The BBs and manly habits

I've been finding it difficult to get to sleep recently, and one night last week I was lying in my bed thinking about stuff (not the Four Last Things, I'm ashamed to say), and I started to remember my time in The Boys' Brigade.

I had joined The Boys' Brigade in primary school at the incentive of my best friend and many other boys in my class. It was actually quite an unusual situation to have so many Catholic boys in a Company (the most local division of the Boys' Brigade) as the movement is heavily linked to the Kirk*. Nevertheless, we all went along and wore the uniforms and practised marching and played football and other games. As a youth club, I think the ethos there was pretty good. There was a strong emphasis on prayer at the beginning and the end and a good balance of discipline, education, and fun.

Once I reached about 18 and had completed all the activities and badges, I became a warrant officer which meant I was basically like one of the staff. Both as a senior Boy (NCO) and as a warrant officer, I had to train the younger boys in drill and basic knowledge of the Boys' Brigade. Part of this was ten questions about the movement and its founder, Sir William Alexander Smith.

Now, I've gone through these questions so many times that I know most of them by heart. I have problems with remembering dates generally (except birthdays), so I've forgotten these. Anyway, out of these ten questions, one of them was usually the most difficult for boys to learn: what is called the Object of the Boys' Brigade.

When I thought about this last night, I couldn't help be struck by how Catholic the object sounded. Here it is in full:

The Object of the Boys' Brigade is the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among boys and the promotion of habits of obedience, reverence, discipline, self-respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian manliness.

 Most boys had great difficulty in remembering the four habits or remembering to say "of habits". We usually said remember ORDS.

I find the habits chosen by Sir Smith to be particularly interesting, as to him they are clearly the habits he most identifies with manliness. Nowadays, obedience and reverence are rarely mentioned as being worthwhile habits at all, let alone habits particularly conducive to Christian manliness.

While lying in bed thinking about this, I first came to the conclusion that though I do prize obedience, reverence, discipline and self-respect as good habits, and I think I am fairly obedient and reverent (maybe), I'm not particularly manly. But then I considered what I thought to be manly. Was it secular, worldly manliness or Christian manliness?
I know for a fact that I'm not manly in a secular way. Whether I am manly in a Christian sense is yet to be decided. All I know is that I do desire to be obedient, reverent, disciplined and self-respecting. I do strive for Christian manliness. Perhaps the Boys' Brigade achieved its goal in this respect.

* The presbyterian Church of Scotland is commonly referred to as the Kirk in Scotland. The similarity between the Scots word kirk and the German Kirche thrills me probably more than it should.

Goodness, are we into the Third Week after Easter already?
Pope Francis has now been Pope for just over a month. I'm now slowly getting used to this fact. Unlike the first few days and weeks where I read everything about what he was doing, saying, (wearing), I now no longer pay much attention. Rather like normal, I suppose. With Pope Benedict, I read what he was saying and doing only intermittently, too. I just can't keep up with it all. I imagine this is the case for most people.

There have been a number of happenings since my last post. Most notably, I went to the Eternal City for five days, which was a wonderful yet exhausting experience. More on that in a bit.
Secondly, it was the end of Lent and Easter, which is always rather intense.
Thirdly, it looks like I'm set to move out of my parents' place into a flat with two friends.

First, my trip to Rome.
For long and convoluted reasons, I was lucky to attend a Church conference held in Rome. This meant some brilliant privileges such as a tour of the crypt to see the tomb of St Peter, and prime seats at Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter's Square. Fantastic. The conference itself was very interesting, though the days were long (12 hours) and things often ran late. More on that soon as it develops (and I figure out whether I can give more info).

Second, Easter.
Since my parish shares a priest with another parish, it was our turn to have the Triduum. This meant being drafted in for serving, singing and a bunch of other stuff*. In one way, this turned out to be a blessing, as I will explain later. I served Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil (getting out the thurible for the Thursday and Saturday!), while serving on Friday seemed largely pointless. Finally, I imposed myself on everyone for the last time on Easter Sunday, where I sang the Sequence**. In Latin. The good thing is that many people complimented me on it. I'd volunteered myself for it so people didn't expect me to sing it (I'm not a cantor or singer at my parish). I think the element of surprise actually helped as it was refreshing.

