Saturday, January 29, 2011

Some Piping for the Weekend


St Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band plays its MSR in Belfast last year: "Lord Alexander Kennedy", a strathspey I don't know, and "Mrs MacPherson of Inveran".

[ADDENDUM: If I had clicked the little expansion button next to the original poster's comments, it would have told me that the strathspey is "The Islay Ball".]

Friday, January 28, 2011

Agreeing with Mark Shea

It could happen. Just because he doesn't like the traditional Roman Rite doesn't mean he's wrong about everything.

Here's an example. Hits the nail right on the crumpet.

[ADDENDUM: Mark informs me that he has not "one word to say against the traditional Roman Rite". It's just some cranky traditionalists that cause the problem. Well, jeez. If that's all it is, Mark, you might even be a traditionalist. Half of us aren't speaking to the other half as it is. You'll fit right in.]

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Phrases That Set The Teeth On Edge Dept.

Noticed a new one last night: "faith journey". It caused a small, but observable, wince. I would put it right up there with "vibrant community".

Monday, January 24, 2011

St Bede the Musician

Some upcoming programmes and lectures on early chant and the music of St Bede's world are described here. Not one of which will I be at, barring a miracle. It's the commute. But if you're in the north of England instead of the south of California, it looks to be worth putting on the calendar.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Transalpine Redemptorists


The Transalpine Redemptorists are a traditional congregation in the Redemptorist tradition of St Alphonsus Liguori. I was looking at their site again this morning while searching out a citation for a friend of mine and discovered again how much I love this site and this congregation. Their monastery is on a little island in the Orkneys; could that have something to do with it? Maybe. But there's more to them than a remote Scottish location. Have a look. You can find them here.

Burns Night


Yes, his birthday is on the 25th. But we had our annual Burns Supper and Ball last night. I'm still in the mood to dance even though by the end of the evening I could barely move. The setting step could no longer be called a pas de basque; a shuffle, perhaps, if you were feeling kindly.

The video has nothing to with last night at all. These are pipe marches on - mostly - accordians. The only marches of the evening were for the opening grand march and I played them on the pipes. The dance music was provided by Susan Worland on violin (or fiddle; I'm not getting into that discussion again), Lyle Ramshaw on piano, and Michael Bentley providing the percussion. No accordian at all.

So what's the video doing there?

I like it.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Louis XVI - In Memoriam

Tea at Trianon today commemorates Louis XVI, who was guillotined on this day in 1793, here and here.

Edmund Burke had an accurate measure of the revolutionaries and in his “Reflections of the Revolution in France” predicted the death of the king and his queen, although not the order of their deaths:

In spite of their solemn declarations, their soothing addresses, and the multiple oaths which they have taken, and forced others to take, they will assassinate the king when his name will no longer be necessary to their designs; but not a moment sooner. They will probably first assassinate the queen, whenever the renewed menace of such assassination loses its effect on the anxious mind of an affectionate husband. At present, the advantage which they derive from the daily threats against her life, is her only security for preserving it. They keep their sovereign alive for the purpose of exhibiting him, like some wild beast at a fair, as if they had a Bajazet in a cage. They chose to make monarchy contemptible by exposing it to derision, in the person of the most benevolent of their kings.


January seems to have been a popular month for regicide. The Puritans judicially murdered Charles I of England on January 30.

Mergers and Acquisitions Dept.

"National Catholic Register Acquired by EWTN" it says here.

Interesting. It hasn't been a good decade for any newspaper and I don't suppose the Legion's plague of scandals have helped The Register any. But the very few copies of NCR that I've seen lately left me with the impression that there wasn't much point to it. I know what The Wanderer and The Remnant - and, indeed, Commonweal and the other NCR - are all about. But the NCRegister seemed principally about not offending. Will EWTN put some starch into the Register? From what I've seen of EWTN it doesn't seem likely.

This week's Leader. . . .

. . . .in The Spectator relates an event I had not seen elsewhere. The first two thirds of the page tell of the "increasingly violent persecution" that Christians face in Moslem countries. And then there was this:

The 7th of January is Christmas Day for the Coptic church and, given the violence of the preceding month, many were braced for another tragedy. What happened next is an extraordinary event which went unreported in the British press. As Egypt's Christians made their way to mass, they found they had protection: hundreds of Egyptian Muslims who, in protest at the jihadis' agenda, had come to offer themselves as human shields by gathering outside the church. The front pew of a church in the Cairo district of Omraneya was filled with Muslims taking a stand against terror.

The pictures from that night are extraordinary. Muslim men and women risked their lives so that their Christian neighbours could worship. They held placards, chanting 'one people, one blood' as church bells rang. Among them was Amr Khaled - the moderate Muslim televangelist interviewed in The Spectator last month. A new symbol was born in that time: a cross inside a Muslim crescent, which is displayed by thousands of young Egyptians - both Muslim and Christian - on their Facebook page.


I am Catholic enough not to get my hopes up. Peace comes with Christ. But I'm sentimental enough to be pleased with this. And thankful.

