Barney Life No. 8 (posted 01/08/2010)

July 31st: Founders' Day Sung Requiem Mass

 Josephine and John Bowes were the inspiration and patrons of St Mary's Church.  Lady Josephine Bowes, Countess of Montalbo, and Sir John Bowes of Streatlam (to give them their proper titles) had planned to build a church for Josephine next to the Museum which they were building to house their huge collection of pottery, paintings and art.  When Josephine died, John continued building the church beside his museum, but when money to finish the museum ran short John stopped the work on the church.  By this time the walls of the church were complete, and the 'church' stood as a kind of folly for fifty years until 1926 when the trustees of the church negotiated with the trustees of the museum to move the whole thing to a new site on the corner of the estate, where the church was rebuilt and completed in 1928.  The bodies of John and Josephine, which had been resting in a crypt at Gibside Hall, near Dunston, were brought to Barnard Castle during one night in July 1928 and reinterred in a grave behind the apse of the church and facing the Museum.

Each year towards the end of July I celebrate a Mass in the Extraordinary Form (the Latin Mass) for the repose of their souls and in thanksgiving for their gift of this beautiful church to the people and parish of St Mary's Barnard Castle.  The weather has been fine today, but holidays have kept the numbers attending down.  The choir too was reduced to one (Mike Forbester of the Rudgate Singers).  But between us we celebrated a Sung Requiem with a procession out to the Tomb to perform the Absolutions.

Afterwards we retired to the marquee on the lawn for tea and coffee, biscuits and 'my world famous sausage rolls' - at least, that is what I like to tell newcomers, before adding that they only take fifteen minutes from frozen in the oven and that they come from England's largest grocery store!

For obvious reasons, I could not take a photo during the Mass, but here is the altar all ready to begin the Mass.  The candles are as yet not lit, and it was only at the end of the whole service that we realised that the candles had never been lit!!!

Barney Life No. 7 (posted 26/07/2010)

Monday, July 26th

Yesterday I celebrated all my Sunday Masses  and ended the day with Rosary and Benediction - nothing unusual in that.  However when I was preaching at my 9 am Latin Mass I noticed two ladies at the back of the church whom I didn't recognise.  After Mass they approached me and told me that they came from Middlesbrough, a round trip of about ninety miles, just so that they could have the pleasure of being at a Latin Mass.  One of the ladies told me that she had been passing the church a few weeks ago and was astonished to find that it was open all day.  How times have changed since all churches were always open all day!

The other unusual thing that happened yesterday was that I received an email from Lourdes with a comment on an earlier post.  I am amazed that anyone on pilgrimage to Lourdes would be reading my blog!  Jim comments about our Bishop's letter in which he talks about "new structures"; he says that we do not need "new structures" but that I should ask the Bishop to start speaking authoritatively from his Cathedra (sic) on birth control ... before the Catholic population dies out altogether .... then tell him to implement Summorum Pontificum.  He says the we do not need more "structures"; we need, he says, "instruction and solid doctrine not the Charismatic mush we are getting at Lourdes".

Jim, I doubt that the Bishop reads my blog but perhaps there will be someone who will pass on your comments to him! In the meantime, say one for us who are still at home.

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.