tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45882771831925411532024-02-02T10:27:27.560+00:00Anglican WanderingsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger773125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-87007904168972893682009-07-05T23:24:00.005+01:002009-07-12T21:54:10.069+01:00Holy Name Cathedral<div style="text-align: justify;">I spent my Independence Day with a friend who lives and ministers in my See City. After an excellent dinner (roasted aspargus and potatoes, and grilled steak), which I should have taken pictures of and posted all over the internet (see? that's why no one takes me seriously.. I don't photograph my food), we stopped by Holy Name Cathedral, where I managed to take a few photographs. There is a new Cathedral in the works (the new Cathedral parish has already been erected, "Triumph of the Cross," actually, but who knows when the new building will appear!), but for now, here is Holy Name:<br /></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMuhu5hq5vu-5j2mwi6IGTGbY5Y4-eWEOuuZjwEvLlU9gCgrN003winMpk6hH83x-5bU-cV5ruC1EQbIywnsYtlNAnaFuBtFPi08Y8D18Dzoy195bip02mifns6az_VPstpmdo7Xs8GNQ/s1600-h/IMG_1285.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 320px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355110838879008626" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMuhu5hq5vu-5j2mwi6IGTGbY5Y4-eWEOuuZjwEvLlU9gCgrN003winMpk6hH83x-5bU-cV5ruC1EQbIywnsYtlNAnaFuBtFPi08Y8D18Dzoy195bip02mifns6az_VPstpmdo7Xs8GNQ/s320/IMG_1285.JPG" border="0" /></a>Sanctuary<br /></div><br /><div> </div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgl1r4_fHjBWBmN1fr3xsKhuYsWp16uIqhg46BTCx7PejWNwOjnA_1u4JuSROAHm3h4Ms8sBrXr4JJDrBsoqOeQ953wwtdi7zseaekbeaLWOErBN99-N_jAbUaCC3vIo5vH-uZg_yKE9s/s1600-h/IMG_1289.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px; display: block; height: 240px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355110833224984978" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgl1r4_fHjBWBmN1fr3xsKhuYsWp16uIqhg46BTCx7PejWNwOjnA_1u4JuSROAHm3h4Ms8sBrXr4JJDrBsoqOeQ953wwtdi7zseaekbeaLWOErBN99-N_jAbUaCC3vIo5vH-uZg_yKE9s/s320/IMG_1289.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNmp1q6qcNI2LhFwlpBMKH-5jIL9fodD54q6pI-RfC3GUk2-h8FyqAZg5v8mqHKgVYKsWpIUo5H91yhyphenhyphenHQzb6IWvGd7ryCl_xMSpqloCZ5sUlPiJd4tDGtTZR7XB2eD9ZdKbvkZC_8UY/s1600-h/IMG_1290.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 320px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355110830991506658" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNmp1q6qcNI2LhFwlpBMKH-5jIL9fodD54q6pI-RfC3GUk2-h8FyqAZg5v8mqHKgVYKsWpIUo5H91yhyphenhyphenHQzb6IWvGd7ryCl_xMSpqloCZ5sUlPiJd4tDGtTZR7XB2eD9ZdKbvkZC_8UY/s320/IMG_1290.JPG" border="0" /></a>Blessed Sacrament side chapel<br /></div><br /></div><div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqU4sHO_SYHVp33nu3jaR2Yr_qOB89JNhYFwD-Dzti4Zstj0enPAW7ryT1m1WGWrlehmnUoRi28GPQ_8VLOfeSkBB5BmY-Wz1KT5QmhyFwDzm1J6IHBgc-0ZLeInKnEFBUfV7EDxjXUxU/s1600-h/IMG_1291.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px; display: block; height: 240px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355110821333370050" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqU4sHO_SYHVp33nu3jaR2Yr_qOB89JNhYFwD-Dzti4Zstj0enPAW7ryT1m1WGWrlehmnUoRi28GPQ_8VLOfeSkBB5BmY-Wz1KT5QmhyFwDzm1J6IHBgc-0ZLeInKnEFBUfV7EDxjXUxU/s320/IMG_1291.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyNImZoo41JdFJ-qDrUO-mb59EJ7AavlR26ZnRdiPdtgbScqrtKVG_kWNsTVlpoXwwdFqCB2dHwZgARpT2cPoBKpbkGcIax8XresE3K6bDHXjWurMbv4f-ez9h2Kz29aSLZasWuJvEkMg/s1600-h/IMG_1294.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 320px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355110818577607074" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyNImZoo41JdFJ-qDrUO-mb59EJ7AavlR26ZnRdiPdtgbScqrtKVG_kWNsTVlpoXwwdFqCB2dHwZgARpT2cPoBKpbkGcIax8XresE3K6bDHXjWurMbv4f-ez9h2Kz29aSLZasWuJvEkMg/s320/IMG_1294.JPG" border="0" /></a>Throne<br /></div><br /></div><div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEcQ9_00JokyglhHC_rOdX-MVYFVhY_67HhHad-cKOBaHX5WaQD10xfnfCLfI-0DTHHdcZfMLXrn8MyA4LpTWdu7VHZC-jXmEdsn8An2Mg_KP3i9cz_CKftb-GcnejBj1AUYFEWTajNnA/s1600-h/IMG_1295.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px; display: block; height: 240px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355108795279122898" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEcQ9_00JokyglhHC_rOdX-MVYFVhY_67HhHad-cKOBaHX5WaQD10xfnfCLfI-0DTHHdcZfMLXrn8MyA4LpTWdu7VHZC-jXmEdsn8An2Mg_KP3i9cz_CKftb-GcnejBj1AUYFEWTajNnA/s320/IMG_1295.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0zjN5PAQ7vXP_T5EPiMPaVuO55vzP6itc-wMId9iGwJkenc5s0aQhUDP5aYcdmiN1yQ1VxR8D_D2DFfZcjyxRz5RF-E1fByh1IniHcqzDtutjeda1GyG1WXHhedKeKxPREBzDtZIs90/s1600-h/IMG_1296.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 320px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355108788409061762" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0zjN5PAQ7vXP_T5EPiMPaVuO55vzP6itc-wMId9iGwJkenc5s0aQhUDP5aYcdmiN1yQ1VxR8D_D2DFfZcjyxRz5RF-E1fByh1IniHcqzDtutjeda1GyG1WXHhedKeKxPREBzDtZIs90/s320/IMG_1296.JPG" border="0" /></a> Side chapel with triptych<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAYddyLHilNjyRf2Z1Me_buqYRs5AQt3CH7vgXUPZZgcakECQ1DqH2_G0xCPRIMytAFAvU6M1Q1DXCb0os9BRh0nzfIib1WbUWDjOcIVmTlSLgrb0NAr0k3O-LMycr3fvz8K3NBLqDt84/s1600-h/IMG_1300.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px; display: block; height: 240px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355108787520045714" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAYddyLHilNjyRf2Z1Me_buqYRs5AQt3CH7vgXUPZZgcakECQ1DqH2_G0xCPRIMytAFAvU6M1Q1DXCb0os9BRh0nzfIib1WbUWDjOcIVmTlSLgrb0NAr0k3O-LMycr3fvz8K3NBLqDt84/s320/IMG_1300.JPG" border="0" /></a> Nave shrine<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRRm5KIuubLX1XM3JINcWWNIQ_KM7rOFZuwZ3IbmItOQZY6IlA-MPsl7PlPJAm13sYbNK_66UF6ReRSrOwe5TVMu7iVswuOQ1N6hyphenhyphenEzdoaz8mpnK9Gff5JCbjsyZIMggXPm5D-o60RcZg/s1600-h/IMG_1304.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 320px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355108777988169202" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRRm5KIuubLX1XM3JINcWWNIQ_KM7rOFZuwZ3IbmItOQZY6IlA-MPsl7PlPJAm13sYbNK_66UF6ReRSrOwe5TVMu7iVswuOQ1N6hyphenhyphenEzdoaz8mpnK9Gff5JCbjsyZIMggXPm5D-o60RcZg/s320/IMG_1304.JPG" border="0" /></a> "Diocesan monstrance"<br />(I wish that the jewels had shown up in the photo... it is breathtakingly beautiful) in the Sacristy<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_va3qI2PTDwYkr4lCejhCWbDilUPtfbgySX3qJz86G0fPV_psdspZ1xmt3FkDwrL3bHGMaLS-rboWeW0NbFiwfNIhnK53qoHJW07btmgdV2n8PvDspdq2xE9JzanpyOuFA0KmMV1gpQ/s1600-h/IMG_1313.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 320px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355108773094685890" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_va3qI2PTDwYkr4lCejhCWbDilUPtfbgySX3qJz86G0fPV_psdspZ1xmt3FkDwrL3bHGMaLS-rboWeW0NbFiwfNIhnK53qoHJW07btmgdV2n8PvDspdq2xE9JzanpyOuFA0KmMV1gpQ/s320/IMG_1313.JPG" border="0" /></a>Facade<br /><br /></div><div align="left"><div style="text-align: justify;">I can't imagine a better way to spend Independence Day: good food, good friend, and church touring.<br /></div><br /></div><div align="left">Pax et bonum.<br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-53124140785123162782009-07-02T05:51:00.005+01:002009-07-12T21:55:06.187+01:00Let's play a game<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4CRSsntYYS2mwZJsyILf9be9PMtvURX_uTW2JHp4lccQicBH-qLLdPMtjrDLWfwDKHAkDp-_nhvO05vTYOGyrEgGFgc4FS72Xus_eHW3MiMIeWx2n3j9M5xiJU_bovuXgF1KF2n_N08/s1600-h/04.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px; display: block; height: 213px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353721463647239218" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4CRSsntYYS2mwZJsyILf9be9PMtvURX_uTW2JHp4lccQicBH-qLLdPMtjrDLWfwDKHAkDp-_nhvO05vTYOGyrEgGFgc4FS72Xus_eHW3MiMIeWx2n3j9M5xiJU_bovuXgF1KF2n_N08/s320/04.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm not one to plug my personal blog on <em>AW</em>, but I do think that many of you might have some interest in one of my recent posts. It's silly, really, but I'm asking people to view five photos, and see if you can guess what Rite and Church they represent. Make your best guess in the comment box, and you'll get an answer on Friday!<br /><br /></div><div> </div><div>If you're so inclined, <a href="http://ad-dominum.com/?p=2387">take a gander here.</a><br /><br /></div><div> </div><div>Pax et bonum.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-28377306578608547032009-06-26T15:04:00.004+01:002009-07-12T21:55:26.266+01:00Marketing the ChurchI'm rather impressed with this:<br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vs6qZd_xP1w&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vs6qZd_xP1w&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />...but what do <em>you</em> think about Christian "marketing?" Positive or negative? Necessary or wasteful?<br /><br />If you have any examples of Christian marketing <em>gone wrong</em>, please send em my way: <em>t </em>dot <em>curnutte </em>at <em>gmail </em>dot <em>com</em><br /><br />(For that matter, if you've anything at all to talk about and would like to see it in this space, send it on. That includes photographs!)<br /><br />As always, Andrew, Fr. Kenyon, and I would all be appreciative of your prayers.<br /><br />Pax et bonum.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-57986219086127414342009-06-23T08:34:00.005+01:002009-07-12T21:55:36.065+01:00A Quick Note.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1biirLHvsYadgpDgihpIq2qpGsiWsQT1ljG3fJs9qUpvp0L_5bwK-WIbJ9Ibjj24dyauTGNjfvNYLnj40VzeqvqtHSifSPOBvViKQvEbiS_PrKFhhJdN6q-wm5GNQqcj0JYMWh0A1sUA/s1600-h/IMG_5866.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1biirLHvsYadgpDgihpIq2qpGsiWsQT1ljG3fJs9qUpvp0L_5bwK-WIbJ9Ibjj24dyauTGNjfvNYLnj40VzeqvqtHSifSPOBvViKQvEbiS_PrKFhhJdN6q-wm5GNQqcj0JYMWh0A1sUA/s320/IMG_5866.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350423761871225490" border="0" /></a>Can I interest you in a new blog, which takes up documenting the liturgical life of Saint Hilda's Prestwich where I took off? Ken has started it and it is to be found <a href="http://sthildasscene.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">HERE</span></a>.<br /><br />For the time being, supported by my Diocese and friends, I am taking a well earned break. Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 2 is going to be the focus of much study and prayer. I will surface again in due course. Pray for me as I always pray for you.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-45339721627327043252009-06-21T17:00:00.003+01:002009-07-12T21:55:44.534+01:00Commendation Weekend and Other Stories.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBv9o18BZUoTaEzKdBe26oGg7l3pMZICmxdPCM-RvsZzNsP9c5V8dAE3Vr6VoDmMY1igryjIDWVGmAooNATeu7s4-SINutPqurcgbi0f_RuegVND3E7NRewdRtyJrSUWA-q1YAIZLSuBw/s1600-h/IMG_8519.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBv9o18BZUoTaEzKdBe26oGg7l3pMZICmxdPCM-RvsZzNsP9c5V8dAE3Vr6VoDmMY1igryjIDWVGmAooNATeu7s4-SINutPqurcgbi0f_RuegVND3E7NRewdRtyJrSUWA-q1YAIZLSuBw/s320/IMG_8519.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349812066366235794" border="0" /></a>My apologies for the lack of communication recently, but as you can see from the picture above I have been impersonating a Protestant minister. No, not really, I have been away in Wakefield on my commendation weekend and the picture above shows your scribe in his new old English surplice with his mother posing outside Wakefield Cathedral.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj51bHwXmEHjO88WXnnF6iTQF1S6OJHqLXHCMEz0acwJUFqCZJfSWkB94BqqZBN-4zElQB04chyphenhyphen-rKJs44M1i07YPJBagrNYuov5S_Ca9IzQTIMrPB61kylidtcJk867PtYIjw0UgtAgHU/s1600-h/IMG_8524.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj51bHwXmEHjO88WXnnF6iTQF1S6OJHqLXHCMEz0acwJUFqCZJfSWkB94BqqZBN-4zElQB04chyphenhyphen-rKJs44M1i07YPJBagrNYuov5S_Ca9IzQTIMrPB61kylidtcJk867PtYIjw0UgtAgHU/s320/IMG_8524.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349811880907665602" border="0" /></a>And here with Father Ronald Croft, Parish Priest of my old Parish and friend.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQaK7HGEWA1Qfz9x6eAflT9tEvJGhctTjewVW7l2hRh9AvZ6wq0Up2bvX9urK-ahhC8xnjboYoZ1AApm0zapSLrj4HuGlzyWQT4b46I13XR2XWkqb-K2HTW3oW0yKaPDS9qiUyppQt9HE/s1600-h/IMG_8525.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQaK7HGEWA1Qfz9x6eAflT9tEvJGhctTjewVW7l2hRh9AvZ6wq0Up2bvX9urK-ahhC8xnjboYoZ1AApm0zapSLrj4HuGlzyWQT4b46I13XR2XWkqb-K2HTW3oW0yKaPDS9qiUyppQt9HE/s320/IMG_8525.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349811876466308546" border="0" /></a>And here, again, standing in the sunlight. Well, I may as well get some use out of the surplice and scarf.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JItEDlWuO6yE2C7idUgzEEkkKH5URH0c8k-kxOG9v5_mqoPhsuQIuh_waujByYpq6af0sq2S0oVBweaZuAY7RKpHrRGfIAkUgy7UU5IPWw_fGU3GYSLHUA0EluvxIgUTecOs2pWPj1k/s1600-h/IMG_8577.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JItEDlWuO6yE2C7idUgzEEkkKH5URH0c8k-kxOG9v5_mqoPhsuQIuh_waujByYpq6af0sq2S0oVBweaZuAY7RKpHrRGfIAkUgy7UU5IPWw_fGU3GYSLHUA0EluvxIgUTecOs2pWPj1k/s320/IMG_8577.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349811869900340914" border="0" /></a>Today, though, was Fathers day and so I went with my Father to the steam train railway at Preston Docks for a thrilling ride up and down the half mile of restored track. That Preston has docks and a marina was a mild surprise to me.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FtOjubJgQ-5JIfv6kVOz3Hu4_DZLeYBLbjqvCT64geFAl9soV0kEspAMK6SO8NFA-iRi7F4aWovKj035YTr1Ua5PFgh8GmQE98sUE7biy0D5e8cbhPs-wf1hhyWtg8_1zjp0JokOARk/s1600-h/IMG_8506.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FtOjubJgQ-5JIfv6kVOz3Hu4_DZLeYBLbjqvCT64geFAl9soV0kEspAMK6SO8NFA-iRi7F4aWovKj035YTr1Ua5PFgh8GmQE98sUE7biy0D5e8cbhPs-wf1hhyWtg8_1zjp0JokOARk/s320/IMG_8506.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349811867851718114" border="0" /></a>Here is a view of Wakefield Cathedral showing the Comper decorations on the screen and a side view of the high altar, about which we have written before. See AW's passim.