tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20958296197502966322023-11-16T07:03:00.219+00:00defénde nos in proélio<center><i>Occasional dispatches from the front line of spiritual battle. A Catholic blog. Postings often conceived in the garden, at the playground or at the kitchen sink and hastily typed out far too late at night after putting the children to bed.<br><br>Blog started on the Feast of The Divine Mercy 2011, the day of the Beatification of Pope John Paul II.<br> Blessed Pope John Paul II - Ora Pro Nobis!</i></center>Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.comBlogger231125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-65217984738516745302021-07-21T18:38:00.001+01:002021-07-21T22:52:45.354+01:00My favourite bigot<p> A quick post to warm-up the blogging fingers: it's time to start writing again. </p><p>While all has been quiet on this blog there have been some excellent new contenders for the coveted title of <b>Bloggers We Would Most Like To Invite to Dinner.</b> This year's top entry is from Northern Ireland. <a href="http://thebelfastbigot.com" target="_blank">The Belfast Bigot </a>is a pseudonymous blog by a self-proclaimed bigot who has the measure of secularism as well as a scalding way with words. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2e78x4qC3SkoxbcSzF8iBIu6zVDA992XSn7XjwMCyXJ5cLaZIoNf-ae8Mni-5a8tNanYo140YEA0JUUdMKbLJXs5qJivwwUW-qLbJv6mO4riPt1dEFU4CrkDOcYrS0OIk2UIY4XCUGov9/s2208/Screenshot+2021-07-21+at+18.22.40.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1038" data-original-width="2208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2e78x4qC3SkoxbcSzF8iBIu6zVDA992XSn7XjwMCyXJ5cLaZIoNf-ae8Mni-5a8tNanYo140YEA0JUUdMKbLJXs5qJivwwUW-qLbJv6mO4riPt1dEFU4CrkDOcYrS0OIk2UIY4XCUGov9/s320/Screenshot+2021-07-21+at+18.22.40.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>A Christian and pro-lifer, the BB is more rational than the rationalists, brighter than the brights, and considerably funnier than either. See <b><a href="http://thebelfastbigot.com/thou-shalt-not-be-biased-the-fallacy-of-secular-neutrality/#comments" target="_blank">Thou shalt not be biased: the fallacy of secular neutrality </a></b>to get a flavour. At my fantasy bloggers dinner party Mr Bigot will sit across from <a href="https://ecclesandbosco.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Bruvver Eccles</a>, and the wit will carry us through four courses with ease.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv-MY2JtysO2BjhEykP0a7SWAjg4B7bLO3dUu3RnDlZlVOBoL6bqpGzuRMgWGvm_CdqyHenFD6noDbkzWH5N4oqi0saVB5vA5nybeEe7R1-LpXpwG17fOgLfalXrU_KvC4MTvWInZ6wS2_/s1462/Screenshot+2021-07-21+at+18.22.24.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv-MY2JtysO2BjhEykP0a7SWAjg4B7bLO3dUu3RnDlZlVOBoL6bqpGzuRMgWGvm_CdqyHenFD6noDbkzWH5N4oqi0saVB5vA5nybeEe7R1-LpXpwG17fOgLfalXrU_KvC4MTvWInZ6wS2_/s320/Screenshot+2021-07-21+at+18.22.24.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>Covid restrictions being what they are, I think the party may have to wait some time ... but while menu preparations are underway and the table is being set you might want to <a href="http://thebelfastbigot.com" target="_blank">pop over to Belfast and see what the Bigot has to say</a>. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit16ViT5sVUdPUpr7PgjqmMPMMl-Tyz8UErIMVQo0N3rvumz_tpDp2u0IwDM-JOhn-Se-v97IREqbUMlVirgUNqcCnWd1boQSMcKClOyVh1DdbLtjcI8Bzigw77Sn-UH3BLhgE-SlrkV4b/s2048/Dining-room-buckingham-palace.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit16ViT5sVUdPUpr7PgjqmMPMMl-Tyz8UErIMVQo0N3rvumz_tpDp2u0IwDM-JOhn-Se-v97IREqbUMlVirgUNqcCnWd1boQSMcKClOyVh1DdbLtjcI8Bzigw77Sn-UH3BLhgE-SlrkV4b/w320-h240/Dining-room-buckingham-palace.jpg" title="(it takes a while to get the table set)" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0Queen's Island, Belfast BT3 9EU, UK54.6038328 -5.899179633.890509421569931 -41.055429599999982 75.317156178430068 29.257070399999986tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-43368585769357686092020-04-11T08:00:00.000+01:002020-04-11T10:12:52.059+01:00Holy Saturday: The Wood Between the Worlds<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); white-space: pre-wrap;">I would not be sad if I never heard the word </span><i style="caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); white-space: pre-wrap;">unprecedented</i><span style="caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); white-space: pre-wrap;"> again. It crops up in every article, every new broadcast, every conversation. In these <i>unprecedented</i> times, we have lost the reassurance of the familiar. We are living a dim shadow of a Lent, stripped of all we know and hold dear. The familiar cycle of the liturgical year ruptured, comfort gone. It is only when we lose them that we realise how much the tiny details matter: the polished wood of a pew as we lean forward to pray, a trace of incense in the air, a shaft of light through stained glass, the glow of comfort and reassurance in front of the tabernacle.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like all Catholics our family is struggling with the loss of the sacraments, of contact with our priests and our churches. It is spiritually numbing — like a never ending Holy Saturday, or like Narnia under the White Witch: always winter, never Christmas. Like Lewis's Wood Between the Worlds - our spiritual life is left hanging, incomplete, stifled. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Except that in this long Holy Saturday we can keep our eyes fixed on the prize, knowing that Easter, and Redemption will always come, and that the Holy Cross will always conquer — so what we feel and see is less important than what is, and was and always will be. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We must pray for our priests and we must pray for each other. God bless you all this Eastertide, and may you share in the glory of the triumph of the Cross, with love from our family to yours. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-45127048644566344722020-04-03T23:44:00.000+01:002020-04-03T23:44:16.787+01:00Sourdough - it's easy!Everyone's doing it - making bread while self-isolating at home. Supermarkets have reported a massive surge in sales of flour, and many people have found it difficult to buy baker's yeast. But who needs yeast when you have your very own sourdough culture? I have had a few people asking me about sourdough, so I've cobbled this post together from a series of Facebook comments. I hope it's useful.<br />
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Sourdough is magic - you take flour and water and a pinch of salt and, after catching some wild yeasts from the air and the wheat itself, turn those basic ingredients into the tastiest bread imaginable. Sourdough is also incredibly easy to make -- it's hands off, and doesn't need to be a 'lifestyle'.<br />
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I hope you find this useful.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">If you believe everything you read on the Internet you'd never bother making sourdough bread unless you wanted it to take over your life. I'm too impatient (and lazy) to have my bread be a lifestyle, but I'm also a foodie. As far as I'm concerned there's no tension there -- lazy sourdough is as good as intensive labour sourdough, or at least good enough. Again - don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good — or even the good enough.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">About 15 years ago I was given a sourdough starter (before I figured out that I could catch my own yeasts -- "kitchen critters" as my children call my sourdough starter & kefir). I had loads of little kids and was pregnant and busy and, as I remember it, sourdough was easy, fast and tasty. I stopped making sourdough about 10 years ago but this week, running out of yeast, decided to make it again. I looked through cookbooks and went online: every single set of instructions I found was a huge faff and my heart sank. Had I completely forgotten how to make sourdough? Had I wiped memories of spending hours tending each loaf? I was positive I hadn't, so decided to just bodge it and see what happened -- and what happened was easy and delicious. I don't think this is because I'm a domestic goddess but because sourdough can be incredibly hands-off and simple if you want it to be. You can also make a lifestyle out of it if you want to. I'm sure that the high-input bread is better than my lazy sourdough, but I'm not convinced that it is <i>better enough </i>to make me want to change my ways. If you have the time and the inclination do explore YouTube there are loads of inspiring bakers with a range of sourdough methods. I won't judge you, I might even be a little bit jealous that you have the time to do it, but I'm too busy, impatient (and lazy)... so this is what I have done over the past few days...</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span>Catch yourself some wild yeasties...</b></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">You first need to make a sourdough starter from flour and water. There are lots of ways to do this, but this is what I did: it's really, really easy (I'm a lazy cook - </span>did I mention lazy?). The process takes about 4 days. I used spelt flour, but any flour can be used. Many people like to use rye flour for the starter, but I didn't have any on hand. Use what you have. </div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Day 1 -- in a plastic or glass container (with a lid -- can be baking paper with an elastic band over a jar, a saucer over a cup, or in my case an Ikea plastic container with an ill-fitting lid) put 50 g wholemeal flour and 100mls water and mix well. Cover and leave in a warm place (airing cupboard etc ... not directly on a radiator, although on a breadboard on a radiator is ok so no direct heat through the bottom.). Day 2 -- repeat day one's instructions. Day 3 -- add 50g flour / 50mls water, combine, cover, keep warm. Day 4 -- repeat day 3. By day 3 you should see bubbles rising to the surface if it's been kept in a warm temperature. By day 4 you will hopefully have a sourdough starter ready to work with. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Because our house is very cold (it took me a couple of days to find somewhere with a consistent temperature -- next to some hot water pipes in my wardrobe!) mine looked fairly feeble on day 4 but it still made good bread. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Also -- while making the starter it's better to use mineral water as the chlorine in tap water may inhibit the growth of yeasts. Once it’s a healthy culture your sourdough starter will be strong enough that the amount of chlorine in tap water won't make any difference at all. If you don't have any bottled water on hand, just let some tap water sit for 24h until the chlorine evaporates. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The reason for using wholemeal flour for making a starter is that the husks tend to have residual natural yeasts on them which gets things going faster. I'm quite sure that it's possible to do the same thing with a white flour -- you might want to leave the pot open in your kitchen for an hour or so each day to catch some of the wild yeasts in the air. Apparently if you have been baking bread there will be greater numbers of yeasts floating around. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Do what you can with what you have -- don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Next -- how to turn the bubbly sloppy mass of gloop into bread...</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Three easy ways to make sourdough bread from your starter:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Method 1 -- instinctive method.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">For this bread I tipped about half my bubbly starter into a bowl, and added flour and water and salt until I had a dough that felt more or less right. I committed the cardinal sin of using a KitchenAid dough hook to combine the lot. I left the dough to prove for a few hours. Then played with it a bit (because I felt like it and it was relaxing to play with -- I wanted to see the stretch <<n.b. you're not supposed to do this with sourdough!>>) then divided it between a lined round cake tin and a lined loaf tin (it was very wet -- wet sourdough makes lovely moist bread -- so wouldn't have held its shape on a tray). Left it to rest for half an hour or so then popped it into the oven for 35 minutes at 220°. It rose just enough and tasted great. Nice crumb and crust. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">C</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">onclusion: next time I wouldn't play with the dough. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Method 2 -- 1-2-3 -- no work at all.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The night before baking I took <b>1</b> cup of starter, <b>2 </b>cups of tepid water (22°ish), and <b>3 </b>cups of flour and mixed them together by hand (wet hands mean that the dough won't stick to your hands). Needed to add more flour to get consistency right. Left in cold kitchen with a plate over the mixing bowl to prove overnight. In the morning tipped the risen dough into a round lined cake tin and popped it into a large casserole dish that had been heating up in the (hot) oven (Americans seem to cook their sourdough in cast iron Le Creuset style casserole dishes -- they call them 'Dutch ovens' --- so I thought I would try this method). Cooked for about 40 minutes. All good. Lovely loaf, beautiful crumb, tasted divine. Not sure what the point of the Dutch oven was though -- and it made the whole thing a bit of a faff. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Conclusion: would repeat but without Dutch oven -- probably putting a pan of water in the bottom of the oven to maintain moisture levels (which as far as I can tell is the point of cooking inside a pot). </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Method 3 -- adapted from Andrew Whitley's "Do / Sourdough / Slow bread for busy lives" spelt sourdough recipe</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">This is my favourite method. </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Earlier in the day I took 50g of my starter, added 150g of flour and 100mls of water, mixed thoroughly to a paste, covered and put in a warm place (I used my Instant Pot on the lowest 'Yoghurt' setting -- this was a revelation: I love my IP more than ever now -- but your original warm place, airing cupboard etc. will be fine). A few (the book says 3-4, I left mine for 6+ because I was busy) hours later the sourdough will have bubbled and probably doubled in size. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">To make the bread: take 450g flour, 8g salt and 275mls tepid (22°-25°C) water and mix into a dough. Leave covered for half an hour then knead briefly. Add the production sourdough (the starter, flour and water you've been keeping in a warm place. Knead it briefly to mix. Use your instinct to add more water or flour to get a good consistency. The nice thing about sourdough is that the yeast organisms multiply according to the amount of food (flour) they have -- they colonise whatever you give them so it's very difficult to over- or under-yeast a bread -- it's very forgiving. At this point I departed from the book and proved my dough overnight in the tin (loaf shaped) in which I was going to bake it. I left it on a cold windowsill in the kitchen covered with a clean floured tea-towel. In the morning I heated the oven, cut slits in the top and popped it in at (fan) 220'C for 10 minutes then 200'C for 35 minutes. I should have taken it out at 30 mins but ignored the timer... </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Total hands-on time about 15 minutes. Loaf is gorgeous. Absolutely delicious. I have repeated this three times now with the same results. I have also done it with regular flour which worked but needed a bit of adjustment as the moisture levels were a little different (use your instinct: you want your dough to be wet but you need to be able to pick it up to put in a baking tin). Don’t forget to flour both your tin and the bottom of your loaf. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What to take away from the above? That there's no one 'right' way to make sourdough, but even bodging things together will give you a respectable, tasty and healthy sourdough loaf. Baking sourdough is more of an art than a science -- once you understand the theory of how it works, and gain confidence by realising how forgiving it is, you can experiment and find a way to make sourdough work for you. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Some photos: </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">This is what my starter looks like this morning after a night in the cold kitchen. Each time you want to make a loaf take some of your starter and 'refresh' it by feeding it some flour and water (as in method 3) a few hours before you need to put your loaf together. You can either keep a 'master' starter in the fridge to do this (feeding it at least once a month to keep it alive) or simply keep back a few tbs of starter each time you make a loaf to feed and use for your next loaf.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Loaf from Method 2: baked in a round cake tin in a casserole dish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What the dough for the above loaf looked like after proving all night in a cold kitchen. If you want to do a slow rise like this and have a centrally heated kitchen then put your dough into the fridge overnight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Method 3 loaf: easy-peasy and perfect! </span></div>
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Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-74532022829505285602020-02-09T22:23:00.000+00:002020-02-10T20:41:34.887+00:00SeptuagesimaI was explaining to a Protestant friend the other day why the concept of the 'January blues' didn't exist while England was Catholic. Having fasted and abstained throughout Advent right up until Christmas Eve, people could <i>look forward</i> to a joyful month of feasting and celebrating the birth of Christ at a time when nature was at its least hospitable. Food would have been stored and prepared for these happy weeks, and just as familiarity started to pall the merriment, Holy Mother Church calls time on the partying and focuses our minds on mortality, the Four Last Things, The Way of the Cross... It's time to prepare for Lent.<br />
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This last week between Candlemas and Septuagesima is a strange one: liturgically it feels like neither fish nor fowl. Like CS Lewis’s Wood Between the Worlds. Should we consider it the octave of the Presentation / Purification of the BVM, or prep-time for the start of the Easter cycle? On balance I've opted for the former -- so wine, cake and good Armagnac have been in evidence. Today, however, it was back to purple vestments and goodbye to the Alleluia and Gloria, at least until Laetare Sunday.<br />
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But today is still a Sunday and so we had a plain cake ('Winter Cake' -- a plain cake with mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg, stuffed with slivers of apple) with dinner and I have a nice glass of Janneau to keep me company as I write this. Little pleasures, from which we will take our leave during Lent.<br />
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<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-29285556210643660902020-02-09T16:00:00.000+00:002020-02-09T20:58:03.972+00:00Corporal acts of mercy - help a fellow Traditional Catholic<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If Mac was a snow-woman...</td></tr>
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My dear <a href="http://mulier-fortis.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Cat-holic friend Mac</a> is in need of assistance to help her through a difficult stage in her life.<br />
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She writes:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, Trebuchet, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>I'm a 52 year old woman, living alone with my cat. I've worked as a Science teacher for 20 years. I lost my job due to health problems: I'm waiting for total knee replacement surgery because, due to a road traffic accident in my teens and corrective surgery which went awry, my knees are now crippled with severe pain from arthritis and degenerative bone damage. I'm on crutches, but can't get very far, and am taking morphine for the pain. It took a while for the benefits system here to acknowledge that I was really ill and give me the (hopefully) temporary financial support until I have the operations I need to get me back on my feet and into the classroom again. While sorting out my financial situation, I found it impossible to keep up the repayments on my car. Despite offering to restart paying £200 per month, the finance company want to repossess the vehicle, unless I can pay off the £4126 that is outstanding. I don't have any savings with which to do so, and, if I lose the car, I'm going to find it impossible to get out of the house at all for shopping and doctors' appointments. Getting finance for another car will be impossible with this default on my record. And that will make getting another teaching job so much harder when I've recovered from the surgery... So, I'm hoping that I can raise the funds to pay the outstanding balance on my car. It seems a small amount, but, as I said, I haven't any savings, or any assets. And, while there are so very many more worthy causes out there, I feel guilty asking for money... but if I get enough to keep the car, I can pay forward each month to other good causes.</i></span></blockquote>
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I have been in three parishes with Mac and she has been an indispensable help to the priests in each of them. She has been variously sacristan, schola leader, safeguarding lead, catechist, office dogsbody (catsbody?) and more (often all at once). She has taken private vows and is a powerhouse of prayer as well as kind and devout person. Without her car Mac would be housebound -- which would make Mass, helping in the parish and finding paid work after her operation all impossible.<br />
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Please help her to stay mobile if you can -- donate on the link below:<br />
