A little unseasonal, I know, but I have just been given some photographs of the Requiem Mass for deceased members and friends of the Order of St Lazarus which I celebrated in Preston this year. The Canons of the Institute of Christ the King were kind enough to welcome us to their Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and the English Martyrs, a fine church by Edward Welby Pugin.
I was assisted by Canon Scott Tanner of the Institute and Fr Leo Daley of the Archdiocese of Liverpool and a team of altar servers drawn from the Institute parishes, St Catherine's and even a friend of mine all the way from Bristol University. My thanks - and those of the Order to all who assisted.
I was particularly delighted to be celebrating with the music of Faurés Requiem as the Mass setting.
It was beautiful to experience it in its proper context, instead of hearing it as a concert piece. Fauré conducted its first outing in 1888 at La Madeleine in Paris. I have the wonderful singers of "Octavius" to thank for the experience, along with David Scott-Thomas at the organ. Truly beautiful.
Grand Prior H.E. The Much Honoured Baron of Fetternear and other members taking their place in church, along with Chaplain Fr William Charlton from Middlesbrough Diocese in choir. Thanks to everyone who came along (and to lunch afterwards in the hall). It was a goodly congregation in such a large church.
3 comments:
And a wonderful experience for all
A wonderful occasion with splendid music & ritual superbly carried out.
I recently had the opportunity, if that is the right word, to supervise a group of young men at an Anglican service. The church is probably best described as modern evangelical, set in a late 18th century church building. The service consisted of ten minutes of organising three hundred disinterested school boys, followed by a brief pep-talk and 10 minutes of watching a video of motorcycle racing followed again by a talk about doing your best, with some vague links to Jesus about not giving up when times were difficult and listening to "your mates". We then had a"song" about Jesus shining. Communion was a bread roll and some grape flavoured not wine intincted by grubby fingers.
As someone who worked in a rather old fashioned C of E School for many years, I was horrified by the goings on and not suprised by the way the young men reacted to their enforced participation. Even the church engaged crowd were bemused by the attempt at relevance. It does my heart good to see your images and to realise that there are little pockets of sense in my own community.I would hate to see us go further down the same route.
Sorry to sign in as anonymous but I still need to pay the mortgage.
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