Ten Years On...

Today I celebrated the tenth anniversary of my vows. I usually arrange to renew my vows on the first Saturday in December, as this coincides with the monthly Missa Cantata at Blackfen, making it a handy time to have a bit of a get-together afterwards. This year the first Saturday fell on 1st December, which is the actual anniversary, which was rather pleasing.

My good friend @fitzrufus who also blogs at Vox in Rama Audita Est came all the way over from the Netherlands, and she stayed with me overnight (this seemed to be the best way to ensure that we actually had time to talk, as I knew that today would be far too hectic!)

@Londiniensis, who occasionally comments on blogs, but now concentrates more on Twitter instead, also made it down to Blackfen for the day. Gem of the Ocean (who tweets as well) also came along, and the mighty Zephyrinus was MC. Tom was there to help with the singing, and his children joined in at the last Salve Regina of the year with gusto. Their mother gleefully informed us that they've been practicing the Alma Redemptoris Mater all week. Father Tim Finigan was there, of course, and with me that made it a six-blogger occasion... (Eight if you include Londiniensis and Delia (another commenter, who sadly couldn't stay for the party.)

Father Whinder, an old friend (as he so ungallantly reminded me), was once the most blogged-about non-blogging guest of English Catholic blogs, and he journeyed over from Mortlake to help me celebrate. The ubiquitous non-blogging priest from Chislehurst was absent, but we snaffled some of his parishioners, one of whom was happy to serve on the sanctuary...

Chislehurst's torchbearer on the right...

The Guild of St. Martha took care of the catering, and provided a rather scrumptious spread after the ceremony, and Danika from the parish club made sure that spiritual sustenance was available for those of us who fancied something stronger than tea. (I was a little disconcerted when I recalled that I used to teach Danika Science and RE...)

It really was a very special day, and I'd like to thank everyone who helped me celebrate!

Stepping Out In Style...

Life for Cardinal Furretti and Monsignor Miaowrini was beginning to get a little precarious. The ledge outside the cat flap was rotting away, and the available space being reduced bit by bit. I had placed a chair nearby because Miaowrini couldn't comfortably manage the distance between the ground and the ledge, and that was starting to disintegrate as well. On more than one occasion, when the two cats were vying for the prime spot on the ledge, I heard an ominous slithering sound followed by a thump as one or other of them stepped on the rotten piece of ledge...

Jonathan, Blackfen's Senior MC came to the kitties' rescue. He'd told me that he had some old bits of wood handy, and he'd weather-proof them and attach them to the wall outside the cat flap. I was expecting a couple of bits of MDF...

In fact these are not just any old bits of wood. They have been beautifully varnished (so much so that I wonder if the kitties will end up slithering off the ends) and fastened securely to the wall in a step-like fashion. Furretti has been out and in again, so that's ok. Miaowrini's still out gallivanting, so I don't know if she's figured out the new system yet...

More Advent Preparations...

I wrote a post about preparing for Advent. Less than a week to go now. This year I have the candles (purple, pink and white) all ready to go... though I have to admit that was because I didn't get around to using them last year!

The actual greenery will have to wait until the weekend.

Anyone who wants to do some spiritual preparation could benefit from reading the words of the Abbé Gueranger, so kindly reproduced by Zephyrinus. Part One is up already. Part Two will follow in due course...

Catholics Don't "Believe" - They Know!

One of the best explanations of why we, as Catholics, assert that life begins at conception, written by Creative Minority Report Guest Blogger, Rebecca Taylor.

I have to plead guilty to having used the phrase that Rebecca deplores. She is absolutely right, though. Her final paragraphs contain a challenge for all of us:

Every one of us is a continuous organism from the moment we are conceived to the day that we die. It is illogical that we be valued and protected under the law only for a part of that continuous process.

So the next time someone says to you, "Human life does not begin at conception," correct them and tell them that life indeed does begin at conception and what they really mean to say is "I don't believe the life that begins at conception has value." (And then explain to them why that stance is totally illogical.)

