Barney Life No. 6 (posted 24/07/2010)

Wednesday, July 21st.

This evening I visited the other St Mary's in Barnard Castle.  It is quite strange that in this town, within a few hundred yards of each other, there are two churches named after St Mary, the Mother of God.  This 'other' St Mary's is the Church of England church, close by the Butter Market in the main street.  I do not know its full history, but the original building goes back to twelfth century - how much of this original church still stands I do not know, but the present church is ancient enough.  In the past few months a huge amount of work has been done on the church re-organising the interior, and the service on Wednesday evening was to rededicate those parts which had been worked on.  The central part of the nave was filled with people, about sixty in all, I think, but the side aisles were empty.

The organ had already been refurbished and dedicated.  The present re-ordering of the church-space included the making of  a servery (an open space at the back of the nave), the nave itself, the baptistery (in the north transept), St Margaret's Chapel (a place for quiet prayer, off the north transept), the labyrinth (in the south transept), the aumbry (to the left of the altar-table) and the vestry.  Pretty much everything!  The service was led by the (Anglican) Bishop of Jarrow.  In his sermon he hoped that the new servery would emphasise the need for true Christian hospitality and the labyrinth would lead seekers to find their way to God.  Each of these refurbished areas was then blessed by the Bishop.

How different the changes have made the Church, I cannot say because I do not know what it was like before the changes were made.  But I could not help wondering if the Anglicans were doing what many Catholics have also been doing (even in my Church) - making use of space that is now available because of falling congregations.  When I first entered the Church, I could not help thinking that the altar-table would look much better if it had a proper tabernacle resting on it; the new aumbry at the side was the place for the Reserved Sacrament, but the blessing pronounced by the Bishop spoke of the aumbry as a place "in which we place the tokens of Christ's passion".  Not really a ringing endorsement of the Sacrifice of Calvary and of the Real Presence.  Personally, I do not like the idea of serving tea and coffee and glasses of wine in a place which is dedicated to the worship of God, no matter how much it helps Christian hospitality.

Barney Life No. 5 (posted 18/07/2010)

Sunday, July 18th

Today we priests were required to read out at Mass a Pastoral Letter from our Bishop about the results of his consultations about the future of our Diocese.  After a recent meeting with three hundred lay people, priests and religious, the conclusion they all came to amounted to three priorities: spiritual development, formation for all and new structures.

No-one can object to the first two priorities.  Quoting from today's Gospel passage, the Bishop wants us all to be like Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to Him and becoming like Him.  And if we know more about our Faith, this, he says, "will empower people, clergy and religious together for the work Jesus calls us to do.  This will enable us to grow in our knowledge of the Lord and His Church, and to understand how to pass on the Faith to others."

Of course, these are fine sentiments, or at least aspirations, but, as on other occasions when these thoughts have been put forward, there is a lack of practical detail about how these objectives are to be achieved.

The third priority is, I think, the key one - new structures.  There was no hint as to what these might be, but in an age when the numbers of practising Catholics is diminishing and the number of priests is doing the same, there will inevitably be a restructuring of the parish system in the Diocese.  The Bishop warns us against " looking back with nostalgia to what seemed to be the Church's golden age."  He does not explain what he means by "golden age", but I remember the Forties, Fifties and Sixties before the Second Vatican Council - the churches were full each Sunday, there were lots of priests, the diocesan seminary was full to bursting point with students, not all to be ordained to the priesthood but many to become exemplary Catholic laymen - now, fifty years later, this is definitely not the case.  I suggest that unless we look back and analyse what we had then and why and how we came to our present state then we will hardly be able to make any progress.

The Bishop stresses that he believes in consultation, and that this process of consultation will continue until we can come to understand the need for change and so to accept it.  In the final analysis, of course, any changes are his responsibility; he is the Bishop and the buck stops with him.

It's going to be a tough one, and I for one would not like to have to take the decisions which he will have to make at some stage.  The Bishop asks for prayers, and that is what we will have to do.  Oremus pro invicem.

Barney Life No. 4 (posted 15/07/2010)

Friday July 9th

Some forty people, parishioners and friends, went to the Three Tuns, Egglestone, for a Buffet Meal plus entertainment, arranged by Kim Wallace and family.  Egglestone is a pretty little village about five miles west of Barnard Castle, up Teesdale.   The Three Tuns stands at the heart of the village and the landlord is Denis Holmes, himself a parishioner.

The Buffet was a self-service meal; the food was piled high  and most plentiful - anyone who went hungry that evening had only himself to blame!.  The first course was followed by a varied sweet course. The queues for food were long.

 

Whilst the meal was being consumed, our genial compere, Andrew Nicholson, handed out quiz sheets which the tables and groups were invited to complete. 

When the meal had been cleared away, there followed a brief interlude, during which I stood up and told the story of Moses and the Children of Israel, in Geordie fashion, which is not exactly the true Bible story but probably a lot more laughs! After this, there came a game of Bingo, with the magnificent prizes of £2 for a line and £5 for a Full House. I left the proceedings at this point, but the entertainment went on until midnight.  Of course, there was also the Raffle, which is de rigeur on these occasions.  Indeed, a truly marvellous evening, enjoyed by all.

