Comments on Carpe Canem: The Rocky Horror Basingstoke Show

I see the capstone has finally landed but where's ...

2007-08-29T04:01:00.000+01:00

I see the capstone has finally landed but where's the blinken eyepiece. That's the problem with all this novus ordo business. Everyone wants to do it their own way.
Now THIS is what the building is supposed to look like. You get the picture? good WELL THEN STICK TO THE RUBRIC AND GIMME AN EYE.

Darned masons they ain’t what they used to be, all this crazy modernism mumble mumble…..

Well, I suppose these trendies do like to think th...

2007-08-27T17:37:00.000+01:00

Well, I suppose these trendies do like to think their worship goes with a bang!

Don't forget the congregation either!Depends. What...

2007-08-27T17:26:00.000+01:00

Don't forget the congregation either!

Depends.

What if there was a "Loud'n'clear" "sharing" day?
Or a Clown Mass?
Or an 'alternative' liturgy presided over by Joan Chittester?

As Vic Reeves used to say: "Only joking - or am I?"

I mean to remove them - not blow them up!

2007-08-27T12:32:00.000+01:00

I mean to remove them - not blow them up!

Paulinus, Haha! Don't forget the congregation eith...

2007-08-27T11:51:00.000+01:00

Paulinus, Haha! Don't forget the congregation either!

Ideal target for one of those 'bunker-busting' bom...

2007-08-27T10:57:00.000+01:00

Ideal target for one of those 'bunker-busting' bombs, I'd say (after the Blessed Sacrament has been removed, of course)

Yes, its in there with the gherkin and the wobbly ...

2007-08-26T15:25:00.000+01:00

Yes, its in there with the gherkin and the wobbly bridge.

I bet its won an award.

2007-08-26T13:48:00.000+01:00

I bet its won an award.

Father, Thinking about modern churches that are ei...

2007-08-26T11:24:00.000+01:00

Father, Thinking about modern churches that are either too hot in summer or too cold in winter reminds me Our Lady of Lourdes in Milton Keynes. Surrounded by large glass windows, it also has a glass roof. I haven't been there recently, but in the late eighties, it was heated by a gas contraption that was more akin to a jet on a 'plane's wing. Very reverent! But it does confirm waht bad designs are out there. If I'm to be cold, then I'd rather it was under a great gothic vault!

Leutgeb, Concerning the tabernacle - I'm not against Blessed Sacrament chapels that are separate to the main sanctuary, but they must be reverent and decent - arranged in a very obvious manner to convey the majesty of the Sacrament and provide a place for prayer. Quite often, the tabernacle seems to stuck anywhere, with very little thought.

Rita, I agree that the hanging pyx can be a very beautiful place of reservation. Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight has one over its high altar. Sir Ninian Comper favoured them too, considering them to be an authentic and historic English method of reservation.

The great Sacrament 'towers' that survive leave one in little doubt as to the importance of the contents. One of the finest medieval ones is in the abbey church at Milton Abbas in Dorest. Unfortunately, it is now the chapel of a somewhat evangelical girls' school and so not used.

Mrs Parkes - Me thinks you are just showing off! ;-)

utterly vile! Praise the Lord i'm about to attend ...

2007-08-26T11:12:00.000+01:00

utterly vile! Praise the Lord i'm about to attend Mass at the Birmingham Oratory...

Truly truly ugly. Presumably, the priest sits whe...

2007-08-26T09:32:00.000+01:00

Truly truly ugly. Presumably, the priest sits where the tabernacle should be. Moving the tabernacle seems to be a logical development for some people. You know, create a people's altar, then note that the priest has his back to the tabernacle, then move the tabernacle.

Personally, I'm very happy for the priest to face the same way as me, but having his back to the Blessed Sacrament during Mass does seem less than ideal.

Also, in this new church, where do you kneel down? Poor parishoners.

They are going to regret that pyramid; my 'church'...

2007-08-26T07:20:00.000+01:00

They are going to regret that pyramid; my 'church' has something similar. You can't clean the glass or repaint the ceiling (health and safety). It's a ventilation nightmare, and costs a fortune to heat. It's hugely hot and stuffy in summer and cold in winter.
This is quite apart from all the other horrors in this new 'church'. At least my church has a central tabernacle.

I wondered what that thing was. I thought it was r...

2007-08-25T23:08:00.000+01:00

I wondered what that thing was. I thought it was rather phallic for the new feminist Church of Rome. A totel of represive, male, laissez-faire patriarchy, perhaps?

As for the animal sacrifices - nice try - but it looks like something cheap and nasty. I can see the good Mgr scrubbing the goo our of the grouting after the Week of Prayer for Interfaith Unity.

On "third thought" whatTheHell is that "pillar" t...

2007-08-25T22:59:00.000+01:00

On "third thought" whatTheHell is that "pillar" thing near the so-called "ambo?"

Given building codes in Ca. I will sometimes give the outside architecture a "break" -- DEPENDING what they did with the inside. But I can't see ONE, not a sole, singular pleasing thing about this monstrosity. I suppose if they sell it to wiccans it will be easy enough after the wiccan's goat sacrifices to hose off the floor.

I was feeling glum earlier and this has made it wo...

2007-08-25T21:20:00.000+01:00

I was feeling glum earlier and this has made it worse. Still, this stuff needs exposing. I have a suspicion that a lot of this guff is coming in on the back of the "fit for purpose", "disability access" agenda.

Also, I'm no expert historian but I do know that tabernacles for the Blessed Sacrament only became commonplace in the reign of Mary I, but prior to that a hanging pyx above the altar or a blessed sacrament "tower" were quite common, but these were always within the sanctuary. I have also known the word "tabernacle" used to describe an elaborate, covered niche in which a statue resided, but this was by Anglicans.

It's all about change for change's sake. Out with ...

2007-08-25T20:55:00.000+01:00

It's all about change for change's sake. Out with the old, in with the banal.

This is beyond sad. How could they?And was that re...

2007-08-25T20:01:00.000+01:00

This is beyond sad. How could they?
And was that really a priest who did not know the meaning of a tabernacle?
Has he read Scripture?

Lord Have Mercy!!

I'm with mac mclernon. We should pray that no oth...

2007-08-25T17:16:00.000+01:00

I'm with mac mclernon. We should pray that no other parishes adopt a, like, totally 1970s-California architecture for their parishes.

Oh, Lord have mercy on the misguided souls respons...

2007-08-25T15:31:00.000+01:00

Oh, Lord have mercy on the misguided souls responsible for this one...

It looks ugly and has little in common with a Chri...

2007-08-25T14:27:00.000+01:00

It looks ugly and has little in common with a Christian church.

How sad!

2007-08-25T11:48:00.000+01:00

How sad!

Is there a wetbar too? It desperately needs one. ...

2007-08-25T04:32:00.000+01:00

Is there a wetbar too? It desperately needs one. Can it be assumed that Christ is present under duress?

Philip, it's as if they were trying for the "butt ...

2007-08-25T04:29:00.000+01:00

Philip, it's as if they were trying for the "butt ugly" award of the year. I don't know which is worse...this .... "thing" or the "thing" masquerading as a cathedral in El-Lay.

It's like they were freebasing...

Karen H. -- San Diego, Ca.
[My sympathies to my brothers and sisters in Christ in BasingSTROKE.[

"…rooted in the Liturgical Movement of the 20th ce...

2007-08-25T00:29:00.000+01:00

"…rooted in the Liturgical Movement of the 20th century,"

Barely rooted, even in the most confused period of the 20th century. Now we are in the 21st century, we have moved on.