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<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-mac-mobile" target="_blank">https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-mac-mobile</a><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-fill-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, Trebuchet, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre;"><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-text-fill-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, Trebuchet, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre;"><br /></span>Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-44280091036590840472016-12-11T19:43:00.002+00:002016-12-11T19:47:23.639+00:00Gaudete Sunday in MargateA beautiful Missa Cantata for Gaudete Sunday 11 December 2016 celebrated by Father Timothy Finigan at St Austin and St Gregory, Margate. We were treated to sublime sacred music by the schola Cantabo Domine who sang Lotti's <i>Missa Brevis in D minor </i> as well as <i>O Bone Jesu </i>by Palestrina; <i>O Magnum Mysterium </i> by Victoria, and Palestrina's <i>Alma Redemptoris Mater. </i>It was a splendid way to prepare for the second half of Advent.<br />
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(Apologies for the photos being out of order!)<br />
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<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-17466489976858263892016-08-30T12:47:00.000+01:002016-08-30T12:48:59.575+01:00LMS Ely to Walsingham Pilgrimage 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">3 Days. 60 miles. At least 60 decades of the Rosary. Countless litanies. Scores of hymns and marching songs. Many friendships. Innumerable graces. Deo gratias!</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">If you haven't done this pilgrimage, do consider it. It was my first time, and I'm pleased to say that I managed to walk the whole thing. It <i>is</i> physically difficult, but nothing that a reasonably fit adult can't manage. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">In a way it needs to be gruelling in order to reach that place of </span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">inner</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;"> peace that allows for fruitful prayer. For me it was a profoundly spiritually healthy experience and one which I've been waiting many years to do... </span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">I had to wait until my children were either old enough to complete the walk themselves (around 11-12 seems to be realistic) or were old enough to be left for 5 days with somebody else while I was on pilgrimage (which is what we did with the littlies - 7 & 9 - this year). The older two children joined us. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">Walking a pilgrimage as a family (or partial family) is probably quite different than walking alone: I was moved by how stoic my </span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">children were in the face of demanding physical hardship, how prayerful they were, how cheerful and helpful they were to others. Walking in prayer for long hard miles with my husband nourished our marriage in way that I didn't expect. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">Walking alone or with old or new friends offered countless possibilities for insights and inspirations. Having confession heard by an excellent priest whilst walking through a forest was a novel (but very positive) experience. 60 miles is a long way. It feels much further on foot than it does, say, in a car or even on a bike. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">The last mile on the Saturday was probably the hardest: the sky clouded over, the wind became fierce and heavy rain lashed down. Still, we managed to enter Great Massingham singing Jubilate Deo. Loudly, happily; a glorious burst of praise. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">May God help us all to keep singing in the face of adversity until next year's pilgrimage. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">I hope I see some of you there. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">We arrived for the first night: fresh and ready to walk...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">There was a sense of excitement the evening before we left Ely...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Ely Cathedral: the start of our pilgrimmage. Morning of Day 1 (Friday)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Ely Cathedral</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Ely Cathedral</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Ely Cathedral</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; line-height: 18px; outline: none; text-align: left; width: auto;" tabindex="0">Ely Cathedral. This photo and the next three -- A history lesson: the work of the iconoclasts. One has to wonder how convinced the 16th C proto-Isis "reformers" were about what they were doing to leave walls that speak more eloquently of their folly than any historian could do.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Reformation vandalism.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoCfgHlCR3H5JydgoGkfL0e8k-ctlywrrQhS6oLJ-1lDY5YLbjuaBTcFs9a7G7kI_80PBnHpLItk-AKgX_5GokYG53Pr-Fk_PkVizkFjyxkHZjaAm7fFvcoaFv58HM0MfjzfPJtOCpe_GI/s1600/10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoCfgHlCR3H5JydgoGkfL0e8k-ctlywrrQhS6oLJ-1lDY5YLbjuaBTcFs9a7G7kI_80PBnHpLItk-AKgX_5GokYG53Pr-Fk_PkVizkFjyxkHZjaAm7fFvcoaFv58HM0MfjzfPJtOCpe_GI/s320/10.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Reformation vandalism.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZdKOTOBtvL7F7uZxEe7vTKthAH1KTG_zTHgBIcCM2CywplZwka8fIbWTJW31Gpz5rM-559m3UOU0gg9ffJtNtH5Q9Le3X4CRUPZ7-q31gfPlZYuT78-FzMyf7p-DCSs-G6n93B6bpZTH/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZdKOTOBtvL7F7uZxEe7vTKthAH1KTG_zTHgBIcCM2CywplZwka8fIbWTJW31Gpz5rM-559m3UOU0gg9ffJtNtH5Q9Le3X4CRUPZ7-q31gfPlZYuT78-FzMyf7p-DCSs-G6n93B6bpZTH/s320/11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Leaving Ely. Mile one of sixty.</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZFzAGLGtCSEZMwlixAEdx2ecibYoH_AtEhBCTENypKFSuBEqIIfNHgkqvktLfmNKbhifShdVFeGjkMmlAIytUdMOV0jzJrQ8A-wv0VtMBeWCzyjt7zmYdZ_CUgYaOvJDGBm6LGuu2P2y/s1600/12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZFzAGLGtCSEZMwlixAEdx2ecibYoH_AtEhBCTENypKFSuBEqIIfNHgkqvktLfmNKbhifShdVFeGjkMmlAIytUdMOV0jzJrQ8A-wv0VtMBeWCzyjt7zmYdZ_CUgYaOvJDGBm6LGuu2P2y/s320/12.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">"Faith of our fathers, Mary's prayers</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Shall win our country back to thee;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">And through the truth that comes from God</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">England shall then indeed be free."</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMiVhGXBoQc64VRoSy6Wzu9Myf6GqzJJiVxPhVq_QCs626myE0jSRTqQ9ITpFrszRZwLVbfRL3pZ2Fw6xnb-M-fth43RkJUhbjYHX_J-BYYgSTUQnc9eb7J-NcnuoY4XqEH-L6jbLT1nr/s1600/13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMiVhGXBoQc64VRoSy6Wzu9Myf6GqzJJiVxPhVq_QCs626myE0jSRTqQ9ITpFrszRZwLVbfRL3pZ2Fw6xnb-M-fth43RkJUhbjYHX_J-BYYgSTUQnc9eb7J-NcnuoY4XqEH-L6jbLT1nr/s320/13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; line-height: 18px; outline: none; text-align: left; width: auto;" tabindex="0">"Blest Isle! With machless, with machless beauty crown'd,<br />And many hearts to guard the fair."</span><br />
<div class="pts fbPhotoProductsTagList" id="fbPhotoSnowliftProductsTagList" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: 'San Francisco', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; padding-top: 5px; text-align: left;">
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<div class="pts fbPhotoLegacyTagList" id="fbPhotoSnowliftLegacyTagList" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: 'San Francisco', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; padding-top: 5px; text-align: left;">
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
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<div class="mvm fbPhotosPhotoOwnerButtons stat_elem" id="fbPhotoSnowliftOwnerButtons" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: 'San Francisco', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; text-align: left;">
<div class="_51xa _3-8m _3-90" id="photosTruncatingUIButtonGroup" style="display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-right: 8px; margin-top: 4px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">
<a class="_42ft _4jy0 fbPhotosPhotoActionsTag taggingOff photosTruncatingUIButton _4jy3 _517h _51sy" data-buttonname="tagPhoto" data-ft="{"tn":"+;"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011013095597&sk=photos&collection_token=100011013095597%3A2305272732%3A69&set=a.285563871820714.1073741841.100011013095597&type=3&uploaded=32#" id="u_jsonp_17_4y" role="button" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f6f7f9; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(206, 208, 212); box-sizing: content-box; color: #4b4f56; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px 8px; position: relative; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: middle; z-index: 1;"><i class="_3-8_ img sp_siOxddZAtHh_2x sx_fc6ee7" style="background-image: url(https://www.facebook.com/rsrc.php/v2/yU/r/NDpBragSqoF.png); background-position: -49px -280px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 85px 329px; bottom: 1px; display: inline-block; height: 12px; margin-right: 4px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 12px;"></i></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTH7bIvfsxaRe8ZBlYvxKMa1LKMZdICxTDhJAJtNTSioSwWVLNCCNtA4GMtlpQGH6UpBWM1MaaB_QxVdZuDLZjTjp3kn7ldMrEEfJRXNAFvOr_Q_oOhhAcRfaeibjrdGe0mhhdFKk7iWl/s1600/14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTH7bIvfsxaRe8ZBlYvxKMa1LKMZdICxTDhJAJtNTSioSwWVLNCCNtA4GMtlpQGH6UpBWM1MaaB_QxVdZuDLZjTjp3kn7ldMrEEfJRXNAFvOr_Q_oOhhAcRfaeibjrdGe0mhhdFKk7iWl/s320/14.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">The first and very welcome rest stop. Little did we know we were about to head into 90 minutes of walking through knee-high nettles!</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpM38Nt30WAQGBY_T4tZBZ8MtemJbDYeo4JjzExgWnT6B87txyOlhn3ZTtKZ8amZ0ULHtKSe_KTVMO71UWA7bkR69dgGSA-_sHgxz3x7VMZhQVGs3ssdbkG7R93daCOcboEd0PZDAJlTF3/s1600/15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpM38Nt30WAQGBY_T4tZBZ8MtemJbDYeo4JjzExgWnT6B87txyOlhn3ZTtKZ8amZ0ULHtKSe_KTVMO71UWA7bkR69dgGSA-_sHgxz3x7VMZhQVGs3ssdbkG7R93daCOcboEd0PZDAJlTF3/s320/15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">"Lorsque la nuit paisible</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Nous invite au sommeil,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Près de nous, invisible,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Restez jusqu'au réveil"</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGgJkshaSUZy_mngPnsU-JqlBPuTFj9LpyzJ_YkEhwt9zXoZvNDYVpgSGs7aqPW99syRPU3NFWf5ZQCivrLUwLvLjU1xuJ-L1N5gh-L0A6WFC22f2FBwqAKxYGViH651lBrqqeWgQetPh/s1600/16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGgJkshaSUZy_mngPnsU-JqlBPuTFj9LpyzJ_YkEhwt9zXoZvNDYVpgSGs7aqPW99syRPU3NFWf5ZQCivrLUwLvLjU1xuJ-L1N5gh-L0A6WFC22f2FBwqAKxYGViH651lBrqqeWgQetPh/s320/16.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGyrhj6-vBdPlQNJhwVcyqbBjH9XxHX9tkssOA7osFeSlXVCMaxh9i9UVpYlV5uyP1_eITfaOaZ4xa9yvPt3vnYAlLkIrH7Akwm2EelWTfsbqOZUEPxGqFIYeBAcHEqGvw7rqi2NPdCSyn/s1600/17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGyrhj6-vBdPlQNJhwVcyqbBjH9XxHX9tkssOA7osFeSlXVCMaxh9i9UVpYlV5uyP1_eITfaOaZ4xa9yvPt3vnYAlLkIrH7Akwm2EelWTfsbqOZUEPxGqFIYeBAcHEqGvw7rqi2NPdCSyn/s320/17.