Pope jogs while nuns run berserk

I think that I can safely claim the most outrageous headline for any post this year.......and, sadly, it is true.

Let me begin at the beginning.

~After last Saturday's great Mass and blognic involving the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma, I was on a high.

I had been fed a high protein diet of red meat, spiritually speaking.

And so it was I arrived at St James's Spanish Place for the 9.30am Mass the next day, Sunday.

All was good, all was calm. The celebrant (sorry, don't know his name) gave an excellent sermon on the same theme as the one that Fr McHardy had touched upon: we are moving into challenging times and, as Catholics, we must be prepared to stand our ground and not flinch in the face of the enemy.

After Mass, with two daughters, son-in-law, two grandchildren and Mrs L in tow, we opted for a Sunday brunch in Hyde Park, sitting outside a cafe on the banks of The Serpentine.

Again, all was good and calm untill a sudden commotion.

The crowds on the walkway were excited and there was a flurry of excitement and anticipation and then.......they appeared.

About 12 'nuns' surrounding a 'Pope' all running for some cause or another.

Oh, such jolly good fun. Let's ape the Catholic Church and mock the Holy Father.....how extremely witty and novel.

I was incensed (but not in the thurible sense).

Our family peace was disrupted by this rabble and, to make matters worse, much worse, the 'inepte' imitating the Pope was delivering mock (mockery) blessings to the crowd.

Aaaagh! My blood boiled over and I did a very untypical thing and a very un English thing; I bellowed at the top of my voice:
"Do it with a Muslim"

Not very good grammatically, I give you but I only had a split second to respond.

The 'Pope' looked mildly puzzled and the group kept on running but a few folk at surrounding tables seemed to find it amusing, whether in agreement with my sentiment or, more likely, at the fact that I had shouted in the first place, I do not know.

But, I do know that I am heartily sick of seeing such idiots poking fun at my Faith.  It provokes a sort of Don Camillo side of my nature and I have to restrain myself from picking up a bench and launching myself at the transgressors.

Of course, they would never attempt such a stunt dressed as Imams with the women wearing hijabs and niqabs.

Why?

Because as well as being morons they are also cowards.

Bless me Father, I went to an OF Mass!

Well actually I was early for the EF Mass and so sat at the back at St James's Spanish Place to try and kick my soul into some sort of shape ready for 9.30am and the 'Introibo ad altare dei'.....

The 'new' Mass was about a third of the way through and I tried, very hard to focus on prayer but, the day before had been the Solemn High Mass at Blackfen and the Catholic Guild of Bloggers meeting and I was still high on the memories.

Traditional fare - an extraordinary pork pie!

Also, there were many distractions, people coming and going and then...blow me! the priest appeared to be celebrating Mass without any altar servers, none! not even any of the female persuasion.

But - it was celebrated very reverently and the priest (I believe it was the good Fr Colven) just said the Mass and did not get up to any fol-de-rols.

So what did my wandering mind pick up on? Bearing in mind that I only normally attend the EF Mass.

Well, few of those coming or going bothered to genuflect. I cannot understand this lack of respect at all and really feel like grabbing the person by the scruff of the neck and giving them a good shake but I normally say a Hail Mary for them instead; it's more charitable and it's better for my blood pressure.

When the time came for the Pater noster  Our Father, a lot of the congregation started to do aeroplane impressions which I thought was a bit off until I realised that this was a way of praying, not a very discreet way, more a "look at me" way.
Then, at Holy Communion there was a bit of a shambles of folk strolling up hands in pockets (there were one or two, literally) but it all went off pretty well as at an EF.

Now what, you may ask, was I doing watching all that was going on and not praying or preparing for Mass. Well, my excuse is that I decided to take a cool, long look at the OF Mass just to see how it compared with the EF.

It was, of course, an unfair comparison having less than 24 hours previously been transported to heavenly heights by great singing at a great Mass (yes, I know every Mass is great but, it has to be said, some have more elements of greatness about them).

When the Latin Mass began I was surprised to see the Phillipino element in the congregation swell noticeably; was this a result of the unity of the Latin language? ie easier to hear Mass in Latin rather than their second language?

Anyway, still people entered the pews without genuflecting so it's not just a modern Catholic thing, traditionalists are guilty also. The Mass then proceeded as all TLMs do, slowly, reverently and allowing for full reflection and meditation.

