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

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.

An invitation to all Catholic bloggers*....

..and to celebrate the feastday of.....



• Saint Therese de Lisieux
• St. Remigius
• St. Bavo
• St. Aretas and Companions
• St. Verissimus, Maxima, and Julia
• St. Virila
• Bl. Caspar Fisogiro
• St. Dodo
• Bl. Edward Campion
• Bl. Edward James
• St. Fidharleus
• Bl. John Robinson
• Bl. Robert Widmerpool
• Bl. Robert Wilcox
• St. Ralph Crockett
• St. Romanus the Melodist
• St. Melorius
• St. Piaton
• St. Abreha and Atzbeha (Aizan and Sazana)

*and those under instruction



And now an American Catholic Guild for Bloggers!

Bloggers in the USA appear to be more open to new ideas and willing to explore them than perhaps their British counterparts. Anthony S Layne has an excellent piece which really sums up much of how I feel about a Guild.

Proposed guiding principles for Catholic Bloggers of America

1. The Catholic Bloggers of America unite:
   1. To exchange ideas, techniques and information to help each other become more prominent voices for the Catholic faith;
   2. To give each other support and encouragement in the practice and promotion of the Catholic faith;
   3. To eat, drink, swap stories, throw darts and bowling balls (but not at each other).
2. No annual dues to be set until it actually begins to cost something to run the Guild; work on behalf of the Guild should be voluntary as much as possible, and money collected only when and to the extent needed.
3. To the end of principle 2, formal organization should be kept to a minimum, developed only as required. Since the point is to get bloggers in the same room with each other for food, fun and talk, the only real purpose of the organization itself is to get the meetings arranged.
4. No test of faith should be required … especially not if it involves the flight speed of an African swallow; a simple oath that one abides by the Catechism and talks nice about the Pope will do.
5. The CBA is not intended to be a PAC or a watchdog organization: no particular political test should be required … unless you’re a unicorn-chomping pinko commie.
6. About the only other principle I can think of: MINIMUM AGE 21! I don’t want to have the same nightmare Richard had!

Guild of Catholic Bloggers a nightmare?

Over the past few days I have been caught up in the fever of the moment, a Guild for Catholic Bloggers, how great! and many thanks to
A Reluctant Sinner and Jane Mossendew and Mulier Fortis for giving it some reality and focus.
But, in my subconscious I have been aware of a nagging doubt, this talk of all Catholic Bloggers being young.....yes, dammit, young!
It conjures up a vision of trendy, suntanned dudes who only drink alcohol through a straw and accompanied by paper umbrellas. Who wear the latest style in sunglasses and who lounge around the Piazza outside Westminster Cathedral chatting to each other in Latin. This image must have played on my mind because last night I suffered a nightmare of horrific proportions.
There I was on 7th May strolling along Morpeth Terrace and arriving at the portal of the Hinsley Room. Giving the doors a casual kick open I am met with  a sea of faces, all wearing hornrimmed specs a la Harry Potter and clutching laptops and iphones and other bits of techno gadgetry. They are tucking into their lunchboxes prepared by their Mummies and the room is a sea of acne. Sort of Fourth Form comes to Westminster!

Across the hall a banner is draped stating: "Entry barred to any blogger over the age of fourteen and three quarters." Turning blindly I stumble out of the room tripping over baby buggies en route.
"Get me out of here" I scream and then, I wake up.

When I regain my composure I begin to hatch a cunning plan. I shall go in disguise. Yes indeed, a pair of aviator sunglasses, one or two items of clothing gleaned from the Bodens catalogue and a baseball cap that I can wear with the peak pointing backwards. That's pretty cool (you see I am picking up the lingo and getting into the swing of things, mood acting and all that).
I will sashay casually up to the Hinsley Room muttering a few Latin bon mots and wiping my shoes with a copy of The Tablet (bound to win me friends).
Throwing open the doors I will enter as one of the gang. Not a head will turn in my direction, I am "in"- At last I am in with the young crowd!
I just hope that no one spots my zimmer frame.



The May 7th Welcoming Committee?

 'Et futue te ipsum!