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAWvGrQ6c3UxciX34jAMzfjBTpLN-OiuwlpmORJMRCPOU0L-t8dolM6PyqDA9xs7PlYGe3GRayF7cMV3ZpZXgccD7ibLX2UMbuWvdBxX8A-HE6ypkFF7yAT8pVEo-BVdALGE-s9PSWCnU/s1600-h/4807_93174087971_613517971_1975802_4353744_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAWvGrQ6c3UxciX34jAMzfjBTpLN-OiuwlpmORJMRCPOU0L-t8dolM6PyqDA9xs7PlYGe3GRayF7cMV3ZpZXgccD7ibLX2UMbuWvdBxX8A-HE6ypkFF7yAT8pVEo-BVdALGE-s9PSWCnU/s320/4807_93174087971_613517971_1975802_4353744_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349811864495871778" border="0" /></a>I am sorry that this has been a short post, but just to let you know that all is reasonably as it should be, here is a picture of me in a bar in Wakefield taken on Friday night!<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-5429263013520611912009-06-18T09:12:00.003+01:002009-07-12T21:56:04.361+01:00Preston Wanderings.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMB6ZiUTbccM2srbZRoSHfkYuXyJ2988gbF5wUbmSgDkYnFjmxblR2UJ6DK5h838_xDaV4WODCYcLxm9mIB4rv10noUNJsmTMzf3kU20zyU2bdrurEy1GD6Kj0IQmqH3jjGVd5SHAv7jQ/s1600-h/IMG_8503.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMB6ZiUTbccM2srbZRoSHfkYuXyJ2988gbF5wUbmSgDkYnFjmxblR2UJ6DK5h838_xDaV4WODCYcLxm9mIB4rv10noUNJsmTMzf3kU20zyU2bdrurEy1GD6Kj0IQmqH3jjGVd5SHAv7jQ/s320/IMG_8503.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348577776079274498" border="0" /></a>This picture of the Japanese Gardens in the park at the end of my road illustrate the calm and serenity of finally having moved in, unpacked, connected the internet (which necessitated certain additional bits) and it also illustrates the path I took as I walked through the park to the pub on the other side for a pint or two of real ale and a plate of sausages and mash last night. It has been a very interesting week and now all that gives way to prayerful and happy preparations for the commendation service and then for the ordination Saturday week. I look forward to the retreat beginning next Tuesday as a time to reflect, grow and prepare for the work ahead.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-2ZGuKMnpmaJ6ozFweRSg05MT2LHaHMNqPJDHtPLbZ5FrIKOltM1NoJIxEDey5DCEog_8ljD4iSozesXAWvSuXrzWVbfVArEt6-CxqmwRdFyJH_koHECpb42Y-_me8zQ2HmkS8bWmMwI/s1600-h/IMG_8467.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-2ZGuKMnpmaJ6ozFweRSg05MT2LHaHMNqPJDHtPLbZ5FrIKOltM1NoJIxEDey5DCEog_8ljD4iSozesXAWvSuXrzWVbfVArEt6-CxqmwRdFyJH_koHECpb42Y-_me8zQ2HmkS8bWmMwI/s320/IMG_8467.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348577771988519570" border="0" /></a>I apologise for the shortness of this post, but I could not resist showing you this picture. It shows the last thing being moved out of my old house and loaded on the lorry. Eagle eyed wanderers will recognise the Sacred Heart, now installed in my new house in a dining room suspiciously similar to my last one.<br /><br />Thank you very much for all the many cards, prayers, Mass intentions, good wishes, emails, letters and facebook messages. I have felt very supported by you all and continue to do so. As I have said before, this site has produced a visible and tangible community of people, I am always particularly touched when I hear of readers striking up friendships with each other and praying for each other. 'Carry on, you are all doing very well', as Mr Grainger used to say in 'Are You Being Served'.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-17728383386577015812009-06-18T08:19:00.004+01:002009-07-12T21:56:13.367+01:00What if no one came?<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1BVDG0q80iFuyb3aXvqptkdozApqSBhliPEEhMsb_bdFAJC4PqCdUhC15CqUqQAS5MdpwJUqqtDpackR7DicUC40F564W0c1UgNq78i0YMDKMvUKmki5ECcFMckUocnMOXfTzxZnjt0/s1600-h/IMG_0856.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348565500743865410" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 240px; height: 320px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1BVDG0q80iFuyb3aXvqptkdozApqSBhliPEEhMsb_bdFAJC4PqCdUhC15CqUqQAS5MdpwJUqqtDpackR7DicUC40F564W0c1UgNq78i0YMDKMvUKmki5ECcFMckUocnMOXfTzxZnjt0/s320/IMG_0856.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A friend recently referred me to an excellent blog with which I had not been previously familiar. It is written by an Orthodox priest, and his insights are astounding. However, unlike most Roman Catholic blogs, the comments sections of his posts are also valuable and full of insight. One such <a href="http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/the-strange-land-of-liturgical-knowledge/">insight </a>sent me reeling a few days ago when I read it:<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>One of the first times I saw a liturgy was in a Russian church. I didn't understand anything, of course, and at first I was a bit distressed that people came and went, children wandered around, etc. But then I noticed that no matter what anyone was or wasn't doing, the liturgy continued. It was obvious that the audience was God, not the restless congregation. When I returned to my evangelical church, I asked the pastor if he would do the same things he had planned to do this Sunday if no one showed up. He was very struck by that and couldn't answer.<br /></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I know what the answer would have been in the pentecostal church of my youth, and I daresay that nearly every Protestant church would have the same answer to that question: dumbstruck silence. Odds are that this question would never have occurred to them. Which is understandable, but regrettable.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In most Protestant worship services, the "worship plan" simply would not work if the congregation did not show up for services. Nearly every element of it is dependent upon the participation, whether active or passive, of those gathered. Worship leaders would have no one to lead. Large, white screens projecting song lyrics that adorn either side of the platform would have no readers. Hymn boards would go unnoticed. No one would "amen," and no one would "testify." No one would listen or scribble notes in the margins of their Bibles during a 50 minute sermon. When the invitation was given, no one would respond.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Liturgical Catholic worship, the greatest expression of which is the Mass (or the Divine Liturgy, Holy Eucharist, whatever you wish to call it based on your tradition), is different, or at least it should be different. No one could show up but the priest, and yet the worship could, and should, happen anyway. And not only should it happen, but anyone who could not make it for some unforeseeable reason could, in faith, unite themselves spiritually with that worship no matter where they happened to be, because they knew the "game plan" well in advance.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">However, we as Catholic worshippers must be careful not to fall into the same trap. Innovations which seek to elevate the worshipper over the Worshipped must not be permitted to enter the liturgy. Our focus should never be on ourselves. We enter our holy houses to be in the presence of One who far surpasses our ability to understand. We gather to worship and sacrifice; as a community, to be sure, but community is not the end. (This is why I emphatically advocate worship <em>ad dominum</em> at the Altar, instead of the precarious orientation that many churches have adopted during the last century.) It takes a little more doing, but it is possible for Catholic worship leaders to come up with the same response as their Protestant counterparts when asked the question of the day: dumbstruck silence.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Smug smiles and pats on the back should be shelved for a moment by "traditionalists," many of whom might think that this question doesn't apply to them. It does. The circumstances can become a bit trickier, but it is still a danger that even traditional Catholic worship can be turned from its purpose: worship. I dare not attempt a list of possibilities lest I begin a comments war that rivals those of a Minnesotan birdwatcher. Use your thinkers.<br /></div><br />Would your corporate worship <em>work</em> if no one showed up? I pray yes.<br /><br />Pax et bonum.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-22871369265726849192009-06-15T08:25:00.001+01:002009-07-12T21:56:41.875+01:00New Community Facilities.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT00dliDBrdQjsh5iLfWh3n1ne-PCwDwfFsyiZB0hx6ENQ9_bc564j75iCBcJm2XnhOFZNcxPa9-ld4T4Kv4EQqSTcOANpZqIqBzuUV9JcP6GGT0WbLqpxRnmOmugNQoWZIaypxLVjO-Q/s1600-h/IMG_8440.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT00dliDBrdQjsh5iLfWh3n1ne-PCwDwfFsyiZB0hx6ENQ9_bc564j75iCBcJm2XnhOFZNcxPa9-ld4T4Kv4EQqSTcOANpZqIqBzuUV9JcP6GGT0WbLqpxRnmOmugNQoWZIaypxLVjO-Q/s320/IMG_8440.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347266829949214338" border="0" /></a>Why am I showing you this, gentle reader? I meant to begin with another picture but the lottery of Blogger dictates that you get the toilet first. It is a new toilet and it marks the end of this current phase of developments at Saint Hilda's Church. We now have a building which is fully accessible to all, with ramps in the right places and a spanking new loo. I am very pleased that it was done just the day before I left so that I could have a good look around.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUq6nA8obWXDsFvfa6tS0IxNZgCg_sOx1tOytDBiAhjIv8jdpIzwXlPKe0SBUP8M9XVAAasqM2sg9-vbmtehC0WoGgxqBAox0KCAIMfK8wE63d0ia1g3sdka7M4XKFk5aIQtxLG4I4_8/s1600-h/IMG_8439.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUq6nA8obWXDsFvfa6tS0IxNZgCg_sOx1tOytDBiAhjIv8jdpIzwXlPKe0SBUP8M9XVAAasqM2sg9-vbmtehC0WoGgxqBAox0KCAIMfK8wE63d0ia1g3sdka7M4XKFk5aIQtxLG4I4_8/s320/IMG_8439.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347266823262686898" border="0" /></a>Bear with me today, because I will be moving house as you read this, I have written this and magically scheduled its publication for today. To get into the mood of moving house, spin round a lot, jump up and down until you are tired and then try to solve some algebra problems. Alternatively sit back and say 'thank goodness it's not me!'<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3ageJFtK_ql11UtNTDLWIRN5FP2Sj1rLoZxCD_zw5EEeLpJmA-GMorb4mvu7pfII2seKyexcXnOe5-0r9AN4_WQeSqBixey6No7DF_DXANWc-LT0GA8Ak0ZVqe1q56orQkj_EQP3ZbY/s1600-h/IMG_8438.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3ageJFtK_ql11UtNTDLWIRN5FP2Sj1rLoZxCD_zw5EEeLpJmA-GMorb4mvu7pfII2seKyexcXnOe5-0r9AN4_WQeSqBixey6No7DF_DXANWc-LT0GA8Ak0ZVqe1q56orQkj_EQP3ZbY/s320/IMG_8438.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347266821331064162" border="0" /></a>Here you can see the newly decorated community room with new kitchen facilities including washing area, cupboards, work surfaces, fridge and oven/hob. The facility will not only make our own catering able to go up a notch or change a bit if they wish, but also allow outside groups to rent the back part of Church for their own uses.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnXxn3Bj1HNMM9zETQerUBWhljuGCHjUZ4wARUI3y2zGhKF6XQqo0H3yTE2uXk4DadlRPhI-5dJpnb6ehAbdf35wE3jtxxmTP7r9LVT7tsgNhJ_SvidiKGldr7NshDNIYgbyvXCkyE74/s1600-h/IMG_8437.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnXxn3Bj1HNMM9zETQerUBWhljuGCHjUZ4wARUI3y2zGhKF6XQqo0H3yTE2uXk4DadlRPhI-5dJpnb6ehAbdf35wE3jtxxmTP7r9LVT7tsgNhJ_SvidiKGldr7NshDNIYgbyvXCkyE74/s320/IMG_8437.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347266815446720178" border="0" /></a>It also makes what was a slightly grubby community room into a really good meeting place for us as well, for prayer groups, courses, faith suppers, goodness me, the list is endless although I do not have to think about this, as I was saying to Churchwarden Ken yesterday afternoon, because by the time you read this, I will be gone!<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-72331364702844003662009-06-14T16:05:00.003+01:002009-07-12T21:56:51.072+01:00Corpus Christi at Saint Hilda's Prestwich.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSwK_p5A0n8sFTNxBtAog7RT3QCi6ZFUj7QheS-3buKeMuDUeCT08SwZDM5g2gLisEHEnvKMKcZ_83eE4dwA7edqoWwarwjhtpeHKpwH4bBjvtTKvMR4BfWVi73EN583ypY9qBqQ2PLNU/s1600-h/IMG_8441.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSwK_p5A0n8sFTNxBtAog7RT3QCi6ZFUj7QheS-3buKeMuDUeCT08SwZDM5g2gLisEHEnvKMKcZ_83eE4dwA7edqoWwarwjhtpeHKpwH4bBjvtTKvMR4BfWVi73EN583ypY9qBqQ2PLNU/s320/IMG_8441.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347200623085998978" border="0" /></a>The High Mass this morning for Corpus Christi was well attended and had an air of continental festivity brought on by the jostling for space in the pews, the balmy weather and the heady promise of tea and coffee afterwards in the newly restored community room. Never mind the fact that the bright sunlight makes the newish oil stocks on the pavement candlesticks look like the central part of the TARDIS control deck in the dull Davidson days, they do not go up and down or whir, even when the Church is lifted to the courts of heaven during the Sanctus.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEfvlVXuqsNrQ2ngF6LIPxQYP0sWlCaCilTrIu1wi-E97vltoN_5M1PDeuXDhNZtXN83xkndy_ein_F7oM-uDcR9M0cIWioUoyscok51Uh_az12hVLtFtM7E5r9Qvsevwa5ForyeQFBEg/s1600-h/IMG_8445.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEfvlVXuqsNrQ2ngF6LIPxQYP0sWlCaCilTrIu1wi-E97vltoN_5M1PDeuXDhNZtXN83xkndy_ein_F7oM-uDcR9M0cIWioUoyscok51Uh_az12hVLtFtM7E5r9Qvsevwa5ForyeQFBEg/s320/IMG_8445.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347200616513563202" border="0" /></a>It was, of course, my last Sunday as well, and I walked those familiar steps and mosaics with practised ease, careful devotion and a sense of not really wanting it to end, but the Church meets the world and the drive to Preston on Monday morning will be the next step for this small, insignificant man as he steps onto a wheel which has turned for two thousand years, until my time be up. But ah, what a happy way to begin the journey, surrounded by friends and supported by my colleagues.