NOTEBOOK Bash away!
MOST RECENT debates about religion have seen Christians ranged against non-believers but last week saw Dom Antony Sutch part- nering two prominent atheists. Together they argued against the motion, “Stop bashing Christians! Britain is becoming an anti- Christian country.” Dom Antony shared a platform with
Matthew Parris, the Times columnist, and Geoffrey Robertson QC, whose latest book calls for the Pope to be arrested. The Benedictine cleverly turned the argument on its head and his side beat opponents the Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, and the Jewish writer Howard Jacobson. “Carry on bashing us,” Dom Antony told the audience last week at the Royal Geographical Society, Kensington, London. “Don’t we believe that the blood of martyrs is the seed of our faith? I’m not worried about being bashed – carry on!” He denied that Britain was an intolerant
country and insisted that it was still open to Christianity. “I know there is a world of political correctness but most people think they are utterly dotty … all the nurses in my home town of Beccles [Suffolk] wear crosses because I gave them to them as fashion items.”
Dom Antony’s side managed to win the debate, organised by Intelligence Squared, and even swayed opinion. Before the debate 275 were for the motion, 183 against and 181 undecided. Afterwards 216 were in favour, 378 against and 48 undecided.
No body in … A VELVET-draped coffin was the central focus at a Requiem Mass at Westminster Cathedral last week but no remains were inside it. The coffin was used for the traditional ceremonies of Absolutions at the Catafalque – a sequence of prayers and actions used during the Pontifical High Mass of Requiem in the old rite arranged by the Latin Mass Society (LMS).
“It is not de rigueur, but a pious practice which emphasises prayer and supplication for the fate and comfort of souls. It is not an integral part of the Requiem Mass but an add-on ceremony, and it is nice to have it,” John Medlin of the LMS told us. Bishop John Arnold, a Westminster auxiliary, celebrated the Mass and performed the ceremonies at the catafalque, incensing it and sprinkling holy water. This is only the second year the LMS has included ceremonies with a coffin at their annual Mass at the cathedral for the repose of souls of their deceased members and sup-
18 | THE TABLET | 13 November 2010
Fr Frank Daly of St Peter’s Catholic Church
in Hinckley, who heads the town’s AlterNativity committee, said the key principle of the market is that the gifts on offer are affordable for all members of the community – ranging in price from £1 to £25. “The range of goods is very important because it enables children and young people to buy presents at reasonable prices for their family and friends. In the past four years we have raised over £37,000 but more impor- tantly, we hope, the awareness of what Christmas is supposed to be really for,” he told us. Fr Daly would like to see many more churches organising similar markets. The gifts are also available online at www.
alternativity.org
porters. Mr Medlin said the cathedral does not have a coffin and catafalque to lend them, so for the last two years they have bor- rowed one from an obliging funeral director.
Hood hunting IT IS NORMALLY used to recruit business executives, although last week Alpha, an insert in the Saturday edition of the Tages- Anzeiger newspaper and its Sunday sister, the SonntagsZeitung in Zurich, carried a “one-off” advertisement. The Capuchins in Switzerland used space in the publication to seek out more vocations. Their advert explained that the position
offered no pay but plenty of chances for per- sonal development: benefits include freedom from personal wealth and a better grasp of the meaning of life. The order said they were looking for “bankers, journalists, teachers, theologians, salesmen, lawyers and commu- nication specialists” to make a lifelong commitment, and the successful candidate will be an unmarried Catholic man aged between 22 and 35 years. The advertisement was prompted by a halving in numbers to 200 in the past decade, coupled with a rise in the average age of the brethren. Other vocations directors will no doubt follow the result of the novel recruitment drive with interest.
Bearing gifts TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS markets have become all the rage and now one organised by churches in Leicestershire allows shoppers to buy a huge range of “virtual” gifts. From quinine tablets for malaria victims in Africa to sandals for lepers in Bangladesh, an eclectic range of presents was on sale at the AlterNativity alternative Christmas gifts market held at Hinckley United Reformed Church in Hinckley, Leicestershire, last Saturday.
One that got away LAST WEEK we presented in News from Britain and Ireland what we thought was a full list of Catholic MPs. However, it seems we left one out. Our attention has been drawn to Tom Blenkinsop, newly elected Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland. Blenkinsop, 30, was educated at Catholic schools locally and lives in Saltburn-by-the-Sea. He won the seat in the general election following the death on 15 March of the previous MP, Indian-born Dr Ashok Kumar. Blenkinsop worked in Dr Kumar’s constituency office and left two years ago to become a full- time official for the Community union, which represents steelworkers on Teesside. He was a leader in the campaign to save the Redcar steelworks, which was mothballed in February. Now, thanks partly to his cam- paigning efforts, it looks likely to be bought by a Thai steel firm this winter and to be reopened.
Healing tears? CANADA IS one of the more secular countries in the Western world, but that hasn’t stopped the popularity of a weeping statue of the Virgin Mary in Ontario. For three months the five-inch figure known as the Weeping Virgin of Garvey Crescent was displayed in front of Fadia Ibrahim’s house in the city of Windsor. It attracted hundreds of people who visited to pray and witness what seemed a smiling figure in the day and a crying one in the evening. Many believed the tears to be miraculous healing oil. However, neighbours were not happy with
the traffic and the crowds, and the city authority ordered the statue’s removal. It is now in the nearby St Charbel Maronite Catholic Church in Oldcastle in Windsor. Ms Ibrahim is Orthodox and both Catholic and Orthodox local officials have decided not to investigate any miraculous claims.
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