And if you must use the word "believe" when discussing the beginnings of life, please do not say, "I believe life begins at conception." Say instead, "I believe the life that begins at conception has moral worth simply because it is human."

Earworms...

YouTube is a real gift for tired teachers. A short video clip to illustrate a point can work wonders, and the sillier it is, the better!

Occasionally it backfires...

This afternoon my Year 10s (14-15 yrs old) were entranced by the following clip, and proceeded to join in with the chorus...

Unfortunately I can't get the tune out of my head. Aaaarghhh!

Preparing For Advent...

The traditional liturgical calendar gives us the season of Septuagesima in which to prepare for the rigours of Lent. It allows us some valuable "thinking time" - Ash Wednesday can catch us unawares if Easter is early.

Unfortunately, there is no corresponding season in which to prepare for Advent.

With the secular emphasis on Christmas (sorry, the "Festive" season), the round of present-shopping, parties and such-like, Advent can get lost. And yet it is a season in its own right. We are preparing for the coming of Christ - a remembrance of his first visit and an anticipation of the second!

There's a week to go before it starts. So take the time to decide what you are going to do to celebrate Advent.

Entente Cordiale...

Maybe it's the effect of Furretti's promotion to Cardinal. Alternatively, it might be due to the bad weather. Right now, the kitties are getting along nicely. Cardinal Furretti has extended the tongue of friendship and licked Monsignor Miaowrini's nose.

Both cats dislike the rain, though Miaowrini, being more of an outdoor type, tends to brave the elements for longer. Furretti only goes out for the minimum of time necessary to do her stuff, and then she comes bounding back in, demanding to be dried off. Miaowrini gets much wetter, and also miaows asking to be dried, but she is frightened of towels, so it's rather more tricky...

Anyway, it is very wet and cold outside, and so I've turned up the heating. Both the kitties came to keep me company while I blogged...

(The Cardinal decided she wanted to snooze on the cardigan and towel...)

Donor Cards...

I used to be a firm believer in donor cards. I remember being quite angry that, on the death of my father, no one at the hospital believed my mother was in a fit state to consent to his organs being used. When his personal effects were returned, we found his donor card in his wallet.

Now, I am not so sure about the wisdom of carrying a card. The more I learn about hospital procedures, the more suspicious I become. When, exactly, is a person considered to be dead? And if, in order to allow organs to be harvested for transplant purposes before the heart has stopped beating, the diagnosis of "brain death" is accepted, then what exactly is "brain death"? And now we hear of cases where the donor has recovered just in time to stop having vital organs removed...

Tony Bland had to have opiates administered so that he wouldn't show distress when he was being starved and dehydrated to death. Now "dead" patients are having to be anaesthetised to stop them reacting to the pain of surgery to harvest their organs.

Coma, the book by Robin Cook about a health centre which purports to look after coma patients whilst secretly harvesting their organs for transplantation is beginning to appear prophetic...

Blessed Miguel Pro

Today is the anniversary of the martyrdom of Blessed Miguel Pro, a Mexican priest of the early twentieth century.

I heard the name a while back, but I didn't know very much about him until I read this excellent summary of his martyrdom on the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma blog. The similarities in the stories of the persecution of the Church in Mexico and the persecution carried out in England at the Reformation were quite striking. Nothing new under the Sun? Or does persecution of the Church always follow the same pattern? There's an extended blog post in there somewhere...

I was particularly amused by the tale of a young woman helping Fr. Pro to escape by linking arms with him and pretending to be his wife/girlfriend. There is a very similar account of one of the English martyrs (I forget which one) being saved from capture by the pursuivants when a maidservant pushed the priest into a water trough (or duck pond.) It was assumed that the woman, a known Catholic, would never do such a thing to a priest...

