK with 5 million Catholics and you have 250,000 blog readers.

Well, all I can say is that they have not found their way to this blog.

But this meeting of minds with reference to the new communications technologies is incredibly, vitally important.

Firstly, a gold star to the US Bishops who went along with this meeting and, secondly another "well done" for
coming to terms with what is undoubtedly going to be the new means of evangelisation.

Imagine for one nano second that you are back in the 15th century and that you are witnessing the first book rolling off William Caxton's press - mass production of the written word, a new world of learning opening up for millions.
Well, multiply that impression by, say, several hundred millions and you have a crude idea of the enormity of the social media and how it may be used as a force for good.

I can imagine a world of nearly 4 million blog readers in the USA where, it has to be said, many of the blogs are of a high academic standard.
But I cannot reconcile a figure of 250,000 blog readers for the UK.

More like 2,500 I suspect. And that only goes to show that British bloggers (or, rather, readers) are a bit behind with things.

If our Bishops decided that it would be a good thing to emulate the Baltimore meeting, what format would it take?

Do many of them even know what a blog is? I suspect some might even go along with the priest that emailed me about 18 months ago stating that, in his opinion, all Catholic bloggers should be jailed.

But they would do well to look west and observe the goings on there.

The internet is a potent tool and blogging will, in the future, be a force that will bring down governments; ignore it at your peril.

As one famous American blogger, Mary De Turris Poust, put it: "Facebook is the new parish hall"

If any parish priest reading this (unlikely I know) is not already on Facebook - Carpe Diem!

A report on the US Bishop meets Blogger event is here.....

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/bloggers-see-opportunity-in-social-media-for-catholic-church/

Letter from the Ephesians

Well, here we are, in sunny Turkey, in an isolated spot on the western coast; internet connections are a bit hit and miss so, please forgive the lack of links and comment responses for the next 12 days or so.

What strikes me most is the total silence (well, total in regard of television sets, radios and traffic noise).

The only sound that we hear is the muezzin's call to prayer, five times a day. I grudgingly admire the Muslims for their adherence to a prayer pattern, if only we Catholics could do the same.

I fondly imagine loudspeakers attached to every church tower and steeple broadcasting the Salve Regina or The Angelus throughout the length and breadth of Wales and England.
What a triumph that would be.
 A return to the condition that we were once in that prompted the visiting Erasmus to pronounce that "England is the holiest country in Europe" because, all who laboured stopped in their tracks at midday, to say the Angelus, marked by the bells of the nearest church or priory.

How the dreaming spires of Oxford would echo to the sound and would it not be poetic to hear the Veni, Creator Spiritus resounding throughout Luton and Bradford?

And now, late to the feast; my take on the third meeting of the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma.

How great it was to witness the coming together of a group of people united only, perhaps by their Faith. Strangers for a few seconds and friends thereafter.

And, where is Charlie J when you need him?

As the old saying goes: "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king". As such, it fell to my lot by default,  to serve the EF Mass celebrated by Fr Rupert McHardy.
I thought wistfully of Charlie J's skills and youth and wished he was at the London Oratory to spare my knees and joints from the pains that are part of an aged altar server's lot.

To add to my woes, the Chapel of Our Lady of sorrows is very small and left me little room to manoeuvre my stiff joints.

And then the glass like surface of the marble floor was overlaid by a carpet so that one skidded from point A to point B. It must have appeared comical to those in the congregation but it was life and death for me.

When it came to kneeling, it appeared as if some Oratorian penitential practice was being enforced and that the sacristan had scattered marbles underneath the carpet so that, when one knelt, an excrutiating pain would spread from kneecap to thigh.


It's a wonder that we struggled through the Mass as we did; thanks to Fr Rupert for his patience.

Chesterton in one corner and Belloc in the other

After Mass and after Fr R's interesting address we retired to the Hour Glass in the Brompton Road.

I have to thank A Reluctant Sinner for his generosity in providing baskets of chips (french fries) and potato wedges for the assembly. We all fell to on this before ordering individual meals (and before arteries turned to stone).

I flitted from table to table and the snippets of conversation were a joy to hear.

They ranged from learned (of course) debates about Satan and how one should not ever say the longer version of the 'Michael Prayer' (yes, really, don't ever do it).

And then on to the spread of sinister Islamic practices in erstwhile British towns and cities and, of course, the horrors of abortion and the planned 40 Days for Life campaign.

If one had looked around the bar it would not have been surprising to see GKC holding forth in one corner and HB in the other.