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF83iSK9g8VYbsENIaDSvexQjeoKAnh1LGKAwZAWT6ppTvRZoNo-jaRWtQJ8BxsV-jP5-XxQiJ1xXupgWClVPbLMJELpqb-4gFcIZmw8RJxoURBR3dq27zwOauUm0hkKS303Ay6Gaa6lE/s1600-h/IMG_8447.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF83iSK9g8VYbsENIaDSvexQjeoKAnh1LGKAwZAWT6ppTvRZoNo-jaRWtQJ8BxsV-jP5-XxQiJ1xXupgWClVPbLMJELpqb-4gFcIZmw8RJxoURBR3dq27zwOauUm0hkKS303Ay6Gaa6lE/s320/IMG_8447.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347200612891886482" border="0" /></a>It has been a happy seven years at Saint Hilda's and I am glad that so many of you have been interested enough to follow my journey on this blog. I look forward to taking you on to another place, which will be as full of interest, architecture and grace as this last place has been.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ4g4AeTL6daeBWEs62EwUdFKZVHYUWxQWMyOkZWjVqD1PaIsPk7pgAPFGdB9YzRDURwiO4f0DAfFbaPBHqh5z5K6Tyr762RAgQ4M0FUuOXmb01pjYIIQVG38NK2wZ08-pxqOOJEcn5lI/s1600-h/IMG_8449.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ4g4AeTL6daeBWEs62EwUdFKZVHYUWxQWMyOkZWjVqD1PaIsPk7pgAPFGdB9YzRDURwiO4f0DAfFbaPBHqh5z5K6Tyr762RAgQ4M0FUuOXmb01pjYIIQVG38NK2wZ08-pxqOOJEcn5lI/s320/IMG_8449.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347200607907917810" border="0" /></a>After sharing in the continual privilege of communicating the members of Christ's body with His body, blood, soul and divinity, we began the service of Benediction at the altar, singing the Pange Lingua.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRIvzSCwNo4GYbDWMZhU2aLgBHsrMlzt8umdhgWGMw1Cc-IOE4PGvjrCkWXFNqjYoSv29IKbOA00LjPomRZoPiRM4dSWq0P2APZMav6FnhleET4Ex725fpR_lp2Jz0jqgzEHi5gYSCUM8/s1600-h/IMG_8450.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRIvzSCwNo4GYbDWMZhU2aLgBHsrMlzt8umdhgWGMw1Cc-IOE4PGvjrCkWXFNqjYoSv29IKbOA00LjPomRZoPiRM4dSWq0P2APZMav6FnhleET4Ex725fpR_lp2Jz0jqgzEHi5gYSCUM8/s320/IMG_8450.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347200603495462466" border="0" /></a>After which, preceded by two thuribles belting out great clouds of incense and taperers, we began a procession of the Blessed Sacrament around the Church. Liturgists will note that we forgot to remove our maniples, but it was a busy and moving day, so I hope we may be forgiven.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib85wy6IgjZ6F82nA9jG7_N9y8I1pOUvDK6cB4dz3I96pxu5loQ_Uz4E4t84wH_4V1R60ANCeJ7c7CP9nL_AUtvdm0Fv9IbPs0kDEvODi30x7plcBAY0iiAbVb4DTQJwuSrvp8KxLUS60/s1600-h/IMG_8453.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib85wy6IgjZ6F82nA9jG7_N9y8I1pOUvDK6cB4dz3I96pxu5loQ_Uz4E4t84wH_4V1R60ANCeJ7c7CP9nL_AUtvdm0Fv9IbPs0kDEvODi30x7plcBAY0iiAbVb4DTQJwuSrvp8KxLUS60/s320/IMG_8453.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347200131263382162" border="0" /></a>After processing around the Church, full of devotion and love, we returned to the Altar.<br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRthLFpQil77AHaVjfkLC6HyxpZ43yuvWEO9s4y6GxYpVG1wC8UcOTyaZ7TbuXorVhetcPfb8nprcWtBFLUmp2XR7WDzLDAB6bqd3PY65jtZy66PzR2eEC3i4tekNvaIe25ZHLZECVw7s/s1600-h/IMG_8454.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRthLFpQil77AHaVjfkLC6HyxpZ43yuvWEO9s4y6GxYpVG1wC8UcOTyaZ7TbuXorVhetcPfb8nprcWtBFLUmp2XR7WDzLDAB6bqd3PY65jtZy66PzR2eEC3i4tekNvaIe25ZHLZECVw7s/s320/IMG_8454.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347200129438574498" border="0" /></a>Where Benediction was offered. After the Divine Praises were said and devotions were sung, the Blessed Sacrament was reserved in the house made for Him and we prepared to leave. However, I was very touched that a little presentation was made to me and a few people said some very kind words.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_VV5CeO0HsW8eqlmCl2eeD0IpC00N7MXQCRUDJM0peTpByKIyc5Kd_ygxsKfAbLxVPrHHHDJCv_jmBsO_ucTZVHaJKLds6aWXPBnL9l4obG9x1ufYhDg4PaBQ2gEzC4pOxLKEWivCySo/s1600-h/IMG_8457.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_VV5CeO0HsW8eqlmCl2eeD0IpC00N7MXQCRUDJM0peTpByKIyc5Kd_ygxsKfAbLxVPrHHHDJCv_jmBsO_ucTZVHaJKLds6aWXPBnL9l4obG9x1ufYhDg4PaBQ2gEzC4pOxLKEWivCySo/s320/IMG_8457.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347200124441558930" border="0" /></a>This dreadful picture shows your scribe presenting a statue of Saint George to the Church. As I was born on Saint George's day and I am going to serve at Saint George's, it seemed fitting. He looks very fetching on a windowsill by the Lady Chapel.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_Fz5esiMsp-SSRdSF6vJQVeRhKbemXEUVO6PCRV8sJdfbZ0MRn6XFlshA_5j0a23qe6ep-O9xi_QTTRPnV_M3hohDJWbNtOOdLbuhYEmc5EnT8fsaNhY3QSPRgQ74HUyzhk7EmKv2GU/s1600-h/IMG_8456.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_Fz5esiMsp-SSRdSF6vJQVeRhKbemXEUVO6PCRV8sJdfbZ0MRn6XFlshA_5j0a23qe6ep-O9xi_QTTRPnV_M3hohDJWbNtOOdLbuhYEmc5EnT8fsaNhY3QSPRgQ74HUyzhk7EmKv2GU/s320/IMG_8456.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347200118353673698" border="0" /></a>This is the rose dalmatic, maniple and stole which the Church bought for me. It comes from Luzar Vestments and is very fine indeed. I made a short speech alluding to the practice in Pagan times of selecting a young man from a city when times were hard and crops were failing, looking after him for a year and then dressing him in fine clothes before chasing him out of the city and stoning him as a sacrifice to the gods. Happily though I have been looked after, given fine clothes, walked out happily and not been stoned. Yet.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQMYV4NGzOZCZ3ES246KEPET5fLsHfT3wjwCMIY9WyQ4scDJkQmMBSLqaik36yj1FlLrhlszeWWyKp9JSyxLRjZRCyoV3ylAf7jBuDkJC1vgCUi2rE-BX_knX0z_WAH9i0DgryRGzGTwA/s1600-h/IMG_8458.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQMYV4NGzOZCZ3ES246KEPET5fLsHfT3wjwCMIY9WyQ4scDJkQmMBSLqaik36yj1FlLrhlszeWWyKp9JSyxLRjZRCyoV3ylAf7jBuDkJC1vgCUi2rE-BX_knX0z_WAH9i0DgryRGzGTwA/s320/IMG_8458.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347200113403543346" border="0" /></a>And imagine my surprise on leaving and being taken for lunch to find my friend Fr Bryan Hackett, vicar of Saint Mary's Prestwich, looking refreshed from his holidays in the pub with his parents. He gets an honorary mention today.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-90336514418098835952009-06-13T09:26:00.003+01:002009-07-12T21:57:03.098+01:00Parties and packing.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNV9M2AJeEteabpaX30CGiqnvPJng4F3e7QT3iE-eqR-vfORFHezzGyd316Bc9KauySUycNxYw6Myq8bs28uczLNDpI3MmAFrn1gxnINNrnIoE_VebHr5t0Vu3nZTaQ5jg19O54IhxwTE/s1600-h/IMG_8414.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNV9M2AJeEteabpaX30CGiqnvPJng4F3e7QT3iE-eqR-vfORFHezzGyd316Bc9KauySUycNxYw6Myq8bs28uczLNDpI3MmAFrn1gxnINNrnIoE_VebHr5t0Vu3nZTaQ5jg19O54IhxwTE/s320/IMG_8414.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346726154603205586" border="0" /></a>Last night my friend Marion who lives around the corner invited a few other friends to her house to have a few drinks with me before my going. Happily, none of these people are saying goodbye for ever and arrangements have already been made to meet up again. It was a lovely evening and was a good respite from sitting in an empty house mulling things over! The packers came again yesterday and removed the boxes, hence most of my possessions are in a lorry in South Manchester waiting to be brought back on Monday morning ready for the final packing and moving. Today my new tenant comes, a Frenchman called Patrice, who has three children, to collect his keys and he moves in on Monday as I go. It is nice to think that the house which seems so empty now will be filled with the sound of children's voices soon. It is a hundred years since the house was built this year, I wonder what sort of history it has, I know in recent years it has been a home to many, many cats as I witnessed when I had to dispose of the carpets and strip the floorboards a few years ago.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpehG3g-HCE4vskVgl3gMejkFHWTuSuO5icxffWGC0QT6iDRSCN5nv5F7N-T5x_ILVb8zExK1v3mlUtPLDL_BKXUGemy4y6fG4MMeFjU7MKysVS7hvCwLbwb5qpGtS3HGp_THJ18ViGZo/s1600-h/IMG_8403.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpehG3g-HCE4vskVgl3gMejkFHWTuSuO5icxffWGC0QT6iDRSCN5nv5F7N-T5x_ILVb8zExK1v3mlUtPLDL_BKXUGemy4y6fG4MMeFjU7MKysVS7hvCwLbwb5qpGtS3HGp_THJ18ViGZo/s320/IMG_8403.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346726152780038194" border="0" /></a>For now, it is time to go. I am going to Preston today to do a few jobs in the house, then tomorrow is my 'last Mass' at Saint Hilda's - last as a Parishioner anyway, and then that is that. I hope to get some pictures for you of the Corpus Christi procession of he Blessed Sacrament and of the new statue which I am giving to the Church which I will put on here tomorrow. In the meantime, amidst some trial and tribulation and the comforting support of many dozens of friends, it is time to take a step into the unknown. Pray for me as I pray for all of you every day.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKRTkcJXuEAoH4w6ciRIQsXMiadyUe4CFdtFheW8q4KyOV7ldRuOikdgZvGPT9hngAtdVuCz99FWUxmaxuHukxM5hjqgFCvLj_H0gLfSPhltASDck2BZR771VVQrnZRlO1kkkFHDxDWDY/s1600-h/IMG_8402.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKRTkcJXuEAoH4w6ciRIQsXMiadyUe4CFdtFheW8q4KyOV7ldRuOikdgZvGPT9hngAtdVuCz99FWUxmaxuHukxM5hjqgFCvLj_H0gLfSPhltASDck2BZR771VVQrnZRlO1kkkFHDxDWDY/s320/IMG_8402.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346726147868904578" border="0" /></a>The removal company has no boxes for large statues of the Sacred Heart so they will be coming on Monday with bubble wrap and tape for him. I look forward to having this lovely image placed in the corner of the dining room at Preston. Taking all the rugs and furniture away has enabled me to admire my handiwork in stripping and polishing the floors which I did over a weekend with a hand sander.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQJQ-DQWuahjMAJPBA1Ke-YYS2Jm3oKA0SAXJTTl5rFISmkdWxFRYBMUic_Pv2IPvz6kRZZogGLmMiI8FYtdeWpRx3NJPq6TCh34XEdNeaJlIvpDpBWd297IsXHxH3szVFv3vOtZ9HV0/s1600-h/IMG_8400.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQJQ-DQWuahjMAJPBA1Ke-YYS2Jm3oKA0SAXJTTl5rFISmkdWxFRYBMUic_Pv2IPvz6kRZZogGLmMiI8FYtdeWpRx3NJPq6TCh34XEdNeaJlIvpDpBWd297IsXHxH3szVFv3vOtZ9HV0/s320/IMG_8400.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346726146901835218" border="0" /></a>And finally a picture of the lounge with Saint Anne holding Our Lady, not the most attractive statue in the world, the hands are out of proportion, but none the worse for that in many ways.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-62872706740208101102009-06-11T11:13:00.003+01:002009-07-12T21:57:25.933+01:00Boxes Everywhere.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxbVsWYtCUDZKpcCh1muEpR9rDmnKVFnlXDrXmhJikhycGK_-48ZtKBw6ouP4kp4PCdZAJnflQw4QOOo32g4tkuIJo7czqGq5cW07Gp3eOtVoK30TGK2kWNbLIluum13TNHSJA2JusLmA/s1600-h/IMG_8284.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxbVsWYtCUDZKpcCh1muEpR9rDmnKVFnlXDrXmhJikhycGK_-48ZtKBw6ouP4kp4PCdZAJnflQw4QOOo32g4tkuIJo7czqGq5cW07Gp3eOtVoK30TGK2kWNbLIluum13TNHSJA2JusLmA/s320/IMG_8284.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346011498025859154" border="0" /></a>I have been a little quiet on the blog recently, for which you may be thankful. This picture above explains why to an extent. I took it five minutes ago, having just returned from Church to my house where my belongings are being packed up. I have moved some things already, pictures in particular, so that I can clean the walls behind them ready for my first tenant. Pray that things go well with that, for I am not starting a business, just letting my house for just enough, happily, to cover the mortgage. Anyway, boxes are everywhere, tomorrow they come and take almost everything away and then they return on Monday to get the last few bits and pieces and follow me to Preston, where boxes will once again be the theme until they are all unpacked. You will see more as I can show it to you, but forgive any gaps in communication, my mind will be elsewhere and even though BT managed to come and reconnect the telephone and deliver a wireless router for the internet, none of these things are yet connected, so blood pressure is sure to rise above the usual chilly calm.<br /><br />Anyhow, things are exciting and I look forward to the move greatly. The only imminent cloud on the horizon is a great worry about money - I seem to be waiting for cheques continually, that they have not yet come is a real concern and as I type another bill arrives which I have absolutely no way of paying. Never mind. Something was bound to go wrong.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXOinqOQseJbFv31W8zOhyphenhyphenasZdhudv56bAxGvvbei8YKWaJpJqP5Ynu_cewOa4HU40js0Vzo8pD2IR34kzDrRG64JoZqsozValrdJxpDOdvoJSN_OwFhOJ_Z9lh2tcKYnqLwh4m8K4inY/s1600-h/IMG_8283.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXOinqOQseJbFv31W8zOhyphenhyphenasZdhudv56bAxGvvbei8YKWaJpJqP5Ynu_cewOa4HU40js0Vzo8pD2IR34kzDrRG64JoZqsozValrdJxpDOdvoJSN_OwFhOJ_Z9lh2tcKYnqLwh4m8K4inY/s320/IMG_8283.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346011495954778690" border="0" /></a>So this morning I went to Saint Hilda's and filled up the oil stocks, changed the candles and prepared the altar for Corpus Christi which is either today or Sunday. For us it is Sunday and Saturday is the Summer Fair, hopefully making use of the new facilities in Church, the kitchenette et al. I was very aware as I toddled around the Church that it was the last time I will have to enjoy the peace and calm of Saint Hilda's on my own and just as I was about to say my prayers at the altar rail a procession of different people began traipsing in, each one wanting something else. Then it was time to go, both in the immediate and wider sense, which is a happy thing really.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMcMH9H-qcI5QTEl9dFy45U3-NGZl-qv-NxvAKVUf6Y2SRVIXz2rR5ITBvVAXVAiNpUW5t1p31I2WQjWeRaPfpNrHP1XnX15Fqr7e1-wUYXtaxnaDhU-473j5OtU73TBRtk8nkVBGsmDU/s1600-h/IMG_8282.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMcMH9H-qcI5QTEl9dFy45U3-NGZl-qv-NxvAKVUf6Y2SRVIXz2rR5ITBvVAXVAiNpUW5t1p31I2WQjWeRaPfpNrHP1XnX15Fqr7e1-wUYXtaxnaDhU-473j5OtU73TBRtk8nkVBGsmDU/s320/IMG_8282.