Third, moving out.
This is partly related to the previous point. Despite the relative success of the Triduum, the whole experience shed light on where my parish is and how it is faring. And also on how little can actually be done without the PP being on board. Or even on the same page. Comments during the Easter Vigil highlighted his hermeneutic and it crushed my spirits completely. The joy of the feast got me through it but I couldn't cope with it afterwards. This is convenient. I'm moving out at the end of the month into civitatem ipsam. This means that I'll be leaving my parish too. Time to move on. There's some excellent news in this respect. But that's for another time ;-)

*oh, alright, I admit I volunteered myself for everything!
**I love the Easter sequence Victimae paschali laudes

Judica me, Deus...

... et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta
ab homine iniquo et doloso erue me:
quia tu es Deus, fortitudo mea,
quare me repulisti? et quare tristis incedo
dum affligit me inimicus?
Emitte lucem tuam et veritatem tuam:
ipsa me deduxerunt et adduxerunt in montem sanctum tuum,
et in tabernacula tua.
Et introibo ad altare Dei
ad Deum, qui laetificat iuventutem meam.
Confitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus.
Quare tristis es, anima mea, et quare conturbas me?
Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi:
salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus.

The intolerant and bigoted Cardinal

It was announced in the news today that oor Cardinal, Archbishop Keith Patrick O'Brien, was voted as Bigot of the Year by Stonewall. I am not surprised at the award, but I do think that it casts more poorly on Stonewall than it does on the Cardinal. Even Ruth Davidson, the lesbian Conservative MSP leader and this year's winner of Stonewall's Politician of the Year, thought so.

I hope the Cardinal knows that there are many, many people who support his courageous stance on the issue of gay marriage and homosexuality in general. It is necessary for Stonewall to accuse the Cardinal and those like him of bigotry in order to maintain the image that the Catholic Church is the hateful group, rather than the compassionate, loving and yet firm and faithful image of Christ on earth.

The intolerant Cardinal

Today in the Scotsman Joyce McMillan treated us to yet another pop at the Cardinal for one of his "outspoken" and "controversial" viewpoints, meaning by that a view that was commonly held by the majority until the beginning of the 20th century at least, if not even into the 21st.
Her article presents the false dichotomy supposedly faced by the Scottish government on the issue of gay marriage. On the one hand, there is the "traditional patriarchy", which "requires the ostracisation of homosexuals" and on the other there is "morality", which "requires equal treatment and respect for all in society". The Catholic can certainly agree with the requirement for equal treatment and respect for all in society, but I would disagree with the idea that homosexuals should be ostracised. Let's look at the Catechism passage oft ignored by the media except to distort its meaning:

CCC 2358 "This inclination [of deep-seated homosexual tendencies], which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard is to be avoided."

No ostracisation mentioned there.  Yet by representing the Cardinal's statements and the Church's viewpoint as one based on antiquated homophobia, McMillan succeeds in portraying the viewpoint as unjust rather than one based on the sound principles on which marriage is truly based. This makes it difficult for the Church to fully engage in the debate as her statements are considered irrational before the reasons are even heard and the discussion is reduced to the emotions of those who feel excluded, regardless of whether that exclusion is proven to be just. It is at this point that I'd like to share an important article stating secular arguments for traditional marriage. The mere fact that the article is quite long demonstrates the complex nature of the debate and the need for a comprehensive treatment of any objections which may be raised, such as whether the link between traditional marriage and children undermines the marriages of those who are infertile, for example. This article explains why this is not the case.
Finally, I'm glad we have such an "outspoken" Cardinal as it means as Catholics we can't sit on the fence. We're either on his side or not (whether or not you agree with some of the language he uses - I know Catholics who agree with him but disagree on the way he expresses himself); we're either on the side of the Church (and of true compassion and love for homosexual persons), or not.

Pray for Catholic midwives

Please pray for the judge and the two midwives involved in a case regarding conscientious objection. The two midwives, who are Catholic, wish to be able to opt out of their supervisory role in the case of abortions. The NHS health board are opposing their action.
The decision could set a precedent regarding these matters across the UK.

17th December...

"The Lord is at hand: come, let us adore him." - Invitatory antiphon from the 17th to 23rd December.

Well, we're now drawing closer to Christmas and today the first of the great O antiphons was said at Vespers (O Sapientia).

