Felix Nativitas et pax vobis!! to all our readers of this blog.
We will have more pics and comment in the new year for you to enjoy and comment on.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Here is a dying Church
On Cathnews there is an article on the Parish of Caloundra on Queensland's Sunshine Coast cancelling Midnight Mass. Now for those of you around the world, Caloundra parish is the next closest thing to St Mary's in South Brisbane. When I last attended Mass there a few years ago the Roman Rite was almost unrecognisable, and I felt incredibly alienated by a liturgy that I did not understand. To top it off my sister accused me of being "un-christian" when I refused to talk to the person next to me before Mass when instructed to do so by the whoever that was at the ambo.
For those of you not familiar to the area Caloundra, (or rather Catholic Caloundra) is basically God's waiting room. The congregation is very elderly. They are ministered to by elderly priests, who are very much locked into a revolutionary post Vatican II mindset, and see any other opposing opinion as evil. This flows right through into the arrangement of the church and the liturgy. Actually you see here what Pope Benedict calls the "desintegration of liturgy". I will not bore you with details, you can go into the St Marys website to see that, the only difference here is that the liturgy is mainly done by 70 to 90 year old women.
After internal desintegration, here we see the first signs of a parish's corporate worship starting to disintegrate on the outside. The parish community is too old to attend a midnight Mass. The priests are too old to celebrate midnight Mass. The community feels isolated and at risk because of the drunks (pretty all of whom would have no religious belief), and the neighbours. As the community ages further it will reduce in numbers (there is really nothing attractive about the style of liturgies), and the priests will retire. The liturgies will reduce in number. It is then likely to fade away with a small "rump" left of Vatican II hippies living in the past.
The question is then what replaces it? Will the local church regenerate into a small strong church that is attractive young and welcoming??
Incidently at our local Cathedral there is one pub very close by. (There used to be two before one burnt down). We have not have any problem with drunks at all. Maybe because that the odd few drunks have to contend with a crowd of over 1,000 worshippers, and the incense chases them away. A verse comes to mind:
"There was 2 against 2000, and when the smoke finally settled we had beaten the shit out of both of them"
For those of you not familiar to the area Caloundra, (or rather Catholic Caloundra) is basically God's waiting room. The congregation is very elderly. They are ministered to by elderly priests, who are very much locked into a revolutionary post Vatican II mindset, and see any other opposing opinion as evil. This flows right through into the arrangement of the church and the liturgy. Actually you see here what Pope Benedict calls the "desintegration of liturgy". I will not bore you with details, you can go into the St Marys website to see that, the only difference here is that the liturgy is mainly done by 70 to 90 year old women.
After internal desintegration, here we see the first signs of a parish's corporate worship starting to disintegrate on the outside. The parish community is too old to attend a midnight Mass. The priests are too old to celebrate midnight Mass. The community feels isolated and at risk because of the drunks (pretty all of whom would have no religious belief), and the neighbours. As the community ages further it will reduce in numbers (there is really nothing attractive about the style of liturgies), and the priests will retire. The liturgies will reduce in number. It is then likely to fade away with a small "rump" left of Vatican II hippies living in the past.
The question is then what replaces it? Will the local church regenerate into a small strong church that is attractive young and welcoming??
Incidently at our local Cathedral there is one pub very close by. (There used to be two before one burnt down). We have not have any problem with drunks at all. Maybe because that the odd few drunks have to contend with a crowd of over 1,000 worshippers, and the incense chases them away. A verse comes to mind:
"There was 2 against 2000, and when the smoke finally settled we had beaten the shit out of both of them"
The Propers of the Season (Anglican chant)
Here is a good one from the Hermeneutic of Continuity blogspot. I just love Anglican chant!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Cassock and Surplice
"The Priory is wondering how business is going. Do you think you should share your gothic surplice or is it special? What is the market like? Do you have much competition from those who offer training services with appareled alb ? Is the financial crisis having an adverse effect? Is it still bringing home the bacon?"
