Poppies@theTower

Yesterday evening I was able to visit the display of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London. They form an evolving installation called Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. There is an interview with the ceramic artist responsible for making the poppies embedded in this BBC news report of the large number of visitors to the Tower of London, drawn by the installation. It is worth watching the interview to gain some sense of what is going in to the making of the installation.

 

Even at 8 pm there were significant numbers of people visiting. It was very thought provoking and, whilst to an extent ordinary Saturday night life continued, there was a certain sense of the dignified among those who were looking at the poppies. It was certainly possible to find quiet places to stop and reflect.

This installation has captured the public imagination in quite a surprising way - as the artist says in his interview, it isn't really his work any more, but rather a work that belongs to everyone. Part of that capturing of the imagination arises, I think, from the way in which an iconic London landmark - the Tower of London - provides a unique backdrop to the sea of red.

The New Evangelisation ...

... in Soho, described here by Aunty Joanna.

I was particularly struck by the distribution of gift-bags containing a Scripture verse, a medal .... and some sweets.

A few years ago now I was able to take part in one of St Patrick's weekends of evangelisation, and, on another occasion, one of their Eucharistic processions. Central London, busy streets, narrow streets with cafes and shops facing close on to the streets. My memory is of bystanders being quite respectful, though they might not have shared, or had any comprehension, of the faith of those processing.

Aunty's post gives something of the "feel" of these events. They are quite something to be part of, if you have the chance.

Pictures from Protest

Some unions can arrange a very civilized start to a protest march! Coffee, biscuits and "rest rooms".

Though I am not sure what to make of the view across a rather glum looking River Thames at the Millennium Bridge and Tate.

Setting off along the Embankment - we actually joined the later part of the march, so we were over three hours behind the first marchers and about one hour ahead of the last marchers.

I think this counts as my most iconic image of the day.

Another iconic image.

Approaching Parliament - and remember that the front of the march moved off at about 11.45 am!

Approaching Piccadilly. There had clearly been some trouble along Piccadilly earlier, with a few broken windows evident, but we were able to pass along Piccadilly quite peacefully.

Part way along Piccadilly.

Approaching Hyde Park.

I had subscribed to the Metropolitan Police's text update service for the day - and also received news updates from my sister - so we were aware in general terms of some of the difficulties that had occurred during the afternoon. This BBC report covers events of the whole day. However, our experience was one of a peaceful and well-ordered march. This was the case despite the fact that the numbers marching - well over 250 000, I would guess - meant that the streets were quite congested at some points of the route. We did not see any of the violent scenes shown in the BBC report which it is fair to say had absolutely nothing to do with the TUC march.

The nearest we got to a problem was passing Fortnum and Mason, where a small crowd was beginning to gather as we passed. Subsequent Met Police texts:

Fortnum and Mason's is surrounded by police as this is a crime scene.

and

The Met Police thank those outside Fortnum and Mason for their patience. They will not be held any longer than necessary.

Out of context, the texts are quite amusing. We did, of course, speculate as to whether or not Fortnum and Mason were providing refreshments to those who had occupied their premises.

By heading towards Kensington High Street for something to eat before returning home we kept very clear of trouble spots.

P-3: where IS my ticket for Birmingham?

I was somewhat amused to hear on BBC Radio 4's Six O'Clock News this evening that there are thousands of tickets for Papal events still unsold, and just three days to go until His Holiness arrives. Particular mention was made of Brentwood Diocese, my own diocese, as having a substantial number of tickets allocated for both Hyde Park and Birmingham that were not being used.

Now, I was "elected" - very much in the Biblical sense (ie by lot of the parish priest concerned) rather than the democratic sense - to be the group leader for eight of us going to Birmingham (small parish, initial allocation for Birmingham just 10 tickets, 80% take up, not bad so far as I can gather, and pretty much all the tickets for Hyde Park taken up, too). But the parish has still not received its "pilgrim packs" for Birmingham. So my question is: have our tickets been mistakenly placed in the "returns" pile rather than the "out" pile?