I've not posted in ages. I'm now back in Scotland, having left the village in Bavaria at the end of October. It's in a more sorry state here now as the gay marriage debate seems to be heating up now that the public consultation is over. Please pray for Scotland. If gay marriage is introduced, I'll probably emigrate.

Anyway, have a listen.

I couldn't let the 25th January pass by without saying something about Burns' Night and something about Saint Paul's Conversion.
First of all, unlike what I hear from other people, all we have in our family is the haggis, neeps n tatties and maybe perhaps possibly recite one of his poems (my favourites are To A Mouse and Tam O' Shanter). There's no ceremonial about the thing either.

Secondly, I'd like to wish everyone all the best for the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles (that's us, folks). Furthermore, I think the feast reminds us that we need to constantly return to the Lord, asking for his help and seeking his mercy, and trying to love him in return.

When the cat's away...

... the mice will try and go to the EF of Mass in Edinburgh. Or at least that's what my younger brother's hoping. As soon as he found out the parental units will be away, leaving us under adelphacratic rule, he asked if we could go to another TLM in Ravelston. Let's see...

Oh, how I shudder at the thought...

Not too long ago, Jeffrey Tucker over at the Chant Café blog wrote a bit on those terrible teenage bands who make a loud noise each Sunday and seem to be scattered all around the world. To my great embarrassment, I can recall my own involvement in such a group. Firstly, here's a snip of what Mr Tucker says:

Of course they have no idea what they are doing. No one has ever discussed with them anything about the musical demands of the Roman Rite. They know nothing about the proper orientation for making music at Mass. The liturgical calender is an abstraction. Terms like propers or dialogues are gibberish to them. Most of the players can’t even read music. To them it is an opportunity to see and be seen, a weekly talent gig, and they probably don’t mind it that people give them credit for their service to the parish.

The pastor and celebrant don’t like it any more than anyone else. But the parents of these kids are important people in the parish. The band doesn’t charge any money for their services, such as they are.

Sadly, this somewhat describes my own experience. I played keyboard, so I was the one who had to learn the actual tune. The other two just needed to either learn the chord sequence (i.e. super easy) or the drum beat (cringe!!). The whole experience was awful and, as you may have gathered, had a traumatic psychological effect on me.

This man seems to be happy playing the guitar. No such joy for me or my two friends, or the congregation, for that matter.

 
There were other reasons why the whole thing was terrible, not just the fact that the music was atrocious and messed up the whole thing. Mass no longer seemed about God - we were too preoccupied with ourselves and whether the amp was at the right settings. The (justified) disapproving looks from the congregation one Sunday upset me so much that I thankfully refused to carry on with it. I also protested that I had all the work to do (in my mind learning a chord sequence or a simple drum beat was much easier than learning a tune).
We were trying to fit a jigsaw piece from a Disney jigsaw puzzle for 5 year olds into a 5000-piece puzzle of the Sistine Chapel. It just didn't fit and was totally inappropriate.
I like to think this was God's way of making a point to me, namely that keyboards, drums and guitars are NOT suited to Catholic liturgy and that music should lift people to God. Somehow, I don't imagine singing Gregorian chant is nearly as distracting for the choir as strumming a guitar or playing drums is for those who play them at Mass. I can't even remember praying at those Masses I played at.

That Scotland yet again may love the faith, entire and true

Happy feast of Saint Andrew, albeit a belated greeting, like Seraphic's. Not much to say (as usual) but found the following hymn interesting. It was sung as the final hymn at the Mass for the Solemnity of Saint Andrew at the cathedral yesterday. I shook hands with the Cardinal as Nun-on-the-run, a cousin of my mum and someone I bump into regularly at extra-dominical cathedral events, introduced me. He scrutinised me and I just knew he knew that I was that letter writer from last year. Mortifying! Anyway, back to that hymn:

When Christ our Lord to Andrew cried:
'Come, thou, and follow me,'
The fisher left his net beside
the Sea of Galilee.
To teach the truth his Master taught,
To tread the path he trod
Was all his will, and thus he brought
Unnumbered souls to God.

When Andrew's hour had come, and he
Was doomed like Christ to die,
He kissed his cross exultingly.
And this his loving cry:
'O noble Cross! O precious wood!
I long have yearned for thee;
Uplift me to my only good
Who died on thee for me.'

