At the end of a long day, it is a great pleasure to look back over the glorious success of the first stage of the visit of the Holy Father to Britain. I was premature in thinking that the negative coverage would cease last night. It continued well on into the morning but the tide has now turned. 125,000 Scots turned out to cheer and wave flags as the Holy Father drove along Princes Street in Edinburgh. (In the interests of balance, I should note that there were about 60 protesters.) There were another 70,000 at the Mass at Bellahouston Park, near Glasgow. They had to get there early so must be counted in addition to those lining the streets of Edinburgh.
After spending the morning at home covering the meeting of the Holy Father and Her Majesty the Queen, and the afternoon at the QEII media centre at Westminster covering the Bellahouston Mass, I returned to the parish to call into the Social Club. It was most reassuring to hear some down to earth South Londoners taking the mickey out of this morning's coverage on breakfast TV with its absurd focus on the "empty seats." SKY carries EWTN, so I claimed a special concession to replace the sport with the highlights of the papal visit. There were hoots of laughter at the panoramic pictures of the vast crowd and mocking references to the TV host's assertion "Lots of empty seats, John."
The video above is a good compilation of highlights from this morning's meeting which was a moving introduction to the Apostolic journey. Fr Z has the transcript of the Pope's pres conference on the aeroplane on the way to Scotland. Most people focussed on his comments on child abuse (which were excellent) but I think this comment bears highlighting:
"Where there is anti-Catholicism I will go forward with great courage and joy"A Vatican insider to whom I spoke last week was nervous about the visit (and particularly about the lack of enthusiasm of some Catholics who should know better.) He said to me that the first day would be crucial. I agree with him - and thankfully the first day has been a roaring success.
I did make some negative comments about some aspects of the liturgy at Bellahouston Park. These need to be kept in perspective. Whilst it is right to push for a better celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, we should not lose sight of the tremendous success of today: and you are in for a rare liturgical treat at the Papal Mass at Westminster on Saturday morning. The arrangements for that are superb and will stand as a model for the celebration of the usus recentior.
Tomorrow you will have to grit your teeth a little for the paraliturgical services prepared by the Catholic Education Service for the events at Strawberry Hill. Nevertheless, the addresses of the Holy Father concerning Catholic education will be well worth pondering in detail. In the afternoon, as well as a popemobile ride across Lambeth Bridge and along Millbank to the Palace of Westminster, we look forward to the Holy Father's address at the "Mother of Parliaments". By way of liturgical relief, a fine service has been prepared by the Church of England for the Holy Father's ecumenical visit to Westminster Abbey.
Time for a little sleep now. It is going to be another long day tomorrow - but another glorious one.
8 comments:
Will be watching via EWTN...
may many, many graces be given, despite the "craziness"...God knows, He works wonders even in the midst of the craziness...He is the Lord!
I have to commend you, Fr Tim, on your tremndous coverage so far, of the Papal Visit. This post and the previous ten posts on your blog are, in themselves, an extraordinary report on this historic and grace-filled event. Your blog is leagues ahead of the press and the television. Thanks for your work on these posts.
Watch the crowd at the Nunciature break out spontaneously in Salve Regina while waiting for the Pope!
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=150743028291713 <-- this is the link! oops.
Dear Father,
I was concelebrating at the Mass - it was such an invigorating and joyful experience to process through so many thousands of happy, excited and often young faces - all proud to be Catholic and to be there. I know that there will be niggles about the liturgy but it was an amazing day for all who were there.
"Where there is anti-Catholicism I will go forward with great courage and joy"
I am so moved by these words: our humble Holy Father shows us something of the spirit of the Forty Martys of E+W who also went forward with great courage and joy in the face of anti-Catholicism.
Did anybody catch the Skynews interview with Fr. Stephen Langridge? It was truly inspiring-there, surely, is a Bishop in the making!
Tut, tut Fr Tim. A terminological inexactitude. The "Mother of Parliaments" is NOT Westminster, neither Parliament nor Hall.
John Bright in 1865 said: "We may be proud that England is the ancient country of Parliaments. With scarcely any intervening period, Parliaments have met constantly for 600 years, and there was something of a Parliament before the Conquest. ENGLAND is the mother of Parliaments."
My emphasis and I am a proud member of the West of Scotland branches of both the Irish Catholic Diaspora and the Catholic Drooth Society, neither of which are notedly Anglophilic. But we do like to get things right.
Yes, an absolute success so far.
Big plus especially to Sky News (credit where due and all that...maybe that Papal Knight to Rupert was well considered after all!) for its rolling, generally balanced, coverage - especially from Colin Brazier and Anna Botting.
Big minus to the Guardian's front page today which, even for it, has plumbed new depths of bile. I must say, as wizened as I am to the Grauniad's nasty antics it even surprised me. Quite the most unctuous headline (no-one does unctuousness - a criticism often aimed at the Church - better than scorned atheists). Still, I suppose it's a measure of how successful Scotland was yesterday that all that was left for the Groaniad was to spill poison wherever, however it could. This harks bark to the "PR or not to PR?" debate on here the other week and, I would aver, the Grauniad's treatment of His Holiness today is an example of why I believe the Church has no desperate need to practice PR per se. For it's all too often the case that there's nothing the Church can say that will ever placate those hell bent on twisting a message grotesquely. PR, no. Truth and consistency, yes.
Biggest disappointment so far, though, has been Julie Etchingham's "Tonight" package on ITV yesterday evening. I had high hopes that we'd see some Brazieresque balance from Ms Etchingham but it was quite the most tendentious cut-n-paste job I've witnessed so far (barring Tatchell o'course). The whole thing smacked of "all my media friends know I'm Catholic so I have to show that I'm not soft on the abuse issues". Except she went too far the other way. I note that she was quick enough to include footage of HH with the Duke of Edinburgh yesterday morning but not quick enough to include the Pope's words on Alitalia yesterday. Funny, that. Furthermore, if her defence was that the package was too prepared to tinker with at the last minute then you have to ask how she managed to skew the whole Lawarence Murphy case without including the statements of Fr Tom Brundage who, it seems, is still a central figure to be ignored lest his testimony ruin the facts. Really disappointed in Etchingham.
Fiona O'Reilly of Catholic Voices continues to impress, though.
And as for the Hermeneutical coverage...Catholic blogospherical awards await, I'd say!
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