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">This was one of the stranger signs we saw along the way.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlqIVFZhQaykesVrKoMDjlPif5D8sbQ3OIz6niYeR3tTyccB0Kn88bP0Yd4TyTXEZdNNUSeEvugp69qw_fIy4ELbEPxmG-qw2iAZChBhAqiWynYQM-YZzIMHbI_zchGxvrB1cua6xC58m2/s1600/18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlqIVFZhQaykesVrKoMDjlPif5D8sbQ3OIz6niYeR3tTyccB0Kn88bP0Yd4TyTXEZdNNUSeEvugp69qw_fIy4ELbEPxmG-qw2iAZChBhAqiWynYQM-YZzIMHbI_zchGxvrB1cua6xC58m2/s320/18.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; line-height: 18px; outline: none; text-align: left; width: auto;" tabindex="0">"Oxburgh Hall: built by the Bedingfeld family in the 15th C an they have lived here ever since. Today mos of hte house belongs to the National Trust , but the Bedingfeld's still live there and they still own the chapel. We are very grateful to Sir Henry and Lady (Mary) Bedingfeld for welcoming us to Oxburgh Hall and allwing us to use the chapel for Mass." (From the LMS Pilgrim's Handbook 2016)</span><span class="fbPhotoTagList" id="fbPhotoSnowliftTagList" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span class="fcg" style="color: #90949c; font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUiFfdgyggIgfKDcOMFOy52DbA42vAFcYJvLtmdwp8x3_-CNT6znAgu5gl73m2U7h9V_Xp6neMym-4h2r7d-7v79SkMt25reR-ECv9pgTqZps136Ain1rDdpi1nXhviz7iv3mAwjBwkUw/s1600/19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUiFfdgyggIgfKDcOMFOy52DbA42vAFcYJvLtmdwp8x3_-CNT6znAgu5gl73m2U7h9V_Xp6neMym-4h2r7d-7v79SkMt25reR-ECv9pgTqZps136Ain1rDdpi1nXhviz7iv3mAwjBwkUw/s320/19.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">A brief rest stop along the road.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfKhslfQzgIDIiUlQpOoNNjGX_6pvIvEtek_bvmksuxRAWomkD-V1m3UQuN_wAqWZULGzODSVfAYgm2otOYYSNpBIkQz0ObsGT8wRd4oa-NEuO7d_fcaHntqZgRqn8gifCxSWaSkbtQ8bn/s1600/20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfKhslfQzgIDIiUlQpOoNNjGX_6pvIvEtek_bvmksuxRAWomkD-V1m3UQuN_wAqWZULGzODSVfAYgm2otOYYSNpBIkQz0ObsGT8wRd4oa-NEuO7d_fcaHntqZgRqn8gifCxSWaSkbtQ8bn/s320/20.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Castle Acre priory: founded 1089, stolen by Henry VIII & given to the Duke of Norfolk in 1539; the monks were turned out and the priory was left in ruins. More fruits of the "Reformation". </span><br />
<br style="color: #1d2129; font-family: 'San Francisco', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">"Faith of our fathers, living still</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">In spite of dungeon, fire and sword;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">O how our hearts beat high with joy</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Whenever we hear that glorious Word!"</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vU2ZGh7meJPtHJx0KtBWnh5p0aJKhol6s4QEaTi1AJLqHMPF7lRinEld9IfrS7SOj-S6WxNk-Ji5_Ldv6J-GymNpLNhCdh_mtmB2HcZWPMcMINAiX0H3bOx8j7EwOJyPy_iedTzVjagE/s1600/21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vU2ZGh7meJPtHJx0KtBWnh5p0aJKhol6s4QEaTi1AJLqHMPF7lRinEld9IfrS7SOj-S6WxNk-Ji5_Ldv6J-GymNpLNhCdh_mtmB2HcZWPMcMINAiX0H3bOx8j7EwOJyPy_iedTzVjagE/s320/21.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Soaking wet! A torrential deluge hit us the last mile of our longest walking day. The 24th mile was the hardest. However thanks to </span>Lucy Shaw<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;"> and </span>Clare Auty <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">and their able team, a wonderful meal and moral support awaited the cold, wet pilgrims.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLqgh69MGLmzVaW9wsvzNTXcSkcp2dJDV2oGer-1qC9evw1Auq6p71tcoGjzcSVxPYnAar7gzzaUT2RtViilFes5D_bNrv_IrF5L4vkdTNSvAbeX03z0Af4j4bZqOvo9ezgF1TCIG4oI1k/s1600/22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLqgh69MGLmzVaW9wsvzNTXcSkcp2dJDV2oGer-1qC9evw1Auq6p71tcoGjzcSVxPYnAar7gzzaUT2RtViilFes5D_bNrv_IrF5L4vkdTNSvAbeX03z0Af4j4bZqOvo9ezgF1TCIG4oI1k/s320/22.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; line-height: 18px; outline: none; text-align: left; width: auto;" tabindex="0">Father, in heaven employ thy prayer,<br />lest we, whom happier times befriend,<br />forgetful of our birthright there,<br />On this dull world our love should spend."</span><span class="fbPhotoTagList" id="fbPhotoSnowliftTagList" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span class="fcg" style="color: #90949c; font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCRApp2kxr8Z439c-L4ItLW-T25O4mEvoiiV6MZG3Xo2tFlkROlVqMmPAVLo2XhSpEo_mFd_edfKD5IqC_qeTl1ljaa8iOgf-Ohahs7ZsmWRRZU5Og7BfFWl8rvWpfQldSYcS9lTceUk4Y/s1600/23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCRApp2kxr8Z439c-L4ItLW-T25O4mEvoiiV6MZG3Xo2tFlkROlVqMmPAVLo2XhSpEo_mFd_edfKD5IqC_qeTl1ljaa8iOgf-Ohahs7ZsmWRRZU5Og7BfFWl8rvWpfQldSYcS9lTceUk4Y/s320/23.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">"Yet a thin stream of pilgrims still walked the old way,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">And hearts longed to see this night turned into day."</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBTMX0xfa4SfwfE4JUw0USocWLIJTgryv-29DK7AvOXRXwT8ESXzt4heZ6bQm22syhRnBH4yYzL5MnX2BlDymVA7xxLemovRXq3vn2N_3NTp_dbi-ZnqqFBf0jW4oYxMgi3bmfw8i3zlt/s1600/24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBTMX0xfa4SfwfE4JUw0USocWLIJTgryv-29DK7AvOXRXwT8ESXzt4heZ6bQm22syhRnBH4yYzL5MnX2BlDymVA7xxLemovRXq3vn2N_3NTp_dbi-ZnqqFBf0jW4oYxMgi3bmfw8i3zlt/s320/24.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">In addition to the the hardships, great fun was had by all, new friendships forged and old ones cemented.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYDCICuAGyvGx4RrWuYeQDI2wJZGKodabvfQoYGgC7ACNyCmtbWNMqDrs6v0CyM1dKC2cyAZ8JRYDve0bplwdna2aIUURt8NLV8UWZYVYgHLSkPYuAwFwheTUeBVeJVeBjNxBcRHJBcUOD/s1600/25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYDCICuAGyvGx4RrWuYeQDI2wJZGKodabvfQoYGgC7ACNyCmtbWNMqDrs6v0CyM1dKC2cyAZ8JRYDve0bplwdna2aIUURt8NLV8UWZYVYgHLSkPYuAwFwheTUeBVeJVeBjNxBcRHJBcUOD/s320/25.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Along the pilgrims' way</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVehubs_NzAiOAGEkqUXmbohG6y6dKdtXEs8q0sem5yr0-mvyImVH75cI9Ld-p4uAe1emYaENtbqE-KN_xb0bYkzscNgMO-11nXN3OwdWoMwQmEC_ViQrwVgJq3ISOj-z6puWjE9fhDGe/s1600/26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVehubs_NzAiOAGEkqUXmbohG6y6dKdtXEs8q0sem5yr0-mvyImVH75cI9Ld-p4uAe1emYaENtbqE-KN_xb0bYkzscNgMO-11nXN3OwdWoMwQmEC_ViQrwVgJq3ISOj-z6puWjE9fhDGe/s320/26.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Getting closer... how glad we were to see this sign!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtiofvtdc75F8IyU31vMZPAcPR1a271rraf2Cjow10jP-aTiQISX-2TagdMCJrqxjFMiUCdjZXSSVksqj24ZRlyVptlLF6TAbRDXPUBYy3thJ116AKyfLaaRFGyZIY-7NzPZTvon6N1sLj/s1600/27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtiofvtdc75F8IyU31vMZPAcPR1a271rraf2Cjow10jP-aTiQISX-2TagdMCJrqxjFMiUCdjZXSSVksqj24ZRlyVptlLF6TAbRDXPUBYy3thJ116AKyfLaaRFGyZIY-7NzPZTvon6N1sLj/s320/27.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Almost there. Lovely husband multitasking while carrying the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQEGFjmSAI99fnjxyeti8feVwg78g_M_5zTXINMCYt0iPwnSQ1nK38Cuq8DVrsEajUXL59S2Zh8MLT2s2J0FCgaK82Ok2hyphenhypheng8ne4oEEJ5Fh-K9q9esI6xt7hxCluvbNdun1j7zUNLjJ4n/s1600/28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQEGFjmSAI99fnjxyeti8feVwg78g_M_5zTXINMCYt0iPwnSQ1nK38Cuq8DVrsEajUXL59S2Zh8MLT2s2J0FCgaK82Ok2hyphenhypheng8ne4oEEJ5Fh-K9q9esI6xt7hxCluvbNdun1j7zUNLjJ4n/s320/28.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">The Pilgrim's mile between the Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham and the ruins of Walsingham Abbey. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Traditionally this is walked barefoot.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqT3forkqJDlqFLWXI3sASQ791ikpF5j6DnysQHEQCv_Hohjqs86cJhu_OLZL2OPT8tjUGeB3c85pMOcvM-ne6rx6ut9P-yzPgjcNxmDapLHLa30FCSyoROCfkTA3Z1UJnqlDRuGXjoBzu/s1600/29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqT3forkqJDlqFLWXI3sASQ791ikpF5j6DnysQHEQCv_Hohjqs86cJhu_OLZL2OPT8tjUGeB3c85pMOcvM-ne6rx6ut9P-yzPgjcNxmDapLHLa30FCSyoROCfkTA3Z1UJnqlDRuGXjoBzu/s320/29.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">The ruins of the Walsingham Abbey. The former site of the Holy House is marked by a wooden plaque in the grass.</span><br />
<br style="color: #1d2129; font-family: 'San Francisco', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">"But at last came a King who had greed in his eyes,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">And he lusted for treasure with fraud and with lies.</span><br />
<br style="color: #1d2129; font-family: 'San Francisco', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">The order went forth; and with horror 'twas learned,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">That the Shrine was destroyed and the Image was burned"</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoKxLv6C9-s4uYr4sqp_-3QEQ9tLQIZJN-iHksOSHuS-tcX8g1ZUqChURlGoRT_MiRmVkyz6yUMApssz8wMEl37wc7UugpNhgIzTmaXbPKvakjUbmxVN3FoZ8Lp9fLuUu0K273Go_ZgVE/s1600/30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoKxLv6C9-s4uYr4sqp_-3QEQ9tLQIZJN-iHksOSHuS-tcX8g1ZUqChURlGoRT_MiRmVkyz6yUMApssz8wMEl37wc7UugpNhgIzTmaXbPKvakjUbmxVN3FoZ8Lp9fLuUu0K273Go_ZgVE/s320/30.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">40 English Martyrs: picture in the Pilgrims' Guest House, Walsingham village.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1fXP0xEAz3JrRtsAY2j2g6Vquh-MlDI1wvUccCDMD4eOKft_lDKGbgTNrguviQqVXNK9zR8pEqMxmb0H6oR-xr1tLD7_XOw09cf9CX0Hs8zpLdD81FKNjx3MmSrQ5KbbTLQyc3LAgl7x/s1600/31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1fXP0xEAz3JrRtsAY2j2g6Vquh-MlDI1wvUccCDMD4eOKft_lDKGbgTNrguviQqVXNK9zR8pEqMxmb0H6oR-xr1tLD7_XOw09cf9CX0Hs8zpLdD81FKNjx3MmSrQ5KbbTLQyc3LAgl7x/s320/31.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Monday morning Mass, Votive Mass of Our Lady with commemoration of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist; Basilica of Our Lady of Walsigham (aka the Slipper Chapel). Celebrant is Fr Michael Rowe; My eldest son (14) is MC.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLo_MDeluh2wZUvfsED7Be5JVXcY-FDlXlLDzb253eLPR3KPcO5txCV4I8g8Qpy80vs4mPhx5PRObIR9V8fnngvEesJ_5PJVY2YLZ7o4Ha2f1iE525P5kYp6RyKyNvMccVpbewL60zup6Q/s1600/32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLo_MDeluh2wZUvfsED7Be5JVXcY-FDlXlLDzb253eLPR3KPcO5txCV4I8g8Qpy80vs4mPhx5PRObIR9V8fnngvEesJ_5PJVY2YLZ7o4Ha2f1iE525P5kYp6RyKyNvMccVpbewL60zup6Q/s320/32.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">"Still pilgrim feet are treading, along the holy way,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; text-align: left;">Hostess of England's Nazareth, receive us home today"</span></td></tr>
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<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-60602782863267110002016-05-31T17:07:00.000+01:002016-12-12T17:09:42.506+00:00High winds and holiness in a field in NorfolkThe bank holiday weekend at the end of May signals the start of our family pilgrimage to Walsingham. Together with around 60 other Catholic families we spend from Friday through Monday camping in a field, sharing food, conversation, support and prayer. It's a wonderful spiritual retreat complete with penances of high winds, cold nights and driven rain. Yet despite the privations (no showers for 4 days!) we always feel refreshed -- if physically tired -- after the pilgrimage. The daily Masses, the communal prayer (morning prayer, Rosary, night-time prayer), the talks and the fellowship all combine to provide a spiritual shot in the arm<br />
