Return from the Big Apple

85 degrees in New York City - today in Little Siberia 47 degrees and pouring with rain. Does every Englishman who lives in the USA get sick of people saying when it's raining: "it must make you feel at home!" Well, it bloody well doesn't - Vermont weather is the worst I've ever experienced and it's making me grumpy. That, and a delayed flight. I was only away for a day and a half and didn't get much accomplished. I visited with my friend Fr. Joe and took some pictures of his magnificent Romanesque Church - I'm trying to find the address of its website so I can provide a link. Our attempt to secure an audience with the Blessed George of Park Avenue unfortunately was not a success. He was delayed preaching at the Memorial for Bill Buckley's wife. We did get a chance to pray in his Church and buy some exceptionally expensive postcards. It is nice to feel that one is supporting the poor of Park Avenue. Fr. Joe's parish is now 80% Filipino and he is bringing in the Neo-Catechumenal Way to help with evangelization. We had them in my first parish in Peckham - we called them the "neo-cats" or the "neo-kitties." Joe didn't really appreciate the second name. In the next post, if I can find the time, I will give a little personal history, if anyone is interested.

Postal Order Update

Devout readers of the Bunter classics will recall that the said Fat Owl was always anxiously awaiting the arrival of a Postal Order, which would solve all his problems, notably the endless search for tuck. It struck me this morning that perhaps we should substitute the words 'Motu Proprio' for Postal Order - the wait seems as long. When it comes, we can all shout with BB - "yarooh!"

NYC visit

After the last Sunday Mass I will be heading to the airport in Burlington for a quick visit to New York. It's only an hour flight. I try and go every year for two nights. I will stay with my friend Fr. Joe, who is over the river in Jersey City. He has a magnificent Church, built by the Irish, with a beautiful High Altar, marble altar rails etc. Unfortunately, the area has seen better days and is very run down and quite dangerous. On Monday, I am hoping to have my annual audience with the great Fr. George Rutler at the Church of Our Saviour on 5th Avenue. Last year when I visited, he managed to fit me in between the President of Guatemala and Bill Buckley. Fr. Rutler is always great company, he came and spoke to our priests a year ago during Lent and was tremendous. Part of my job as Director of Continuing Education for the Clergy of the Diocese is to get decent speakers. But, as is usual in the Church, the budget is minimal, however Rutler made no demands about a set fee, which is admirable. I was expecting a nice cup of Darjeeling tea with him last time, as he is a great Anglophile, but instead we had a large glass of red wine on his roof terrace, which has one of the finest views in New York City. He has transformed his parish, his Church has been beautifully restored and vocations are pouring out of his parish. Why is he not a candidate to be the next Cardinal Archbishop? I think I know the answer to that one! The next post will contain a full report of the Rutlerian audience. Last night, our two deacons who will be ordained to the priesthood next month came for a visit. Despite what the dreary old leftovers from the 1970's say, the young priests are a real sign of hope for the Church in the USA. These two young men will make excellent priests; they are devout, sensible, manly and enjoy a good laugh. The kind Fr. Dwight, at Standing on my Head, has alerted more of the blogosphere to the hesitant and rather inadequate first attempts on this blog. He says he wants photos; I do too, the trouble is that a camera is usually a prerequisite for such things. I suppose I will have to go out and buy one. I feel a little like Kenneth Williams in 'Carry On Cleo' (only a certain number of very damaged individuals will admit to enjoying the 'Carry On' films) - "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me."

Catholic Places

Fr. Dwight has asked for a list of favourite Catholic places in England. He says we can't include anything that was "nicked by the Anglicans!" I'm going to disobey him on that one - they are only holding these places temporarily and, if it is a question of a place sanctified by the martyrdom of a saint - or even with a saint's body still present - it is STILL holy - despite the new landlord.
1. The Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. If you can find a brief moment when the hordes of Japanese tourists and French schoolchildren depart, a little prayer at the actual site of the martyrdom of one of England's greatest Saints is very powerful. I go every year when I am at home.
2. The Chapel of the Benedictine Nuns at Minster Abbey. The oldest inhabited Benedictine convent in Britain, at Minster on the Isle of Thanet, is a very special place. I used to regularly make my retreat there when I was training for the priesthood and after I was ordained. They are a delightful community of real nuns, and there is a powerful sense of history in the place, even though the Chapel is new.
3. The Blessed Sacrament Chapel in Westminster Cathedral. An oasis of prayer in the heart of London.
4. Tyburn Convent. The English Martyrs - need I say more?
5. St. Dunstan's Church in Canterbury - for one reason, and one reason alone: knowing that under your feet, in the Roper vault, is the head of St. Thomas More - come in and pray to England's second greatest canonized Lord Chancellor!