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346011492435217762" border="0" /></a>This banner is on temporary loan from Nazareth House, a Roman Catholic nursing home up the road. We are having another one made in a while showing the Annunciation, for carrying in processions and decorating the Church, by one of the members of the choir who specialises in these things. I look forward very much to seeing the pictures!<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-31774361698487846752009-06-08T10:53:00.006+01:002009-07-12T21:58:00.699+01:00News From the Provinces.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2MRYXOUvp0MdnOlbL5WphN1qbMclkG5rOuuVmtmYqCC4Gvf-N_nvnWW1C_Ps3vS65iR3FoGSIn6HP2Hn0SxYQWQKaUqCnTgKwqY-b4v6jVR6DXCUtSxHOWpwmx14nAHY9Ew0uDxh3tMI/s1600-h/Fr_G_20_Years_IMG_3179_Notices.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2MRYXOUvp0MdnOlbL5WphN1qbMclkG5rOuuVmtmYqCC4Gvf-N_nvnWW1C_Ps3vS65iR3FoGSIn6HP2Hn0SxYQWQKaUqCnTgKwqY-b4v6jVR6DXCUtSxHOWpwmx14nAHY9Ew0uDxh3tMI/s320/Fr_G_20_Years_IMG_3179_Notices.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344895602193052626" border="0" /></a>These pictures are taken from the website of Saint Silas, Kentish town and show Father Graeme Rowlands, their parish priest, celebrating twenty years of his being installed there with a High Mass. Congratulations Father!<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb0vJY4KCZ5pR-uRl46eFryKTZrHNYMoOSeUF1zmetfL6igZduW-qT4JENpDdb7heMtScfc8kwO__q8ljGBn0XQaWRSUmC342rC452mhGOwiKmJPAhGopQ6DNOjOdRmd9mVEimYoXMFQ4/s1600-h/Fr_G_20_Years_IMG_3154_Peace.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 216px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb0vJY4KCZ5pR-uRl46eFryKTZrHNYMoOSeUF1zmetfL6igZduW-qT4JENpDdb7heMtScfc8kwO__q8ljGBn0XQaWRSUmC342rC452mhGOwiKmJPAhGopQ6DNOjOdRmd9mVEimYoXMFQ4/s320/Fr_G_20_Years_IMG_3154_Peace.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344895604992155314" border="0" /></a>The Deacon introduces the peace. Saint Silas' must be the only Anglican Church I have ever been to where members of the congregation have said 'pax tecum' to me during the peace. Saint Silas' is a witness to the faith in North London, happily near to <a href="http://www.marineices.co.uk/"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Marine Ices,</span></a> the finest ice cream parlour in London with, incidentally, a very reasonable old school Italian restaurant attached. I look forward to my occasional visits both to the Church and the gelateria all the more because I would not want either every day. Good religion and good ice cream, take away the London stock brick Georgian buildings and you could almost be in Tuscany. Now that I would like every day!<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYrwxe1ZUei6N0z-r9qzYFk8jcGxrri-_gTeGYGnLHnvfibdj_1nrwvX34teecK46QGkWL7BtabooyXWIfzC-AYw9jQOVQS4_6XldrJg7OwapIPRdHPmc26M8aarie2NWWBw_jk6JwmI/s1600-h/Fr_G_20_Years_IMG_3096_Asperges.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 224px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYrwxe1ZUei6N0z-r9qzYFk8jcGxrri-_gTeGYGnLHnvfibdj_1nrwvX34teecK46QGkWL7BtabooyXWIfzC-AYw9jQOVQS4_6XldrJg7OwapIPRdHPmc26M8aarie2NWWBw_jk6JwmI/s320/Fr_G_20_Years_IMG_3096_Asperges.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344895596905253538" border="0" /></a>Craig Aburn, MC at Saint Silas and friend of AW, is acting as Subdeacon. His son is the small child to the left. You can see more pictures of this event and of the church on their website <a href="http://www.saintsilas.org.uk/"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">here</span></a>.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Ufv3md8as_XFDcnOMlnQUutMAQt6F2nGaxgcym4rRNObLbgaBiEJJ_Y3Iok0U6X3b_N4fArr6-Qgo_87G48s1LcaefrktAStEv1KkcvSsX-l5P8VKUHExZq5JySSCdZBcJtVqZAIw1g/s1600-h/IMG_8246.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Ufv3md8as_XFDcnOMlnQUutMAQt6F2nGaxgcym4rRNObLbgaBiEJJ_Y3Iok0U6X3b_N4fArr6-Qgo_87G48s1LcaefrktAStEv1KkcvSsX-l5P8VKUHExZq5JySSCdZBcJtVqZAIw1g/s320/IMG_8246.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344894087966388098" border="0" /></a>This picture of Saint Therese, taken at Saint Hilda's last week, marks the next step on my journey this year with her, which will be to Preston. The year of Saint Therese which I have kept will culminate in visiting her relics later this summer at the Cathedral in Lancaster when I will give thanks for the many blessings and encouragements received from her this past nine months, proving that roses from heaven do not have to come immediately, but can be sent over time, to many unexpected places. St Therese, Ora pro nobis.<br /><br />Unlike some other blogs which have their links listed under 'Anglican' and 'Roman Catholic', I have not had to do any tinkering today with our sidebar. Fr Jeffrey Steel of <a href="http://www.frjeffreysteel.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">De Cura Animarum</span></a> will shortly resign his orders and live in London as a Roman Catholic layman, thus taking him to the next stage of his long journey from American Protestantism. We have enjoyed reading his blog and hope to do so still, the URL is the same and the link still takes you to the same page. A different Anglican wandering, but one which I am sure will make interesting reading. Pray for him, that all may be well.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-30504834687292082302009-06-07T16:42:00.004+01:002009-07-12T21:58:10.320+01:00Trinity Sunday.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdhh-F4OqL6YyidY1w08juBT1IfJ0ICbjO40ZyT7QyYF0c1TxE32teE4Umb-Nk9WTUQ8l0RtWYYVy5kZZi_dFiyknFawZ9wWi7uJYaxoVLJhZIkdk2zkHuznTYqRzTeOogmfIiyR0nMQ/s1600-h/IMG_8255.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdhh-F4OqL6YyidY1w08juBT1IfJ0ICbjO40ZyT7QyYF0c1TxE32teE4Umb-Nk9WTUQ8l0RtWYYVy5kZZi_dFiyknFawZ9wWi7uJYaxoVLJhZIkdk2zkHuznTYqRzTeOogmfIiyR0nMQ/s320/IMG_8255.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344615087760904962" border="0" /></a>The High Altar was bedecked with relics for the last time in a while today, as next Sunday is Corpus Christi when Mass will be followed directly with a procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction and neither possessing nor being inclined to possess the little curtains for the glass part of the reliquaries we will have a relicless gradine. The next Sunday is the first 'green' Sunday for some time and then, with the brief blip for the solemnity of Peter and Paul, we enter the long stretch of Ordinary Time.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoyaSEx5Cdtc5je0uokwBgOZ9On5t627tggWh1MYlH1kOEbHqdpBBdXDYBdHDhbYWVHoz_JlrijwSD7tICO2VUinYDwfcX7cUpqgczN-I7gWognnZ7RdUrk8UEUf87PE28ZUWC7f-f1t4/s1600-h/IMG_8260.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoyaSEx5Cdtc5je0uokwBgOZ9On5t627tggWh1MYlH1kOEbHqdpBBdXDYBdHDhbYWVHoz_JlrijwSD7tICO2VUinYDwfcX7cUpqgczN-I7gWognnZ7RdUrk8UEUf87PE28ZUWC7f-f1t4/s320/IMG_8260.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344612883200401778" border="0" /></a>As I left Mass this morning with the Parish Priest to have lunch in Clitheroe (very nice, thank you, particularly the pate and the pint of bitter in the New Inn afterwards) the end of Whittaker Lane, just after the shops, was being prepared for the last day of the Oasis concerts. This is what the whole road looks like in both directions, but particularly so here next to the Tram station. Still, most people made the journey to get to Church, although a few who travel from farther afield did not, not knowing what to expect. In the end, what we found was a spectacularly well organised event, with all the (piles and piles) of litter cleared from the last night and traffic calming in place. A few kebab wrappers and beer cans greeted me in the Church path, but that was all - and most Sundays start with that anyway.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xJPqpob67fl9AlVyAsHPkywtOhK6ZUFbs1willb_kLX2qwjKqnYPIB1t59Ie_zadGbD9drMcqK0twvLAu2a7F5zrrC3-cSddMeSJ1NUg8iPvbhh0o1-T9i7N9y1ev77a0d1aqrXW3-I/s1600-h/IMG_8258.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xJPqpob67fl9AlVyAsHPkywtOhK6ZUFbs1willb_kLX2qwjKqnYPIB1t59Ie_zadGbD9drMcqK0twvLAu2a7F5zrrC3-cSddMeSJ1NUg8iPvbhh0o1-T9i7N9y1ev77a0d1aqrXW3-I/s320/IMG_8258.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344612877083717618" border="0" /></a>We had a High Mass for Trinity Sunday, as you might expect. I am not going to dwell on the corporate nonsense currently doing the rounds in the CofE which replaces this day with a secular commemoration, other than to say that our ranks were swollen with a few people from other local Parishes whom we have not seen before.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuy5Fh6jQHLCTt0-Z8TnXTeLde2TqZpb8f7FKMXgu_CsjC7m41WAChlpf1FieHhZ7iTE6KmN2WuYwVw8l5xCcVaF94pb79Tn3N6zaL7Ys-kM28YcCqSb464nhHhmfep6TGsZyqlF1ssXA/s1600-h/IMG_8253.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuy5Fh6jQHLCTt0-Z8TnXTeLde2TqZpb8f7FKMXgu_CsjC7m41WAChlpf1FieHhZ7iTE6KmN2WuYwVw8l5xCcVaF94pb79Tn3N6zaL7Ys-kM28YcCqSb464nhHhmfep6TGsZyqlF1ssXA/s320/IMG_8253.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344612874830890882" border="0" /></a>The renovation work is progressing, here you see the back corridor leading from the Community room to the new toilet, which is tiled and half grouted, the sink and other accoutrements will go in soon. Hopefully I will get to see it all finished before I leave next Sunday. Whether I do or not is irrelevant really, but it is nice to see development work going on.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXkYJTBJGCurfy9tNk2cUW05pUhDhDNOtIf180ROuSAf-mmuWZeTv7s0Is8qA0i_A6Zk4K0SD7aSpEx7RHaDmd0mN1UHPHU-EANFcusufIsNXo8WtCDLHzVCesRA8SZ01uyAxdXDWtdpA/s1600-h/IMG_8252.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXkYJTBJGCurfy9tNk2cUW05pUhDhDNOtIf180ROuSAf-mmuWZeTv7s0Is8qA0i_A6Zk4K0SD7aSpEx7RHaDmd0mN1UHPHU-EANFcusufIsNXo8WtCDLHzVCesRA8SZ01uyAxdXDWtdpA/s320/IMG_8252.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344612870290171138" border="0" /></a>The community room has its kitchen units almost finished and the painting work has begun, with the Parish Summer fair next Saturday and for future events, both envisaged and not, this will be a very useful resource.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-51127872471686605292009-06-06T00:42:00.004+01:002009-06-06T00:54:57.554+01:00Atonement: common ground<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrrzzEHN3yi_qHczbEsY-R6MpdC1A9ARu-9E53CbtDrtcBWtdnbXFs8e0q2WXH-sej0p2iOZ3mmfPzPvBUWtNfQleZf2tFTUICJT1QrLcdhP09JM2S3JOgubbtCObE3NV5Vsm84iKE3I/s1600-h/breidenthal.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343995864094022290" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 260px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrrzzEHN3yi_qHczbEsY-R6MpdC1A9ARu-9E53CbtDrtcBWtdnbXFs8e0q2WXH-sej0p2iOZ3mmfPzPvBUWtNfQleZf2tFTUICJT1QrLcdhP09JM2S3JOgubbtCObE3NV5Vsm84iKE3I/s320/breidenthal.jpg" border="0" /></a>If I were an Episcopalian, I would be a member of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, and H.E. Thomas Breidenthal would be my bishop. So it goes I am not and he is not, but I admire Bishop Breidenthal very much. I thought that I would share with you his explanation for his choice to deny consent to the election of Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester to the epicopacy for the Diocese of Northern Michigan.<br /><br /><br /><div><div><br /><blockquote>Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,<br /><br />I am writing to inform you of<br />my decision not to consent to the consecration of Kevin Thew Forrester as Bishop<br />of Northern Michigan. I did not want to make a public statement before I shared<br />my concerns with the Standing Committee. I was able to do this at their meeting<br />last Friday, March 27.<br /><br />Two subjects have arisen as matters of concern in<br />the wider discussion of consent for this Bishop-elect. I want to be clear that<br />these matters have not contributed to my refusal of consent.<br /><br />First, the internal process which led to Bishop-elect Thew Forrester's<br />election. In my view, it violated no canons, and, although I have questions<br />about it, these have not entered into my decision to withhold consent. Second,<br />some have voiced concern that Bishop-elect Thew Forrester has been recognized by<br />the Zen Buddhist community as one who practices Zen Buddhist meditation in an<br />exemplary fashion and accepts the basic ethical principles of Buddhism. I have<br />no problem with this. Many Christians have deepened their own faith through<br />Buddhist prayer practices, and in my view the moral framework of Buddhism is<br />largely consonant with that of Judaism and Christianity.<br /><br />But obviously I<br />do have concerns. These concerns lie closer to home. My own reading of<br />Bishop-elect Thew Forrester's sermons over the last year (these sermons were<br />available on the website of his parish church, St. Paul's, Marquette, Michigan,<br />as of March 16, but are no longer posted) reveals an understanding of the<br />Christian narrative that is troubling to me. I have spoken about this with the<br />Bishop-elect on the phone, and he has followed up with e-mails, but I remain<br />troubled.<br /><br />According to Thew Forrester, Jesus revealed in his own person<br />the way that any of us can be at one with God, if only we can overcome the<br />blindness that prevents us from recognizing our essential unity with God. The<br />problem here is that the death of Jesus as an atonement for our sins is<br />completely absent, and purposely so. As I read Thew Forrester, nothing stands<br />between us and God but our own ignorance of our closeness to God. When our eyes<br />are opened, atonement (not for our sins, but understood as a realization of our<br />essential unity with God) is achieved. Thew Forrester's rejection of salvation<br />understood as an atonement for sins we cannot procure for ourselves is not an<br />idea he is merely exploring. In a very consistent manner, he is developing this<br />idea. In materials he submitted to the House of Bishops earlier this month, he<br />has shared with us his own revision of the Prayer Book rite for Holy Baptism, in<br />which references to salvation are replaced with references to union with God.