Bobbing birettas at Blackfen

Others have posted on Fr Tim's jubilee Mass at Blackfen, so I feel a bit of (friendly) irreverence is now due.

Those involved in Liturgy, in whichever form or rite it is celebrated, must accumulate funny moments over the years - I certainly have my own supply of such stories. The parish context is quite prone to such moments from time to time, and one of the skills of being a parish MC is managing them so that the young server involved will still come back the following week! "Liturgy with a human face" was a phrase I used to use in these situations.

There was an amusing aspect to Fr Nesbitt's homily, which I do not expect that he noticed, as the clergy were behind him as he preached. Every time he spoke the name of Jesus, off came the birettas of the clergy in choir and back on they went - only to have to come off again more or less immediately, and then back on .... and then off, and on, again .... then off, and on, again .... and so on, as the homily progressed. It began to look quite funny from near the back of the Church, and must have affected the clergy's ability to listen to and take in the homily. I think some just gave up and left the biretta off altogether. I wonder whether experienced Extraordinary Form preachers think about this when preparing the text of a homily?

What was very refreshing about Fr Nesbitt's homily was the obvious thrill to his subject that emerged from time to time, particularly in talking about the closeness of the life of the priest to the living presence of the Eucharistic Jesus, and the priest's ministering of that Presence to the people of his parish.