The faith that Andrew taught once shone
O'er all this kingdom fair;
The cross that Jesus died upon
Was honoured everywhere.
But evil men that faith beat down,
Reviling Andrew's name;
The cross, though set in kingly crown,
Became a sign of shame.

Saint Andrew, now in bliss above,
Thy fervent prayers renew
That Scotland yet again may love
The faith, entire and true;
That I the cross allotted me
May bear with patient love!
'Twill lift me, as it lifted thee,
To reign with Christ above.

Here is a version on Youtube.
Note that this was also a hymn sung at the Mass at Bellahouston. I wonder what is referred to by "evil men that faith beat down, /Reviling Andrew's name;"? At first I thought this referred to the Reformation but then the line that follows puzzled me "The cross, though set in kingly crown, /Became a sign of shame." This makes me think of the more secular attacks on the faith. Perhaps both could be implied and in any case, we should be praying for a restoration of the Catholic faith to Scotland, which has indeed been helped by the immigration of the Polish folk. There are many on my course at uni and I'm glad to have people there who share my faith.

Saint Andrew, pray for us!
Saint Margaret, pray for us!

Review of Sung Mass for the Feast of Saint Margaret

God is very clearly answering my prayers. Recently, I have been longing to hear an Ordinary Form Mass chanted. Indeed, ever since I heard these recordings I have wanted to assist at a Mass chanted by the priest. This longing was fulfilled last night when I went to the Mass for the Feast of Saint Margaret. The choir was as usual excellent. The Saint Margaret Schola are very good and they regularly sing EF vespers at the cathedral. Just last week they sang the vespers from the office of the dead. The priest, whom I had never seen before, had a good singing voice as well (mercifully - I imagine it could be quite painful to have a priest sing the whole mass terribly). Wondering who this priest was (and thinking how lucky his parishioners are), I did a quick investigation last night but to no avail. Nevertheless, I found out this evening who he was as I attended a talk concerning Sacred Music given by him. Fr Gerry Byrne is very much for gregorian chant (hurrah!) and he told everyone there plain and simple what is allowed and what is not allowed (which seemed to upset quite a few - for me hearing this was music to my ears (pun intended!). Anyway, God seems to really be showing me that there are a good number of good priests out there (I'd started wondering...) and that they are starting to really take the lead in steering the faithful back towards proper liturgical practices and back to a proper teaching of the Catholic faith rather than watered downs stuff. Deo gratias!

Happy Feast of Saint Margaret of Scotland!

Today is the feast of Saint Margaret of Scotland. Outside Scotland, it is just an optional memoria but since she is the secondary Patron of Scotland, (behind Saint Andrew, who is Patron), the day has been elevated to a feast for Scottish Catholics. I have a particular affinity to Saint Margaret as my parish is dedicated to her, and it has a beautiful rose window above the altar. My primary school was also called Saint Margaret's, and they even had made up their own song for her. Here is a description of her from Catholic Culture:

She was born in Hungary (1046), where her father was living in exile, and likewise spent her childhood there as an unusually devout and pious girl. In the course of time she went to England, when her father was called to high office in his fatherland by his uncle, King St. Edward III. Fortune, however, soon reversed itself again (Margaret's father died suddenly in 1057), and upon leaving England a mighty storm — or better, divine Providence — brought her to the shores of Scotland. Upon instructions from her mother, Margaret married Malcolm III, king of Scotland, in 1069. The country was blessed by her holy life and by her deeds of charity for the next thirty years. Her eight children she zealously trained in the practice of Christian virtues.
In the midst of royal splendour Margaret chastised her flesh by mortification and vigils and passed the greater part of the night in devout prayer. Her most remarkable virtue was love of neighbour, particularly love toward the poor. Her alms supported countless unfortunates; daily she provided food for three hundred and shared in the work of serving them personally, washing their feet and kissing their wounds.

If you visit Edinburgh Castle, the oldest part of the castle is the Saint Margaret Chapel, build by her fourth son King David (Saint David of Scotland) in the 12th century. Nearby at the other end of the Royal Mile and then across towards Arthur Seat (so not far from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which Saint David also built) is the St Margaret's Well (though this is only a connection in name). After attending Saint Margaret's Primary I then moved on to Saint David's High School, dedicated to her son who also built Newbattle Abbey, in which the old Saint David's High building was situated. Therefore, I feel quite well acquainted with Saint Margaret and her son Saint David!

