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.

As the beachball of time....

....slowly deflates on the altar of destiny.....

....then, maybe it's time for a meme.

I do not often originate such things but, in the light of all that is taking place it seems a relatively inoffensive pastime.

I am making this a very nationalistic one, it is aimed solely at Welsh bloggers or those who live in Wales and blog (as I do).

So, my choice of guest bloggers is as follows:-

1. Catholic and Welsh

2. Ragazzagallese

3. Last Welsh Martyr

4. Lucas Cambrensis

5. Ecumenical Diablog

And now for the actual questions, please feel free to respond as you will:-

1. What is your favourite church (other than your parish church).

2. What non doctrinal element of the Faith would you like to see changed or updated.

3. Name a particular saint that you have a devotion to and why (not your patron saint).

4. Which of these, in your view, presents the greatest threat to Catholics?

a) Islam  b) Secularism  c) Communism  d) Feminism

5. Who is your most admired priest (deceased)

Please reply (if you so wish) on your own blogs and in your own time, thank you.

A call to arms!

It has been suggested that other Catholic bloggers might like to involve themselves with the issue of Muslim Prayer Rooms in Catholic Schools and help collect signatories for the letter that will be sent to Archbishop Peter Smith next week.

We do need your help....please link to my post or ask for those who wish their name to be added to the letter (not to be publicised) to email me on r.collinsassoc@btinternet.com  or to leave their name in the comment box HERE

Thank you

Gay Masses OK.....but Catholic bloggers - get out of the Church!

Archbishop Nichols has proved, yet again, how unsuitable he is to lead the Catholics of England and Wales.

He has launched an offensive against Catholic bloggers (see Fr Simon Henry's post on the matter HERE)

The fact that Catholic schools are not fit for purpose, most of them, and that homosexual Masses are allowed to take place at Farm Street and The Tablet is still for sale at the back of most churches in the Archdiocese of Westminster is all tickety boo in the Archbishop's funny old way of thinking.

But to have Catholics sticking their heads up above the pulpit and witnessing and criticising those who 'run' the Church in England and Wales and beyond is verboten!

At least, in his book.

Catholic bloggers may not always get things right; sometimes we are too cavalier, sometimes we go a shade over the top. But we mean well, don't we?

And all that I read in the blogs written by Catholics would fall under the category of constructive criticism.

If we did not love our Faith we would not bother - would we?

But American Brandon Vogt has some wise words of advice for Bishops who have an aversion to bloggers.

I hope they read his post - HERE

And then, perhaps they might like a little time for reflection.

And then, perhaps they might tackle the inadequacy of RE in Catholic schools, call a halt to priests dressing like slobs, sort out the liturgical abuses, stop the sodo Masse,in short, set their own houses in order.

They might even like to start a blog.

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

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!

My three favourite books.....

Thank you to Ttony who has tagged me for a meme originating from Mac at Mulier Fortis. Mac is moving on to Kindle and wants to know what books other bloggers would like to see in this form. I am not sure I could handle a Kindle book but I'll give it a try sometime. It does not specifiy that the book must be religious but I am taking it that is the case.

Ttony has asked me to come up with my three and then pass this on to five other bloggers......and I pray that they still speak to me at the end of it!

Now, I take it that the rule is for religious books only. So, I shall have to give this some careful thought.

My first choice has to be Archbishop Lefebvre's "Letter to Confused Catholics"
This good man has taken an awful lot of flak from the liberal left who have accused him of being right wing, a rebel, uncharitable and so on. If you read this book you will see that he was nothing of the kind. Direct, perceptive and holy, those are good words for this good man to whom we all owe so much. This book charts the nose dive that typified Catholicism in the wake of Vatican II. Horror stories abound. Clown Masses, sins written down on scraps of paper and then ritually set on fire in a dustbin set on the sanctuary, not so holy smoke!
This book is one that will be used by Church historians when this period comes to be scrutinised in 100 years time.

Number two would be any of the "Don Camillo"series. This may seem a little down market to some but I don't care one bit. They are good, entertaining, moral tales and they do me as much good as Peter Bristow's "The Moral Dignity of Man" would and I don't have a throbbing headache afterwards. They should be made compulsory reading in all Catholic Schools.

