Roman Blognics abound

and they are all in the eternal city.

The closest I shall be getting to the beatification is a JPII DVD in the Church Hall,on the Saturday night before. Popecorn (Freudian slap?) too you understand, we know how to have a good time in Blackfen.

Sounds like lots of fun on the Monday and the Tuesday.

As a self-proclaimed Taliban Catholic, I am happy to advertise...

all the way from Orwell's Picnic

Do you have a blog on which you write about Catholic stuff?

Do you read Catholic blogs?

Do you comment on Catholic blogs?

Are you planning on going to Rome for the Beatification of John Paul II?

Are you pretty sure you're not going to get invited to the Vatican's blognic? Surely you could go to both? Someone's got to be one of the 150?
Do you suspect that they found your work just a leeetle too ... err... forthcoming about the bishops, the Church, the state of things? Do you suspect that you'd probably be regarded as a "Taliban Catholic" blogger in certain circles?

Or just don't think you can face hours of talks by Vatican bureaucrats on "the initiatives that the Church is putting in place in the world of new media, whether in Rome or at the local level"?

Come to the *other* Catholic blogger Rome blognic...


"Shaping the Narrative: how Catholic 'new media' is re-defining the global Catholic debate"


and talk about what *YOU* want to talk about...

Unlike the Vatican's, ours will be FUN!

AND ours will have beer...

AND pizza...

AND we'll let you come in your pyjamas if you want.

Tell your bloggy friends and enemies.

When?
May 3rd, 2011, 1-5 pm (for Europeans, that's 13:00-17:00)

Where?
We're still in the process of organising this (since we just dreamed it up on Friday). More details about location will follow, but right now we're looking at a very central venue, Scholar's Lounge Pub, the home of the Rome Pub Quiz, which is on all the Centro's bus and tram routes. So it will be an easy access to wherever you'll be camping for the Beatification.

Things we do know:

1) you will be allowed to talk about whatever YOU want

2) No Vatican prelate will bore you into early-onset Alzheimer's engage you in a meaningful dialogue

3) the talks will all be in English

4) all the cool kids will be there

For now, the plan is to have two formal "talks," in the style of Theology on Tap: a keynote and a panel. We'll discuss the general state of things, the impact of the "new media" on the Church at the local and international level, the contributions of bloggers to the various Catholic public debates etc (see topic suggestions below).

The rest of the time will be in "small breakout discussion groups" (IOW, sitting around in the pub drinking and talking).

Also, we're going to do our best to get Wifi so you can liveblog it, and we can maybe set up some Skype calls or iChat thingies for people whose bodies can't make it so at least their heads can be there. And we'll see what we can do about getting the thing on video so it can go up on YouTube.

AND, if all goes as planned, there will be discounts for drinks for those who are registered before the event.


"Sounds GREAT! Where do I sign up?"


Are you on Facebook? look for "The *Other* Rome Catholic Blognic" on the facebook search and sign on. Leave a note on the Wall giving a link to your blog, (or to the blogs where you most often make a pest of yourself in the commbox). It's that simple.

Or, you can just send me a link to your blog in the commbox below, by email or by a message on Facebook and I will put you on the list.



Sounds GREAT! What can I do to help put it together?


First, thing to do, is cut and paste this post into your blog (or other new media thingy) and start drumming up interest.

Next, think of three or more Catholic bloggers who fit the following criteria:

1) is likely to get rejected from the Vatican's list for being, in the immortal words of John Allen and at least one influential cleric, "Taliban Catholics"

2) blogs about Catholic stuff

3) is likely to be in Rome for the Beatification anyway

...and invite them to join this facebook event page.

Next, suggest topics you'd like to hear talked about. So far we've had:

1) Whatever the hell we damn well want to talk about

2) "blogging until something happens"
- the intolerable silence of injustice has been disturbed and even destroyed
- the power of the blogs efforts in transparency and accountability

3) "I am not alone"
- isolationism and the iconoclasm

4) Why is the Catholic bloggosphere so nearly uniformly "conservative," pro-Benedict and, above all, young?

5) Are we really "making a difference" or is it really all just narcissism?

6) exchanging stories: how have Catholic blogs, websites and "new media" actually made a concrete difference to the Church or to real people?

en vacances

Off to Paris tomorrow for a few days.

Found out after booking that I'm staying round the corner from the rue du bac.

Monsignor Keith Newton & The Pope - a photo

Copyright The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. (Hope that's OK.)

Solesmes in London Gregorian Chant 5-7th May 2011

Dom Yves-Marie Lelievre OSB, Choirmaster of The Abbey of St Peter, Solesmes will be giving workshops on Gregorian Chant at St James's Spanish Place, Thursday 5th - Saturday 7th May.

An outline of the sung Offices and Mass:

Thursday 5th May
5pm Vespers
8.30pm Compline

Friday 6th May
9am Mass
5.15pm Vespers
8.30pm Compline

Saturday 7th May
8.30am Mass
1pm Sext
4.30pm Vespers (Social Hall)
6pm Sung NO Latin Mass. Sung under the direction of Dom Yves Marie.

Workshops
Thursday & Friday starting at 2pm Dom Yves Marie will teach two advanced classes entitled, Introduction to the Graduale Triplex. Partcipants will then sing Vespers and Compline.

Friday 10am-12pm Stan Methany will teach a session to beginners on Singing the Liturgy of the Hours.

Saturday 10am-1pm and 2.30-4.30pm, beginners' workshops taught by Dom Yves Marie, focusing on Mass I, which will then be sung at the 6pm Mass that day.

Cost - £5 donation to cover costs. (Bargain!)

Masses and Offices obviously open to all.

UPDATE To enquire about Saturday workshop, contact Candy Bartoldus cbartold@gmu.edu

(photo credit Clare Bowskill)

Laetare Sunday

Pink clouds

Yes, even the sky says, 'Laetare Sunday,' which means early morning chicken roasting and cake baking in readiness for most of my family and, most importantly, my Mother, for lunch. Now I have a double oven I can even do the roasting and baking simultaneously.

Photo above is a view over the Pacific, so not quite the view out of the kitchen, but you get the drift.

Monsignor Keith Newton & The Pope

Received in a private audience, no less.

or as the Vatican put it:

Il Santo Padre ha ricevuto questa mattina in Udienza:

Em.mo Card. William Joseph Levada, Prefetto della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede, con:

S.E. Mons. Alan Stephen Hopes, Vescovo tit. di Cuncacestre, Ausiliare di Westminster (Gran Bretagna), e

il Rev.mo Mons. Keith Newton, Ordinario dell’Ordinariato Personale di Our Lady of Walsingham.

Impressed.