Have invitations been allocated to the dioceses of Scotland, England and Wales for the large events? At the moment, we are not yet fully certain of the exact numbers we can accommodate. This is because there are health and safety issues, security considerations and comfort requirements. Once the number of attendees at each venue has been decided upon invitations will be allocated to the dioceses for each of these large events....has been translated into this (on several blogs, though I suspect with the viral effect typical of the ether and served by people not tracking back to the first source - I cite from here):
How will invitations be allocated? At this stage, it will probably be done in terms of the relative size of the diocese. Another factor will be the geographic proximity of the diocese to a particular gathering. Decisions will be made with a view to making sure as many people as feasibly possible can be with Pope Benedict.
I was quite amazed to hear that the powers-that-be are attempting to restrict the numbers of people attending events during the Papal visit.I think it is worth remembering, too, the part played by internet coverage of the visit of St Therese's relics last Autumn. I certainly found it very helpful to follow the visit via the blog before my own opportunity to visit the relics "live" (so to speak). That streaming and internet coverage is being planned for the Papal visit should not in any way be read as an invitation to stay at home rather than participate "live". It is a case of both-and, I think, not either-or. One can follow at home those events that one is unable to attend live.
Oh, dear. I'm off message again ....
6 comments:
The front page of this weeks Catholic Herald seems to state quite clearly that attendance at the events of the papal visit is to be by ticket only.
to be fair, i think the origin of this rumour is damian thompson's blog a few days ago - usual culprit for this kind of nonsense. damian claims to have got an email from a priest raising the issue. he says, the priest's parish has only been allocated one ticket. actually the one ticket was for a youth representative (as apparently every parish in the country is sending one young person). the bulk allocation of tickets has, of course, not been done yet as you righly state. i think this is a case of mischief by 'traditionalists' from the tradosphere trying to spin the 'liberal' magic circle bishops tying to deliberately limit the scale of the papal events and the visit's success. i find the whole thing totally ridiculous. of course it's a ticket only event just like JPII's visit last time. in today's climate of health and safety / security concerns plus the risk of protests this is entirely appropriate and completely the right decision. on one of benedict's recent ?african visits a number of poor people were crushed to death. had the bishop's conference announced a free-for-all approach then these same people would be complaining that the bishops were being irresponsible ith the pope's safety. there really is no basis to this story and i can't help to think that it was borne from malice. there is a small group of trad catholics very vocal on the internet who are trying to use the papal visit to stir up discontent all under the guise of ultra-loyalty and obedience with the holy father. i fear this is only the start in a long ill-informed campaign of winge-ing in order to foster disunity and i wish the bishops would beguin to address it gently but firmly by instructing those in the tradosphere to publish correction statements and removing the offending material. i fear they are being overly tolerant and this is being perceived as a sign of weakness.
i would be interested to hear if you believe whether these 'misunderstandings' are entirely benign?
I certainly have a feeling of "Chinese whispers" having taken place here, though I suspect different contributors to the whispers might well have differing motivations, some quite sincere, others perhaps less so.
The fact that events will be all-ticket is not the same as saying that an attempt is being made to restrict(implying minimise) the numbers attending.
I did think of adding an image of a large spoon at the bottom of my post ... but good sense got the better of me (for once).
as one gets older i think the "comfort requirements" could be the deciding factor as to whether to stay home and watch it on the TV or go!!
I posted on this subject on 1st May and supplied a link to my source, the "Weekly Record" of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. For the information of your other commenter: I attended Pope John Paul II's mass at Coventry Airport in 1982. It was NOT ticketted. I am not a traditionalist. I posted from no other motive than that of wishing to be present at one of the events and of contributing to the visit's success.
Patricius:
Thank you for indicating what would appear to be the original source of this story. One sentence tucked away in the middle of the Weekly Record report is perhaps the beginning of the process of translation - my comments and emphasis added in brackets:
"For security purposes it is likely that all events will be ticket holders only. We [ie, in the context, Liverpool Cathedral parish] may get a few for Coventry Airport but that will mean most of us won’t get a look in. Fortunately I would assume that many of the events will be televised."
Whether the Weekly Record have accurately represented the situation of their parish as far as tickets are concerned has yet to be seen, I think.
Original report here:
http://www.liverpoolmetrocathedral.org.uk/detail/Weekly_Record__18/204/25.aspx
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