So then let me now say that, after this chance of more or less instant comparison, I conclude (without wishing to appear patronising or condescending in any way) that the Ordinary Form of Mass is precisely that, and that is what the Holy Father surely intended when he gave the two forms their designations. There is no insult within the context of 'Ordinary', it is just a plain unvarnished sort of Mass, perfectly reverent within its framework.

The Extraordinary Form is.....well I don't need to spell it out. It is a fuller and more elaborate means of worshipping Almighty God; for me it invokes a greater degree of spirituality (much needed).

So. To compare the two forms of Mass is rather like comparing a pork pie with an orange. Both are food but, in their own way they have a totally different aspect and flavour.

Some people like oranges, but for me, you can't beat a pork pie!

No Mass Sunday!

We in wild and windy West Wales will have no Sunday Mass for the next two weeks - an Extraordinary Form Mass, that is. Even then, we will only have one once a month and that is a 60 mile round journey but I am not complaining.
Well, I am really but it's more of a form of keening as they might say in Ireland.
A sort of sense of loss and mourning for something much loved that should be there but isn't.




Photo: Daily Telegraph
The most beautiful of Churches!

  So, instead, my heart and my soul will be with two of my daughters at Spanish Place, the Church of St James at 9.30am and arguably the most beautiful parish church in London (it also has excellent cafes within twenty yards that offer wonderful plates of bacon and eggs for a very reasonable price for after Mass).

Food for the body - after food for the soul!

It also has quite the most cosmopolitan congregation of any church in London, rich, poor, emigres, Irish and even a few English folk.

Long may it continue to offer the 'Mass of all Time'

The Holy Ghost comes today to Spanish Place!

Today, at 11.30am at St James' Spanish Place, Bishop George Stack will confirm candidates in the old rite of Confirmation as arranged by the Latin Mass Society. I pray for all the candidates on their journey to become Soldiers of Jesus Christ, we desperately need them.


Roy Campbell



Almost 75 years ago, another confirmation took place in Spain; that of the great Catholic poet and writer, Roy Campbell and his wife. The Spanish Civil War was at its height and priests and Catholics were being routinely persecuted and martyred:

CONFIRMATION BEFORE DAWN....


"Our confessors, the discalced Carmelites, the holy martyr, Father Eusebio, and Father Evaristo, came to see us, saying that Cardinal Goma had heard of the risks we had taken to shelter monks, and that, as we were constantly risking our lives in the new catacombs, he was anxious that we should be confirmed - 'just in case'. He was ready to overlook the fact that our instruction was still imperfect, because we were in mortal danger, and he had offered us the great honour of being personally confirmed by a Prince of the Church. 
It was no longer safe to be seen in religious habit, though the diehard, Evaristo, a great roaring lion of a man whose laugh could shake the rafters, deliberately flaunted his habit in broad daylight, and it used to make me feel six inches taller to stride beside him as his body-guard down the streets.
At three a.m., while it was still pitch dark, we picked up the two Fathers of the Carmelites' in their 'full-regimentals' as Carmelites, and walked through the dark, empty streets to the Cardinal's palace. We were thrilled and exhilarated, like children robbing an orchard, for we were committing an entirely innocent but extremely dangerous crime in the eyes of our masters. On that day, before dawn, began an entirely new chapter in our lives, which had hitherto been somewhat drab and dull compared with the new splendours of experience for which we were lucky enough to be preserved."

Roy Campbell (Light on a Dark Horse)

Roy Campbell was a South African by birth but lived a great deal of his life in England and his adopted Spain. He even lived. for a while, in a remote cottage in North Wales. He was a larger than life character who lived life to the full and most dangerously. He converted to Catholicism togerther with his wife, Mary and two daughters, in 1935.
The seventeen Carmelite monks who were in attendance at his Confirmation were, some days later, taken out and shot by the Communist forces.
During the Spanish Civil War 12 Bishops, 4,184 Priests, 2,365 Monks and some 300 Nuns were martyred by the Reds. Accounts of numbers do vary but these figures seem to be the most accepted ones.
After the war, Campbell lived in Portugal where he died, tragically in a car crash in 1957. Apart from producing great literary works (losing acclaim because of his politically incorrect support of General Franco) he also translated some of the great Catholic mystical works, notably, St John of the Cross.