This is so hard. There are so many good books that I would not like to be without but, for a little pure inspiration I would have to include Ann Ball's "Blessed Miguel Pro".
This martyr of Mexico in the 1920s is one of my great heroes, he led a life of Christ and carried off his scrapes with authority (intent on hunting him down like a dog) with an air of sang froid and great humour.
Of course, they got him in the end and his death at the hands of a firing squad was caught on camera, making it all the more poignant.


And now for my five bloggers that I shall pass this meme on to:

1. Gareth at Catholic and Welsh will, I am sure have some powerful tomes to put forward.

2. I shall have to travel across the pond for The Little Way who has so much wisdom to impart

3. And, also to Tony Layne of The Impractical Catholic and
Outside the Asylum.

4. The Path Less Taken is a blog written by Mary O'Regan who also writes foor many well known newspapers and magazines including The Catholic Herald. Her current post on Sr Genevieve is a truly excellent one.

5. Finally, it would be really interesting to hear from Charlie at
Chasubles and Chalices. I am sure that Charlie has some good books up his sleeve and he's also of the age where he will end up reading more on Kindle than on paper!

So now, my blogging friends, it's over to you to nominate  your three favourite books for the Kindle selection and then name five more bloggers, contacting them to let them know of the challenge. Phew!

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/

Was it something I said?

I noticed, recently, that my blog had been removed from the sidebar list of a priest blogger. That is his absolute right.

But, I was saddened by this. Had I offended him by some view expressed rather too stridently?

Was it that he did not like my comments on Bishops?

I don't think that I would retract anything that I have said over the past 14 months but I am truly sorry if I have offended this priest, because, of course, I have offended one of Christ's own which is as good as offending the good Lord Himself.

I do not care at all about being dropped off the favourites listing but I would have liked an email from him telling me why.

Is there a protocol for bloggers? A code of courtesy and conduct? I rather sense that there is an unwritten, loose form of way of carrying on; the trouble is, no one tells you about it, you just bump from rock to rock finding out the painful, hard way - trial and error.

Perhaps some erudite soul with a love of constitutional matters might cobble together a Catholic Blogger's Code?

Or, does one exist?

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.

An award - but not a big one

I do not say that in any disappointed or ungrateful fashion, I am always eternally grateful for any act of kindness.

In this case it's Michael (or, as I have discovered, Father Michael) at Pray-Lium who has nominated me as one of his awardees for the Liebster Awards.
Thank you Father M, much appreciated.

But now, under the terms of the deal award, I have to respond by nominating five of my favourite blogs. But, (there is always a but) the blogs that I nominate must have less than 200 followers.

So, here goes......

Number 1. This goes to Patrick Button for Button's Blog Why do I nominate Patrick? - because, apart from having interesting posts that are brief and succint, he also wages war on squirrels and that is another common bond (grey squirrels, that is, not the BP red types).

Number 2. Is for Mac at Mulier Fortis; her blog keeps me going and I can enjoy a liturgical drool over her pictures of the plethora of EF Masses that are available in her parish.

Number 3. Clare writes Battlement of Rubies but she does not post half often enough (a busy Mother, you see). But she does have an enviable ability to make a case for the faith under difficult circumstances. I find it hard to keep the red mist from appearing when faced with crass anti Catholic arguments but Clare sails through like a naval cutter - with all guns blazing!

Number 4. This just has to be Mundabor although, I quiver a little in fear at this as he is such an accomplished blogger that, I am sure he is above such things as awards. Nevertheless, if you want uncompromising views and facts about the faith - look no further, Mundie's your man.

Number 5. The Jarrow Scriptorium - Michael lives in the North East of England where men are men and drink a strong, sweet ale called, Newcastle Brown, which is a clear statement as to what it is and where it comes from.
Michael is a prolific blogger and constantly reminds me of feast days that I have forgotten, thank you Michael.


The only thing is.....I'm a bit uncertain about the 200 followers bit.
I think that all of my nominees must be close to the top of that figure if not greatly in excess of it, but, only a few publish their follower numbers, modest souls that they are.

The LOTH New Year Blogger's Honours List

It has been a bumpy old ride, my first full calendar year as a Catholic blogger. But, on the whole, I have found it enjoyable if a shade challenging at times.
The greatest benefit to me has been the fact that blogging has brought me into contact with others of the same or similar mind and I have enjoyed the company enormously.