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This year we were particularly blessed to have Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke as our guest. His Eminence had kindly given his time to spend several days in a wet field in Norfolk with a small number of Catholic families: what a boost to our vocations that was. And what a gift to the Church ++Burke is. Please pray for this holy, humble and charitable prince of Holy Mother Church.<br />
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<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-49880453279735995902015-12-06T15:35:00.002+00:002015-12-06T15:35:42.694+00:00The only thing better than a favouite mantilla......is a favourite mantilla blessed by a favourite Cardinal!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">++Burke with an exhausted crozier-bearer, Ramsgate March 2014</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I was delighted to meet Cardinal Raymond Burke earlier this year when he celebrated High Pontifical Mass at St Augustine's Shrine Church in Ramsgate. It was a glorious Mass (<a href="http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/cardinal-burke-at-ramsgate.html" target="_blank">Fr Finigan's excellent description is well worth reading</a>, and<a href="http://mulier-fortis.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/solemn-pontifical-high-mass.html" target="_blank"> Mulier Fortis has some wonderful photographs</a> of the evening) and we enjoyed meeting the very warm and affable ++Burke after the Mass at a reception. Many people asked him to bless items for them, and he obliged. I had a favourite Rosary with me, but alas! it had already been blessed by the admirable <a href="http://defende-nos-in-proelio.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Bishop%20Mark%20Davies" target="_blank">+Davies (of whom, as regular readers will know, we are great fans)</a> and so I thought that I had nothing to be blessed. What a shame. Afterwards I discovered that a friend had had her mantilla blessed and that another had his missal blessed (and inscribed!) by ++Burke. Oh alas and alack! If I had only thought...<br />
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Well all was not lost. We were thrilled to have Cardinal Burke back again in England for this year's traditional Confirmations and to celebrate the LMS' annual requiem Mass at Westminster Cathedral. Cardinal Burkes schedule was unrelenting and we didn't have an opportunity to meet him again properly this time, but my dear friend <a href="http://www.lmschairman.org/2014/06/a-catholic-approach-to-fashion-part-1.html" target="_blank">Queen of Puddings</a> kindly arranged to have him bless my favourite mantilla (the heavy-duty all-weather survival one) and I received it back - blessed!<br />
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Thrilled just isn't the word.<br />
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<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-26379456187292271982015-12-06T14:57:00.000+00:002015-12-06T14:57:24.966+00:0010 Ideas for AdventA little late from the starting blocks with this, but still worth sharing: Father Tim Finigan has some <a href="http://margatecatholic.org/2015/11/10-ideas-for-advent/" target="_blank">excellent suggestions on his parish website of ways to observe the season of Advent in order to prepare for the birth of Our Lord.</a> I was particularly taken by the simple suggestion of praying a Hail Mary before opening a window on the Advent calendar: a tiny pause for thought and reflection.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image from <a href="http://www.thepodcompany.co.uk/3d_pop-up_nativity_scene_advent_calendar.htm" target="_blank">The Pod Company</a></span></td></tr>
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Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-11423714132256583712015-10-16T19:06:00.000+01:002015-10-16T19:06:28.707+01:00The most cheerful thing to come out of Synod 2015 so far......possibly the only uplifting thing at all is this marvellous take of Gillbert & Sullivan's classic with an eye turned towards Teutonic heresy: I am the very model of a modern German Cardinal. We've been singing along in chorus while I've been making dinner this evening.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/227890439&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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"I know the Church’s history, from Schillebeeckx to G D Boff<br />
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<span class="s1">I like to wear bad vestments and I’m apt to take my cassock off</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of the traditionalists</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I make outrageous statements and proceed to slander journalists</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I’m very prone to avarice, and harbouring of catamites</span></div>
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<span class="s1">And mawkish modern liturgies with troupes of female acolytes..."</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It's worth listening to the whole thing ... full lyrics <a href="https://jessicahof.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/german-cardinals-song/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Wouldn't it be spendid if somebody made an English version? Just saying.</span></div>
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Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-16256027824930369732015-10-16T13:31:00.000+01:002015-10-16T13:31:24.159+01:00Prayer for the family: Synod 2015A friend, currently in Rome, asked me to share this prayer. Please pray: pray, pray, pray like you've never prayed before. The stakes are high and the smoke of Satan lingers ....<br />
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But above all remember Our Lord's promise: the gates of Hell will not prevail.<br />
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<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-59133525041029605172015-09-21T16:15:00.000+01:002015-09-21T21:46:27.329+01:00The Seven Sorrows of Homeschooling Mothers<br />
This talk by a FSSP priest contains much food for thought and had me oscillating between tears of laughter and tears of sad recognition: any home educating mother will find something to relate to, and I think this deserves to be more widely shared.<br />
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Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-38171218220946730292015-07-24T11:14:00.001+01:002015-07-24T11:14:14.946+01:00Delighted...to see that <a href="http://linenonthehedgerow.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Linen on the Hedgerow</a> is once again viewable. For some reason -- possibly because Blogger doesn't allow deceased authors -- it had been locked down with a <i>violation of terms</i> message for the past couple of months. If you aren't familiar with this wonderful blog then take advantage of once again having the opportunity to explore it; if, like me, you were an avid reader you'll simply be thrilled that it's back live: what a tribute to a lovely man and good strong Catholic. His online contribution to the Faith was immeasurable, and what I knew of his personal offline life reflected the same strength and values.<br />
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Richard's death left a yawning chasm in the Catholic blogosphere: things haven't quite been the same since. He is sorely missed.<br />
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<i><b>Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.</b></i><br />
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This post initially began as a pointer to the<a href="http://archive.org/web/" target="_blank"> Wayback Machine Internet Archive </a>which allows users to see websites that have been removed from the internet (as long as they've been archived). Checking the archive against the live URL I reaslised that Richard's blog was once again viewable in the ordianary way.<br />
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The <a href="http://archive.org/web/" target="_blank">Wayback Machine </a>is still rather amusing should you wish to dig out that first embarrassing hand-coded HTML site you built 20 years ago complete with animated GIFs *cough* and <i>awards</i>. Remember when websites used to be given awards and list them on separate "awards pages". Oh the heady days of 1996 when the 'Net was much less cynical...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, Rat Site Excellence. What we all used to strive for.</td></tr>
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<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-48713751098862185462015-07-20T07:55:00.000+01:002015-07-20T07:55:00.286+01:00A Day with Mary in Margate - pure joy in prayer - Ave Maria!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's a great pleasure to have something unmitigatedly positive to blog about in a world where negativity and cynicism often seem to have the upper hand. Most readers, I'm sure, will have already enjoyed <a href="http://mulier-fortis.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/the-day-with-mary-arrives-in-margate.html" target="_blank">Mulier Fortis' able description of the wonderfu</a>l and, as our friend Bruvver <a href="http://ecclesandbosco.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Eccles</a> would say, <i>spiritually nourishing </i>Day with Mary at the church of <a href="http://margatecatholic.org/" target="_blank">St Austin and St Gregory in Margate</a>. I'm not even going to try to top my dear friend the mantilla'd cat lady's description (<a href="http://mulier-fortis.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/the-day-with-mary-arrives-in-margate.html" target="_blank">go and read it</a> if you haven't already!) but simply share a few thoughts of my own.<br />
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I love <a href="http://www.adaywithmary.org/" target="_blank">A Day with Mary</a> - it's something that our family <a href="http://defende-nos-in-proelio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/a-day-with-mary-at-our-lady-of-rosary.html" target="_blank">has looked forward to each year</a> since we first encountered this wonderful apostolate in 2011. It's a day jam-packed with prayer and devotion but even so, somehow the whole ends up being much greater than the parts.<br />
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My children are particularly enthusiastic - they love the processions and the singing as well as the beautiful medals and devotional items on which they can spend their pocket money. This year's haul included a lovely silver miraculous medal to (finally) replace the one my eldest daughter <a href="http://defende-nos-in-proelio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/what-my-cars-contents-say-about-me.html" target="_blank">lost when we were burgled</a> a couple of year ago (it's the first time she's found one that she liked enough), picture medals of Blessed Francisco & Jacinta for my younger daughter who has a special devotion to the little seers at Fatima, some large medals and a crucifix for my eldest son and a glow-in-the-dark standing crucifix for the youngest (6) who said "now I can see Jesus on the cross when I wake up at night."<br />