<br /><br />I would not worry about this so much if Thew Forrester were merely<br />speculating about alternative ways of understanding the Christian faith. I would<br />not even worry so much if it were simply a matter of the content of a number of<br />sermons (although I think we should expect to be accountable for what we<br />preach). But, as his revision of the Baptismal rite makes clear, he appears to<br />be settled in his conviction that our relation to Christ is not about salvation<br />from a condition of objective alienation from God, but about a more realized<br />union with God.<br /><br />Why is Thew Forrester's teaching troubling to me?<br />Because it flies in the face of what I take to be the conviction at the heart of<br />our faith tradition, namely, that we are in bondage to sin and cannot get free<br />without the rescue God has offered us in Jesus, who shouldered our sins on the<br />cross. Our tradition certainly declares God's closeness to us and God's love for<br />us, but insists that this is solely due to God's gracious initiative, made known<br />to us in Jesus. In other words, Jesus in his singular closeness to God is as<br />much a reminder of our alienation from God and from God's ways as he is God's<br />word to us that we are loved despite our collective wrongdoings.<br /><br />Some may say, "So what?" Should the Episcopal Church not allow as much<br />latitude as possible when it comes to theological reflection on the meaning of<br />Jesus in our lives? Yes, of course. We are a church that values a broad range of<br />opinion on practically every subject. Yet our (unrevised) Baptismal liturgy<br />(Book of Common Prayer, beginning at p. 299) is extremely clear about what it<br />means to be a follower of Jesus: we are to turn to him - the same Jesus of<br />Nazareth who was crucified and rose again and continues to invite us into a<br />personal relationship with him - and accept him as Savior. Whatever else we have<br />to say about Jesus follows from that (even though different people may end up<br />saying quite different things).<br /><br />I cannot emphasize enough that clarity<br />about our relationship to Jesus through our baptism is especially important as<br />we move on from the Lambeth Conference, where the bishops of the Episcopal<br />Church pointed repeatedly to our Baptismal rite as evidence of our commitment to<br />Jesus as Lord.<br /><br />I write this with a heavy heart. Kevin Thew Forrester<br />served as an assistant in the parish where some years earlier I was ordained a<br />priest and served as an assistant. He has been raised up by a sister diocese in<br />our own Province V, and I know how highly he is regarded there and what a blow<br />it would be to the people of Northern Michigan if he were not to receive the<br />requisite consents to be consecrated. But I also know that the Episcopal Church<br />needs at this crucial juncture in the life of the Anglican Communion to be clear<br />that all our hope is founded in the cross.<br /><br />Faithfully,<br />+Tom Breidenthal<br /><br />Bishop Thomas E. Breidenthal<br />Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio<br /></blockquote></div><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3riversepiscopal.blogspot.com/2009/04/bishop-thomas-e-breidenthal-of-southern.html">Source</a></div><br /><div>I appreciate Bishop Breidenthal's candor. I also appreciate his ability to disagree, even strongly, with another cleric and theologian without resorting to polemics, namecalling, and rabble-rousing. (<em>See, American RC Bishops? It can be done!)</em></div><br /><div>In a communion fraught with so much discord, it is good to see some common ground being established. And what better common ground can there be than a shared faith in the atoning death and resurrection of our Lord?</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div>Pax et bonum.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-9964560007321232352009-06-05T11:53:00.003+01:002009-06-05T12:33:39.574+01:00Is Wine Essential to Salvation?<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK8awRr64BhUeeB0uOXvlvi8KWlJWQoTQhXpoAqM-07EFCL3Ie6Ogpif8NTbaAGb1HxwMtfzyDhsAwDK0lsUIScOCEjGlpswJaILeSZJjRrysmd3IIE_jopLylqlySSaxCq90IfFj-d-0/s1600-h/IMG_8248.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK8awRr64BhUeeB0uOXvlvi8KWlJWQoTQhXpoAqM-07EFCL3Ie6Ogpif8NTbaAGb1HxwMtfzyDhsAwDK0lsUIScOCEjGlpswJaILeSZJjRrysmd3IIE_jopLylqlySSaxCq90IfFj-d-0/s320/IMG_8248.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343795291571864722" border="0" /></a>The Church Times this morning has, as always, a 'hundred years ago' extract from its archives, telling of the triumph of the dedication festival at All Saints, Margaret Street, with the Bishop of London remarking on his support for praying for the dead and belief in the Real Presence. He goes on to remark that old hostilities and mistrust between catholics and evangelicals in his Diocese have stopped and all may dwell in peace. All very Jeeves and Wooster and good, but that happy time in English history was soon to be shaken by the First World War and a global depression as Elysian fields were torn open by the tracks of tanks and young men marched out of their schools to death on the front lines. Today being D Day, I should like to offer a pause for thought for the fallen of the two World Wars and a moment of reflection on the rise of fascism in Europe once again, witnessed by the large proportion of the vote given to Geert Wilders' party in Holland yesterday in the European elections. This is the man who called Islam 'the ideology of a retarded culture' and who would see the Koran banned in Holland, because it is a 'fascist' book.<br /><br />Now, I have no bones about the Kingship of Christ and I am convinced of the claim of Christ that He is the way to the Father, who is the one God, I should not like to live in a country which banned the Bible because it was predominantly an Islamic nation which saw Christians as a threat to their way of life. I should be even more concerned if that county were Holland, more famous for Edam than terrorism. Maybe this is the natural outcome of wearing wooden shoes and living in tulip strewn windmills, but I feel it may be more to do with the Northern European history of great trading ports and the dominance of commerce in the cold harbours which has slowly opened our part of the globe up to trade, resettlement and immigration, three things which I am happy to be a part of. Our putting money first and foremost in the busy shipping lanes of North Europe has landed up in a situation of being he most multicultural part of the globe and it is now, when the economy downturns and the shipping ports and docks are mothballed that multiculturalism is found to be at fault for this situation. We cannot have it both ways, the money which built Rotterdam, Liverpool and Marseilles came from international trade and has become multicultural reality. Just as it has since the Vikings, the Romans and oh, all the other groups who have come to Britain and been gently assimilated. And don't give me any baloney about Saint George, we all know where he came from and for that is a perfect symbol of England now. This is something to be proud of, I think, not a source of unrest.<br /><br />I wonder what would be the reaction if this 'a hundred years ago' thing could be done in reverse? What would our forebears have made of the headline on page 8, 'New Bishop is a Lesbian'? Was she covered in chocolate for the ceremony? Swedish Luterans, you are making history, just not very well.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0oZRU5JU7b935TgbGTAPRMBCTvaI5km2Bjn_iV6wbQB3HccTuIIg2F-ULOWhyphenhyphenNaVpim7A67gK9zuA_EA0me0hc2PxOm9SbdFm8oWE5sidEYJI51t-NYWBKY9iRF9M5krzgTo1qQez6Kc/s1600-h/IMG_8239.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0oZRU5JU7b935TgbGTAPRMBCTvaI5km2Bjn_iV6wbQB3HccTuIIg2F-ULOWhyphenhyphenNaVpim7A67gK9zuA_EA0me0hc2PxOm9SbdFm8oWE5sidEYJI51t-NYWBKY9iRF9M5krzgTo1qQez6Kc/s320/IMG_8239.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343795289263647218" border="0" /></a>As my birthday is Saint George's Day and I am going to serve in a Parish which includes a Church dedicated to Saint George, I felt that Saint Hilda's, that Victorian Church, could do with a Georgian reminder, a nod to a past of invasion, Bede, the Abbey at Whitby and Beowulf, all things which I cherish and have devoted a good part of my life to reading about. I hope to get my English literary retreats off the ground next Summer, looking at ancient sites and tracing the history of the Faith in England through architecture, music and literature. Much work is still needed on this though.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeTU_n3bYYF2sgW9O_rpsi2GrEF0MD5VIx6RAIwJCTJ3dP6o5JrJHUF-j-PF5Bj9CnyXfSnKBCRXarMWmq0b3MSFni8zQb8AB6fwPq2VxSzGqu-d50e1cOF_xq4cG7zBlNRxLwk2vMv8/s1600-h/IMG_8238.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeTU_n3bYYF2sgW9O_rpsi2GrEF0MD5VIx6RAIwJCTJ3dP6o5JrJHUF-j-PF5Bj9CnyXfSnKBCRXarMWmq0b3MSFni8zQb8AB6fwPq2VxSzGqu-d50e1cOF_xq4cG7zBlNRxLwk2vMv8/s320/IMG_8238.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343795287535336946" border="0" /></a>And for the moment I am taking pictures off the walls and cleaning behind them, scraping wax off the floor, throwing great boxes of stuff away and sorting through a thousand papers, weeding out what I do not need. Which is quite a lot! A monastic friend suggested, after I sighed at how difficult it is to decide what may go, that I throw away all that is not necessary for salvation. I wondered, to an encouraging smile and nod, what to do with all the wine.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-53256739908161894622009-06-04T08:50:00.002+01:002009-06-04T10:04:30.932+01:00The Gardener.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJJMsBtTrmws-tK8XM8bC4fUcUw906y0V_S1QMKmPlAA6D8n8Ex80TvOk06SpuaW2GpA0RSZBIcpxotBoVkU_gFLWhH3uVqmMMITzJMk_rWUMSxN8LegITfTldpUFosQMw4mEDoTiBrW8/s1600-h/zperi11482126_19860600_c.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 229px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJJMsBtTrmws-tK8XM8bC4fUcUw906y0V_S1QMKmPlAA6D8n8Ex80TvOk06SpuaW2GpA0RSZBIcpxotBoVkU_gFLWhH3uVqmMMITzJMk_rWUMSxN8LegITfTldpUFosQMw4mEDoTiBrW8/s320/zperi11482126_19860600_c.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343376779001519282" border="0" /></a>I think we may safely leave fascism aside for another day and I will take advice from one of our commentators and leave football alone as well. The fact that I have no interest in football helps of course and it is hard to write about Bar Billiards any more than to say 'I like playing Bar Billiards'. Let us instead turn to the issue of women's ordination and continuing churches and I shall prepare myself for a barrage of emails and Karen's comments, but as she is jet lagged maybe she will be moderately sedated. Have another tablet dear and keep reading.<br /><br />Regular readers of this blog will know that I am no fan of the continuing Churches, although I realise and accept that the situation may be different in the USA, although the reasoning remains the same. This is not an attack on the Anglican Catholic Church in the UK as their presiding Bishop will be glad to read, nor is it intended to slight the same institution in the USA. I understand their stance although I disagree with it. However, you may remember a few months ago when GAFCON first reared its head and the idea of off shore morality havens first appeared, that they were in communication with a number of continuing Churches - some of which are of very dubious practice. This was about the time that Damian Thompson seemingly made up the entire story about the TAC putting a catechism of the Roman Catholic Church on the altar or the RC Church in Walsingham. Nothing of the sort happened.<br /><br />We remarked at the time and have remarked incessantly since that FiF and GAFCON would be incompatible, a view shared by everyone I know who has expressed an opinion either way. A new group is forming though in the US, ACNA, which seems to be ECUSA without Schori and Gene Robinson. It is a mainly evangelical group which, like GAFCON, is courting Anglo Catholic suitors. Why I cannot imagine, we share no doctrine of the Eucharist or orders and if we were to put the catechism on their altar I think they may recoil in horror at what is contained therein. This particular group contains evangelicals who are in agreement with the ordination of women as Priests but not Bishops. This new group may seem attractive to many in ECUSA who are sick of overly liberal, pluralist leadership which does not have reference to the teaching of the Church over two thousand years but seeks to change fundamentals of faith (and I sympathise with them on that count) but a group such as ours which stands with the vast majority of Christians throughout the world and with two thousand years of informed teaching and doctine in recognising the equality but difference of men and women in relation to Church order would be very unwise to leave one broken communion for another.<br /><br />Archbishop Haverland of the Anglican Catholic Church, was asked to attend the inaugural meeting of the ACNA, but refused with a <a href="http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10545"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">beautifully written letter</span></a> which explains just what I am trying to say here; that in ACNA and indeed in GAFCON we see the fundamental alterations in the faith which has produced groups like the ACC and FiF opposed to changing the tenets of the faith delivered to the saints and taught by Christ.