I looked into this month`s Northern Cross (i.e. the diocesan newspaper) with a keen sense of anticipation as I knew there was going to be an account of the EF Mass at the cathedral. I was a little disappointed as I waded through the pages to find that the account was at the very back (on page 29 out of a total of 32 and among the Prayers and Petitions page). The pictures (as featured on this blog) were only in black and white which didn`t do justice to the splendid vestments we were able to use. Madame Evangelista has some pertinent comments on this matter too.
I suspected that not everyone was keen on a feature about the EF Mass and, while it was included, (so that the NC couldn`t be accused of failing to report what I thought was a fairly significant event) it was tucked away in the back pages. It may have been the celebration of Humanae Vitae that could cause more alarm than the EF Mass.
However I stand corrected. Apparently the reason it was near the back of the paper is that the NC try to use a 'prayerful' story alongside the prayers and petitions, because that they believe that people who read and send the prayers would be most interested in a story about prayer. However there were quite a number of stories which could also be said to have been about prayer.
So there we are. After being told that I have it all wrong for twenty-five years it`s hard to avoid being paranoid. However the cathedral is still there: it didn`t collapse because we had an EF Mass. I hope we`ll be able to go back again some time.
1 comment:
"However there were quite a number of stories which could also be said to have been about prayer."
Yes; especially the article 'Pausing for a moment of prayer' about a 24/7 prayer movement.
It is an interesting explanation though; it's thrown the rest of the paper (and what it represents about the diocese) into a whole new context for me.
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