To cap it all we had two of the most famous priest bloggers with us. Fr Tim and Fr Z
obligingly hamming it up for a photo when the "T" word was mentioned, not nice in Catholic society.

And, the following day.......Mass at St James's Spanish Place.

But more of Sunday's shenanigans later.

Blessed Titus Brandsma

"They who want to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come into conflict with it"
Blessed Titus Brandsma

                                   

If ever Catholic bloggers wanted to have a slogan writ large over their desks, this is it.

The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma meeting begins with a Tridentine Latin Mass in the Chapel of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the London Oratory Saturday 15th September at 10.30am.

All who comment or use the new technologies are welcome

Oh!.....and there's a blognic afterwards - that's a sort of Catholic bloggers version of a picnic except that it will be in a Brompton Road pub (The Hourglass).


Also...a brief respite from daily posts as I shall be on holiday from Friday 14th onwards. I hope to post sporadically over the next two weeks....but if you don't hear from me just wish me good providence and raise a glass of Efes and I'll do the same for you.

Ave et vale!

Which would you choose?

This coming Saturday, the Feast of the Seven Dolours of Our Lady, let us imagine, for one wild instant, that you are in or around London and have a choice of events that you could attend.

You are only allowed one choice from the following:-


1. Front row seat at a lecture on 'The Tablet and its place in Catholic Society' given by Dr Tina Beattie

2. Free place at a music workshop based on 'The Tibetan nose flute and its place in Catholic liturgy'

3. Mass in the Extraordinary Form at The London Oratory at 10.30am followed by a brief informal address by Fr Rupert McHardy, in turn followed by Catholic type refreshments at The Hourglass Pub, Brompton Road - feel free to join at any stage, it's the Guild of Blessed Titus assembly.


Decisions, decisions.............and if I was to impart a matter most secret and confidential to point 3 (in the strictest confidence)......it is that (among several other well known and highly respected priests from the UK and Singapore, even), the group will be joined by (whisper) Fr John Zuhlsdorf - hush!

That's Fr Z don't you know?

That's right....

Father Z!

If you are A) Catholic and B) a user of the new technologies....

.....you might like to join the group meeting for Mass in the Extraordinary Form celebrated by Fr Rupert McHardy Cong., Orat. next Saturday, 15th September at the London Oratory, Seven Dolours Chapel at 10.30am.

                         Fr Rupert McHardy admitting Miss EF Griffiths 
                                                     to the light of Christ

And, afterwards, Fr McHardy will address the group before we retire for flagons of claret and roasted oxen (actually, more likely, a pint of bitter and some cheese and onion sandwiches).

This is the third official gathering of The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma, a most informal and friendly group of Catholics.

You will certainly meet some well known bloggers including A Reluctant Sinner, hopefully Mary O' Regan of A Path Less Taken, Fr Tim Finigan (who hopes to join us at some stage) and......and.......so we hope, pray and believe.....a certain American priest whose surname always ensures that he is the last to be called, in alphabetical terms.

Blessed Titus Brandsma and his life

This is a video made of a presentation given on Bl Titus Brandsma by the Prior Provincial of the British Province of Carmelites, Fr Wilfred McGreal, O. Carm.

As a presentation it is deeply flawed (in my view) but see what you make of it (my critical points are listed below) - I'm afraid I opted out after four minutes.

Here is my list of 'don't do' things when presenting:-

1. Wear a tie, it looks sloppy if you don't and, if you are a priest wear a collar - essential
2. Never sit, stand when you are introduced and stand to make your presentation
3. Look your audience in the eye - difficult if you are seated with them
4. If your presentation is being filmed avoid hand movements in front of the face
5. Don't make your audience uncomfortable by having to twist around to face you - stand in front of them

Oh, and for a number 6 - never wear socks with sandals

Would you like to support Fr Z in joining the Guild meeting?

I stress that this is an initiative undertaken without Fr Z's permission so I hope all is well as far as he is concerned.

                              
                              Dollars, Pounds or Dongs......all are acceptable!


We do know that he would like to join the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma and others at the blognic that will be held on Saturday 15th September commencing with an EF Mass at St Wilfred's Chapel in the London Oratory.

A Reluctant Sinner has started the fund with a donation and I have followed suit.

At this stage it is a pledge and if you would like to send me the amount you would wish to contribute, I will log it and keep a running tally - if it looks likely that Fr Z is going to buy his ticket (the airline one I mean), then I will call in the pledges or, it may be easier to pay on the WDTPRS site (much easier).

By my reckoning the air fare alone is around £600 so we have a bit of a hill to climb.