<br /><br />St Therese of Lisieux comforts us when she said 'The guest of our soul knows our misery, He comes to find an empty tent within us, that is all He asks', that is, He comes to us and will make His home in us, the me in Thee and the Thee in me, if only we keep His commands and strive to maintain and grow the faith He taught by His unending love and mercy. I find this hard and I think probably you do as well, with so many attacks on the faith from without and within, sometimes for being Christian sometimes for keeping certain viewpoints. It is difficult not to shout back sometimes, to turn the other cheek and to speak humbly and live justly, according to the example of Christ. Conflict within the Church at the scale facing us is, ultimately, diabolical. I take as my example the imaginary figure of the gardener whom Mary Magdalen did not see when she saw Christ, I like to imagine him enjoying a moment of mistaken identity while looking at this wonderful scene of friends equally at home in the presence of Angels and thorny weeds. I would do well to strive to continue being at home in the presence of Angels and thorny weeds, reminding me that the Church commissioned by Christ has a duty to be in all places at all times, we are just lucky to live in such interesting times, when we have the chance to live the faith against a backdrop of secularism and fighting. The darkness makes the light shine brighter, no?<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-50921612110246204322009-06-03T10:00:00.005+01:002009-06-03T14:49:28.079+01:00Local and European Elections.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimi6vicXJb43dvmLQ8cTtslzMna5QK-9ERCGm3zqVfzsReFFHvD_R2P2rV4rn_gxh1M3-xXAKbXawObKubat5TuPB9vdFk5jLJqXGTsgac94kJUiaRmjuWYNHr6FtjVmVn_CTN1cIHqXo/s1600-h/scum%231%23.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 219px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimi6vicXJb43dvmLQ8cTtslzMna5QK-9ERCGm3zqVfzsReFFHvD_R2P2rV4rn_gxh1M3-xXAKbXawObKubat5TuPB9vdFk5jLJqXGTsgac94kJUiaRmjuWYNHr6FtjVmVn_CTN1cIHqXo/s320/scum%231%23.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343023587540296850" border="0" /></a>Tomorrow is local election and European Elections day in the UK and a worse time could not be imagined. Many MP's have been caught with their noses in the trough and the home counties gravy train has been spilling the jus of finest Dexter beef at every bend. Enough of the food analogies. There is a great amount of national and local resentment to the mainstream parties, particularly Labour and to a slightly lesser extent the Tories. The Conservative party has been playing to the prejudices of the gallery by claiming money from the public purse to clean their moats and furnish ducks with 20K floating houses but it is Labour who have been claiming by wholesale, rather than the more rarefied claims of the Tory grandees, many of whom I am willing to gloss over because I care for our heritage and would see our ancient buildings kept in good condition and lived in rather than becoming the ubiquitous storage depot for older people. The Liberal Democrats seem to have less of these traits, but then there are less of them.<br /><br />What happens when the public are feeling angry and disenfranchised and an election comes up? We are not at Wiemar Germany yet, but it is very likely that people will register a 'protest' vote against the main parties and elect fringe parties to local seats in the council. This election will not decide who governs the nation - although surely that is not far off - and with our rejection of proportional representation we need not fear for the economy if fringe parties are elected to local council seats, but it decides the moral timbre of the nation. It matters if fringe parties hold local seats - sure, a Lord Sutch or a Monkey Mayor here and there adds grist to the wheel of democracy, but how would you feel if they were YOUR mayor, YOUR councillor? How well represented would you feel and how able would you feel to approach them in real time of need? How would you feel if a significant number of people in your small local area voted for a candidate from a nationalist party? The fact that this is mainly the European elections is not to denigrate the process, who we say we are to the wider community is vital. Are we a nation of bigots or a nation of tolerant, fair minded people - the definition of Britishness for hundreds of years.<br /><br />The British National Party, for some years a disorganised rabble with political hobbyists, is fielding candidates in many wards tomorrow and it is likely that they will win quite a few seats. They have been campaigning strongly in Churches - and getting much coverage by their being stopped doing this - their website has comments about the CofE stopping 'God's holy will' being done by the BNP. They have been writing to every pub landlord in the country pledging that they will stop the decline in pubs and these landlords who are scared for their livelihoods will respond to this, they have been underlining their support for capital and corporal sentences in court, a return to 'traditional' education, including training children for industry, rather than being sentient beings. They also want 'immigrants' sent home, of course, as do UKIP, who will stop any further immigration to this country which is made up genetically of immigrants going back thousands of years.<br /><br />We accept that the vast majority of the policies of the BNP are not enforceable if they ever rose to power and we also accept that their economic policies seem to be lifted out of the pages of Jeeves and Wooster, if you recall the character 'Spode' who would turn over the whole of East Anglia to the production of potatos and the North East to bicycles. They would destroy this nation by setting people against each other and by forcing our economy into the situation of Zimbabwe's, the President of which they resemble in all but skin colour. There are, also, a close network of Continental Nationalists (if you will forgive the comical, impossible, collection of words therein) with whom they have seemingly close ties who. like the BNP, are exploiting opposition to the EU with promises of jobs tomorrow. This worries us as it worries all sentient British people, for it is easy for these groups to grow across national boundaries through the internet, without which they would find it very hard to exist in more than a local fanzine-extremist network.<br /><br />And then there are the other candidates, leaving aside the BNP for a while, one of who's candidates recently declared rape to be something which women probably enjoy. Candidates from the Green Party and the Respect party and all the other one horse wonders who, if in power, would, just like the BNP, be incapable of running the nation. They all know this, I am sure. A reading of the BNP website offers no clue as to how they would govern the nation or the economy other than a few populist and to some idealist statements about 'right' and 'wrong', from their own seriously misjudged angle. None of these parties will ever gain power, but that does not mean that we can dismiss them at local level. If you wish to be represented by people who understand the global need for reform in the economic sphere, by people who can represent us globally, by people who see the need to maintain and improve the environment, by people who are answerable to the nation and have been for generations, for God's sake vote tomorrow for a mainstream party. Vote Lib Dem if you like, or Conservative, or Labour or even, maybe Green Party, but a vote for the BNP or UKIP, or a decision not to vote at all, would be a sin for which we will be answerable to almighty God.<br /><br />In Christ there is no black or white, no slave or free, He died that all may have life, if they so choose. To vote for a party which discriminates against His children by the colour of their skin, or who would close the boundaries of one isle against another rock of His own making, is to evade our responsibility to all His creation. When our souls are demanded of us and the Lord asks us how we furthered His Kingdom of justice and how we told of His word, we do not want to stand accused of causing division and hatred. Whatever mess our politicians have got into now, a vote for extremists is a vote for hatred and will turn us away from the Lord. A protest vote for a seemingly innocent fringe party is to vote for someone with no chance of power or governance. To not vote will leave people in certain areas with a BNP councillor to represent them, which is intolerable, to God and to man.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-32379099077415022132009-06-02T15:00:00.002+01:002009-06-02T15:42:22.884+01:00Wandering Around.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAFzg4lgSmq3j4xhNctkLOcPjXB1yUqMWtUF6r3hzV6L6R9pBsLPx4nDrZID-ZwxJRpmzM36f6QhVq121F4V9Q1tViPFwzf6qnKyZgqXlWxHKaJsRaHJHOFng8OL-HPYhn8z5oE42Xwvw/s1600-h/IMG_8230.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAFzg4lgSmq3j4xhNctkLOcPjXB1yUqMWtUF6r3hzV6L6R9pBsLPx4nDrZID-ZwxJRpmzM36f6QhVq121F4V9Q1tViPFwzf6qnKyZgqXlWxHKaJsRaHJHOFng8OL-HPYhn8z5oE42Xwvw/s320/IMG_8230.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342735899854585506" border="0" /></a>I was wandering up to the Post Office today so that I could have a letter weighed and measured under the new Mengele-like directives for pricing and sending post by size as well as weight. Counter staff now have to produce a plastic sheet with pretend post slots in it and smilingly push your letter through before weighing it and concocting a price. Only the smallest letters are exempt and even these I have had problems with before as a counter personage tried pushing it through the slot the wrong way round. Hundreds of years of rectangular envelope tradition counting for nothing when confronted with a pretend letterbox and a big bucket of stupidity.<br /><br />Talking of buckets of stupidity, let me share with you my conversation this morning with British Telecom. I enquired as to whether the engineer will still be coming to my new house on the appointed day to install the line. One cannot be too sure. Yes, was the answer, but could I provide a contact number for the man to call when he was close by. No, said I, I have no mobile 'phone. Ah, said he, in which case he will phone you on this number, from which you are calling. But, said your brave hero, I will not be there, I will be awaiting him some many miles away. Could you, he asked, not stay there and then drive to the new address? No, said I. Then, he enquired, could I not ask a neighbour to receive the call and say that I was in. No, this would be odd. After forty five minutes - forty five minutes, Gunga Din - I was told that this was fine but only a senior manager could dispense this exemption.<br /><br />It has been fruitless telling you all this, really, but I get so irritated with having to conform to the whims and directives of companies so tied up in their own red tape that they actually cease operating as public services and become too concerned with meeting targets to operate effectively. Any comparisons with the Church of England are in your imagination.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoqaaC-LwAPkYYVCJFQyIWQG7D59sHg28DNVUy0sy_94Rxg2KyK5FiPxm2libXFDhDSOZ3pcwrVk9Nzc33ydTouspR2sI4PA5RqFIW_dmRvFDBwKHVoDGkT9PP4euBpXkbVICs_jl6yqM/s1600-h/IMG_8229.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoqaaC-LwAPkYYVCJFQyIWQG7D59sHg28DNVUy0sy_94Rxg2KyK5FiPxm2libXFDhDSOZ3pcwrVk9Nzc33ydTouspR2sI4PA5RqFIW_dmRvFDBwKHVoDGkT9PP4euBpXkbVICs_jl6yqM/s320/IMG_8229.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342735895491614082" border="0" /></a>Holy Trinity Platt, in South Manchester, a community which allies itself to GAFCON, has this witness in the middle of the largest concentration of Asian businesses in Manchester, sandwiched in between a hundred halal take aways and restaurants. The sweetcorn van seems to have covered it effectively. As I will miss the little Theological College in Rusholme with its balmy courtyard and hysterically biased library I have taken to toddling around lately, much taken with the Tee Total hotel with a new neon sign saying 'non alcoholic' outside!<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGOYl4CNNtrs3oCEnil5AeIUBe5kWdwfWEJSJjnjb3AvMt4NVA1Gj45y3oz1KckddhjbexeXFFTuDwhnXypY4ynw-7n-mRFbap9YAj6DoqhhKuXOFhg2QddLdvn5KVryF3k1Fs7g3WsdY/s1600-h/IMG_8228.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGOYl4CNNtrs3oCEnil5AeIUBe5kWdwfWEJSJjnjb3AvMt4NVA1Gj45y3oz1KckddhjbexeXFFTuDwhnXypY4ynw-7n-mRFbap9YAj6DoqhhKuXOFhg2QddLdvn5KVryF3k1Fs7g3WsdY/s320/IMG_8228.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342735888402217330" border="0" /></a>I was also briefly in Liverpool, a city which I always find confusing, even though I find the accent of the womenfolk pleasing. The men sound like they have a mouth full of inverted whistles, but there we are. I love the architecture surrounding the arteriel roads going to the docks in Liverpool, all puffed up yeomanry and London Georgian, slightly tatty though and sunning to seed, it reminds me of Euston fifteen years ago. Many of the pubs still seem open and not too many have for sale signs on them, clearly they do better than those in Manchester which have been devastated by the smoking ban and the sudden availability of cheap drink in the supermarkets.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-67342203179658853492009-05-31T18:07:00.003+01:002009-05-31T21:03:35.253+01:00Pentecost Sunday.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig_m6SEhRs5bzroZaC714J0fdpIb1U11lwMg_VCESVSuJtj4khvvlCuzI4kmPqkwyV_Hs3XTIrRc1-YJorklJM_K08iUMNn1bPKaEyNDx4UfH8y0mpKH_VvPxaX2TPyc_LR7QskalgacU/s1600-h/IMG_8215.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig_m6SEhRs5bzroZaC714J0fdpIb1U11lwMg_VCESVSuJtj4khvvlCuzI4kmPqkwyV_Hs3XTIrRc1-YJorklJM_K08iUMNn1bPKaEyNDx4UfH8y0mpKH_VvPxaX2TPyc_LR7QskalgacU/s320/IMG_8215.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342036647579499538" border="0" /></a>After High Mass this morning there was dinner to say goodbye to a couple of handfuls of friends who have been mainstays of my time here for the last seven years. Plenty of roast beef was consumed, copious amounts of cake and then, as the sun reached its zenith (about 3.30 in my back garden) we toddled outside for brandy, coffee and watermelon. In this civilised time (at least until the bottle of Armagnac was finished) the heat became so hot hats were called for - a decommissioned biretta and a fez were found and worn.