The Hermeneutic's party

On Saturday I left Kettering by train at 7.30am to get to The Hermeneutic's parish for the Missa Cantata followed by the party to celebrate his one millionth blog visitor.

It was my first ever experience of the old Mass and I have to say I thought it was rather glorious, despite being a bit baffled through most of it. However, this was something I expected. Mum and dad, as well as priests, had told me bits and bobs about parts of the Tridentine Mass. I thought the best plan of action was to just sit at the back, observe and join in with the Latin I knew, without trying to flick around in the booklet to follow it.

I am a lay person used to going to Masses where they sing "Happy Birthday" before the end every Sunday to whoever's celebrating that particular week. I've been at Masses where draws for raffles have been made after communion, with the barrel and cuddly toys plonked on the altar, numbers bellowed out by the priest and people shouting back with their winning ticket aloft. I've been at Masses with bizarre, so-called "liturgical dances" and "youth Masses", that I probably used to like when I was younger, where flags and banners were waved about. I could go on all day...

Saturday, by contrast, was a breath of fresh air. Even though I didn't quite know what was going on or what was being said a lot of the time, the Mass was authentic, steeped in the beauty of the traditions of the Church. There was no faffing about. The exact movements of the priest and altar servers, the chanting and incense made the Mass solemn. You could clearly recognise that this is Calvary, the joining of heaven and earth, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

I'd conclude that I'm still more than satisfied with the Novus Ordo when said by the book and without fuss. After all, according to the Church, the Mass is the Mass. But after Saturday's experience, I'll certainly be seeking out more opportunities to discover the old rite.

During his homily, Fr Tim mentioned the apostolate of digital communication and, in particular, blogging. He said that young people were particularly skilled at blogging and that it was a wonderful opportunity to bring people to the Church. He also quoted from the Pope Benedict's message for this year's World Communications Day. In it, the Pope says:

It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelisation of this "digital continent". Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm. You know their fears and their hopes, their aspirations and their disappointments: the greatest gift you can give to them is to share with them the "Good News" of a God who became man, who suffered, died and rose again to save all people.

After Mass, we went into the parish social club for a great party. Other bloggers in attendance included Mulier Fortis and there were many readers of Fr Tim's blog. The Hermeneutic of Continuity is read by so many people and has become a fantastic apostolate. It was the inspiration for me to start Bashing Secularism and for many others to begin writing about their faith online. Fr Tim manages to grab the headlines, generate news stories for the Catholic press and provides a strong, orthodox voice online for the Catholics in the UK.

We had a pint or two and a lovely buffet and Fr Tim made a brief speech, some of which I caught on camera (not great quality):

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the rest of the afternoon as I had the small matter of Chelsea v Hull City to attend in north London at 3pm. At Blackfen, I met keen blog reader Delia, who very kindly gave me a lift to the train station.

Despite several annoying tube line closures, I got to the match in plenty of time. City held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw in probably one of the best games I've ever seen the Tigers play. A great day all round!