Tonight, for the Feast of Saint Margaret, I am going to a Sung Mass at the cathedral in Edinburgh. It is being chanted by the Edinburgh Schola whose Patroness is Saint Margaret. I've never been to a mass in the Ordinary Form which has been chanted. It will be an interesting experience, I'm sure.

Saint Margaret, Patroness of Scotland, pray for us!
Saint David, pray for us!
Saint Andrew, pray for us!

Sighting of "Benedictine" altar arrangement in Edinburgh!

At the moment I am not residing at my own house but rather elsewhere in Edinburgh, in a place very very close to a church, St Margaret Mary's. This morning I went to this church for mass and last night I went to the associated parish, Holy Cross, for confession. In both churches I noticed that there was a crucifix on the altar placed so that it was facing the priest. In Holy Cross I think it also had six candles on the altar and in at St Margaret Mary's there were six (lit!) large candles behind the altar, three on either side of the tabernacle. I mention the fact that they were lit because at my own parish there are also six candles beside the tabernacle behind the altar but they are rarely lit. I realised that this was what is often known as the "Benedictine arrangement", so called because it is favoured/required by Pope Benedict at the masses he celebrates. Indeed there was a little contention about the fact that the candles were not placed on the altar at the mass but rather beside the altar on the floor (which did look a bit silly, tbh) at Bellahouston. On further consideration, St Margaret Mary's is just ripe and ready in terms of its architecture and layout of sanctuary for the extraordinary form. It has three steps to the altar, an altar rail and the room for it. Furthermore, the altar on the steps is actually the altar used, meaning there's no stupid secondary altar right in front of it. The only misgiving about it is that it is made from wood. Both churches are similar, and both have a huge message spanning an archway over the sanctuary. At Holy Cross it says "+ Ave Crux Spes Unica +" - "Hail to the Cross, our only hope" and at St Margaret Mary's it says "+ Magister Adest et Vocat Te +" - "The Master is here and He is calling you".

Anyway, many see this Benedictine arrangement as a sort of middle stage towards returning to worship ad orientem - the worship direction of the ages. Let us pray for our priests that they may keep to the holy traditions of Mother Church.

St Margaret Mary, pray for us!

Prayer to the Sacred Heart for Priests

Remember, O most loving Heart of Jesus, that they for whom I pray are those for whom You prayed so earnestly the night before Your death.  These are they to whom You look to continue with You in Your sorrows when others forsake You, who share Your griefs and have inherited your persecutions, according to Your word: That the servant is not greater than his Lord.  Remember, O Heart of Jesus, that they are the objects of the world's hatred and Satan's deadliest snares.  Keep them then, O Jesus, in the safe citadel of Your Sacred Heart and there let them be sanctified in truth.  May they be one with you and one among themselves, and grant that multitudes may be brought through their word to believe in You and love You.

Everybody's Special

I had difficulty in deciding whether to post this here or on the Ulaan Bataar blog instead. Here is a delightful song which I learnt in 2006 on my trip to Lourdes with the archdiocese. The others in the youth group taught me this song. Here it is as it was sung to me:

Ooh Sprachmeister don't you know
that you are very special!
You're so special to us all!
So come if you will
and join our circle.
Everybody's special,
special in God's circle of love.

Then they turned on... I mean turned to my friend Jamie, and sang:

Ooh Jamie don't you know
that you are very special!
You're so special to us all!
So come if you will
and join our circle.
Everybody's special,
special in God's circle of love.

This then went on around all 20 plus members of the youth group, and then some others too. This was as we went on a trip aux Pyrénées.

I'm still trying to work out a way of demonstrating the tune on blogger. So far, and luckily for you, I haven't found any.

Meanwhile, while I was in my final year at school, we had to take the new first years of high school (about 11/12 years old and generally quite obnoxious, though not at the beginning) into groups (my group went to the chaplaincy for this) and do activities with them. I suggested, as a way of learning their names, we sang that song in turn to each of them, letting them know too that they were ALL special. Surprisingly, the others rejected this idea.