I have decided, therefore, to mention those whom I feel have helped me by their outstanding posts. The difficulty has been in limiting the list to 15 or so bloggers.
I have had to leave out so many good friends (a quick review of my bloglist will show you who they are).

Also, I have not included blogs written by our priests.
It would be an impossible task to try and sieve through these - they are all so very heartening and good!

So here it is, the Linen on the Hedgerow New Years Honours list for outstanding services to the Faith in general and me in particular (and not in any particular order) :-

1.  Services to the Catholic Social conscience (and mine, especially)   

      Laurence England - That the Bones you have crushed  may thrill

2. Learned theological debates that give me a headache -

    Outside the Asylum   (and Tony Layne also gets a bar to his award for  

    running  two excellent blogs (OTA and The Impractical Catholic)

3. Sound historical facts about the faith, well researched and written in a most  

    beautiful pictorial setting

     - Dylan Parry at A Reluctant Sinner

4. Most heartening blog that makes me feel Catholic again -  

    Philothea on Fire

5. For fearlessness and kicking Episcopal doors open –

    Catholic and Loving It, James Preece of course.

6. For writing the posts that I always wished that I had written –

    Mary O’Regan, The Path Less Taken

7. Squaring up to what the faith embraces and for being on the journey -

    Stuart  James eChurch blog

8. Hanging on in there, waiting for the full reform of the reform -

    Joyce at The Little Way

9. The hope for the future - those at Juventutem London

10. More hope for the future and a blog that puts me in a good frame

      of mind….Charlie J at Chasubles and Chalices

11. For having the sharpest mind on all matters theological but also

      for not blogging enough -

      Paul Priest at On the Side of the Angels

12. Reminding us of the glories of traditional bling….John Sonnen at

      Orbis Catholicus Secundus

13. Giving us biting satire and poetry to match, Chris Wright at Left-Footer

14. Keeping the flag flying in a cold Calvinist climate……Brian at Umblepie

15. Punchy theology that's to the point and true to its name -

      Ron Garcia Making Things Visible

Thank you all and may God grant you a Happy and Peaceful 2012!

New Year Honours List for Catholic Bloggers!

Coming soon, in fact, at around 10 o'clock tonight...........

I like this post from Puff the Magic dragon

Never mind the associations that spring to mind from the name (I seem to recall a Danish couple, he bearded, she tres Scandinavian, singing the song gazing into each other's eyes, their names escape me).

The owner of the Puff the Magic Dragon blog has set up a meme, for want of a better word.

It is based on naming bloggers whom you have not met but would like to meet to have a drink with.

Here is my stab at it, though, truth to tell, there are so many great bloggers I have yet to meet that I am having difficulty in narrowing it down to four.

1. A blogger with whom I would like to go for a cup of coffee - Joyce

2. A blogger with whom I would like to invite for tea - Michael

3. A blogger with whom I would like to go out for a beer - James
4. A blogger with whom I would like to share a bottle of wine - Jane

The invited guests then make up their own lists if they so desire

I would also add Fr Ray, Fr Bede Rowe, Christine, Esther, Elise, John Whitehead, Gareth H, Charlie J, Clare, Patrick Button, Paul Smeaton, Brian, Ttony, Mary Regan, Bob, Ben, Ches, Chelliah, Breadgirl, Catawissa, Tony Layne .....and so many others to my list. But that's not allowed.

This man has done more for Christianity than most of our Bishops

Adrian Smith, employee of Trafford Housing Trust in Manchester, made a statement to the effect that Churches should not be forced to carry out same sex weddings.

A Facebook entry crosses the divide
between public and private but, it was
an entry made in Mr Smith's own time

That statement was made privately (if Facebook entries can be deemed private) and it was done in his own time, not that of his employers.

As a result he has been demoted to a lesser position with a corresponding reduction in salary.

I do not know which Christian denomination Mr Smith belongs to, it does not actually matter in this context, he has offered up his livelihood for what he knows to be true - he has become a "dry" martyr!

I do know that his lead is a brave one; it takes courage to stick your head up above the parapet, especially if you believe that measures will be taken against you.
Before long I can envisage civil prosecutions being applied as a result of anyone swimming against the flow of sewage that society forces upon us.