I have sent an e-mail to our diocesan co-ordinator about this ... but if I tell you that it is a cbcew.org.uk  e-mail address ... well, you can perhaps understand my confidence in the efficiency of any action in response.

Oh, and by the way, how about a competition for the earliest departure time to Birmingham? We have been told 2 am (!), and that is leaving from East London in easy reach of the M25. My estimate of the journey time 3 1/2 hours ...

Meanwhile, around the blogs, Catholic Voices and Protect the Pope seem to vying with each other, though perhaps unconsciously. Fr Rosica at Salt and Light TV published a few days ago a reflection on the forthcoming beatification of John Henry Newman. (H/T Communio.) It reminds me that perhaps, as far as Newman is concerned, the observation that a prophet is not recognised in his own country has some truth in it. His beatification will certainly attract attention in other countries. And some self righteous indignation is in full swing, as one might expect (yawn).

Tigerish Waters has a good reflection on how we should respond to the criticism that the Church has been taking, with a suitable and so very English touch: Holding vs Close 1976.

The Catholic Whistle reflects on the formula that will be used to beatify Cardinal Newman, observing that the "words simply do what they say" . Now, a canonisation, that is a real form of words, that also "do what they say":

For the honour of the Blessed Trinity, the exaltation of the Catholic Faith and the fostering of the Christian life, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and our own, after due deliberation and frequent prayers for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our Brethren in the Episcopate, we declare and define that XX is a Saint and we enroll him/her among the saints, decreeing that he/she is to be venerated in the whole Church as one of the Saints.

"By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ ... and our own ... we declare and define (my emphasis) .. to be venerated in the whole Church ...".  Now, if this is a solemn exercise of the Papal magisterium for the whole Church - and Pope Benedict's practice of having the celebration of beatifications undertaken by the head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the local diocese of the individual concerned, and preserving canonisations to himself in Rome draws attention to this; and if Pope John Paul II canonised more people than all his predecessors; can one suggest that Archbishop Nichols was only partly correct in saying that the privilege of infallibility had not been exercised by the last three Popes (at the end of the Telegraph interview) and that, in the form of canonisations, the solemn exercise of the Papal office has in fact had quite a good outing of late?

PS: I had offered to be on child care duty on Saturday, but it now looks as if I am being relieved .... so even if I don't get to Birmingham, I should get to the Mall on Saturday afternoon!

London Film Festival 2010 to screen "Of Gods and Men"

I missed this when I searched for it yesterday, but am delighted to have discovered, courtesy of The Times, that there will be two screenings of the film Of Gods and Men at the London Film Festival.

As last year, when the film of interest was Jessica Hausner's Lourdes, it will be possible to spend the day at Aid to the Church in Need's London event "Hope without Fear" and go on to the cinema after dinner. Of Gods and Men is getting a higher profile than Lourdes had last year, being screened at a West End venue rather than the South Bank Centre, and being one of the "gala screenings". I am not sure what the implications of this will be for the availability of tickets. Booking for ordinary members of the public opens on Monday 27th September.

Of Gods and Men (in English the title has been reversed when compared to the French: Des Hommes et des Dieux) won the Grand Prix at the Cannes film festival, and has just gone on general release in France. The Times review at the time of the Cannes festival is here. The French daily La Croix has a dossier about the events at Tibhirine, linked to the general release of the film.

My own earlier comments, which includes some more links, can be found here.

P-6: We're off to see the pontiff

Politics and protests as the papal roadshow rolls into London is the title of the first article of coverage on the website of the London Evening Standard today. The title of my post comes from the caption to the cartoon accompanying the text. The text contains some interesting comments - like the one referring to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as "only liking doing things they have done before" and another making passing reference to the "local difficulty of the Reformation". It is the last paragraph, though, that is perhaps most revealing:

A non-Catholic senior Foreign Office source agrees: “You'd be very foolish as a Government to fall in with the negative voices on a papal visit. Look at Australia — he went there at the height of the backlash about his handling of child abuse and among predictions that it would be a disaster.

“By the time he left, more people had turned out to see him than had seen the Sydney Olympics.”