Thanking God for the crosses He gives us

As mentioned in previous posts, God has given me a cross which is permanent (unless God sees fit to relieve me of it) and somewhat arduous. Almost everytime I am feeling low, the fact that I bear this cross occurs to me and I always end up asking God the same questions and making the same requests: "God, why did you give me this? Why is it so? Could you please relieve me of it if it is your will?", etc. I had a hard time accepting the facts as they stood. It is here to stay and to be borne by me.
My most recent incident where I was left feeling very low (though on reflection this was an overreaction and probably just due to tiredness) was similar. However, there was one crucial and quite substantial difference. At my lowest point in this dip, I happened to glance at the crucifix on my wall and immediately my mind turned to Calvary, and in particular to the experiences of our most blessed mother as she stood by her son's cross. This wasn't surprising as I have been reflecting a lot on Our Lady of Sorrows this month. At that moment of my own sorrow and sadness, I would normally proceed to ask God why, etc. This time, however, while thinking of the great sufferings of the Lord Jesus and the compassion of Mary, I was filled with enormous gratitude and the only thought that went through my mind was "Thank you God - thank you for letting me share in His suffering and hers. And though I still felt profoundly sad, in my heart I felt overwhelmingly thankful and happy. Not a superficial happiness of ice-cream smiles and buttondrop dimples but of an extreme contentment within my soul. Not one to usually go into such personal things (I've acquired a knee-jerk cynicism to or discomfort of occasions when people express their thoughts and emotions, even when they're often genuine), I couldn't help but be struck by this. For me, I felt that it was an answer to my prayers - yes, I will have to carry it, but even in my deepest sorrow I can recognise and love God, and thank Him too.

Bellahouston Mass and the ongoing Papal Visit

Well, the Mass yesterday was wonderful and totally worth the long wait. It was a very long day but I loved every moment of it. The Pope's homily was particularly interesting and totally accurate. Since I have poor analytical skills, I'll leave it to the countless others who have commented on blogs. Here is a list of some of them, which I will update over the next few days as well as more speeches are delivered by the Pontiff:

By Father Z at What Does The Prayer Really Say?:
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/09/benedict-xvis-state-visit-begins-in-scotland/#comments
There are loads more on WDTPRS but they start from this point in terms of reporting on the actual visit as opposed to the run-up.

By Scottish Catholic Teuchtar:
http://catholicteuchtar.blogspot.com/2010/09/papal-homily-at-bellahouston-park.html
http://catholicteuchtar.blogspot.com/2010/09/papal-mass-youngster.html
http://catholicteuchtar.blogspot.com/2010/09/scotland-does-pope-proud.html
http://catholicteuchtar.blogspot.com/2010/09/hear-him-read-him-love-him.html

By Seraphic Spouse:
http://seraphicgoestoscotland.blogspot.com/2010/09/live-from-bellahouston-park.html
http://seraphicgoestoscotland.blogspot.com/2010/09/home-from-glasgow-achoo.html
http://seraphicgoestoscotland.blogspot.com/2010/09/bellahouston-mass-report-official.html

At Whispers In the Loggia

By Joe Heschmeyer at Shameless Popery:
http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2010/09/police-thwart-possible-terrorist-attack.html

The Mass at Bellahouston (part two)

Today I will continue on with the description of the Mass which is to take place at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow next Thursday. I will admit that it is mainly a description of the music with a little bit about the liturgical texts to be used:


The Offertory to the Preface
During the Offertory and the Preparation of the Gifts, "Celtic Invocation" will be sung, which looks like a rendition of St. Patrick's Breastplate. Then the Preface and its introduction will be sung in Latin to the usual chant. Having a quick glance at the Latin and its accompanying English translation to the left of it (which then is oddly and confusingly to the right on the following page, meaning the Latin is always found nearer the middle of the page and the English to the edges), there is a slight omission, namely "through Jesus Christ our Lord".

The Mass at Bellahouston (part one)

Given that I've managed to wangle my way to Bellahouston due to having a relative with friends in high places (she's best friends with a Vicar General), I think it is meet to "hae a wee shufty" at how it will pan out. My relative handed my brother and me two golden booklets by Magnificat outlining everything about the Papal Visit. At first I felt privileged at having this golden piece of treasure that no one else seemed to have until they were handing them out willy-nilly to everyone after Mass last Sunday. That sure burst my bubble about being privy and in possession of such arrangements. Anyway, I digress. Here is a quick outline of the Mass at Bellahouston, from the "Gathering" to the Prayer of the Faithful (the rest will be up another time, as it's late):

