This post is a belated gift promised to Dr Laurence Hemming who kindly gave a champagne reception on the occasion of his birthday.
At the reception, Fr Guy Nicholls of the Birmingham Oratory reminded me of the National Pastoral Congress in 1980, organised by the late Archbishop Derek Worlock who was Archbishop of Liverpool. At the end of the Congress, the liturgy was apparently rather grand, prompting one of the participants to ask His Grace whether this was not "triumphalist" and therefore contrary to the spirit of Vatican II.Fr Nicholls caused the collpase of many parties and much snorting of champagne through clerical noses by suggesting that Archbishop Worlock's reply would be appropriate in the context of the Merton Conference:
"It's not triumph. It's joy!"
2 comments:
Joy! Quite so. In an interview with 'The Pill' after Mgr Worlock's death, one of his priests described him as the last of the prince bishops - he certainly celebrated pontifical Mass at his cathedral like a baroque prelate, as far as the music was concerned. The cathedral orchestra was founded during his watch, primarily to perform at Mass on the solemn feasts of the Church's year.
The last time I saw Worlock sing pontifical Mass he was so frail that at the end of Mass he had to be propped up by the assistant deacons and almost had to be carried down from the throne while the choir and orchestra performed the recessional, which on this occasion was the exuberant final chorus 'Hallelujah, Amen' from handel's oratorio, Judas Maccabaeus. The contrast was quite moving.
What A joy to be priest, you can tell. We thank Our Lord for the priesthood, and for the continuity that we are living, that I assume , it is just starting.
thank you for the blog
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