Well, I have two Gothic Surplices, one I frequently loan out to others, the other I reserve for myself, expect for a few occasions such as for a priest for his first blessing and for the use of the mad Franciscan during the ACCC conference. The Market is almost non-existent, Modern parishes find my services too traditional, or too far beyond what there used to. As for competition, my services also extent to appareled albs... but alas it is far to difficult to organizes three matching apparaled albs, as well as being far to prentcious to be the only one on the altar in apparales (tend to look better then most celebrants). In regards to the crisis, perhaps if business was booming, the effect might be felt, but jobs are far and few between.
As I mentioned at the priory, just in case someone wants to be a stick in the mud... (I'm looking at a partuclar Benedictine oblate as well as a few self rightous Latin Massers) I am not serving for money or financial benefit, that's sinful, stupid and down right non profitable, just pointing out the obvious to some. (Cough, Cough)
"And finally, any pre-Mass superstitions? Like pouring the wine into the cruets before the water?"
A few, such as if the Indian is late, then all hell will break loose, Don't work with animmals and Children and make sure you put out a lavabo towel, otherwise the celebrant will use the slevee of your alb to dry his hands. Post Mass superstitions would involve not letting certain servers leave too early, they undoubtly will try to flirt with women using the pickup line "Did you see up there, I was the thurifer smoking the place out, you should come next week, I'll be the MC then"...
Finally just a word of advice to parishes, priests and to Catholic education. Servers are great, not only do they promote vocations (if they are male), but they do serve practical purposes (such as helping out at benediction) and they tend to look better then draftee laybodys who want to be involved (or are rather forced)
Well, I have two Gothic Surplices, one I frequently loan out to others, the other I reserve for myself, expect for a few occasions such as for a priest for his first blessing and for the use of the mad Franciscan during the ACCC conference. The Market is almost non-existent, Modern parishes find my services too traditional, or too far beyond what there used to. As for competition, my services also extent to appareled albs... but alas it is far to difficult to organizes three matching apparaled albs, as well as being far to prentcious to be the only one on the altar in apparales (tend to look better then most celebrants). In regards to the crisis, perhaps if business was booming, the effect might be felt, but jobs are far and few between.
As I mentioned at the priory, just in case someone wants to be a stick in the mud... (I'm looking at a partuclar Benedictine oblate as well as a few self rightous Latin Massers) I am not serving for money or financial benefit, that's sinful, stupid and down right non profitable, just pointing out the obvious to some. (Cough, Cough)
"And finally, any pre-Mass superstitions? Like pouring the wine into the cruets before the water?"
A few, such as if the Indian is late, then all hell will break loose, Don't work with animmals and Children and make sure you put out a lavabo towel, otherwise the celebrant will use the slevee of your alb to dry his hands. Post Mass superstitions would involve not letting certain servers leave too early, they undoubtly will try to flirt with women using the pickup line "Did you see up there, I was the thurifer smoking the place out, you should come next week, I'll be the MC then"...
Finally just a word of advice to parishes, priests and to Catholic education. Servers are great, not only do they promote vocations (if they are male), but they do serve practical purposes (such as helping out at benediction) and they tend to look better then draftee laybodys who want to be involved (or are rather forced)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
New Advertising
Our friends at the priory have quite laudably and quite unexpectedly done our post about a humble little blog here. Quite surprisingly they have written praises that I fear we do not deserve, or at least I do not, perhaps I should post a few more times before I retire to my hermitage.
Our friends join the ranks of the many who have noticed my permanent add about the server for hire. Perhaps a brief history lesson is in order about it's origins. Not to long ago, Rev Albert Speer and I were discussing my blog before his Weekly low Mass at a secret location...... needless to say I was wearing my appareled alb..... and he was wearing mountains of lace, a cardboard sandwich and a funny hat. Rev Albert suggested I do an Australian version of Traditio, I kindly declined the offer saying that it was already done by the learnared Coo ees. Having shot down his previous idea, Rev Albert then suggest I do an advertisment say "Have cassock and surplice will travel". I agreed and decided to put one up on the blog....
