When a High Court judge says that the Third Commandment isn't important to Christian belief, it's time to start looking for the nearest catacomb...

Mr Justice Langstaff ruled on the case of Celestina Mba, a Christian care-worker, who was forced to leave her job after being repeatedly scheduled for work on Sundays despite having her employers having been told before they hired her that, as a Christian, she would not work on Sundays. Despite the evidence that other workers were  able and happy to cover Sundays, and therefore no business case could be made for compelling Ms Mba to work on Sunday, The High Court judge said " Christians have no right to decline working on Sunday as it is not a “core component” of their beliefs"

Presumably he's never heard of the Ten Commandments.

The Telegraph's report says 

Mr Justice Langstaff, who as president of the Employment Appeal Tribunal is the most senior judge in England and Wales in this type of case, upheld the lower tribunal’s ruling which said it was relevant that other Christians did not ask for Sundays off. 

The fact that some Christians were prepared to work on Sundays meant it was not protected, the court said.

So if we can discard the Ten Commandments as being a core part of Christianity, what else wouldn''t count as a "core componant" of Catholic belief in a court simply because lots of people who call themselves "Catholic" do or do not do them?... The mind boggles.

None of this is particularly surprising - if anything I'm amazed that it took so long. I was saying that exactly this would happen only a few months ago to Mr Annie-Elizabeth, and he thought I was sounding paranoid. Ha! I very rarely wish I was wrong (like most wives, I'm rarely wrong - I think almost always being right is a special dispensation of grace that comes to wives with the sacrament of marriage) - but in this case I sincerely wish I was wrong. 

Want to get really paranoid? Look at prime office space in Central London,  lying empty for two days out of seven: it's astounding that there isn't more call for a 7 day business week. The argument would be made,  initially, as it was with Sunday opening (but quickly recinded), that nobody would be forced to work on a Sunday.The NHS is toying with the idea of implementing a 7 day working week, Sunday shopping is the norm, and Sunday is no longer special (or even relevant according to the High Court) then what barrier is there to all businesses slowly adopting an "efficient" 7 day model. Of course people would be given two days off together: they just wouldn't be the weekend as we know it. Childcare? Come on, there's nothing the government would love more than getting their ideological paws on the nation's children for even more hours a week. Think of the opportunities! A seven day working week would allow full-time mothers - those scourges on the nation's economy - to work on the days when their husbands were at home. In time they could be persuaded to synchronise work patterns and give up any loony ideas of influencing their offspring. Hell, the state schools will do a much better job. And yes, I did mean, Hell.

Well, with this pretty picture of dystopia-not-quite-yet here I'm off to dig a catacomb, and it may not simply be a metaphorical one. Isn't it about time you considered doing the same?

All quiet on the blogging front...

...not necessarily through choice over the past few weeks. We had a rather tumultuous month in November -   involving illness, injury and most upsettingly our beloved Bull Terrier having to go back to her breeders forever for reasons that were neither her nor our fault. After much heartbreak the last thing we needed was a criminal drama, but that's what to got in the form of a burglary on the night of 29th November: I was at home alone with the children  (Hubby was away on business) and came down in the morning to find the conservatory doors forced, the house ransacked and our van stolen. Every electronic item that worked was taken - including a 12 year old video camera containing old film of our children when they were younger. My laptop with all our family photos from the previous six months (which hadn't been backed up), and the brand shiny new iPad that I used to blog from Rome earlier in the month. I had been using it that evening to refresh the children's memory of the Alma Redemptoris Mater - I had pulled up the manuscript and we had been singing it along with sound files from a monastary and I'd been congratulating myself on being an exemplary mother ;-) Ah, pride and falls...

I can see an end to the admin - detectives, insurance companies, replacing items - and life is starting to feel as though it's back on the track labelled "as normal as it gets around here"...

...so expect the blog to get back to regular irregular posting from here on in.

Belatedly wishing my readers a happy and holy Christmastide,

AE xx

Regina Coeli on St Peter's - toddler style

Yes - he kept singing: even the rain didn't deter him.

Lex orandi lex credendi: Pontifical High Mass at Basilico di San Pietro in Vaticano

Originally posted 3/11/2012, thoroughly updated and photographs captioned 10/11/2012

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Here are some pictures of today's pilgrimage in thanksgiving for Summorum pontificum organised by the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce. There have been Masses and traditional devotions organised in the run-up to today, but the Pontifical High Mass (Mass of the Immaculate Heart Of Mary) at the Altar of Saint Peter's Chair celebrated by Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is the high point of the Pilgrimage. The Holy Father granted a Plenary Indulgance (under the usual conditions) to the faithful who attended the Mass. 

Following Adoration, the procession of Priests and Pilgrims leaves San Salvatore in Lauro

The Mass was, as expected, beautiful, reverent, and inspired great hope for the future of the traditional liturgy. There were hundreds of pilgrims: I calculated from a quick chair-count from the dome afterwards that, including those standing, there were probably almost a thousand people in the congregation. It was the usual healthy demographic mix that is so common at extraordinary form Masses everywhere: lots of young people - teens, twenties, thirties - in addition to young families and older people. It was - as EF Masses tend to be - racially mixed and with a visible number of disabled people as well. I mention this because the great irony of EF Mass congregations being perfectly "politially correct" in terms of demographic distribution when compared to the average parish, never fails to amuse me. Is anything more inclusive than the Universal Mass in the Universal Church in a universally understood language? I digress...