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYxIavWoG1onqRRTiZhGfuzl4Twuqypb4WltPmJU6lpD_G2louuHMk9x8moML75mcK9nKAIH9S-MbHhoIMcs4wISfPe4IO8O1lwPzqsORivC57gb3n-i1awH7NYPLBcORg2q0EdR2GKmo/s1600-h/IMG_8210.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYxIavWoG1onqRRTiZhGfuzl4Twuqypb4WltPmJU6lpD_G2louuHMk9x8moML75mcK9nKAIH9S-MbHhoIMcs4wISfPe4IO8O1lwPzqsORivC57gb3n-i1awH7NYPLBcORg2q0EdR2GKmo/s320/IMG_8210.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342036321482145602" border="0" /></a>Before this, pudding was finished. I was of sound enough mind to clear the empties away, including a viciously sweet Pedro Ximenez, some Soave and a couple of bottles of good, peppery Cotes du Rhone before taking the picture. Peppery CdR is hard to come by now, having lost favour to the new styles, but it holds sway in Teather houses from Bere Regis to Prestwich.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimhl5SuEzAgNur-2wQsNqsREReX9O5qDDEtypBPThFZ_56nT3N7hnzRWweNokEtaSwbaK7TopVIXoAYeC4rGGAMY8D9tKZqrqc0Tvp-TxkctyFUloWgTU1Oy7MWY_oni5wN3uOSVexEGY/s1600-h/IMG_8202.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimhl5SuEzAgNur-2wQsNqsREReX9O5qDDEtypBPThFZ_56nT3N7hnzRWweNokEtaSwbaK7TopVIXoAYeC4rGGAMY8D9tKZqrqc0Tvp-TxkctyFUloWgTU1Oy7MWY_oni5wN3uOSVexEGY/s320/IMG_8202.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342036320807945666" border="0" /></a>A good turnout for Sunday Mass pleased us, particularly given the weather which may have called many to the seaside. I enjoyed reading and by default hearing the beautiful sequence for Pentecost as well as so many Pentecost Hymns. The twelve tall candles upon the altar brought out attention to the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the friends in the upper room, from which they went out to tell the good news. Next week is Trinity Sunday and then I will go out from Prestwich on Corpus Christi, to Preston and the next stage of my life. Do pray for me, as I shall be exhorting my new Parishioners to do as well on my first Sunday when I preach on the days readings.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFCIESYANSgPajx0ImYQmlOqBkusTYZ35-73Ehtm6qFhECNkLvG0gSPSTBkSdhA_49Wm10eMq5G1ldCwQh4GlggTX1TPYZrUKw4UZtEovAZQ8unr6gE2hzmCC5RfBJP6CY9Brbdxlaww/s1600-h/IMG_8198.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFCIESYANSgPajx0ImYQmlOqBkusTYZ35-73Ehtm6qFhECNkLvG0gSPSTBkSdhA_49Wm10eMq5G1ldCwQh4GlggTX1TPYZrUKw4UZtEovAZQ8unr6gE2hzmCC5RfBJP6CY9Brbdxlaww/s320/IMG_8198.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342036318312817970" border="0" /></a>Our acolytes had unfeasibly long candles because the usual stocks in them go into the tubes for candles 11 and 12 for Pentecost. Back to usual next week once I have cleaned the tubes.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9oAd33KCLOg9N0nu6octGK-OJonu81BuzW4RP-ysHZyKntWezG2eqD4DpPu6Jv8QWrScloySSna57OxTzikrPkpNXyeEqHXE_OW2_Wg1rO2e-72lV0tYh9yrGqBZobIhyphenhyphenw6MNkKuCF2Y/s1600-h/IMG_8196.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9oAd33KCLOg9N0nu6octGK-OJonu81BuzW4RP-ysHZyKntWezG2eqD4DpPu6Jv8QWrScloySSna57OxTzikrPkpNXyeEqHXE_OW2_Wg1rO2e-72lV0tYh9yrGqBZobIhyphenhyphenw6MNkKuCF2Y/s320/IMG_8196.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342036312653532930" border="0" /></a>The new kitchen is coming along. There will probably be a new wipeable floor in front of the units soon or the carpet will soon become smeggy. I do not know if they sell wipeable surfaces in retail outlets, but maybe Thom can have a look, as this is where he is this afternoon, shirking his responsibility to you all. Tut.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6_wnxPLskMeQq2u40F3rQMRwnjsZMeOFgbuWgsAGo2kL1i0RB-08pE1p0B87BoGzjb0RYLSfGGw_TkkNG4Fd2aI7lJvmklj3HdydTIt4TtvWDs9kUCMNfk1mHCkZLRczgWvofQ2bhu4/s1600-h/IMG_8195.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6_wnxPLskMeQq2u40F3rQMRwnjsZMeOFgbuWgsAGo2kL1i0RB-08pE1p0B87BoGzjb0RYLSfGGw_TkkNG4Fd2aI7lJvmklj3HdydTIt4TtvWDs9kUCMNfk1mHCkZLRczgWvofQ2bhu4/s320/IMG_8195.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342036311865393906" border="0" /></a>And after Mass, there was a full Church again as we had four Baptisms, thus completing our Eastertide teaching of new life and a turning away from sin. That we had running water is a boon, so that we could at least put some water in the font. Tomorrow sees a trip to Liverpool to acquire an item of which there will be more later and then North to a meeting, then far South for the afternoon. It will be a busy day, as they all are at the moment.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-9742822273984019682009-05-30T18:32:00.004+01:002009-05-30T18:50:13.647+01:00Wild Garlic and Sapphic T-Shirts.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sV9OV7s9yUwz9Rr1SSSI-oFAY-cb87dCmBbP4UrpKgy8e30oUJU0JTnKm_2AZYvrHs46W-W2iBljWN-VWf7-sAju9mYUscmp1CKQ8L7uKfn4VW4xFv64rJLhnhyphenhyphenEzw25ZenxuqVt3Ns/s1600-h/IMG_8194.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sV9OV7s9yUwz9Rr1SSSI-oFAY-cb87dCmBbP4UrpKgy8e30oUJU0JTnKm_2AZYvrHs46W-W2iBljWN-VWf7-sAju9mYUscmp1CKQ8L7uKfn4VW4xFv64rJLhnhyphenhyphenEzw25ZenxuqVt3Ns/s320/IMG_8194.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341671670354168898" border="0" /></a>No, this is not my new house, but the old Conservative Club in Preston, now 'Vintage' bar and restaurant, with a dodgy looking nightclub in the basement. I have not ever been here - it confronted me as I left the altogether less salubrious surroundings of the snack bar over the road and I thought it seemed more interesting than a picture of six <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">IKEA</span> Billy bookcases, which I have spent much of the day putting together, while cursing the thinness of the backing material. There has also been time to go to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Clitheroe</span> but not to join the hordes by the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Ribble</span> basking in the sun and paddling in the water, however smelling the banks of wild garlic (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ramson</span>) which grows abundantly in the valley almost made up for it, as did seeing a stout lady wearing a t-shirt bearing the slogan 'cover me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians'. There must be very wealthy lesbians in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Clitheroe</span> because it would have cost a weeks wages to purchase enough chocolate for the task.<br /><br />I am going off to Church now, to lay the vestments out, prepare the altar and books for tomorrow's High Mass. Then I am going to the house of a Parishioner for a coffee evening - at least, there will be a coffee evening, I will take a bottle of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Badoit</span> water, which more suits the blazing heat for me. Pictures of the Mass tomorrow as well as photographs of the large joint of beef which I am <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">BBQ'ing</span> for a group of friends. It is as well to cook and shop now, for next week a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">siege</span> mentality will descend upon this quiet backwater, as those of us who are blessed enough to live next to the vast <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Heaton</span> Park have to contend with the arrival of rock band Oasis, who are playing on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The local supermarket has put up a sign saying that alcohol will be limited to one bottle or can per person and special checkouts will be erected to cope with the crush - and that is a mile away! Fifty thousand people are expected to try and cram into the park each day, and many more in the streets around which will be closed. It will, of course, be hell and much busier than when the Pope came to the area, but that is life, I suppose. The series of concerts makes up part of the 'dig out your soul' tour. Sunday Mass will be almost empty, I suppose, what with the closed roads and everyone looking for their soul in the litter strewn park and the special checkouts at TESCO.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-3639399378428955042009-05-29T17:25:00.003+01:002009-05-29T17:34:24.576+01:00Time for a Drink.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOX-2QMsZJ39mYWpg8F_shpyp3ch387F5uVIOYn4HsMnfilkJhQgUnE0kTk0nNW_ShR8dtzefWP7I_VHhTBUa-WyaXHxd_mWi4ZHOWeasVDoCzaqfXBlLzOV7o5ETyKWDpg1Rn4tEzuUU/s1600-h/uk-manchester-tram-3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOX-2QMsZJ39mYWpg8F_shpyp3ch387F5uVIOYn4HsMnfilkJhQgUnE0kTk0nNW_ShR8dtzefWP7I_VHhTBUa-WyaXHxd_mWi4ZHOWeasVDoCzaqfXBlLzOV7o5ETyKWDpg1Rn4tEzuUU/s320/uk-manchester-tram-3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341284005581626018" border="0" /></a>A hot, sunny day in Manchester. Typically enough just as I leave. I am going to go into the garden and enjoy a nice gin and tonic which will calm me down as I read the Church Times, which now comes in a plastic wrap, rather than the reusable brown envelope which almost made the free subscription worthwhile. I understand that thee is a nice picture of the Dean of Westminster taking high tea on page three, it will doubtlessly be all downhill from there.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGRoQJTEwNmNggKdNkxs5tQfmaX0uad_vHBiGWk9TbmYftspoFM51DJBGzTJQnqM_jJCu19wGM_FgWF7JY6MEJNTZ1AjKdoJ7bPCdGWsdGPRGPtylhyphenhyphenssQ0zDzewWTz0WpiI60rUU6Y54/s1600-h/IMG_8137.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGRoQJTEwNmNggKdNkxs5tQfmaX0uad_vHBiGWk9TbmYftspoFM51DJBGzTJQnqM_jJCu19wGM_FgWF7JY6MEJNTZ1AjKdoJ7bPCdGWsdGPRGPtylhyphenhyphenssQ0zDzewWTz0WpiI60rUU6Y54/s320/IMG_8137.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341283520105290850" border="0" /></a>Another shot, sent to me of last Sunday's High Mass. Pentecost this Sunday of course, then Trinity, Then Corpus - the first one for a while when I have not attended the parade at Corpus Christi Basilica in Miles Platting, North Manchester. The Basilica is now boarded up and abandoned, plans to turn it into something else presumably scuppered by the condition of the building, size and the undeniable fact that it is in Miles Platting. Time for a drink.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-18585045123229732552009-05-28T10:12:00.002+01:002009-05-28T10:59:32.149+01:00Paschal Candles.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBz7qiGNraa9MNiItFVB8Cj5X2maQLZImRjIbCZ8_i5wa85TMxeRQWBKnNgJH9vIN9iKXpp-beaeoOZZABt-QlEGF6IS2ySy1Y0qwMydDD6aBp8kthyi9xo3J6HzeCJwFhX5YkwNW8Ogc/s1600-h/IMG_8168.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBz7qiGNraa9MNiItFVB8Cj5X2maQLZImRjIbCZ8_i5wa85TMxeRQWBKnNgJH9vIN9iKXpp-beaeoOZZABt-QlEGF6IS2ySy1Y0qwMydDD6aBp8kthyi9xo3J6HzeCJwFhX5YkwNW8Ogc/s320/IMG_8168.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340800729511124354" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">First of all my apologies, even though the above picture clearly shows that I have time to drink coffee in peculiar cafes, I have had little time to share my thoughts with you on this blog. This has been a week of meetings, academia and letter writing, all of which have been productive, all of which have been exhausting. My prayer wheel has been given a spin this week as well, offering me a difficult chance to come to terms with a difficult persons actions. Once again, though, a productive spin of the wheel.<br /><br />Yesterday, as I toddled off to a long and enjoyable meeting, I was musing, through the rain and the filthy water spurted up onto my clean cream trousers by a loose paving stone, that it was the 27th of May, which meant that there were two and a half weeks left until I move and almost exactly a month until my ordination, by the grace of God on the 27th June. After a momentary increase in heartrate (my Doctor tells me that I have, if anything, low blood pressure, which is a miracle I ascribe to my forswearing of squid and margarine) the usual serenity returned which will begin to erode gradually as the removal men come closer and which took a slight dent last night as the unhappy football fans returned to their houses from the collection of pubs up the road, stopping only to drunkenly sing at various stational lamp posts in the vicinity of AW House.<br /><br />The building works in the Church go apace, we are sagely informed that they will come to an end this week, certainly I hope that we will have running water this week, as we have four baptisms and we could do with the mains being on and a tap connected. Interesting liturgical question here - as it is Pentecost and we also have Baptisms, do we move the Paschal Candle after the Gospel to the font, as is our custom, lit or extinguished to light immediately afterwards or do we simply place the lit candle in the Baptistery before Mass begins. Answers on a postcard or in the comments box please.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-672980097369837142009-05-27T23:37:00.003+01:002009-05-27T23:48:26.798+01:00Ommmmmany votes?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJ4YvBIgJcMmlvtmn-rHL2CvuqgPesSnVwWB_ds_8hU_nmIzbKz2qIv_BL7RNK0EU4Ftl8a8PpdatJNhXQ4T5Sa28ZW_Xm_q3GLfPHw8XniiO7HgoFNsODnSFxeJawDflZCEAJj0hy40/s1600-h/forrester.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340638567636449906" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 193px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 232px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJ4YvBIgJcMmlvtmn-rHL2CvuqgPesSnVwWB_ds_8hU_nmIzbKz2qIv_BL7RNK0EU4Ftl8a8PpdatJNhXQ4T5Sa28ZW_Xm_q3GLfPHw8XniiO7HgoFNsODnSFxeJawDflZCEAJj0hy40/s400/forrester.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>The votes for consent of the election of Rev. Kevin G. Thew Forrester so far stand at:<br /><br />YES: 24<br />NO: 47<br />PENDING: 32<br />NO COMMENT: 7<br /></div><br /><div>To be approved, Forrester needs votes of "yes" from 56 of the 110 standing committees of the Episcopal Church.