How to halt The Tablet in one easy move

Tyburn Tree has posted on Facebook, with a suggestion  of how to call a halt to The Tablet and its utterances, in particular, criticising Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

As with all good ideas, it has simplicity at its base.

Here is what TT has to say on the matter:-

"This is just a thought.                        Perhaps people who attend Westminster                                     Cathedral could be encouraged to desist                       from putting money in the collection until                     such time as the Tablet is removed (and                        write to His Grace to that effect)".

Great idea. But why restrict it to Westminster Cathedral?

Why not withold normal weekly donations to the collection plate?

Always provided, of course, that you attend a parish where The Tablet is on sale.

If the thought of holding back your dues is worrying you, why not just place the money in a safe place pro tem and then pay up once the offending rag has been removed?

 For good.

Seems a sound concept to me.

Nothing focuses the attention of their Lordships better than a reduction in turnover.

So please....desist.....yes, desist......DESIST!

With a bit of a shove......

......and a fair wind behind it.......last Saturday's Consistory Mass in Rome........

.....Could have been a Traditional Latin Mass!

It was reverent, in Latin, holy and beautifully sung......but it was an Ordinary Form Mass and a concelebrated one at that.

The distinctions between EF and OF were really quite blurred on the surface; I would even go so far as to say that, if my local parish church offered an Ordinary Form Mass in the same manner, I would be there like a greased something or other.

So, is it too much to ask that the Holy Father celebrates Mass in the Extraordinary Form?

Will the Archbishop of Paris really swoon at the prospect?

And all those German and Austrian prelates, will they start smashing up the crockery?

I think that the only person who would really start chewing at the carpet if such a Mass took place would be The Tablet's Rome correspondent.

We don't complain enough

That may sound a trifle rich coming from one who posts constantly about the inadequacies of those charged with responsibility for the souls of men (and women).....(and children).

But, as a nation, the British prefer to receive a sloppy, undercooked, bland flavoured restaurant meal so that they may live for months on the memory of how bad it was and whinge to their friends on the subject.
Perish the thought that a complaint might be lodged with the waiter or maitre d'.

                                    Not quite The Tablet I had in mind

I am sure it is the same with requests for the EF Mass following Summorum Pontificum; few will have made their way to Bishop's House and even fewer to Rome.

We enjoy sitting back and carping about the sad state of affairs whilst the bulk of the hierarchy, in the absence of any fuss, sit back and relax in the belief that, as the sheep are not bleating, they must be well fed.

If you don't believe me, just investigate a few Diocesan websites and click on the 'Bishop's Appointments' page.
Here's an extract from a leading Diocese for October 2012 (I've tried to keep it anonymous as I don't particularly wish to enter a dialogue on this matter but most Bishop's will have a similar diary):-

Friday 5
10.30am Trustees’ Meeting, Xxxxxxxx
Saturday 6 – Sunday 28
Attends Synod in Rome
Subject to change without notice

Phew! I feel absolutely shattered after just reading about that frenetic activity.

If the CEO of Amazon or the Chairman of the World Bank read that schedule they would probably roll around the floor laughing hysterically.

So, my pre resolution (forward planning, see?) for 2013 is to refresh my efforts to place before my Bishop and Archbishop, polite requests to extractum digitum on matters liturgical and ecclesiastical.

Where to start? So many issues, so little time.

Well, I think that the Diocesan Magazine may be worthy of attention. why?

Because, in with the usual pap about the nun who has just produced a cookery book of recipes using only Fairtrade goods and the Curate who raised funds for CAFOD by knitting a world record length scarf, I have noticed advertisements.

Not just any old advertisements, you understand, but a full colour half page ad for (cover your ears) The Tablet.
Yes, The Tablet!

It's bad enough for a Catholic Church to have copies of this rag at the back of the Church but, to actually be involved in marketing the thing.....39 steps too far, I think.

Time for a little action Richard Hannay style.

Animal welfare and The Tablet

Following a recent post in which I suggested that the best use for copies of The Tablet was to shred them and use the shreddings as bedding for pet rabbits, has brought a storm of adverse comment from animal welfare societies and the like.

Generally speaking, all comment has been focused on how unkind it would be to subject bunnies to the rancid scraps of what once was a great magazine.

The GPPS (Guinea Pigs Protection Society) has weighed in by accusing me of discrimination in favour of rabbits and, the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Propagation of Composting Activities) has cautioned against using the magazines as added fodder for composting insisting that worm and bacterial populations would be decimated by coming into contact with, especially, the editorial pages.

The dilemma grows - what to do with the bulk of (remaindered) Tablets?

You can't use them as landfill material because of the environmental pollution threat - what can you possibly do with them?

Polite and creative suggestions gratefully received.


My thanks to Father EW, (EF Pastor Emeritus) who first flagged up this problem.