The whole point of this evening's meal and entertainment (apart from having an enjoyable evening) was to raise money for the Organ Fund. The church organ in St Mary's is in need of a complete overhaul, and it is likely to be very very expensive.  The Buffet Evening at the Three Tuns raised £220 (Bingo £45 and Raffle £175) plus a generous donation from Denis, mine host, of £100 - a total of £320.  So far, the Organ Fund has raised almost £6400.  We still have a long way to go.

Barney Life No. 3 (posted 12/07/2010)

Sunday July 11th

This Sunday afternoon, at the usual time of 2 pm, I celebrated the Sacrament of Baptism for only about the third time this year (there again I have only buried four people in Barney so far this year!).  The baby was Lucas Joseph Levandowski.  Quite a crowd of family and friends attended the event. (Before taking these photos, I advised anyone who did not want to appear on my blog to attend to their shoe-laces!)

       

Lucas was apparently very happy with being in church - at first; but once he had to sit still for the ceremony, he began to object strenuously, and he continued to object throughout the ceremony.  Still, a strong pair of lungs in opposition doesn't stop me from completing the Baptism, and all was well in the end.

      

Barney Life No. 1A (posted 10/07/2010)

Two more photos of the set of "All's well that ends well".

 

The 'green' wall to the left is the North Stand of seats; the big tent to the right is the Box Office and artist's changing rooms. In the middle we have Chez Josephine, an imaginary shop in the French suburb of Louveciennes, home of John and Josephine Bowes, with menus and items for sale, all in French, and with French artefacts on view.  The play is located in a French chateau.

This is just another example of The Castle Players' attention to detail with the building up of the atmosphere of the occasion.

Barney Life No. 2 (posted 09/07/2010)

The Mary Garden

On Monday, July 5th, I was invited to go along to our school, St Mary's, to bless their new Mary Garden. The Garden stands at the entrance of the School drive (the building to the left is not part of the School).  When the Garden was finished, passersby were invited to write their comments in a notebook, and everybody was very complementary.

The statue is very modern, but charming; the layout is very striking; the children were heavily involved in the design and creation of the Garden.  Unfortunately, a strong wind during the night knocked over a number of tall growing plants. When I arrived to do the Blessing, all the children came out of the School and took part in the Blessing ceremony.  I encouraged them to say a Hail Mary when they came into, or left, the School, or at least to say "Hello, Mary!" to acknowledge her presence and influence in our School.

Barney Life No. 1 (posted 08/07/2010)

An occasional series about life in Barnard Castle.

My Church and house stand at the corner of the grounds of the Bowes Museum.  This week, in the grounds of the Museum, the Castle Players are performing their annual Shakespearian play; this year the play is "All's well that ends well".  The Players are all amateurs; they spend the first half of the year preparing for this summer spectacular, and the second half of the year arranging a winter production.  There is a junior group called The Turrets, several of whom take part in the summer production as well as doing their own plays for the public during the year.

The Summer Play is staged in the park of the Museum.  The arena is under a great tree: there is no stage, apart from a large open space, but there are three banks of seats, and in all five separate entrances for the cast to come to the stage area.

These photos, I hope, give some idea of the setting for this outdoor theatre. By tradition, the play begins on the dot at half-past-seven, but beforehand there is an opportunity for families and theatre-goers to have a picnic in the surrounding area; the interval is a long one, normally about 45 minutes, again so that members of the audience can finish their picnics.The whole play normally ends at about 11 o'clock.  The play is on for four nights, from Wednesday to Saturday.  The play is performed whatever the weather - one year recently the rain came down in bucketfulls, the audience was wrapped in waterproofs, but the players carried on in their dresses and costumes as if the sun was shining brightly.

As is usual with the Castle Players, the play is adapted to more modern times.  This play opens with the funeral procession of Count Rossillion, absolutely reminiscent of that funeral in one of the James Bond movies in New Orleans which changes from ultra solemn to happy-clappy in a fraction of time.  The cast is superb.  It is also very large - you have to have eyes not only for the main characters but also to things which are happening at the sides of the stage or at the back of the stage.  For instance, the silent and unexpected appearance, at the back of the arena, of the ugly daughter of the King's advisor (looking like Benny Hill in drag) who was to be foisted upon the leading hero caused ripples of amusement among the audience and diverted attention from what the main characters were saying.  The story-line, as with many of these Shakespearian comedies, is pure Whitehall Farce, and the slapstick is inventive and well done.

I attended the Wednesday performance of the play. On Thursday I went back to the Gala Party for the Friends of the Castle Players, I am also a Fortress 100 Member - a glass, or two, (three actually) of wine and plenty of canapes.  The party was in the tent in the first photo. Speeches by the Chair(woman) of the Castle Players and by the visiting national chairman of the National Amateur Dramatic Association (something like that). I had a long chat with the Leader of the Town Council who was the guest of honour on Thursday evening.

Altogether a grand occasion, and the play and the ambience  - the actors wandering about before the start, chatting up the customers; everybody so friendly, and so well organised - has surely added greatly to the already outstanding reputation of the Castle Players.