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>(We have had discussions here in the past about this Bishop-elect of Northern Michigan.)</div><div> </div><div>For constantly updated tallies, visit <a href="http://biblebeltblogger.com/">Bible Belt Blogger</a>.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-73900082403805854672009-05-26T12:17:00.003+01:002009-05-26T15:10:11.480+01:00Riots and Change.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxN5dMYyshK72menZzUGXOf2b_yzNFbB1NRKSTsPyayQP9VmldX_Ras2K4WwAADqicdYG5pAjy8mjpscdgWHwmdIg6xi4t0EKYm9XDBmmCOGSMVLgcOqNP7AptBd1kwA_mgxyVLNfO8Y/s1600-h/IMG_8166.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxN5dMYyshK72menZzUGXOf2b_yzNFbB1NRKSTsPyayQP9VmldX_Ras2K4WwAADqicdYG5pAjy8mjpscdgWHwmdIg6xi4t0EKYm9XDBmmCOGSMVLgcOqNP7AptBd1kwA_mgxyVLNfO8Y/s320/IMG_8166.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340090601443477778" border="0" /></a>Henry IV Part I offers the reader an unquiet time of festivity and order in a state of flux. Spurred on by the socio political events engineered by Hal at Falstaff's feast, the Prince tries to use the undercurrent of public awareness of the government's funding of festivals to disrupt the flux of history and expectation by becoming King. The difference between riot and revolution and feasting and drinking is taken to the knife edge where it still finds home in our modern times. Hal underlines the need for recognisable change when he says<br /></div><br />'If all the year were playing holidays,<br />To sport would be as tedious as to work;<br />But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,<br />And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.<br />So, when this loose behavior I throw off<br />And pay the debt I never promised,<br />By how much better than my word I am,<br />By so much shall I falsify men's hopes.'<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">We could read this passage as his emerging from the chrysalis as youthful rogue to glorious King as well we might, but it also has echoes of the 'wheel of fire' of Lear, to which we are bound, spending our days on a circuit of events which we predict by association but often fail to grasp in essence. So at this time of year, we lurch from feast to feast, Ascension, the Mary Riot at Walsingham (or the National Pilgrimage, chacun a son gout), Pentecost, Trinity and finally the glories of Corpus Christi. The beauty of the Ascension when each year I stress the final action by the corporeal body of Christ on Earth as He ascended - He blessed them, as He disappeared from view he used his final act to care for His people. He ascended with his wounds as well - this is always worth pointing out, He takes His wounds and our wounds to the heart of God. The enormous assertion of the Ascension is that He takes broken humanity to the heart of the Triune God.<br /><br />This means that we have something to say to the people of the world who are broken and tormented and who hope and yearn for a better future. We say that Christ has gone up, taking your wounds with Him, with His wounds by which we have been healed. At the festivals and at Walsingham, we have something to say, at the moments when the festivals boil over to near riot in anger and upset at the way things have gone, or in the moments of complete surrender to God which is when our hearts are at peace, as we bring our brokenness to Him who received His Son in glory, but with hands and side pierced. At those moments, we say that He truly knows our sorrows and He has taken them to the Father. It is one of the most enormous assertions of all time and the peace it brings is something which I think sustains us all at this time of flux in the Church - that He knows and that He still calls us through the reeds to this place, at this time, in this way. Blessed be God in the festivals and in the famine. Blessed be God in the still times and in the times of change and unexpected flux. As we look to our wounds, North Korea is detonating nuclear bombs and the Church is called upon, more than ever, to emulate Christ, using every possibility to impart His peace.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwT103jc-L5ZO-Je7XKgwGnPT7EEeh3PiGU8Zqrs4YVBS62-nxA46NWLUsId3jPvn3tXpKLVwOTweU_zDVJonviOsrvxoQfNPHLiGmWG7vbENs-i7_HYwrlgT6ND-F2uGPfutJcWawFqI/s1600-h/IMG_8165.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwT103jc-L5ZO-Je7XKgwGnPT7EEeh3PiGU8Zqrs4YVBS62-nxA46NWLUsId3jPvn3tXpKLVwOTweU_zDVJonviOsrvxoQfNPHLiGmWG7vbENs-i7_HYwrlgT6ND-F2uGPfutJcWawFqI/s320/IMG_8165.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340090596137679506" border="0" /></a>So as I prepare for Pentecost in the top picture and drive out for a country walk and pass this disturbing boozer offering 'discount booze', I wonder how to best tell of the peace of Christ in this most peculiar context in which I find myself. Faithfully, I hope and pray and for that I ask your prayers as well, especially over the next few weeks and months.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nu83ZQjy7vuETvQUiR4WbRaNyBAyrxSWLGPIFw3mxmoSVUC8p-aXTqxR8NiL19Omhyi5aDFN6Rm5UxlK2mpuLBBiR7dQ26JwG-rXQ9ugIpAgCZOzgcSwtJQ40DfadiB3bkCAsReRyOE/s1600-h/IMG_8163.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nu83ZQjy7vuETvQUiR4WbRaNyBAyrxSWLGPIFw3mxmoSVUC8p-aXTqxR8NiL19Omhyi5aDFN6Rm5UxlK2mpuLBBiR7dQ26JwG-rXQ9ugIpAgCZOzgcSwtJQ40DfadiB3bkCAsReRyOE/s320/IMG_8163.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340090597217032082" border="0" /></a>And the walk, over part of the pennines, was rewarding. I followed the old horse path which cotton was transported over the mountains hundreds of years ago for a little while before the fifty mile tunnel was built which ends in Worsley. I cannot imagine beginning to dig a fifty mile tunnel, but it must seem as hopeless as some of our modern predicaments.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhewhZOFRRteR4WWraLmN-uS3aP8fCX4XuQJV-ib0t8Wpj0I-rtKY5K5lmXbkLcCTUDiQeUuHonGMXNai_tBwjGlYbNGU8m-Kv6TR-BaDF3z0QGMcrqXj3RIZNbufGm_AXqMcIu5AblgUg/s1600-h/IMG_8154.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhewhZOFRRteR4WWraLmN-uS3aP8fCX4XuQJV-ib0t8Wpj0I-rtKY5K5lmXbkLcCTUDiQeUuHonGMXNai_tBwjGlYbNGU8m-Kv6TR-BaDF3z0QGMcrqXj3RIZNbufGm_AXqMcIu5AblgUg/s320/IMG_8154.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340090590064566946" border="0" /></a>The road, though, goes ever on, with many hills, dales and smoky towns before it ends. Like the men who saw Jesus ascending, we too are called to snap out of it, to stop staring into heaven, to return to the towns and villages at the end of our encounters with the divine and to get on with the opus dei.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588277183192541153.post-27176242448973747062009-05-25T09:27:00.004+01:002009-05-25T09:47:47.633+01:00The Anniversary High Mass.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ5nT8zDWh7zVWW3k7FirkJnO-qC2DwNs5XvGtIKrKu8Cv2fDt4nGO6o2CxDoy-ziUMGQIHnXtWGc21XJHIIypjp00a7ZkFwCWMboO8i1HqzznMRTN1dDsMRmobH0dsrlyR2eCefD1ATI/s1600-h/IMG_8128.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ5nT8zDWh7zVWW3k7FirkJnO-qC2DwNs5XvGtIKrKu8Cv2fDt4nGO6o2CxDoy-ziUMGQIHnXtWGc21XJHIIypjp00a7ZkFwCWMboO8i1HqzznMRTN1dDsMRmobH0dsrlyR2eCefD1ATI/s320/IMG_8128.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339676875296243154" border="0" /></a>The Mass began with the clergy and servers processing outside the Church down Whittaker Lane before we came in the front door to behold a church so full we needed extra seating and soon ran out of the 120 sheets I printed for the Mass, which was good for a Bank Holiday Sunday evening when many people were going to walsingham for the National Pilgrimage.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjubxkbz1a6w597fSShO-VqzmwmD54lxEb5MKf44UHVB0Tdv5irWQ7REwSRV5t-QqdZsYhOQ2kjppcKXh0Um_3S2dI-K1mmg6PKdvnQxhpMWW37GNKxTMhUUgmoXgRgLjGDl9NP0yMXxoo/s1600-h/IMG_8130.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjubxkbz1a6w597fSShO-VqzmwmD54lxEb5MKf44UHVB0Tdv5irWQ7REwSRV5t-QqdZsYhOQ2kjppcKXh0Um_3S2dI-K1mmg6PKdvnQxhpMWW37GNKxTMhUUgmoXgRgLjGDl9NP0yMXxoo/s320/IMG_8130.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339676874071622994" border="0" /></a>Bishop John Gaisford graced us with his presence and presided from the Throne, dispensing the absolution and blessing incense before concelebrating the Mass and offering blessings during the recessional.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkAvzEqI6BbgeVLSh44hhEt9jWWdvJks_UrSPON_5BXyGJrw6mymZ8NFXPAf-IzcLULlg-erY9HYZES3R56r4ECYpj_FFQxNvCO3fGQn49utThvWqIFGYaS6ubM4OFOYGIhWs6xHoJuFg/s1600-h/IMG_8133.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkAvzEqI6BbgeVLSh44hhEt9jWWdvJks_UrSPON_5BXyGJrw6mymZ8NFXPAf-IzcLULlg-erY9HYZES3R56r4ECYpj_FFQxNvCO3fGQn49utThvWqIFGYaS6ubM4OFOYGIhWs6xHoJuFg/s320/IMG_8133.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339676660197530290" border="0" /></a>The Gospel procession forms.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjirhzKi4lXAlf5cKyLnPOxBrS8Fzd9lqE7VhhCLHPoeZ03TRSmuirpJcBIBZ8t0R8VgHpbyhEuorZIft_mgpidk1lRCgxItiDYNh0MW4mKnNuSgbRLYamXeAyg3bh8aFf41R3uvHZq2QA/s1600-h/IMG_8134.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjirhzKi4lXAlf5cKyLnPOxBrS8Fzd9lqE7VhhCLHPoeZ03TRSmuirpJcBIBZ8t0R8VgHpbyhEuorZIft_mgpidk1lRCgxItiDYNh0MW4mKnNuSgbRLYamXeAyg3bh8aFf41R3uvHZq2QA/s320/IMG_8134.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339676655123105778" border="0" /></a>This was the occasion of our Parish Priest, Fr Ronald Croft's, 45th anniversary of ordination, his old friend, Fr David Morgan, preached the homily.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9zrKyLIjuJ7SrfVOUHJD87paQ9tfhuBbKldbA4AKMIM2il0ZcvNammntWmLLBPn4D9xWsIrmEn91l_43dphXDNlJyZKf6-uBxHHyE-Sv9gsYHIV5d1Fsr2QbZ2DTi1DnEGB_E3IZFNYs/s1600-h/IMG_8135.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9zrKyLIjuJ7SrfVOUHJD87paQ9tfhuBbKldbA4AKMIM2il0ZcvNammntWmLLBPn4D9xWsIrmEn91l_43dphXDNlJyZKf6-uBxHHyE-Sv9gsYHIV5d1Fsr2QbZ2DTi1DnEGB_E3IZFNYs/s320/IMG_8135.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339676655274170930" border="0" /></a>Bishop John listens to the homily.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVd2X_5VW_M0g7cl_L3NAiDFINMnXCvsoO_Zk5CNdzIj2pbetuyvdRljiBObagx-zjReNugYRIt22H79tMe48nDVEQzVwKQKX2a1iZHXtR-YPrPUYgiBLcTUn5B9oMZ5i9K1QBhpEBw9Q/s1600-h/IMG_8137.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVd2X_5VW_M0g7cl_L3NAiDFINMnXCvsoO_Zk5CNdzIj2pbetuyvdRljiBObagx-zjReNugYRIt22H79tMe48nDVEQzVwKQKX2a1iZHXtR-YPrPUYgiBLcTUn5B9oMZ5i9K1QBhpEBw9Q/s320/IMG_8137.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339676652564409618" border="0" /></a>The congregation are censed. These pictures were taken by my mother, who sat in the front row, alas the camera breathed its last at this point, but the next pictures are taken by Ken, from the choir stalls.<br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2lrs8xtf50QACa-rwiCwMxaZIuJJ3S2zJgEJBzu3T8RcjDgwvYc-sMYvdLTj0LD9KSOf1cQ0P5e1bfZa3uwyfdKs2nGwTazLAg-HIMMlShvZvSE35o7n1kO0g_TBtvv6HMeituTiClEw/s1600-h/P1010664.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2lrs8xtf50QACa-rwiCwMxaZIuJJ3S2zJgEJBzu3T8RcjDgwvYc-sMYvdLTj0LD9KSOf1cQ0P5e1bfZa3uwyfdKs2nGwTazLAg-HIMMlShvZvSE35o7n1kO0g_TBtvv6HMeituTiClEw/s320/P1010664.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339676646650810722" border="0" /></a>The concelebrants enclosure. It was a delight to see so many visiting priests from near and far Parishes.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDl9O9JGsK3-7Fh3ZyWEsr32Fo4zVUPr6Q0gFrK6RiXpqxyZXfy9yZ7kEhZcRBKapWeTBdIPaibhNoVddgSFSkBYfos9IQ3oUeCrSK9EI1_SQeX8-UTFNOzv0qwZw1tUBI4jdyhGU7VWo/s1600-h/P1010666.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDl9O9JGsK3-7Fh3ZyWEsr32Fo4zVUPr6Q0gFrK6RiXpqxyZXfy9yZ7kEhZcRBKapWeTBdIPaibhNoVddgSFSkBYfos9IQ3oUeCrSK9EI1_SQeX8-UTFNOzv0qwZw1tUBI4jdyhGU7VWo/s320/P1010666.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339675896087289890" border="0" /></a>Canon Paul Denby sings the Gospel.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjZJY5IIyaexYCXQG_SAgcvbzbK6pKN5VziGdmzIxG3p9VLI7cnxXJrmfae9AdEIflBR-H3KkZxT1PReWCGiMHoE1jOQWtIop2MZo9yqsVuyLfxp6sbd7AfewqKk_1i_e_2N_YzX7RER0/s1600-h/P1010667.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjZJY5IIyaexYCXQG_SAgcvbzbK6pKN5VziGdmzIxG3p9VLI7cnxXJrmfae9AdEIflBR-H3KkZxT1PReWCGiMHoE1jOQWtIop2MZo9yqsVuyLfxp6sbd7AfewqKk_1i_e_2N_YzX7RER0/s320/P1010667.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339675888740038930" border="0" /></a>The altar is censed as Les, special occasion Thurifer I looks on with the watchful gaze of a life long altar server.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-VJoDACxIlzo7WaB-7IArll_IzT7PrjjYd3PL7NV58jaV28HWEFJGGB5-VNZpaPbh0o6IimbXa4hqmZaoA9RITn2nVoRllSKSOoMHkQSInIGyl88LKWN81tqDv0X9RidZwoC5NGhEq1w/s1600-h/P1010669.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-VJoDACxIlzo7WaB-7IArll_IzT7PrjjYd3PL7NV58jaV28HWEFJGGB5-VNZpaPbh0o6IimbXa4hqmZaoA9RITn2nVoRllSKSOoMHkQSInIGyl88LKWN81tqDv0X9RidZwoC5NGhEq1w/s320/P1010669.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339675888350747938" border="0" /></a>The Sursum Corda is sung.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEaxi01LvH5BYCpjp29RDuUr4iBB4OzNb5XMZoWqLKeWtBlBA0Eq-RtK1W-D_WJe_LbP-lkEQOPiJhVbv4bUWPSD64ReF3Rq4OPk8l0MF_L00905TJzYO1etxLq78GJw-np53K9OqZvhc/s1600-h/P1010672.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEaxi01LvH5BYCpjp29RDuUr4iBB4OzNb5XMZoWqLKeWtBlBA0Eq-RtK1W-D_WJe_LbP-lkEQOPiJhVbv4bUWPSD64ReF3Rq4OPk8l0MF_L00905TJzYO1etxLq78GJw-np53K9OqZvhc/s320/P1010672.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339675885295136898" border="0" /></a>The Consecration.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwTsL3HpmzM0VUP5s2-k6TyTK_azF78bxmaEowW69N9N_Z16th1OCmIfD5KqWiIWXqW_rhU37Molx4Bhh88pu6szg1o-jIBHT4k3h3xXgWchAhCWNXC5vUVn1wri15nl3XTz937wY44E/s1600-h/P1010676.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwTsL3HpmzM0VUP5s2-k6TyTK_azF78bxmaEowW69N9N_Z16th1OCmIfD5KqWiIWXqW_rhU37Molx4Bhh88pu6szg1o-jIBHT4k3h3xXgWchAhCWNXC5vUVn1wri15nl3XTz937wY44E/s320/P1010676.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339675881573851442" border="0" /></a>After the Mass, this group picture was taken.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0