It is finding out about things like the persecution of the Church in Mexico that highlights the paucity of History teaching in the UK. The only thing British children get to hear about Mexico is that the Aztecs/Incas were there. The teaching is so vague that, even now, I don't know the difference between the Aztecs and the Incas...

Richard Collins also writes his own blog, Linen on the Hedgerow. It's well worth keeping an eye on his personal blog as well as the Guild one, because he doesn't always publish the same stories on both (I envy his industry... I have problems writing for just the one blog!!)

Happy Feast Day !

Oooops. Wrong celebration! This is the photo I meant to put up...

Happy St. Cecilia's Day. If you want to know more about the saint herself, do go and read my previous post about her.

And, to my many American readers, have a happy thanksgiving as well. Just one word of warning. If you are a vegetarian, and are happily planning on tucking into the tofurkey, be aware that it has nothing to do with tofu. The tofurkey is a cute little critter, and you have had it slaughtered...

Another Quick Plug...

A brand new blog is up and running, and is worth keeping an eye on.

It's by a friend of mine, Catholic Christian, who has just moved to the big, bad city,and he wanted to start a blog to record his thoughts and experiences.

Anyway, do pop over to Roamin in London when you get a chance

Women Bishops...

I returned to the Church twenty years ago, after what I describe as my Damascus Road conversion. I was pretty arrogant back in those days (some say that I still am) but I knew that the only way to avoid making a mess of my life again was to submit to the teaching authority of Holy Mother Church. She had, after all, survived 2000 years of human mismanagement, and Jesus had guaranteed that the Holy Spirit would preserve her. It was a no-brainer.

About a year or so after my reversion, the women priests thing kicked off in the Church of England. I didn't understand all the theological arguments - I still don't - but the Catholic Church stated clearly that you couldn't have women priests, because she didn't have the authority to do what Christ himself had not done. The lack of authority was the bottom line. That was enough for me.

The Church of England decided to go ahead and ordain women, but then, to put it bluntly, they dropped the idea of authority back when they split with Rome over the matter of a certain King's divorce. At the time it was argued that it was alright to ordain women as priests but they wouldn't ever go ahead and be ordained as bishops.

This struck me at the time as a rather disingenuous statement. Even to my untutored ears, it didn't sound right. After all, if you are going to dispense with the arguments against having women priests, then there are no arguments remaining against having women bishops. If there are no theological reasons to prevent women being ordained as bishops, then it boils down to a matter of equality. You cannot say women can not be bishops just because they are women when you wouldn't accept that argument about women becoming priests in the first place.

Today the General Synod voted very narrowly against women bishops. I think the Church of England is in trouble here. Anyone care to take bets on how long before we have the first court case under equal opportunities legislation?

A Compliment To Treasure...

I usually read all my favourite blogs via Google Reader. It cuts down on time wasted in clicking on links in a blogroll and finding that there's not been an update yet. It was a major consolation when my computer broke down, as I was still able to read all my favourites on my mobile phone (Google Reader is excellent on phones) and so I didn't have the attack of the vapours which total deprivation would have induced.

The downsides to using Google Reader are that I don't get to see the comments and that I don't see the design and layout of the blogs I'm reading. The former isn't too much of a problem - I can go and look at the original post if I think it provoked a good response. I don't usually bother too much about looking at layout on other blogs, it only comes to my attention when I am actually opening up specific posts in order to link to them.

I noticed that I received several referrals from my friends on Papa Stronsay this week. It surprised me, because I hadn't actually seen any posts from them linking to my blog. Just in case I had missed something, I pottered over to have a look. Imagine my surprise when, scrolling down the sidebar, I discovered that I'd been given my very own "icon" on the blogroll...

Both Cardinal Furretti and Monsignor Miaowrini made it into the picture. It is absolutely wonderful ! So a big thank you to the Community for the honour.

A New Blog To Read...

While I was checking out my stats and finding out where my readers are coming from, I discovered a new blog. Further investigation revealed that Recusancy is written by a young woman who has a love for the Church and the Holy Father, and a hatred of bad hymns. She also writes some seriously good stuff, particularly on healthcare.

