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.

At last, found a Church

Well, I never managed to get to St Félix church as I missed the tram, but I went on instead to St Nicolas in the centre of town. Thankfully, the priest there doesn't seem to go on ego-trips, and also likes to sing the collect and postcommunion, which I think is a good sign. His homily was good and stuck to the the readings and the gospel and to the theme of missions, and he resolutely did things by the book, so even when the final hymn was sung before the dismissal had been said, he didn't just let it pass but then said the dismissal once the hymn had finished. Thanks be to God for such priests. Less orthodox priests would probably have let it slide.
I will still go to St Félix next week as it's much closer and would be handier, but if it has people grabbing my hand for the Our Father like the other church a few weeks ago, I'll just stick with St Nicolas.
People still stood during the consecration, like in every Ordinary Form mass I've been to here. It must be a "custom" that's crept in, but I'm definitely not adopting it. Luckily, the people in front of me (who were French) also knelt, and not just for the consecration, but for the whole Eucharistic prayer :)
I've unfortunately not been able to go to most of the student chaplaincy meetings on Wednesday evenings (mainly because I have a class till right before it starts and also bringing something to eat is an entry fee, which I wouldn't be able to do without carrying it about all day in my bag). Nevertheless, I will try and go again because I met some really nice people there. I can also at some point ask them about the French phobia for kneeling. Though that is for later.