Where has it got me so far? Well unfortunatly business is slow. A kind hearted Dominican, who belives me to be a little version of himself has requested me to serve his ordination.... unfortunatly he only agreed to pay my bus fare to it. This has been the only case of business that the blog has generated. Closer to home a local Jesuit requested that I sever the ACCC confrerence in Brisbane, a few fun adventures were had, but the yeild was only a grand total of $50.... which was promply divided with my sidekick... and spent on sun glasses and a fabric belt.
Finally the local parish and the Charismatic mother of my school captain, offered to have my serve the 13th Fatmia devotions in the local parish. After 3hrs of offkey music, praying in tounges, forgetting the lavabo towel and discussing laity with the parish priest, I had $35 dollars thrust into my hand....
I do belive I have come a long way from my former days at the Polish Church.. being paid a megar $10 a year.
I'll leave the twenty question till the next post. Must run I have a potential client to meet with.... Sharpey !
Our friends join the ranks of the many who have noticed my permanent add about the server for hire. Perhaps a brief history lesson is in order about it's origins. Not to long ago, Rev Albert Speer and I were discussing my blog before his Weekly low Mass at a secret location...... needless to say I was wearing my appareled alb..... and he was wearing mountains of lace, a cardboard sandwich and a funny hat. Rev Albert suggested I do an Australian version of Traditio, I kindly declined the offer saying that it was already done by the learnared Coo ees. Having shot down his previous idea, Rev Albert then suggest I do an advertisment say "Have cassock and surplice will travel". I agreed and decided to put one up on the blog....
Where has it got me so far? Well unfortunatly business is slow. A kind hearted Dominican, who belives me to be a little version of himself has requested me to serve his ordination.... unfortunatly he only agreed to pay my bus fare to it. This has been the only case of business that the blog has generated. Closer to home a local Jesuit requested that I sever the ACCC confrerence in Brisbane, a few fun adventures were had, but the yeild was only a grand total of $50.... which was promply divided with my sidekick... and spent on sun glasses and a fabric belt.
Finally the local parish and the Charismatic mother of my school captain, offered to have my serve the 13th Fatmia devotions in the local parish. After 3hrs of offkey music, praying in tounges, forgetting the lavabo towel and discussing laity with the parish priest, I had $35 dollars thrust into my hand....
I do belive I have come a long way from my former days at the Polish Church.. being paid a megar $10 a year.
I'll leave the twenty question till the next post. Must run I have a potential client to meet with.... Sharpey !
How did you get into classic movies?
The poll is closed and the results are in. In answer to the above question, 8% of respondents got into classic movies thanks to school or a film class, 33% got started with recommendations from friends or family, and the majority (50%) found old movies on TV. That leaves another 8% that fell in love with classic movies some other way. (Yeah, that only adds up to 99%, but that's the numbers my poll gave me.)
This brings up other questions that can't be so easily gotten in a click-to-answer poll:
For those that found old movies on TV, what channel were you watching? TCM, AMC, or just a late-night showing of something classic?
For those who didn't find their answer on the poll, how did you discover classic movies? Video rental? Something else I haven't thought of?
For everyone: Was there one movie you can point to as being the first old movie you really got into? A movie that made you take notice and think, what other wonderful classics have I been missing?
As for me, I grew up watching old movies, so my answer would be family recommendations. But I've also benefited from video rentals and old movies on TV (especially TCM) for rounding out my classic movie knowledge. There are so many movies I have seen so many times since I was young that I can't remember my first reactions to them (Citizen Kane, Some Like it Hot, The Maltese Falcon) but there are a few that I remember discovering later, sometimes on my own, and loving the fact that I found them (The Hustler, Out of the Past, The Major and the Minor).
Whether you answered in the original poll or not, feel free to weigh in with your answers here.
This brings up other questions that can't be so easily gotten in a click-to-answer poll:
For those that found old movies on TV, what channel were you watching? TCM, AMC, or just a late-night showing of something classic?
For those who didn't find their answer on the poll, how did you discover classic movies? Video rental? Something else I haven't thought of?
For everyone: Was there one movie you can point to as being the first old movie you really got into? A movie that made you take notice and think, what other wonderful classics have I been missing?