Limoncello testing

Concerned readers will be glad to hear that the 'quality control' testing of Fr. Dan's limoncello was a great success. I can report that his limoncello (original version) is better than anything you can buy in the shops - it has a natural green/yellow colour, none of that artificial horrid yellow colouring. It is also almost syrupy - as he said, no-one should worry about becoming an alcoholic drinking his limoncello, they should worry about diabetes! I tried the grapefruit, which most people don't like - it is quite sharp and might make a nice drink between courses if you are having a particularly rich meal. The lemon/orange mix is very good - next stop - lime/lemon mix! Our limoncello session was needed after a difficult Personnel meeting - things are getting very serious in our diocese with the priest shortage. More and more priests are having to take two or even three parishes. As Pope Benedict said in one of his books, the crisis of the priesthood is really a crisis of the family, and the real reason for the vocation shortage is contraception, not celibacy. Yesterday was Confirmation - exceedingly hot Church - it was 81c outside. The sound system sort of blew up during the Mass, which was invigorating. Music was bouncy-bouncy - at some point the "we-we" hymns will have to be banned - "we are many parts....we are Christ's body....we are so important....we are the center of the liturgy...!" George Weigel wrote a column a while back in which he made the point that, for the first time in Christian history, we now sing hymns to ourselves!! The liturgy has become dangerously unbalanced - anthropocentic, not theocentric - which is really what Sacramentum Caritatis is all about. I do hope priests will start to use Sacramentum Caritatis as a sort of template for renewing the liturgy in their parishes - but it will be very hard work, given the fact that we have three generations who have been moulded in the anthropocentic model.

Just filled the dishwasher for the second time - the Bishop, Chancellor and the Vicar General stayed for Chinese food after the First Holy Communion Mass. Our Bishop is a hot food person, hot as in 'spicy!" He pours vast amounts of pepper on his "General Tso's beef". The Vicar General prefers a double helping of walnut brownies - the Chancellor doesn't believe in eating. Communion went well, one boy had been drilled so well about genuflecting when leaving the pew that he performed a double genuflection and seemed to be intent on coming towards the Bishop on his knees. Next stop - Confirmation on Tuesday - we do it on a deanery basis here, so we go to the parish about 25 minutes away. One interesting part of the discussion over the Chinese munchies - how everyone seems to like the ghastly old English comedies they still show on public television over here. Bishop, Chancellor and VG all giggling away as they discuss Mrs. Slocombe from 'Are You Being Served!" Quite extraordinary. Tomorrow I have a priests Personnel meeting in Burlington, then I'm going up even further North than my own parish to have my night off with our Limoncello producing priest. If this blog develops a bibulous feel, so be it. Fr. Dan of Barton produces his own 'Villa Daniel' limoncello. He has also made the orange version, and a grapefruit version, which didn't go down too well. I'm trying to persuade him to make a lime version. Tomorrow evening we must test, purely for quality control purposes, his lemon/orange mix. Now I have to rush off and see the fantastic BBC version of 'Bleak House' which is also on PBS - it's the best thing since sliced bread.

Welcome, friends!

Well, this is all very exciting! I sent a simple question to Fr. Tim Finigan - and some interesting people have actually found this blog! Thank you for all your kind help. Of course, it means I have to start writing something on a regular basis and I'm feeling incredibly dull at the moment - I even thought about mentioning the weather, how English can you get!! It's not -20F anymore, but it's still around 32C at night - but the sun has come out. A number of Vermonters suffer from what is called 'SAD' - that's not a gathering of experts on the music of Marty Haughen and David Haas - it's 'Seasonal Affective Disorder' - basically, it means the dreadful winters here drive you barmy. The only alternative is to take to the drink, which is another disorder. The Bishop is coming tomorrow for First Holy Communion, there are eleven children in my little parish. They used to "perform" at the Mass, singing, doing the collection etc... Now they focus on what they are meant to focus on: receiving the Lord Jesus for the first time. I also introduced last year kneeling and receiving on the tongue - it went down a treat, because the parents can all get better pictures, but it sows seeds.... Someone asked, "why 'Owl of the Remove' for a blog title"? Two words - Billy Bunter. I'm not actually always in search of tuck - or grotesquely overweight, more 'pleasingly rounded', but it amused me and as, up until yesterday, I was the only reader of my blog, my "in-joke" was truly an in-joke. There will more personal history etc as time goes by, but I have to rush off to the local supermarket and get the vino in for the Bishop's visit - he's Italian, from Rhode Island, and he must be kept happy - otherwise I may sleep with the fish. Ciao!