Some Piping for the Weekend


"Fin Moore and Sarah Hoy playing border pipes and fiddle at the LBPS summer concert in the Great Hall at Lennoxlove House, Haddington, Scotland." ("LBPS"=Lowland and Border Pipers Society). Sorry, don't know the tune names. Country dancers may remember the strathspey "Lennoxlove to Blantyre" named after the house where this concert was held.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Marse Robert's Birthday


General Robert E Lee was born this day in 1807. When I was a boy this was a holiday in the southern states. I don't what they do now. God rest the soul of that great Christian gentleman.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Peace of Heart



Prayer, meditation, sacraments, yes, of course.

But today, it also came from a couple of hours of weeding the garden and pruning some roses. We had so much rain in December followed by a warm spell that they bloomed again. We had roses in December and January. No images of Our Lady in my tilma but a good few roses, the season not withstanding. So today some necessary pruning.

Why should mucking about with shears and shovel and weeding fork bring peace and joy? Doesn't seem logical. But there you are. Or there I am.

Oh, and that's an old picture. Things have grown a great deal in that little corner since then and at the moment the birch has lost its leaves for the winter.

The Servant of God John Paul II

You must have seen the news that a miracle has been confirmed for the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II. The decree for his beatification has been issued (you can find it here).

And you may also have noticed elsewhere in www land that some of the traditionalist brethren are mightily provoked. Well, to be honest they have some points on their side. The koran-kissing incident springs to mind as does that dreadful Assisi gathering.

But. . . .

He is also the pope of Ecclesia Dei, the decree that removed some of the restrictions on the Roman Rite Mass. He's also the pope who welcomed and encouraged the founding of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, the first of the congregations in unambiguous union with Rome to be devoted exclusively to the Roman Rite. It was Pope John Paul II that made sure they were, contrary to custom, immediately made of pontifical right which freed them from some of the meddling of unfriendly local bishops. And there were more to follow: the Institute of Christ the King, the regularisation of the Monastery of St Madeleine du Barroux, the return to tradition of the Abbey of Fontgombault (and now its half dozen or so daughter houses), the Canons Regular of the Mother of God, the Canons of the New Jerusalem, the Dominicans of St Vincent Ferrer, the Institute of the Good Shepherd. There are others that don't come to mind at the moment, all of them devoted to the ancient liturgy. And I haven't mentioned any of the sisters and nuns.

There is much to thank God for in Pope John Paul II.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Some Piping for the Tail End of the Weekend


A jig on the Scottish smallpipes in A.

Anglican Ordinariates Again

I've also been spending an inordinate amount of time following the new Anglican Ordinariate in England. It is now an accomplished fact. Up until last Saturday there was nothing for Anglicans so inclined to join. As of last Saturday, there is the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, headed by Msgr Keith Newton. This is really wonderful news. . .something that this Pope seems to make happen on a regular basis.

There is so much on the web about it, it's difficult to know where to start citing. Perhaps here. This is the Mulier Fortis blog with several good citations for further reading. And don't miss The Ordinariate Portal (which is where I got the Mulier Fortis link). And The Anglo-Catholic is an excellent source, too. Scroll down at either site for lots of informative - and inspiring - posts.

Happy liturgical minutiæ: somewhere on the web I found it reported that Fr Burnham's 'first Mass' was in Latin from the Sursum Corda to the communion, using the Roman Canon said silently.

[ADDENDUM: Found it. The happy liturgical minutiæ was from Fr Hunwicke's excellent blog here.]

Has It Been Two Weeks Already?

I have been remonstrated with (again) for abandoning The Inn. (It's nice to be missed.) But, as always, I never really intended to be gone this long. There was a flurry of funerals at the beginning of the new year and assorted other expected and unexpected odds and ends that needed to be attended to.

Such as?

Well, I finally got a new desk chair. After ten years or so sitting on a small, wooden affair after the original simulated leather executive swivel model broke its main support I finally ponied up the cash for a decent chair. You ought to see this one. I can rare back the back support to almost any angle including full recline and there's a lever that pulls up a foot support. I can nap in this thing.

But naps aren't what occupied the time. It came in a box. A relatively thin box, for a chair. "Oh, no!" I hear you say. "Not 'Some Assembly Required.'”

Oh, yes. Although a more accurate warning would have been, “Three Hours or More Assembly-Time Required, Including Phone Calls to Vendor to Interpret Directions Translated from Brazilian Portuguese into English by Someone Not Fully Conversant with Either.” This is especially annoying when we – the helpful customer support lady and I – finally realize that they have sent along the assembly directions for a different chair.

It's that sort of thing that eats up the day. What I think is going to be a three-step process
(1) Remove chair from box
(2) Place chair in office
(3) Sit Down
instead becomes a project that shoots an afternoon.

So, once more into the breach, dear friend, once more. Will there be more longish breaks? Probably. Tomorrow will be devoted to the dentist so no promises. ( I broke the corner off a front tooth on Friday. I look like half a vampire.)

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Ordinariate Progress - England

Step One:

Three former Anglican bishops were received into full communion with the Catholic Church during a Mass at Westminster Cathedral today.

John Broadhurst, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton will take prominent roles in the Personal Ordinariate for England and Wales which will be established in early 2011.

The wives of two of the Church of England bishops and three nuns from Walsingham were also received.

More from The Catholic Herald.



The web is blossoming this New Year's Day with news of the progress of the Ordinariate in England.

From The Anglo-Catholic

From The English Catholic here and here.

From De Cura Animarum

From the Sevenoaks parish blog.

A good start for the new year.