Pop on over and explore for yourself - she's only been blogging since August, but she's already in the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma. Leave a comment or two and welcome her to the Catholic Blogosphere!

Maternal Mortality...

The case of Savita Halappanavar is a very sad one. It is always sad when a young person dies. The amount of hysterical outrage in the Press from pro-abortionists, however, strikes me as being artificially manufactured.

Firstly, the full facts are not yet known, and won't be until after the inquest. There is no evidence that an abortion would have saved Savita - and, in fact, the president-elect of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) for 2013-2014, Dr.Divakar, said that an abortion performed in a situation of acute septicaemia could well have resulted in hastening Savita's death.

Another reason that I consider the outrage of the pro-abortion lobby to be insincere and opportunistic is the lack of comment about the rates of maternal mortality in countries which do allow abortion. In 2010, the number of maternal deaths in the UK was double that in Ireland, and the US rate was more than three times that of Ireland. Ranking 6th in the world, Ireland is one of the safest places in which to give birth. The UK, which has what is effectively abortion on demand, ranks 23rd in the world, and sepsis is the leading cause of maternal mortality here.

Hard cases make bad law. Savita's death is a tragedy, but we need to examine the true facts before claiming that abortion should be made legal in order to reduce maternal mortality rates.

Red Hat Arrives From Rome...

Last Sunday, Cardinal Furretti's red hat arrived from Rome, courtesy of Annie Elizabeth and family who acted as couriers.

Annie and her family were in Rome for the FIUV pilgrimage Mass at St. Peter's in thanksgiving for Summorum Pontificum. You can read her excellent summary of the pilgrimage procession and Mass, along with some stunning photographs over on her blog. There are also two very amusing (and impressive) video clips of her youngest child singing the Salve Regina and the Regina Caeli (yes, I know it's the wrong season, but he's only three!!) from the roof of St. Peter's.

I tried to photograph Furretti with the hat on, but she was so ecstatic at its arrival that she wouldn't let go...

LMS Requiem Mass...

I attended the Requiem Mass for deceased Latin Mass Society members and their families at Westminster Cathedral this afternoon. The Mass itself was wonderful. Despite being able to attend the Traditional Latin Mass every weekend at Blackfen, I like to go to these big Masses every now and then, to remind myself that I am part of the wider Church... as well as enjoying a bit of extra pomp and ceremony!

It's a shame that, given the occasion, the Bishop's sermon didn't reflect on the need for us to pray for the dead. There was a lot about the love and mercy of God, which is all well and good, but we also need to remember that Hell exists, and we need to make a conscious effort to avoid it. St. Bernadette was reported as saying that she feared languishing in Purgatory for lack of prayers for the repose of her soul after her death. If such a saintly individual was so concerned to have prayers and Masses offered, then we more fallible types should really bear it in mind...

Joe Shaw was taking plenty of photos, and I'm sure that they'll end up on his blog in due course...

Wonderful News...!

I am completely bowled over! Due to the generosity of one of my readers, I have been able to get a new computer!

I opted for an Acer laptop, as I thought it would be more versatile. I bought it this evening but couldn't play with it immediately as Rosary & Benediction was on this evening... and I wanted to say a prayer or two in thanksgiving. I am still getting to grips with Windows 8 (grrrr) but need to get to bed, as I have school in the morning.

So, blogging will resume very shortly. Watch this space!

Update...

The computer chappie has confirmed that my computer is well and truly dead. Something to do with a motherboard. Apparently it's cheaper to buy a new computer than fix the old one. But that's not an option right now... Ho hum. Could be worse...

Blogging Has Been Suspended...

My desktop computer has died, and I can't afford to get it fixed just now - or afford to get a new one. I can't blog from school, and blogging on my mobile phone is too much hassle. I hope to be back up and running soon!