It feels as though Rome he been taken over by young traddie priests: the Borgo Pio is teeming with them, there were scores (I lost count) on the Sanctuary - it's wonderful and it's the future.  As my husband pointed out, there were very few priests there older than him: the vast majority were in their 20s, 30's and early 40's (poor DH is in his mid 40s).  We have run into several friendly and familiar faces:  the famous  Fr Z, Monseigneur Wasch of the incomparable ICKSP, and Fr Andrew Southwell from St Bedes, Clapham Park but currently clearly enjoying his sabbatical in the Eternal City.

Today started out with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at San Salvatore in Lauro followed by a procession through Rome to St Peter's Bascilica for the Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form celebrated by His Eminence, Antonio, Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Winding through Rome's narrow streets, four abreast, while singing the Litany of the Saints was, frankly, amazing. We certainly amazed some restaurant patrons who seemed completely freaked out by the presence of a slowly moving procession of singing pilgrims; and that was before the scores of Biretta'd, cassock and cotta'd clergy at the end of the procession passed them by! The traffic was stopped for the procession at major intersections, and the whole of via della conciliazione was closed to allow the pilgrims to process towards St Peter's. I was profoundly grateful that the first memory my children will have of entering St Peter's Basilica will be with a procession of praying, singing pilgrims walking directly up the centre of Piazza San Pietro and through the central doors of the Basilica to the Cathedra Petri and Bernini's amazing creation

 "...designed to display the chair on which, according to ancient tradition, St. Peter sat and taught Roman Christians. Pope Alexander VII had the ivory-covered chair put into the gigantic bronze cathedra, with the statues of the Doctors of the Church, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine of the Roman Church and St. Athanasius and St. John Chrysostom of the Greek Church. The religious significance is extremely clear. The Doctors of the Church were always consistent with Peter's teachings as they expounded theological doctrine.

The gospel does not change because the Holy Spirit, portrayed as a dove flies along the span of the centuries, assisting and accompanying its church. The chair or cathedra of Peter symbolizes the perpetual continuity of the doctrine and its promise of infallibility. It triumphed over all heresies throughout the centuries." 

[from StPetersBasilica.org, emphasis mine)

 
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 It's been a long but spiritually nourishing day. I'm profoundly grateful to the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI for Summorum Pontificum as participation in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass has brought many graces to our family - and it was evident today that we weren't the only ones. I spoke to pilgrims who'd come from Brazil to thank the Holy Father and show their fidelity to him. There I was thinking that we'd done well to get four young children to Rome from SE England; I was humbled by what I heard today: young and fit, our journey has been s doddle in comparison to so many who came from around the world.

I prayed for my readers, for other Catholic bloggers, for our priests, our seminarians, for friends and for family, Most of all I prayed for the Holy Father, that his generous liturgical vision continues

 to bear fruit.

The procession crosses the Tiber towards Castel Sant'Angelo

The Roman traffic was stopped to allow the procession to proceed in dignity. It was a long procession, and some of those drivers will have been waiting for quite a while. Despite this there appeared to be good humour all around from bystanders, although some bewilderment on the faces of touists as the procession wove through the narrow streets near San Salvatore.

Coming home to Rome: the via della conciliazione was closed to traffic to allow the procession to pass. We gathered many pilgrims along the route: people were waiting for us to pass, others appeared to decide to join spontaneously. By my estimate there were at least twice the number of pilgrims arriving at Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano than left San Salvatore in Lauro. We were about ten rows (of four abreast) when the procession left - by the time we arrived we were about thirty rows back!

Walking straight up to the centre door of Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano

I was very happy that this was the way my Children entered St Peter's Basilica for the first time: through the front central door, praying and singing.

Pilgrims waiting for Mass to begin. The seating area in front of the Altar of the Chair of St Peter holds just under 500 people, and there were around 100 extra chairs to the right (I took photos of the seating area from the dome later on to confirm numbers of seats). All were filled and there were some people standing at the back. We estimated that there were almost a thousand people at the Mass.

We lost count of how many priests were on the Sanctuary, but we noticed the Benedictines, FSSP and the ICKSP.

His Eminence, Antonio, Cardinal Cañizares Llovera,Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Incensing the Altar

The last Gospel

Last Gospel

It was a long day for smaller pilgrims. He was full of beans and in full voice the next day though!

Utterly inspired. Totus tuus.

Not a clown or puppet in sight, and they're completely transf

ixed.

Visit to the friendly Swiss Guards (or, properly, Pontificia Cohors Helvetica)

Singing the Salve Regina on the roof of Saint Peter's Basilica....

  

...he is rather unstoppable!

Roma!

We've just arrived, en-famille, this evening to our apartment in the Borgo Pio. After delicious pizza (potato pizza - who knew?!) and courgette and other delicacies we got four very sleepy children ready for bed and prayed our family Rosary and night time prayers: two were fast asleep before the end.

Tomorrow, Deo volente, we'll be at the High Mass organised by Una Voce in thanksgiving for Summorum Pontificum celebrated at the altar at St Peter's tomb.  I will pray for Catholic bloggers and readers of Catholic blogs.

It's a warm, calm and quiet night. The lights are on in the Holy Father's apartment windows: I wonder what he's thinking about, reading, or studying. It's somehow very comforting to know that he's so close by.

Happy Feast of Saint Gerard Majella

O good St Gerard,
powerful Intercessor before God and Wonderworker of our day,
I call upon thee and seek thy aid.
Thou who on earth didst always fulfil God’s designs,
help me to do the Holy Will of God.
Beseech the Master of Life,
from Whom all paternity proceedeth, to render me fruitful in offspring,
that I may raise up children to God in this life
and heirs to the Kingdom of His Glory in the world to come.
Amen.