As for me, I grew up watching old movies, so my answer would be family recommendations. But I've also benefited from video rentals and old movies on TV (especially TCM) for rounding out my classic movie knowledge. There are so many movies I have seen so many times since I was young that I can't remember my first reactions to them (Citizen Kane, Some Like it Hot, The Maltese Falcon) but there are a few that I remember discovering later, sometimes on my own, and loving the fact that I found them (The Hustler, Out of the Past, The Major and the Minor).
Whether you answered in the original poll or not, feel free to weigh in with your answers here.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
My answer to the 20 Actresses Meme: I like Actors better
There's a 20 favorite actresses meme going around. It started at The Film Experience blog. I've had a terrible time trying to come up with a list of my own. Not because there are so many actresses out there, but because I've realized that there aren't a lot of actresses I think are really great. How can this be? I don't know. Maybe I am jealous watching someone else get the leading man of my dreams. Maybe I am jealous of really beautiful women. Maybe as a girl, I've just learned to be catty to other girls. Isn't that sad? Whatever the case, I have come up with a list of 20 actresses that don't (usually) annoy me:
That's Leslie, Lee, Marilyn, Cate, Grace; Katharine, pre-botox Meg, Ingrid, Tina, Judy; Meryl, Natalie, Ginger, Mary, Amy; Hayley, Gwyneth, Judy, Agnes & Lauren.
Cate Blanchett has the distinction of being the only one on this list whose movies I don't own. I just think she is a good actress (and she doesn't irritate me).
My favorites on here are Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman & Ginger Rogers.
As I was making this list, I decided it would be much more fun to make a list of favorite actors. I thought, surely someone is bound to answer back the top 20 actresses list with their top 20 actors, right? It might as well be me. And so I made this list, and it was such a breeze! Here come the men:
That's Clark, Henry, Gene, Joseph, George C., Spencer, Humphrey, Dana, William, Jack; Cary, Paul, Jimmy, Ray, Orson; Marlon, Kirk, Sidney, George & Alec.
You'll see this list was made with only classic movie actors. So as a bonus, here's another five new(er) actors I happen to like:
Jude, Harrison, Ewan, Leo & Tom.
If I tried to narrow this list down to top favorites, it would probably be Spencer Tracy, Jack Lemmon, Humphrey Bogart, Dana Andrews, Cary Grant, Ray Milland, Orson Welles, Jimmy Stewart, Paul Newman & Tom Hanks. See how much more generous I am to the males?
If you want to make your own list, feel free to choose actresses or actors or both. If you do actors, please link or comment here with your lists. I'd like to see some more testosterone about. Let the 20 Actors meme begin!
That's Leslie, Lee, Marilyn, Cate, Grace; Katharine, pre-botox Meg, Ingrid, Tina, Judy; Meryl, Natalie, Ginger, Mary, Amy; Hayley, Gwyneth, Judy, Agnes & Lauren.
Cate Blanchett has the distinction of being the only one on this list whose movies I don't own. I just think she is a good actress (and she doesn't irritate me).
My favorites on here are Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman & Ginger Rogers.
As I was making this list, I decided it would be much more fun to make a list of favorite actors. I thought, surely someone is bound to answer back the top 20 actresses list with their top 20 actors, right? It might as well be me. And so I made this list, and it was such a breeze! Here come the men:
That's Clark, Henry, Gene, Joseph, George C., Spencer, Humphrey, Dana, William, Jack; Cary, Paul, Jimmy, Ray, Orson; Marlon, Kirk, Sidney, George & Alec.You'll see this list was made with only classic movie actors. So as a bonus, here's another five new(er) actors I happen to like:
Jude, Harrison, Ewan, Leo & Tom.If I tried to narrow this list down to top favorites, it would probably be Spencer Tracy, Jack Lemmon, Humphrey Bogart, Dana Andrews, Cary Grant, Ray Milland, Orson Welles, Jimmy Stewart, Paul Newman & Tom Hanks. See how much more generous I am to the males?
If you want to make your own list, feel free to choose actresses or actors or both. If you do actors, please link or comment here with your lists. I'd like to see some more testosterone about. Let the 20 Actors meme begin!
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