Gathering In
Starting like a football match, the "Gathering In Prayer - Hymns" section (a misnomer since we won't be gathering but rather will have already been there for about two hours) are How Lovely on the Mountains with the delightful refrain "Our God Reigns" to rival any chanting coming from the nearby Ibrox football stadium (Glasgow Rangers, for those not cognizant thereof) followed by Hail Redeemer (the chorus ends with a belting of "King of love on Calvary"). After this, the Choir sings "My Dearest Lord: Prayer of St Columba". Then we're all back in with "When Christ our Lord" with the choir coming in afterwards again with "To Christ the Seed" (here's the tune).
I must admit at this point that I don't know any of the previous three hymns so I cannot comment on whether they are good or bad. All I know is that the first one is a Kevin Mayhew one so you can draw your own conclusions from that fact.
Then it comes back to us again with that old favourite of the strumming guitar group at Masses at my school - "City of God". I remember disliking this one even when I was eleven or twelve (at time when staples such as "Colours of Day" "I the Lord of sea and sky" and the one above, "Our God Reigns" were perfectly fine for me). There's something about "tears be turned into dancing" accompanied with the tune which just sounds ridiculous. Following this there is then "Ninian of Galloway" to remember that it is the Feast of St Ninian when this Mass takes place.

The Scotsman on the Papal Visit (Parts 2 & 3)

Unfortunately, yesterday and on Tuesday I had no time to write anything about the second and third parts of The Scotsman's little series on the Papal visit by Stephen McGinty. So here they are now, but together.

The second part on Tuesday focused on the "key issues of concern" for the Pope. It starts with a summary of various issues which the Pope has dealt with in some way, particularly those which caused headlines such as the Regensburg speech, the comment on condoms contributing to the AIDS crisis and the lifting of the excommunications of the four SSPX bishops. And of course the child sex abuse crisis was mentioned. However, the tone of the article is not too condemnatory, stating that Benedict is trying to prepare the Church for the Dark Age of Secularism and also noting a description of the Holy Father's reaction when listening to abuse cases as Prefect of CDF, saying "the physical disgust you could see on Ratzinger's face". It continues on with various people describing the Pope's gentleness and contrasting it with the media's initial description as "God's rottweiler" and "panzer cardinal". It also mentions his membership in the Hitler youth but also saying that his father was an anti-Nazi and that attendance at the HY was compulsory. Finally, the article continues with various anecdotes such as meeting Pele and not knowing who he was and then what the Pope may talk about. The media seem concerned a lot with whether a "controversial statement" (read "reiteration of Catholic doctrine") but John L Allen, his biographer and writer for the National Catholic Reporter, imagines that issues such as homosexuality and life issues may come up but it won't be his main point.
So all in all, for any Catholic who knows anything about the Pope, all of this is nothing new under the sun but I suppose it is quite useful for those who don't. Overall, the article was quite a fair one without too much bias. The only other thing on the page is to conform with The Scotsman's standards of parochiality, boasting of the fact that Monsignor Leo Cushley, a priest from the Diocese of Motherwell, is the head of the English Language desk at the Secretariat of State, meaning he is responsible "for the Church's relations with the English speaking world, a massive territory that includes North America, Australia, Britain and territories in the Far East".Oooh, well there you go!

The third and final part of the series centred on the future of the Church, particularly in Scotland. It featured interviews with three Bishops - Bishop Devine of Motherwell, Bishop Tartaglia of Paisley and Cardinal O'Brien of St Andrew's and Edinburgh. Each one basically discussed the challenges ahead and the need to stick to the teachings of the Church even if comes to the point that preaching them is "illegal" because of hate speech laws. The Cardinal says that he would like Catholics to be able to fight their corner, even if small in number and he quotes Paul, calling Catholics to "preach in season and out of season". I liked this article because there was actually very little commentary and it was mainly a platform for the most senior representatives of the Church in Scotland to voice their views and hopes. Nevertheless, the article states that while at one point the Scottish College of Bishops was once one of the youngest in the world, it is now one of the oldest, meaning that these senior representatives are senior in more ways than one. This was also made evident at the Mass I went to yesterday for the Silver Jubilee of Cardinal O'Brien's episcopal ordination. It was a reasonably grand affair and I got to shake his hand at the end and even pose in a photograph (though I did protest a little). Never mind - at least he didn't find out my full name and realise I was the one whom he told off about a letter I sent about a year ago...