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I love the bookstall -- I always come away from ADWM with a decent reading list for the next couple of months...<br />
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The weather was appropriately glorious for Margate's first ever Day with Mary and the town made a picturesque backdrop for the devotional procession while the very bricks echoed back the strains of Ave Maria after each decade of the Joyful Mysteries.<br />
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One of the many lovely things about ADWM is the variety of people that you meet and the way that parishioners and pilgrims blend together and make friends. There is something wonderfully unifying about a church packed to the rafters with smiling, praying, people singing their hearts out to Our Blessed Lord and his Mother. There is something joyfully transcendent about such an experience: I think that it might be a tiny flicker <i>through a glass darkly</i> of what heaven might feel like.<br />
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Another great pleasure of the day was seeing the wonderful Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate whom we have been privileged to get to know over the past few years -- and even go camping with at Walsingham! (OK, they were sensible enough to stay in the pilgrim bureau while we roughed it in a muddy field ... but they did manage to survive the journey home in our van and prayed their office with us before letting the girls visit their convent). We're very fond of them and it was a delight to be treated to their wonderfully pure voices singing the propers to the Solemn Mass and other devotional music throughout the day.<br />
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What else can I tell you? You should come and experience it for yourself: words can't begin to describe the graces that flow from a day like this. For me the high point was the consecration of our parish to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We are so blessed at St Austin & St Gregory: not only do we have a beautiful church, a kind and holy parish priest, a diverse and welcoming congregation and a quiverful of saintly patrons (Gregory the Great, St Augustine, St Anne - patron of the other church in our parish) but now we also enjoy the protection of the Immaculate. It feels like having the best ever spiritual security system installed. Not only was the parish consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary but also every individual and family present consecrated themselves to her care.<br />
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After the stirring and thought provoking sermons, the hours of prayer, reflection and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the joyful singing, processions, confessions, and outpouring of caritas, I think that a spiritual Geiger counter would have measured the parish of St Austin and St Gregory glowing for miles around with the positive outpouring of prayer.<br />
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The demons must have fled in terror.<br />
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Ave Maria!<br />
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Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-57460814326817626862015-06-10T10:20:00.000+01:002015-06-10T10:20:00.102+01:00Amnesty's sad miscarriage story is no reason to legalise abortion in Ireland<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It shouldn't be a surprise that pro-abortion campaigners use information dishonestly, but for some reason I expected more rigour from Amnesty.</span><br />
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Among the heart-rending stories on Amnesty's UK website, presumably intended to illustrate why it is <i>absolutely utterly necessary</i> to allow Irish women to kill the living children in their wombs in order to for them to fulfil their destiny as human beings, is the story of Lupe "a woman who was forced to carry a dead foetus for two months". <span style="font-family: inherit;">You can read Lupe's story </span><a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/abortion-ireland-crime" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The problem with using Lupe as a poster girl for abortion in Ireland, is that as sad as her case may be, it is (as presented on the Amnesty website) utterly irrelevant to any argument about abortion. Lupe had what is commonly known as a missed miscarriage: her baby died in utero at an early stage, but her body - buoyed by the first trimester hormones secreted by the corpus luteum - continued the pregnancy. This isn't uncommon. Many women are sad to discover at the end of their first trimester that their baby has died some weeks earlier. In a normal pregnancy the placenta takes over the regulation of hormones from the corpus luteum around 12 weeks into the pregnancy: this is why there is a statistical cluster of miscarriages at this point: most unviable pregnancies end this way. Like Lupe most woman in this situation will begin to bleed and miscarry normally as soon as the </span>hormonal<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>levels<span style="font-family: inherit;"> drop some time after the 12th week. Until early scans were common, it was not generally understood that the baby had often died weeks before the miscarriage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lupe says that she felt that something was wrong with the pregnancy from an early stage. Again, this is not unusual: many mothers report feeling that something is wrong weeks before a miscarriage becomes evident. In Lupe's case she reports feeling that something was "wrong" around the time the scan indicated her baby had most likely died. I would argue that this is a good case demonstrating a bond between mother and baby; between a human mother and a human baby.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have had two missed miscarriages, both running well into the second trimester. With one of them I remember lying in bed one night, hand on my tummy, talking to my then 9 or 10 week old foetus and suddenly breaking off to say "you're not in there, are you?" The words had just burst out, and they troubled me greatly. For the next couple of weeks I couldn't shake the feeling that there wasn't anyone in my womb. Thus I was shocked and saddened - but not really surprised - when a 12 week scan showed that my baby had died a fortnight earlier. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Losing a baby to miscarriage is devastating on many levels: one thing that makes it much harder than it needs to be is that medical professionals are often clumsy in how they deal with miscarrying women. In British hospitals women having treatment for miscarriage are often put into a ward with women having abortions. In the UK much of the advice and guidance given about medical and surgical management of miscarriage is taken directly from abortion guidelines and is therefore not only not best practice, but is often not relevant to miscarriage. I intend to write more about this in another post, but for now will focus on Amnesty and "Lupe".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lupe's distress appears to come from her perception that her miscarriage was mismanaged and that if she had been offered an abortion things would have been different. This deserves closer scrutiny. The doctors who insisted that Lupe have a second scan were, in fact, doing the right thing. It is a shame that it took two weeks for that scan to materialise, but best practise would suggest leaving at least a week. It is also important to note that the "vaginal scan" (TVS) that Amnesty makes much of is not necessary - an abdominal scan is perfectly capable of verifying foetal demise, although a TVS is clearer. It is important to make sure that a baby has actually died rather than going in guns blazing and emptying "products of conception" from a mother's womb. This second scan and wait is something that - in abortion-happy Britain - I had to ask for. Which brings me to my second point: the safest method of managing a first trimester miscarriage is to allow it to happen naturally. Given the foetal measurement, likely date of demise and the stage of pregnancy, it was almost inevitable that the process would have resolved naturally. Surgical and medical management of miscarriage bring much greater risks to both a woman's health and her fertility. "Wait and see" might not be easy to hear, but it is actually the right thing to do for most women under the circumstances. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's entirely possible that there's something completely <i>urgent</i> that Amnesty left out of their version of Lupe's story, but assuming that there isn't, her treatment seems entirely reasonable under the circumstances. Abortion doesn't come into it because (<i>ta-da!</i>) the baby was <u>already dead</u>. Dead baby discovered by scan = miscarriage. Nobody "forced" Lupe to "carry a dead foetus for two months": she had a missed miscarriage. Her baby had been dead for most of that time before it was discovered by her initial scan. Whilst the fact of the miscarriage is sad, the way it was managed does not seem either unusual or negligent despite the emotive language used on the Amnesty site. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lupe might make a good poster girl for better information to be given to miscarrying women in Ireland, or for better communication skills to be taught to medical professionals, but her story is at best irrelevant and at worst misleading with regard to abortion. For Amnesty to lead her to </span>believe<span style="font-family: inherit;"> that her human rights have been violated </span>because<span style="font-family: inherit;"> her miscarriage was not managed as she would have liked is reprehensible. The greatest risk that Lupe faced was her trip to Spain: nobody in their right mind would suggest that a miscarrying woman travel, let alone travel internationally. A miscarriage can be a messy and uncomfortable business, it can be painful and emotionally draining. It *is not* under normal circumstances a medical emergency, however there is always a risk of haemorrhage and for that reason it is inadvisable to travel far. "Stay close to home and wear dark clothes" was the advice I received from a veteran mother. Travelling from Ireland to Spain for what is a normal </span>physiological<span style="font-family: inherit;"> bodily function seems both risky </span>and<span style="font-family: inherit;"> ridiculous. If Amnesty encouraged this </span>they<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>should<span style="font-family: inherit;"> be held to account. They certainly </span>should<span style="font-family: inherit;"> not be holding it up as an example of how to manage miscarriage, and under no circumstances </span>should<span style="font-family: inherit;"> they be suggesting that it has any </span>relevance<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to abortion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Abortion has never been a treatment for missed miscarriage and never will be. Abortion involves the deliberate killing of a living human in the womb. Miscarriage is when a living human in the womb dies of natural causes. To conflate the two is dishonest and immoral. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><i>Thanks to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/YouthDefence" target="_blank">Youth Defence</a> for the graphic at the top of this post. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/YouthDefence" target="_blank">Like them on Facebook</a>!</i></span></div>
