Promoting and preparing for the Papal Visit


This morning my postman delivered copies of the Parish Resources Booklet for the Papal visit. Since the official website has now been updated fairly extensively, I spent some time looking around. Buried rather deeply is a link to the Twitter feed @thepapalvisit and the Facebook page The Papal Visit. I was the 25th person to follow on Twitter and the 187th person to "like" the Facebook page (they have been going for a few weeks.) I post the links here because I think it would be good to get those numbers up somewhat. (It might be an idea to put those links prominently on the front page of the official website.) Do promote them on your own blog, Twitter feed and Facebook wall.

You can also get a poster and web banners (as above) though there is not yet a contact or link for papal flags in various sizes. "Bones" has already commented on merchandise of various sorts and posted a link to items on Zazzle that come up on a search for "Pope Benedict". Perhaps some of you might like to get to work on some more items related to the visit to the UK. [UPDATE: see also Catholics With Attitude which has lots of papal visit t-shirts)

In the Parish Resources Booklet, there are plenty of resources for the kind of event where you meet in a hall, have a "Prayer Focus" with icon, open bible and scented candles on a draped cloth and the programme runs "Welcome and invitation to prayer (5 mins) Gathering Prayer (5 mins) Introduce the theme (1 mins) Sharing time (15-20 mins ) ...." Now look: there are people who love that sort of thing and I hope there are plenty of opportunities for them to share. I will probably facilitate one or two if I can (or facilitate someone else to facilitate them.) The rest of us, who have to resist the temptation to run screaming into the night when ambushed by such an event, it seems to me that we just need to come up with some other ideas rather than spend too much time taking the mickey. (You have to examine your conscience on how much time is just about right.)

To be fair, the Booklet also mentions Novenas, suggesting the Novena to the Sacred Heart (the website has  links to EWTN), and a Holy Hour. In fact it says "Perhaps diarise offering one hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament?", but the Holy Hour could, of course, be solemnly celebrated and include Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Another possibility would be Solemn Vespers, or Rosary and Sermon with Novena devotions. For catechesis, some people would welcome lectures on the Petrine office, the life of Pope Benedict, his teaching, or the history of the Catholic Church in Britain. Feel free to make other suggestions in the combox.

The Booklet is quite right to emphasise the importance of visual signs, so the flags, banners and posters in windows are important. I like the idea of a "Commemorative Gesture" as well. The suggestions are "sponsoring the creation of a garden area" and donating books to a local school or charity. I'm sure readers could come up with some other ideas as well.

There has been a lot of quite justified frustration and annoyance about the arrangements for the visit but we do need to be positive, and make sure that we make a strong show of loyalty to Pope Benedict and use the opportunity of his visit as best we can to deepen in our faith and to extend the Church's mission in our country.

Popular posts from this blog

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

Image
A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
Read more

Downloadable booklets for Vespers

Image
Gregorian Chant Hymns is a most helpful website that I mentioned in a post just over a year ago. As I said then, the site "[...] promotes the learning of Gregorian Chant by making sheet music, recordings, translations, and instructions. There is a short guide to Gregorian Notation (those square notes) and to Latin pronunciation. Everything is available free of charge, in line with other great traditional music websites." Work has continued at the site and there is now a section which makes available pdf (or .docx format) booklets for Vespers for every Sunday of the Year and a few major feasts. There is the basic booklet for ordinary Sunday Vespers which is supplemented by separate files for the Sundays after Pentecost which contain the Magnificat and Collect. Then there are booklets, for example for Advent and Lent, where the office is different from the regular Sunday Vespers with its antiphons. All of the booklets have texts and notation for Benediction and the Maria...
Read more

Erasure releases "Gaudete"

Image
A brother priest has alerted me to the digital release today by Erasure of the track "Gaudete" which is apparently the first single from a new album "Snow Globe" which is to be released as a CD and download bundle in a couple of weeks. I confess that my knowledge of popular music nowadays is as close to zero as makes no difference so I had to look up the above details from the Wikipedia article on Erasure . This also informs us that one of the duo is a gay icon, which made me hesitate about posting this at all. However, on balance I agree with my correspondent that the problem is outweighed by the possibility of making Christ known to a secular audience at Christmas. It is a good idea to know what singers are singing. This would apply to Lady Gaga's recent celebrated performance: I guess some of those cheering it might be less enthusiastic if they knew what she was actually singing about. So here are the lyrics to Gaudete and a translation to help along ...
Read more