Pledges will be gladly received from all nationalities, not just Brits, so please have a go and let me have the amount you would be prepared to donate.
Contact me please on: r.collinsassoc@btinternet.com

Time is running out, the day draws near

No, this is not a "day of doom is nigh" post, although I sometimes feel that it could be.

I mean that there are now only 37days left before The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma  meeting at the Brompton Oratory, St Wilfred's Chapel at 10.30am on 15th September.

And the Hour Glass?

That's where the meeting will adjourn to after Mass, celebrated by Fr Rupert McHardy who will also address the group at a brief meeting afterwards.

That would seem to be a ultra Catholic sort of day; Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form, an interesting talk, a brief meeting and then the Chesterton hour (or two).

So, if you blog or use the new media or social networking sites - or, if you like to comment on blogs, come along.

Time does not run out until 11pm here!

Guild meeting.....Fr Z, Tom Peters, Rocco Palmo.....

Michael Voris......unfortunately won't be there...but you could be!

        THE NEXT GUILD MEETING ON 15TH SEPTEMBER AT 10.30AM

Who am I? Where am I going? What am I doing?

The recent meeting of Catholic Bloggers (Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma) was, much as I dislike the phrase, thought provoking at the very least.

The lively talks, debates and more informal discussions over a pint at lunchtime, nudged me into indulging in a little navel gazing. I felt that a different and better sense of direction was needed as far as my blogging activities were concerned; I needed to review what I was posting and to assess what end result I was looking for.

The need to "know myself" was brought to the surface by meeting so many gifted and talented bloggers and followers - an "inspiration" of Catholic bloggers would be a good collective noun to describe those at Blackfen.

So, I set to, in the days after the meeting, to reflect and brood on the sort of blogger that I am.

My starting point was inspired by Mary O' Regan's sparkling talk on Journalism and Blogging.

I fell back on the old question that could be found in every sales training manual of the 70s - "What sort of an animal am I?" Except that, I decided that it would be more relevant if I aligned my blog with a newspaper so that the question would be: "What sort of newspaper am I?"

Sadly, I came to the conclusion that I am rather more Daily Mail than Daily Telegraph - more into sarky headlines and comment, short, snappy sound bites in print. Pretty much middle of the road in intellectual terms, appealing to the lowest common denominator.
You see, The Daily Mail is not a paper that I greatly value or admire so I was a shade crestfallen that my soul seeking had me flat on my face at the first fence.

And then I thought (desperately) that few Catholic bloggers could be aligned or identified with just one publication; in reality we are an amalgam of publications.

With this thought in my mind and with the idea of gaining a better yardstick for my own analysis, I decided to look at some of my fellow bloggers just to see how this exercise would shake down; I restricted it to British Catholic bloggers as my knowledge of the US media is hazy to say the least.

So first on my list was A Reluctant Sinner and The Path Less Taken. Those were, I decided definitely 60% Catholic Herald and 40% Daily Telegraph.

Whereas, A Tiny Son of Mary, is certainly 100% Catholic Herald.

Hilaire Belloc is  95% Times Literary Gazette  with 5% of The Catholic Herald while That the Bones You Have Crushed May Thrill has a most interesting profile broken down more as a cocktail of Catholic Herald, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail - with a liberal dash of Big Issue!

I must call a halt there lest I unintentionally cause offence (not my style at all!)

So, then back to my profile; perhaps I could gain a little ground in the credibility stakes by segmentation also.
With a little bit of mental rearrangement I found that I could honestly regard my blog as now only being 75% Daily Mail. Good but not good enough, how would the remainder turn out?

Well, only 5% could be assigned to the Daily Telegraph and the same for The Catholic Herald. That brought me up to 85%.

Then, inspiration struck and I allocated 10% to Private Eye. Excellent!
But I still had 5% to go.

Much head banging and wailing and then.......

...........Help! Au secours! I now have to "man up" and say that, if I am brutally honest, that odd 5% probably belongs to The Sun newspaper! Wotta result!

Good day at Blackfen

Catholic Bloggers gathered at Blackfen Parish Church of Our Lady of the Rosary for Holy Mass, Adoration and Benediction followed by lunch and a Guild meeting.

Thanks go to Fr Tim for his kindness in hosting the event and for his work as Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma Chaplain, to Dylan Parry for organising the event and to Mary O'Regan for stepping in at the last minute to give a lively talk on Journalism and Blogging.

After such a good day in the company of friends, what better way is there to end?

Michael Voris, Tom Peters, Tito Edwards, Fr Z.......

.......and quite a few more eminent bloggers can't make it.....