There is also a link from this page to another page, a page that gives some information about where and when it will be possible to see Pope Benedict during his visit to London.  Within the text of this second page, Archbishop Nichols invites Londoners to take the opportunity to come out and welcome Pope Benedict during his time in London.

And The Times is due to publish a 16 page supplement next Thursday, dedicated to the Papal visit.

H/T Catholic Whistle.

BBC: London Catholics to welcome Pope Benedict XVI

I have just come across this page on the BBC London website, and encourage you to go and read it.

I particularly appreciated James Blythe's comments about the intellectual and pastoral standing of Pope Benedict:

However, Pope Benedict is also an inspiring intellectual and theologian with a profound understanding of the needs of the church, so I'm really keen to hear his advice for Catholics in Britain. I'm looking forward to experiencing a happy and festive atmosphere, where Catholics can be unafraid to show their faith and their love for Pope Benedict.

Papal Visit: Hyde Park vigil

The website for the forthcoming visit of Pope Benedict to Britain has a page that gives an outline of the vigil due to take place in Hyde Park on the Saturday afternoon/evening.

I have also seen a timing of 3pm-9pm for this vigil, so I expect that the vigil itself, as described on the Papal visit page, will be preceded by a kind of festival of dance, song etc.

That the culmination of the vigil is a time of Eucharistic Adoration, with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, is really quite striking. It reflects the precedent set at World Youth Day celebrations, with the vigil with the Pope the evening before the closing Mass also being centred on a time of Eucharistic Adoration. I recall Pope Benedict observing early in his pontificate that he saw it as a sign of providence that he was elected to be Pope during the Year of the Eucharist initiated by his predecessor. That a time of Eucharistic Adoration comes at what I suspect will be a kind of turning point, a kind of lynch-pin event during his stay in Britain seems entirely appropriate.

In other respects, the three part structure of the vigil and its objectives are, in my view, very well thought out. The idea of showcasing how the Catholic Church contributes to the common good, to what "new Labour" would have called a "public benefit", is both politically and ecclesially sound.

If you have not been able to obtain a ticket to take part in the vigil, there is no excuse! There will, I think, be opportunity to greet the Holy Father in the streets and at least to be somewhere in the park with a Papal flag ...

New Years Day

Zero and I enjoyed a day out in London for the New Year. The Central Line wasn't enjoying a good start to the year, so we made it in to London in time for 11 am Mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception instead of our originally intended 10 am at St James' Spanish Place.

A bout of second adolescence set in as soon as we came out from Mass. The car involved here is a very nice one indeed - a Bentley. My other car, of course, is a Ford!

After some lunch, and getting lost around this part of London ...

... the Seven Dials area of Covent Garden .... "Seven Dials, Covent Garden – London's most fashionable shopping area", according to their website, and with quite a history if you have time to explore the site ... we finally found our way to the London Transport Museum. This is an excellent museum, with rather a lot squeezed into the space available.

I want to be a train driver when I grow up ...

... and Zero wants to be a bus conductor.

This is the example of the famous Routemaster bus in the exhibition. The no.11 is my favourite bus route - the full length of the route goes from Fulham in west London, via the Kings Road (very posh shops) to Victoria, whence to Parliament Square, Whitehall, the Strand, past St Paul's Cathedral and through the City of London to Liverpool Street Station. It can be a much more interesting ride back to Liverpool Street on the way home than using the Circle Line!

This bus would attract some very odd looks if it were to make its way along the A12 to Romford today.

Someone is a dedicated follower of fashion ...

A piece in the Times newspaper for 1st January 2009 covered some of the new regulations that came into force yesterday. Amongst them is one about the use of flares during night time rescue work. This is now forbidden, having been overtaken by the use of night vision goggles by many of the agencies involved in such work. However, a sentence in the Times report clarified that the wearing of flared trousers by rescue crews was not covered by this ban on flares.

A happy and blessed new year to the readers of this blog.

Photos from Battersea Power Station

Photo 1: Zero arriving on site ...

