Yesterday was the Feast of Christ the King – and that meant a lovely baptism service of a pair of twins.
Here’s how it went:
Unbridled joy.
4 responses to “Politics of Pilgrimage”
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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!
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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.
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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.
Previous Posts
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Synod Blogging 3
The motion is presented which will enlarge the Standing Committee. Mary Moffett asks how the House of Laity can nominate someone when they never meet. She is told that the some applies to the clergy. The motion is passed with only one person voting against. No proposal is being brought to change the composition of…
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Synod Blogging -2 The accounts.
The accounts are carried without question. One of the things which I don’t really understand is that we are supposed to be in a time of increasing finances due to the Year of Stewardship which we are all engaged with. Yet, budgets do not seem to reflect this. Perhaps I misunderstand something. Looks like quota…
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Synod Blogging-1
Synod begins with a splendid Eucharist in St Mary’s cathedral. We know not the hymns. Then, back to Palmerston Place church for the welcoming of delegates who don’t have enough meetings to go to of their own. We then appoint prolocutors even though we don’t ever use them. The prolocutors are the people who will…
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Upcoming Synod etc
Tomorrow the General Synod begins. The thick books of synod papers arrived a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been dipping into them since then. There is not much that appears to be terribly contentious, in my view. However, the consequence of bland motions and nothing for people to get their teeth into is that…
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