Well done Mr Smith, you have my prayers and, I am sure the prayers of many others to support and strengthen you.

What can we as Catholic bloggers expect in the future? Much of the same I suspect.

Now, we await a move from our Church leaders. Will one or some of them (or, even 20% of them - see Ecumenical Diablog) stand up in front of the cameras and state that the Trafford Housing Trust and other organisations like them are wrong. That David Cameron is also wrong to pursue his goal of same sex marriage for homosexuals and lesbians and, before long, for those who might wish to wed their poodle or pet goat.

If Cardinal Heenan was alive I can assure you that every portal in the media would have been kicked open by now and the good Cardinal would have stated the position of the Church clearly and unequivocally - none of this "Who knows what's down the road?" nonsense.

As a matter of fact, I do know what is down the road if we continue along this path...it involves hellfire and damnation!

Guild of Bloggers to restrict attendance at meeting

Draconian and swingeing indeed are the restrictions placed on those wishing to attend the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma meeting due to take place at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen, on October 1st.

Here is an insight into the 'black' list....

"....the Guild reserves the right to refuse admission to any individual or group.......





....Admissions will be made only on the following grounds":-

1. Must be either male or female

2. Age  restrictions from 18 months to 100 plus (although exceptions may be
    made at the Guild's discretion)

3. Entrance is restricted to Catholics, those under instruction, those  
    considering the Catholic faith and those not considering the Catholic faith.

4. Only Catholics of a liberal/conservative/labour/fundamentalist/right
    wing/left wing/modernist/evangelical/orthodox/charismatic/pre 1970/post
    1970/Pius X/All other Piuses/cat loving/cat hating persuasion admitted

5. Anyone seeking admittance with a right trouser leg rolled up or left breast
    bared or with a brick in a trouser pocket will be refused entry

6. All delegates must be bloggers, read blogs or have a vague interest
    in blogs of a broad Catholic nature

7. Entry will be granted only to those who can say "The Hermeneutic of
    Continuity" (backwards).
    Those failing in this task may still be granted entry
    on the proviso of buying the first round of drinks for all assembled

Will there be blood? The bloggers meet for the first time!

Shadowlands carried a post yesterday with echoes of the planned meeting of Catholic Bloggers under the auspices of Bl Titus Brandsma. It was a clip from the 'Only Fools and Horses' series.

Now I would like to throw my metaphorical beret into the ring and follow through with this clip from a film that bears no resemblance to historical fact and stars a once great Catholic. It is, of course, Braveheart and the scene is set for a guild of bloggers meeting -  the EF lobby come face to face with the OF mob (I leave you to decide which is which).

Warning: Contains gratuitously obscene words (but only one or two).

                           But, remember.....they are both on the same side!

10 burning questions that demand an answer

Why is it that we soldier on, going to Mass, being (or trying to be) good Catholics and accepting the same old no change message?

Catholic laity are treated like mushrooms

- kept in the dark and, every so often a load

of crap is dumped upon them!

Of course, we sound off on our blogs and to like minded friends but it ends there....no answers to our questions.

Here are my ten questions that I would like someone (even a Bishop) to provide answers to...

1. Why do we have Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion?

2. Why does Archbishop Nichols allow Masses to continue at Warwick Street,

    where homosexuality is held up as something to be valued?

3. When will the Holy Father celebrate an EF Mass in public?

4. Why is the EF Mass not taught at seminaries?

5. Why do Bishops not impose discipline (dress, liturgy, general behaviour) on

     their clergy?

6. Why are Catholic schools so appallingly bad (most of them) at catechising

    the young?

7. Why do Bishops not welcome support from traditional orders such as the

     FSSP and the ICKSP?

8. Why do priests remove communion rails and insist upon the faithful

    standing to receive the Host?

9. Where are our great apologists when it comes to representing the faith on

    television and radio?

10. When will Bishop Regan of Wrexham Diocese retire?

This list is not exhaustive, please feel free to add to it.

And yet another!

There is a plethora of new, good Catholic blogs at present - is it seasonal I wonder?

Mulier Fortis has details of one and Shadowlands another. I like both of them very much.

Several more have popped up in the last few days but are lost in the ether......check on the blog sites.