<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D2095829619750296632%23editor%2Ftarget%3Dpost%3BpostID%3D1701154313210708550&media=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-OKoeAtPoHZ4%2FVXcbSg60zZI%2FAAAAAAAAA5s%2FrFZ1B8cfbnM%2Fs320%2F10511616_10153394932302363_8087111354303148839_o.jpg&xm=h&xv=sa1.35&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 193px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 24px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D2095829619750296632%23editor%2Ftarget%3Dpost%3BpostID%3D1701154313210708550&media=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-OKoeAtPoHZ4%2FVXcbSg60zZI%2FAAAAAAAAA5s%2FrFZ1B8cfbnM%2Fs320%2F10511616_10153394932302363_8087111354303148839_o.jpg&xm=h&xv=sa1.35&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 193px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 24px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D2095829619750296632%23editor%2Ftarget%3Dpost%3BpostID%3D1701154313210708550&media=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-OKoeAtPoHZ4%2FVXcbSg60zZI%2FAAAAAAAAA5s%2FrFZ1B8cfbnM%2Fs320%2F10511616_10153394932302363_8087111354303148839_o.jpg&xm=h&xv=sa1.35&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 193px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 24px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D2095829619750296632%23editor%2Ftarget%3Dpost%3BpostID%3D1701154313210708550&media=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-OKoeAtPoHZ4%2FVXcbSg60zZI%2FAAAAAAAAA5s%2FrFZ1B8cfbnM%2Fs320%2F10511616_10153394932302363_8087111354303148839_o.jpg&xm=h&xv=sa1.35&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 193px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 24px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a>Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-17011543132107085502015-06-09T16:39:00.001+01:002015-06-09T16:39:22.292+01:00Human rights have been redefined in the image of the zeitgeist. ( or: What you need to tell chuggers for Amnesty)Throughout the 1980s and early 90s when I was a student I was a fervent supporter of Amnesty International. I raised money for them, attended benefits and did all the usual studenty activities to raise funds and awareness for prisoners of conscience, victims of torture, and displaced persons suffering from human rights abuses. As I grew older and life became busier and more complicated, my involvement with Amnesty waned but I maintained an interest in what I believed to be a worthy organisation and I continued to support them financially.<br />
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Around the turn of the millennium, Amnesty's policy veered into murkier waters, broadening to include less easily defined economic, social and cultural "rights" including easy access to contraception. In 2007 Amnesty - not uncontroversially - declared that abortion was a "human right". Catholics (and anybody with an interest in that most basic of human rights, namely to be allowed to live from conception to natural death) found it impossible to support A.I. after this point. Unfortunately though, many people assuming that past practice would inform future policy, stuck with Amnesty and I am constantly surprised by those who insist that they support Amnesty because of the good that the organisation has done in the past rather than what they campaign for today. Don't. Just please don't. If you don't believe me, have a look at the cover page for UK Amnesty today:<br />
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There is a lack of logic here - abortion kills. Death is the ultimate violation of human rights. If we cannot protect our most vulnerable then whom can we protect?</div>
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Amnesty's own anti-death-penalty campaign page says "The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights, which is why we're working for an end to its use - everywhere." There is apparently a disconnect between this and what the "right" to abortion entails. </div>
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Amnesty are also involved in lobbying to change the definition of marriage in Northern Ireland (and were instrumental in the 'Yes' campaign in the Republic of Ireland's referendum on same-sex "marriage"). The concept of human "rights" has been redefined in the image of the zeitgeist.</div>
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It is worth mentioning all of these because - even if you aren't an active supporter of Amnesty International, it is important to make sure that those who <i>are</i> understand what the organisation stands for now. It is even more important to make sure that those who are are collecting money and direct debits for A.I. are aware what they're collecting for. </div>
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About a year ago I was approached by a chugger for Amnesty on a London street. Rather than politely saying "no thanks" or "I'm busy" I stopped and had a chat. He was a personable young man in his late teens or early 20s. I explained that I had been a big Amnesty supporter at his age, but that since then the organisation had changed its focus. When he asked what I meant, I used abortion as a key example. I said that if an organisation refused to protect the rights of the most vulnerable in our society, they had no business calling themselves a human rights organisation. The young man was horrified: he had no idea that abortion was a key pillar in Amnesty's policies. He thought it was all prisoners of conscience and anti-torture campaigns. Chuggers often don't know a lot about the organisations that they're collecting for, and this particular young black man, coming from a Christian background, was deeply uncomfortable to find out that he was collecting for an organisation that aggressively pushed for abortion to be considered a human right, and funded campaigns for the redefinition of marriage. It was a worthwhile five minutes, and we both left the conversation with something to think about. </div>
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Sometimes the best thing to do in the face of evil is to be informed about the truth, and to speak it as clearly and charitably as possible.</div>
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Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-41923196178602049372015-05-19T14:42:00.000+01:002015-05-19T14:42:42.481+01:00Ashers' Bakery vs the Gay bully boys - Support the McArthur family Bake me a big gay cake ... or else!<br />
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There's something beyond bully-boy tactics in this case which I have always thought stank to high heaven. Even somebody not opposed to the redefinition of marriage could reasonably feel deeply uncomfortable with the projection of a sexual relationship (same0sex or otherwise) onto children's television characters. The same-sex lobby's attempt to "queer history" lies somewhere between pathetic and nauseating, particularly in its steamrollering over any notion of celibacy and platonic friendships (all those chaste saints were actually rampant gays and lesbos don'tcha know?)... but the appropriation of children's characters as gay icons is profoundly unpleasant.<br />
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For this reason alone - that any adult might reasonably object to a sexualisation of children's icons - it seems that the case against Ashers should have always been a non-starter. Taking into account that the slogan asked for was a political one - for a lobby group - the baker's right to decline the business seems equally reasonable. The McArthurs have always been <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3014666/Christian-baker-sued-refusal-make-gay-marriage-cake.html?printingPage=true" target="_blank">clear that their problem was with the message on the cake</a>, not with the customer. Ashers is a family-owned Christian bakery. They are protestants. Imagine if someone had asked them to decorate a cake commemorating fallen IRA murderers as heroes: presumably it would be reasonable to decline? What if the Countryside Alliance wants a pro-fox-hunting cake made? Should a baker who is opposed to fox-hunting be compelled to make it? We all know <a href="http://shoebat.com/2014/12/12/christian-man-asks-thirteen-gay-bakeries-bake-pro-traditional-marriage-cake-denied-service-watch-shocking-video/" target="_blank">what happens when a Christian goes into a gay bakery</a> asking for a cake celebrating natural marriage: Some rights are more equal than others. Four legs good, two legs bad.<br />
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<a href="http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/05/19/christian-bakery-unlawfully-discriminated-by-refusing-to-make-pro-gay-marriage-cake/" target="_blank">Today's verdict finding against Ashers</a> defies logic and decency but is right in line with the zeitgeist. I'll bet that Judge Isobel Brownlie patted herself on the back for showing the rest of the UK just how <i>progressive</i> they can be over there in Norn Iron. Just how far they've moved from that repressive Christianity. The saints and martyrs of Ulster must be weeping.<br />
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There's not a lot those of us not living close enough to patronise Ashers' bakeries can do to practically support the business. For the sake of the McArthur family I'm hoping that they manage to elide the issue by no longer providing cakes with slogans / writing / messages. Perhaps the whole decorated cake part of their business will have to fold - and that's a big part of any bakery's trade - because you can be certain that the bully boys and girls of the LGBT brigade will be doing everything possible to trip Ashers Bakery up, to drag them back into the courts, to make an example of them; because they dared to stand up for the Truth.<br />
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I dropped a short note in the post earlier today thanking Daniel & Amy McArthur for their courage and Christian witness over the last few months. I also assured them of our family's prayers. <b><i>I encourage all of you to do the same.</i></b> The addresses of their bakeries are <a href="http://www.ashersbakingco.com/" target="_blank">on their website</a>: the bakehouse in Newtownabbey is the main address, but I'm sure that post sent to any of their business addresses will find its way to them.<br />
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May God bless and sustain them in their trial.<br />
