Here’s the next of the videos that I recorded with Marion Chatterley of Waverley Care:
marion chatterley #3.movie from Kelvin Holdsworth on Vimeo.
In it we have quite a spirited conversation about HIV and the church. Marion explains to me why she thinks churches are making the HIV/AIDS situation worse in Scotland. Marion also gives details of how to contact her for anyone who wants to speak to a chaplain.
Do take a look.
Living in Ireland – at one time not too far from Knock – it always astonished me when driving through the village how those who had just visited the shrine seemed to think that it had made them invincible! They’d wander into the middle of the road and totally ignore the traffic streaming around them!
A bottle of Knock holy water in the shape of Our Lady sits behind me as I type – next to a similar one from Lourdes and a knitted Orangeman bedecked with a collarette proclaiming him a member of LOL 1, Portadown! The juxtaposition is deliberate! (I wonder if + David has one on his shelves from the "support Drumcree" shop?!)
Which leads to the question "How do holy water taps work?" – theologically, that is! What is blessed to make it holy? Is it the reservoir (but that is constantly replenished and so eventually, after being diluted for a long time, the water becomes "unholy". Is it the tap itself and the water is sanctified by passing through it?
Discuss!
Holy Water Taps
Perhaps the water becomes holy when it is applied by the believer to the cat.
Holy water and questions about pilgrimage
Hmmm, yes I can see the dilemma…I guess the female ordaindees (not a word really, apologies for my attack on the English language) are excluded – though would it be possible to construct a small al fresco altar and hold a ceremony of your own? Pilgrimage places become so because people believe something, not just the ecclesiastical hierarchy, I think? If we don’t go then it is like saying ‘ok, you have that site of devotion then’. (Yikes I sound so serious, which I am, but I really do mean my statements to come out as questions…not commands.)
As to the cat, holy water, and the believer – maybe all the water is holy and we just think we play a role in making it so? Alternatively, maybe the cat is the believer and the water is transformed through a great mysterious purr.
The Cat in Question
As for the cat in question, she is not a believer as such. Rather, she thinks that she is the only proper object of veneration.
You know, I’m just not meeting anyone who thinks the pope’s visit later this year is a good idea. In fact, I keep meeting people who think its not a good idea and expressing the view that they would prefer it if he wasn’t coming. I’m not talking the Orange Order or the usual suspects…
Talking at SCM tonight got me thinking about the various congregations that I’ve been part of. Here is my congregations cv – the list of all the congregations where I’ve belonged in some way: Leeds Central Salvation Army (Interesting video here). Clydebank Salvation Army Leeds Central Salvation Army (again) Mt Zion Free Evangelical Church, Horbury,…
Just back from Student Christian Movement. I was their invited speaker tonight. Did the life-story, politics, vocation, usual topic, any questions. Good vegan stew/soup. Good company. Glad to be there.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Could I ask you, just for a moment. And I promise you it won’t be for long. Could I ask you to think about something you probably don’t often want to contemplate too much. Could I ask you to think about…
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