Just got back from a weekend there on the NACF Pilgrimage.
It was a great weekend, if a little iffy in the weather department. It was fun and and nice to hang out with lots of people. These included people I know by sight but have never spoken to from Church, who it turns out live round the corner.
Now thoughts turn to Brighton and the LU for Thursday....
Monday, 31 May 2010
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
I'm with Auntie Joanna
here.
Grandma did Galway Race Course and JPII with her brother and sister-in-law in 1979, no problem. (Bit muddy.)
I saw JPII in Canterbury in 1982, no problem.
I went to Rome in 2000 for WYD where there were 2.1 million people, the city was heaving, like we had to wait 40 minutes underground to get onto the Underground to get back into the city centre after the Papal Mass. No-one pushed, no-one got agitated, people just chatted to each other and then got on a train. There was plenty of water and food and it was all fine. ( A little hot to be fair, but the Fire Brigade sprayed the pilgrims with hoses at regular intervals to keep us cool. It was so hot you could go from soaked to dry in five minutes.)
I've seen people practically charge into Brompton Oratory at the end of the Rosary Rally and it was all fine.
I've been in plenty of packed churches full of candles and never felt worried at all.
So I will be going into London to see the Pope in September and if I don't get a ticket to that Prayer Vigil, I will just have to stand by the side of the road with my flag.
I'm forever getting mixed up into football crowds, Marathon crowds etc on public transport. London is always dealing with hoards of people. Let's not be boring about this.
The thing about Catholicism is you do have to be physically present.
You can't go to confession over the phone.
You can't fulfil your Sunday obligation by watching TV.
Grandma did Galway Race Course and JPII with her brother and sister-in-law in 1979, no problem. (Bit muddy.)
I saw JPII in Canterbury in 1982, no problem.
I went to Rome in 2000 for WYD where there were 2.1 million people, the city was heaving, like we had to wait 40 minutes underground to get onto the Underground to get back into the city centre after the Papal Mass. No-one pushed, no-one got agitated, people just chatted to each other and then got on a train. There was plenty of water and food and it was all fine. ( A little hot to be fair, but the Fire Brigade sprayed the pilgrims with hoses at regular intervals to keep us cool. It was so hot you could go from soaked to dry in five minutes.)
I've seen people practically charge into Brompton Oratory at the end of the Rosary Rally and it was all fine.
I've been in plenty of packed churches full of candles and never felt worried at all.
So I will be going into London to see the Pope in September and if I don't get a ticket to that Prayer Vigil, I will just have to stand by the side of the road with my flag.
I'm forever getting mixed up into football crowds, Marathon crowds etc on public transport. London is always dealing with hoards of people. Let's not be boring about this.
The thing about Catholicism is you do have to be physically present.
You can't go to confession over the phone.
You can't fulfil your Sunday obligation by watching TV.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Thursday, 20 May 2010
Things are looking up
After the doom and gloom of the other day, it seems that the initial report from the Scottish Catholic Observer may prevail.
See here.
The eyes of the nation will be on us.
Let's not give the sneering MSM et al any free amo.
We have all the best composers. Let's use their music.
See here.
The eyes of the nation will be on us.
Let's not give the sneering MSM et al any free amo.
We have all the best composers. Let's use their music.
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Early Optimism Dispelled
by various reports on the music for the Mass at Coventry.
This the least offensive way of describing it.
'Make me a channel of your peace' is not the best choice for fronting up to the militant secularism of Dawkins and Hichens.
See how the insipid D major chord with the banal meandering inner part does battle.
I will say no more.
This the least offensive way of describing it.
'Make me a channel of your peace' is not the best choice for fronting up to the militant secularism of Dawkins and Hichens.
See how the insipid D major chord with the banal meandering inner part does battle.
I will say no more.
Friday, 14 May 2010
The Good Counsel Network
are in dire financial straights.
That is, they are down to their last £50 and need to be able to give food vouchers totalling £445 to fourteen mothers and their children.
Fr John Boyle and Mac have all the details and there is a paypal link via their donate button on their website.
That is, they are down to their last £50 and need to be able to give food vouchers totalling £445 to fourteen mothers and their children.
Fr John Boyle and Mac have all the details and there is a paypal link via their donate button on their website.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Newman Hijacking
Laurence, Damian T, Fr Ray et al quote John Cornwell (Hitler's Pope, The Pope in Winter (disgusting description of WYD2000), Any Pope you care to name, I don't like him....)
'Benedict and the traditionalist wing of Catholicism nevertheless claim Newman as a faithful supporter of the papal “magisterium” — pontifical dogmas on a raft of issues. When addressing Britain’s bishops three months ago, the Pope cited Newman as an enemy to Catholic dissidence in any shape or form.'
Call me a simpleton (simpleton!), but Newman was not that young when he converted, which cannot have made it easier than if he had done it whilst a student, say. Converting to Catholicism in the mid-19th England did not carry worldly benefits, in fact he had to give up the (I imagine) cosy milieu of Oxford don/clergymen. Presumably, then he thought the Papacy worth converting for.
He had gone into the whole Catholic thing in quite some detail. He was that sort of man. I read his novel, 'Loss and Gain,' as a student and the chief protagonist was forever going on walks with chums, so that Newman could tell us all about this or that and each time come to the conclusion that the Catholic Church was the answer. Actually, scrub what I said in the previous paragraph about it being easier to convert as a student, because you had to sign the 39 Articles before you could take your Finals, so that was your choice - university education or Catholicism.
Did Newman have the luxury of a half hearted, it won't change my life much, Papacy - whatever, conversion? Um, no.
PS Traditionalist wing of Catholicism? What's that then?
'Benedict and the traditionalist wing of Catholicism nevertheless claim Newman as a faithful supporter of the papal “magisterium” — pontifical dogmas on a raft of issues. When addressing Britain’s bishops three months ago, the Pope cited Newman as an enemy to Catholic dissidence in any shape or form.'
Call me a simpleton (simpleton!), but Newman was not that young when he converted, which cannot have made it easier than if he had done it whilst a student, say. Converting to Catholicism in the mid-19th England did not carry worldly benefits, in fact he had to give up the (I imagine) cosy milieu of Oxford don/clergymen. Presumably, then he thought the Papacy worth converting for.
He had gone into the whole Catholic thing in quite some detail. He was that sort of man. I read his novel, 'Loss and Gain,' as a student and the chief protagonist was forever going on walks with chums, so that Newman could tell us all about this or that and each time come to the conclusion that the Catholic Church was the answer. Actually, scrub what I said in the previous paragraph about it being easier to convert as a student, because you had to sign the 39 Articles before you could take your Finals, so that was your choice - university education or Catholicism.
Did Newman have the luxury of a half hearted, it won't change my life much, Papacy - whatever, conversion? Um, no.
PS Traditionalist wing of Catholicism? What's that then?
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