The Scotsman on the Papal Visit (Part 1)

From today till Wednesday, the Scotsman will be providing us lucky readers to some information and background to the Papal Visit. Today, in the first of the three parts, a comparison is drawn between the Scotland of 1982 when Pope John Paul II visited and the Scotland of today. A whole range of figures and diagrams showing various statistics are shown demonstrating that pretty much across the board every figure has fallen (except, perhaps notably, but I'm not going to comment on it, the average weekly donation in the Diocese of Paisley, which was taken as an indicator of the situation in the whole of Scotland). Alongside this, in tiny writing in the bottom corner, there are also figures from the Church of Scotland, for further comparison (because comparing is what we love to do, and it's easier for journalists to fill a page without saying much). In addition to this, we are told that membership of the Humanist Society of Scotland has risen 700 per cent.

Speaking of not saying much, it's not like we didn't know all this anyway, as it is rammed down our throats with relish at every opportunity. But then, to back this up, there are stories about Clare, a biology teacher who decided that the inability of a priest to explain something to her was one of the reasons why she stopped believing and John, a former priest who couldn't reconcile celibacy with his desire to marry and then felt abandoned by the Church. Finally, to warm the cockles of our hearts, we hear of Rachel, a yoof (relatively speaking - she is a little older than me, but the other two above are in their 50s and 60s) who was rather out of control in her teens. She had the enlightening experience of attending a World Youth Day, hoping to simply get a cheap holiday out of it, but this, couple with what I suspect was the real turning point for her, sitting in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, led to her conversion to the Lord. Excuse the cynical outlook, but for once I am impressed with the Scotsman for actually finding someone, and not only that but someone young, to show that the Faith is still alive in Scotland.

Let's see what's in store for us tomorrow... I can't wait.

Death and life in a matter of hours

Talking to one of my best friends today, it turns out his gran died last night. I knew both this grandmother and his other grandmother as his is a tight-knit family and their grandparents were always dropping in. Now both are dead, and both were not that old.
The death of the first grandmother hit my friend's oldest sister (he has three sisters, all younger) and it shook her faith. Nevertheless, I think she has come to terms with it and she still goes to church. I'm unaware as to how the death of the other grandmother has affected her. This remains to be seen but I'll probably find out tomorrow.
Although I did not know either of them particularly well, I knew them enough to notice their absence whenever I went to my friend's house. They were there THAT often. I've also not had to deal with death too often in my life. My paternal grandad died in 2000, an uncle died in 2001 and an aunt died in 2002. I would say that all of these deaths took place at a time when I was pretty much able to cope with them. I also think the fact that I didn't know any of them extremely well made it easier, unlike my friend, whose grandmothers would drop in almost every day of the week.
The phonecall with my friend was one where both condolences and congratulations were expressed, as I announced to him the birth of my second nephew last night. Both my sister and the baby are well and I'd like to ask for your prayers for them both and prayers for my friend's grandmothers.

My brother's experience of the Extraordinary Form

Today my brother and I went to the local FSSP church in Edinburgh for the Feast of the Assumption. After sitting on a bus for over an hour and doing that awkward walk which you do when you think you are late but don't want to run, we arrived at the church, walking in hurriedly and then suddenly having two booklets and two sheets handed to us.
We walked across and remained in the very back corner throughout Mass and I pointed out where we were every now and then to my brother. For me, the Mass was like a usual EF Mass, more akin to the one I went to in Germany than the one in France (the one in France was much larger, was packed and had a little more solemnity to it - more of a Cathedral feel to it). It was similar to Germany in another aspect - in Germany a non-Christian friend of mine who was interested had been coming along to church with me, both to the OF and the EF when it was on. As I knew she had no background of Christianity whatsoever, I found myself anxious in case she was totally lost and clueless to what was going on. Well, this anxiety returned a little today.
My brother seemed aloof to a lot of what was going on although when quizzed afterwards it turned out he had taken much more in than I'd thought. I then asked him what he liked and disliked.
First of all, what he wasn't so keen on:

• sometimes the chant went on for a little too long - he was thinking particularly of the "alleluiaaaaaaaaaaaa"
• he missed a hymn sometimes
• not seeing what the priest was doing (though he blames this on our position at the very back behind a pillar)
• he lost his place a lot and found it hard to follow
• the Gospel being sung
• the annoying moth (ok, this was nothing to do with the actual Mass, I know)

And secondly, what he liked:

• everyone was appropriately dressed
• nobody talking
• appropriate reverence
• lack of hand-shaking
• trained altar servers
• the organ
• no requirement to sing

I can fully understand most of his dislikes. I too found it hard to follow the Mass at the beginning, especially flicking between various books. Some other things you get used to, such as the chanting lasting a while and you then learn to take advantage of this and giving yourself time to dispose yourself properly to the situation.
Anyway, overall he seemed quite positive though he's not desperate to go back. Plus, we've got our local parish to keep alive anyway.

Mass for the Assumption in the Extraordinary Form

This Sunday, I plan to go to the local FSSP church in Edinburgh for the Assumption. I also plan on taking my brother along and it will be his first time assisting at a TLM. I'll post an update afterwards commenting on how my brother found the Mass.

Erasmus over

Well, that's it. I'm now back in my little village near Edinburgh and my year abroad is now over. As with a lot of things, my mind has instantly erased all memories of ever having been abroad and I have to struggle to remember people's faces and what they were like. It is awful. I really miss some of my friends over there, but at the same time I'm glad to have this sort of "fresh start" back in normality. I now have an excuse to be different - to act more Catholic - because of being away. It should be great, but also difficult.

So now I'm a Catholic Scot reporting from Scotland...

Prayer meme

I've noticed this prayer meme travelling through the blogs I read and unbelievably it has reached my blog through Scottish Catholic Teuchtar and his great blog with its Scottish focus, something which obviously interests me greatly.
Anyway, my three favourite prayers are:

1. The Angelus. I try to say this everyday at noon and at 6 o'clock. Often I recite it and then just get on with my day, but very frequently the simple recitation of Bible verses recalling the Incarnation just overwhelm me. See my previous post on it.

2. The De Profundis. The psalm occurs each Wednesday for Compline in the Divine Office, and I look forward to it. (Indeed this week I was heartily disappointed and annoyed with myself when I recited Tuesday's Compline again instead of Wednesday's). It both reminds us of our sinfulness in the depths of the world, reminds us to always watch for the Lord and then recalls the fact that the Lord redeems.

3. And finally, like Scottish Catholic Teuchtar, the Anima Christi. I was definitely influenced by the fact that my confirmation saint, St Ignatius Loyola, included this prayer before his spiritual exercises.

Unfortunately, I have no one to tag, as everyone I would tag has received it already. Nevertheless, I recommend, along with Scottish Catholic Teuchtar above, Seraphic Spouse.

Comprehensive video on the Blessed Virgin Mary