Blessed Titus Brandsma
Patron of the Guild

BUT YOU COULD!

The gathering of Catholic Bloggers and others interested in the Faith will be at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen* on Saturday 18th February commencing with a Low Mass at 10.30am followed by Benediction.

Fr Sam Medley SOLT will give a talk, there will be lunch provided, Fr Tim will be our gracious host, what more could one wish for?

*
330 Burnt Oak Lane
SIDCUP
Kent
DA15 8LW

The rolling English road leads to.........

BLACKFEN!

If you are a reader of Catholic blogs or, possibly, a commentator or even, for that matter, a Catholic blogger.
You will be made very welcome on February 18th at a gathering of The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma members at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen (courtesy of Fr Tim Finigan, Parish Priest and Chaplain to the Guild).

The Guild places no requirement as to one's leanings or views with regard to matters of faith other than, Christian courtesy and loyalty to the teachings of Holy Mother Church.

And the Guild welcomes new members (whether you can attend or not). The process of joining is simple and may be done online at http://guildofblessedtitus.blogspot.com/

The meeting.....it's official!

When shall we three meet again?

In thunder, lightning, or at Blackfen?

 

 

Definitely no witches, or wizards for that matter, allowed.

The next meeting of The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma has been announced as Saturday 18th February commencing with Holy Mass and Adoration at 10.30am at the church of

Our Lady of the Rosary

Burnt Oak Lane, Sidcup, Kent

DA15 8LW

 

 

All thanks to Fr Tim Finigan, Chaplain to the Guild and Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Rosary.

 

The guest speaker for the day will be Father Sam Medley SOLT and, if you have never heard Fr Sam give a talk, your life has been incomplete up until now.

 

Lunch will be available, followed by a Guild meeting and prayers and, possibly, just possibly, an adjournment afterwards to a place of refreshment and friendly banter.

 

There is an open invitation to Catholic bloggers to attend, you do not have to be a Guild member, so please join us on the day (or join us as members if you wish by following the details on the Guild blog HERE.

Catholic bloggers - 'naughty, rude, fighting'

'Naughty, rude, fighting' those were the categories placed on children's sins as heard in confession by the Jesuit Fr Bernard Basset and Fr Tim Finigan used them again in his talk on Catholic bloggers, but first the account of the day.....


....The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma held its first meeting on Saturday 1st October at our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen.

The day commenced at 10.30am with a glorious Solemn High Mass; Fr Tim Finigan, PP of Our Lady of the Rosary, was the celebrant and Fr Sam Medley SOLT and Fr Simon Henry, deacon and sub deacon respectively.
The singing was superb and the altar servers flawless under the guidance of an ultra efficient and capable MC (sorry, I don't know his name). The MC must have had a background involving military parades, choreography at the Royal Ballet and directing traffic on a Rome roundabout such was his capacity to manage all that went on in a firm but discreet fashion.

As the smoke from the thurible rose above the altar one could imagine Dylan Parry's two white doves circling through the clouds; certainly the sanctuary was packed out with the angelic hosts!

After Mass a brief talk by Fr Tim (Hermeneutic of Continuity) on how the Catholic world perceives bloggers. He drew on words from Fr Bernard Basset SJ who paraphrased the issues arising from hearing a child's confession as 'Naughty, Rude, Fighting' - this was how many priests and Bishops regarded the Catholic blogosphere stated Fr Tim who went on to counsel the need for charity in our blogging. We can all make mistakes in composing posts at times but, in general we should aim to avoid crossing the line between good Christian debate and back-biting vitriolic remarks.
It is a hard task to hold an audience captive for more than a few minutes but Fr Tim had us all enthralled for the 15 minutes or so that his talk lasted.

And then lunch (I was going to say sumptuous lunch but realised that I may be beginning to sound like 'she whose name must never be mentioned') so I shall merely say that the parish of Blackfen was most hospitable in the great spread  provided.

After lunch a meeting of the Guild and then Vespers and Benediction.

It was especially good to meet so many legendary bloggers as well as some new ones like myself.

Thanks for the day go to Dylan Parry as organiser and originator and to Fr Tim and his parish team for such hospitality (and for providing a model of how every parish should be) and to Fathers Sam Medley and Simon Henry.

The bloggers present were On the side of the Angels, Bara Brith, Mulier Fortis, A Tiny Son of Mary, A Reluctant Sinner, Echurch, Hilaire Belloc, Fr Mildew, Defende Nos in Proelio and commentator, "Vesper." Carol James and Catherine Collins also attended.

Guild members blogs may be seen on http://guildofblessedtitus.blogspot.com/