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<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-1138551024412792402015-04-21T18:58:00.001+01:002015-04-21T18:58:36.981+01:00The other side of the grille<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I first read <a href="http://lifeteen.com/my-side-of-the-confessional-what-is-it-like-for-a-priest/" target="_blank">this humbling and thought provoking article </a>by a priest about his experience on the other side of the confessional some time ago but I came across it again today and thought it worth sharing because it serves as a wonderful reminder of why we often most need to go to confession at those times we least want to.<br />
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Getting hung up on the sinfulness of sin -- the shameful, petty, sordid nature of sin -- is an easy pitfall. It's what makes us despair - small daily habitual sins are so tawdry they grind us down and the wretched baseness of larger sins convinces us to lose hope. In both cases the temptation is to avoid - or delay - going to confession. We become weighed down by the sin itself, which blots out our memory of Our Lord's love and mercy that we so desperately need at those moments of despondency. <br />
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I think that this is precisely what is meant by the <i>glamour</i> of sin as professed in our Baptismal vows. These days we associate glamour with celebrity (think a glamorous film premiere) or with the demi-mondaine (think "glamour models"). In both cases glamour denotes something with a quality that separates it from ordinary life. Sin exists in a parallel shadow world, and its tentacles work to keep us there wallowing in our failings, luring us further away from the good that God has given us, away from the light. Extracting ourselves from the unhappy magnetism of sin is the key: get to confession, whatever it takes.<br />
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As <a href="http://lifeteen.com/my-side-of-the-confessional-what-is-it-like-for-a-priest/" target="_blank">Fr Mike Schmitz reminds us</a>, "Confession is always a place of victory. Whether you have confessed a particular sin for the first time, or if this is the 12,001st time, every Confession is a win for Jesus". Amen to that and please remember to say a prayer to thank God for those priests who in the footsteps of <a href="http://defende-nos-in-proelio.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/i-will-show-you-way-to-heaven.html" target="_blank">St Jean-Marie Vianney</a> spend hours of their lives on the other side of the grille for the good of our immortal souls.<br />
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<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-21044880887612435422015-03-29T12:00:00.000+01:002015-04-02T13:21:12.845+01:00In support of our priests, our families, and our Church<div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You may have seen the recent letter from more than 450 priests in support of the Church’s teaching on marriage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We would like to invite you to sign the letter below, to be sent to the press in support of them, and to encourage others to sign it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">To sign,<u> please leave your name and your diocese</u> in the comments box below, or if you prefer <a href="mailto:defendenosinproelio@gmail.com" target="_blank">email them to me</a> or to one of the coordinators: Mark Lambert (<a href="mailto:mark@landbtechnical.com" target="_blank">mark@landbtechnical.com</a>) or Andrew Plasom-Scott (<a href="mailto:andrewplasom_scott@me.com" target="_blank">andrewplasom_scott@me.com</a>)</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Letter:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dear Sir,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We, the undersigned, wish to endorse and support the letter signed by over 450 priests in the recent edition of the Catholic Herald, <a href="http://bit.ly/19kuBkl" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/19kuBkl</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As laity, we all know from our own family experiences, or those of our friends and neighbours, the harrowing trauma of divorce and separation, and we sympathise with all those in such situations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is precisely for that reason that we believe that the Church must continue to proclaim the truth about marriage, given us by Christ in the Gospels, with clarity and charity in a world that struggles to understand it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For the sake of those in irregular unions, for the sake of those abandoned and living in accordance with the teachings of the Church, and above all for the sake of the next generation, it is essential that the Church continues to make it quite clear that sacramental marriage is indissoluble until death.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We pray, and expect, that our hierarchy will represent us, and the Church’s unwavering teaching, at the Synod this autumn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Yours faithfully,</span></div>
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Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-45046808639476718742015-02-11T07:04:00.000+00:002015-02-11T07:04:00.289+00:00Prayer to Saint Joseph<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Saint Joseph has guided and protected our family, particularly over the past eight or so turbulent months. When we prayed for guidance and direction about where to live, our prayers for intercession were directed to Saint Joseph, beloved foster father of Our Blessed Lord. Although we are now happily moved and settled into a new home and parish, we have friends who are in the throes of moving or buying or selling houses, so we've continued our nightly novena to Saint Joseph for their intentions. I thought that those readers who have not come across it might want to add it to their prayer armoury.<br />
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The beautiful picture (above) of Saint Joseph and the Infant Jesus hangs in our home. I was told by our dear friend <a href="http://www.papastronsay.com/index.html" target="_blank">Pater Michael Mar</a>y that it is a copy of a very old picture recovered from inside a chimney when the <a href="http://papastronsay.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer</a> were renovating a building. You can obtain a copy of this lovely devotional picture for yourself from the <a href="http://www.papastronsay.com/bookshop/product.php?ID=46" target="_blank">Papa Stronsay website</a> (it's possibly the best £2 you will ever spend).<br />
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The prayer can be said as a one-off, as a novena (with the Our Father, Hail Mary & Glory Be appended to it) or (as we've done) as a rolling perpetual novena. However the prayer is said, Saint Joseph, the quiet man of the Gospels, is listening.<br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Prayer to Saint Joseph</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires. O Saint Joseph, assist me by thy powerful intercession and obtain for me all spiritual blessings through thy foster Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord, so that having engaged here below thy heavenly power I may offer thee my thanksgiving and homage.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thine arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near thy heart. Press him in my name and kiss His fine head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Saint Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Holy Saint Joseph, Ora Pro Nobis!</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be)</i></span></div>
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Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-31105504976210289362015-02-03T22:44:00.003+00:002015-02-04T08:29:00.333+00:00Versus populum Masses make me uncomfortable<br />
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It struck me the other evening how enriching the <i>ad orientem</i> orientation is for the layperson in the pews. As our priest led the faithful in the prayers of the (silent) Canon towards the consecration, I was absorbed in prayer, my eyes focused on the figure of the infant Jesus in his Blessed Mother's arms above the crucifix on the altar. There was something profoundly moving about the Blessed Sacrament being lifted in adoration towards both the representation of the Crucifixion and that of Our Lord and his Mother.<br />
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Later, in contemplation after Holy Communion it occurred to me that this intense visual focus would not have been possible if the priest was saying Mass <i>versus populum</i>: even if the priest was a master of directing his gaze away from the congregation, there would be something uncomfortable, even unseemly about staring in the general direction of a person for an extended period -- even if the stare wasn't directed at the priest.<br />
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<i>Ad orientem</i>, the priest all but disappears: he is in <i>alter Christus</i> - he is a conduit for the sacrifice of the Mass, not the "show". This applies whether the Mass is in English or Latin, the Traditional Mass or the Novus ordo. In our culture staring at a person is considered bad manners, a habit avoided from childhood onwards. <i>Ad orientem </i>the priest as person disappears leaving the worshipper free to worship without constraint, without self consciousness, with fewer barriers to their relationship with God.<br />
<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-79876709091915983872015-01-02T02:02:00.001+00:002015-01-02T02:02:35.895+00:00In with the new...There's something deeply reassuring about the gentle rhythms of the liturgical cycle. Singing the Te Deum on New Year's Eve and the Veni Creator Spiritus on New Years's Day is a reminder that no matter what changes or challenges the past year has brought, or the coming year will bring, we will, Deo volente, once again offer praise and thanksgiving when this infant year draws to a close..<br />
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The blog has been quiet for a while: there have been many changes in my (and my family's) life and the orchard I once gazed over from my kitchen window has been replaced by a seascape of muted greys and blues. Our new home is full of packing crates crammed with our worldly possessions and it will take some time for these to be organised... In the meantime I intend to resume blogging but have one small query: my nom-de-plume was the common name of a large apple tree in my former garden. Shall I change it, or shall I remain an apple tree at the seaside?<br />
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In the meantime, here's a jolly singalong to practice for next year:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/33XotuYs-io" width="420"></iframe>Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-80445120916392459372014-09-08T10:08:00.005+01:002014-09-08T10:08:53.202+01:00Happy Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095829619750296632.post-27260864561450948842014-07-17T15:01:00.000+01:002014-07-17T15:01:14.916+01:00If you do one thing today - sign this petition...<a href="http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/67045" target="_blank">...against Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying bill </a>Annie Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04406390389550024888noreply@blogger.com0