Photo 2: what the view in Photo 1 is planned to look like after the re-development of the site, all the buildings shown being under a glass-type eco-cover:

Photo 3: Inside one of the halls of the power station (its the tiling on the walls, apparently, that provides the artistic merit):

Photo 4: what the view in Photo 3 is intended to look like after re-development:

Photos 5 and 6: views of the central section of the power station, the roof of which was removed as part of an earlier, but unfinished, attempt at re-development:

Photo 7: what the central area is intended to look like after re-development:

Photo 8: on the way home ...

Can anyone explain to me why a derelict power station should have been turned into the visitor attraction it was today? It really is rather a wheeze to get people to visit and, while doing so, to fill out your feedback form on the development plans!

With vision.....

This...

Following Mass in the splendour of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Farm street Mayfair I persuaded Joe to venture out to South London as I had read rave reviews of tours of Battersea power station. This was a last chance to see the art-deco style building before re-development.

We followed vast amounts of pilgrims (do they read the same paper?)to the hallowed areas where you were allowed to see the remains of the building's beauty-which Joe described as a heap of rubbish and thought the decision to make it a listed buiding was a mistake.

No Herculanium or Pompeii it is not but it has it's own beauty- the remains of beautiful blue tiling on the walls and" stepping" in the columns of bricks and who couldn't be enamoured by those graceful chimneys(these are to be re-built due to corrosion).

The surrounding area is to be the place to be seen ! A new tube line to Battersea is planned , a six acre public park, river boat to the new site and river side homes for seven thousand residents and to top it all it is "zero carbon emissions"! Let us hope that after two failed attempts to re-develop the area in 1990 and 1993 this time the plans aren't affected by the "credit crunch" we have been promised.

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...could become

On the way back we went to St. Mary's in Cadogan street where we had to walk around the block as a wedding party were taking last photos and guests moving off in limousines- we arrived back at the church as the Bride and Groom were hailing a taxi!

St Mary's has some interesting, newer- looking, stain glass windows. If you are in London I would highly recommend a visit to the Farm Street church in Mayfair and if you are interested there is a tour of Battersea power station on August 30th-10am-5pm!

Celebrating the Assumption

My celebration began with first Vespers of the Solemnity here, on Thursday evening:


And ended with Solemn Mass here on Friday evening:



Going to Mass here is a distinctive experience. Since I last attended Mass here - quite some time now - there appears to have been some incorporation, I suspect just by custom and practice on the part of the congregation, of some Extraordinary Form rubrics into the Ordinary Form celebration. More than ever, the choir seem to have displaced the possibility of the congregation joining in with singing even relatively well known Gregorian chant settings. Whilst I expect that every parish has its own challenges as far as genuine participation in the Liturgy goes, Brompton Oratory's challenges are perhaps completely sui generis.

In between was fitted:


1. A visit to the Museum of the Order of St John, now an Order of Chivalry by Royal Charter of the English Crown. It traces its history back, in pre-reformation times, to the Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem. The work for which it is now best known is ... the St John Ambulanc Brigade. The order is also associated with an eye hospital in Jersualem, providing health care to residents of the Palestinian territories.The Museum and Library of the Order of St John is housed in the 16th century gatehouse, St John's Gate, that formed the southern entrance to a Priory covering 10-acres of Clerkenwell in medieval times.


2. A visit to the Italian Church in Clerkenwell. This is a rather lovely Church, dedicated to St Peter. I was particularly taken by the altar dedicated to St Joseph.



3. A visit to the bookshop at the London Institute of Education ....(yawn)


4. A visit to St Anselm's and St Cecilia's at Holborn. Sorry, no website or photo.


5. A visit to the Wren Church of St Bride, hidden just off Fleet Street. The Church on this site suffered in two particular fires - the Great Fire of 1666 and the German fire bombing of the City of London in 1940. During the reconstruction work after the latter, exploration was made of the crypts below the site, which revealed settlement going back to Roman times. It is possible to visit the crypt and see parts of the earliest walls of the Church, and a section of Roman flooring. The more modern history of the Church is associated with printing and the newspaper industry, which at one time dominated the Fleet Street area.