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".
Friday, 10 September 2010
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.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
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...
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...
Monday, 6 September 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, 21 August 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 16 August 2010
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:
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.
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)
- everyone was appropriately dressed
- nobody talking
- appropriate reverence
- lack of hand-shaking
- trained altar servers
- the organ
- no requirement to sing
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.
Friday, 13 August 2010
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.
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