It's four or five years since Fr John Paul Leonard first came down to Hull to encourage local youth leaders to get together and organise something for National Youth Sunday. Since then, we've had young people in Hull doing everything from decorating candles and playing parachute games, to sitting in groups discussing the scriptures and going to benediction.

This year, for reasons that only Youth Managers can possibly understand, it's been cancelled. There will be no event in Hull. Young people in Hull will need to travel to York. Not because of a lack of volunteers, you understand, we are all here and ready to go, but because the Youth Office has 'decided'.

Meanwhile "joint effort by the livesimply network and the youth ministry community in England and Wales" has produced reclaimthefuture.org.uk.

There is so much wrong with this website, the cowboy website builders they have employed are using tables for layout and Word Documents for simple text downloads - just put it on a web page! The whole reason we have web pages made of HTML instead of Word is that Word doesn't work well on the internet.

Let's start with the Liturgy section. There, we find some fine suggestions for parts of the liturgy...

Penitential Rite

In place of these simple prayers, you could lead the congregation in a more reflective Penitential Rite. For example, highlight the idea that God calls us to wholeness, and to mend a broken world. Use a picture of globe, cut into three pieces, and bring these broken pieces together in a mime, dance or movement as you pray the words, ‘Lord, have mercy…’ and so on.

Or ask a group to think beforehand of some of the ways that we fail to live simply, sustainably or in solidarity with the poor, and name these in a litany of penance. For example:

For the times we’ve wasted energy…
For throwing away unused food…
For turning away from someone in need…
For over filling our kettles…
For wasting paper…
For failing to speak up for the refugee or asylum seeker…
Lord, have mercy.

Note: this would work well musically, too, using a simple refrain.

First Reading

This passage works well as a simple mimed drama or dance. One person can play the role of the shepherd Lord, who stands amongst his sheep. As the passage is read – slowly and strongly – different lines can be dramatised. For example, in the line, ‘I will rescue them from wherever they have been scattered’, ‘sheep’ can wander round in a confused way, using raised hands to symbolise searching in the darkness, with the Lord collecting each one and returning them together.

Movements should be simple but obvious enough to be able to be seen clearly.

You may wish to play some gentle, reflective music in the background.

Another option for illustrating this reading is to scatter the different ‘sheep’ across the congregation. This time, nominated people sit throughout the church or worship space and are brought together by the Shepherd who moves amongst the people. The growing flock of sheep can then be brought to the front of the church for the final lines.

Psalm

Ideally, of course, the psalm should be sung. There are many and varied musical versions based on this well known passage, including:

Because the Lord is my shepherd (Christopher Walker)
God alone may lead… (Tom Conry)
Shepherd me, O God (Marty Haugen)
I’ll sing God’s praises (Aniceto Nazareth)
The King of love my Shepherd is (Henry Williams Baker)

Gospel Reading

It’s another well-known passage of Scripture! This Gospel again lends itself to dramatic presentation and symbolic interpretation. A drama group could bring the Gospel to life, highlighting the different actions mentioned by Jesus, and perhaps even suggesting examples of how these actions are or can be achieved by the parish community. (For example, by holding a recycling clothes event, or arranging a food collection for a local homeless shelter.)

Display the Gospel Slides, based on the illustrations by Ellis Nadler, as the Gospel is proclaimed. (These are available as a PowerPoint file at reclaimthefuture.org.uk)

If you’re feeling really daring, why not challenge the congregation to judge themselves. Ask those that consider themselves to be the sheep of the Gospel to move to the right of the church, and those that are self-confessed goats to be on the left. Then invite both groups to think about how they can put into action the words of Jesus.

After the proclamation of the Gospel, consider presenting the following sketch, which interprets the Last Judgement from the perspective of a television news broadcast.

[I couldn't possibly reproduce the whole sketch here, so I've simply taken the parts with my favourite puns - it is puntastic and you know how I like my puns]

News Reporter: This is the Good News. The headlines at six o’clock. Bong! Feeling sheepish? It’s eternal life for the nation’s favourite animal. Bong! Get your goat up! Gruff news for selfish beasts. Bong! It’s the end of the world as we know it. Which side will you end up on?

Larry: Well, Sue, Jesus certainly wasn’t pulling the wool over our eyes. He didn’t mince his words; he told us quite clearly that we had to do good things for one another.

Larry: Well, they’d flocked to see him – it was so busy you couldn’t see past your own little space. The crowd were pretty divided really. I have to say that some of the goats looked a little sheepish, funnily enough.

Larry: Oh, he was mint. Source of all wisdom, isn’t he? He told them quite plainly that what they failed to do for others they failed to do to him.

Sue: I bet the goats didn’t like that.

Larry: No, Sue, they were baaa-rking mad. Especially when he told them they’d be for the chop.

Preparation of the Gifts

The gifts of bread and wine are presented at the altar: gifts that are used the Gifts in the celebration of the Eucharist. There are many opportunities for enhancing this part of the Mass:

For example, you may wish to present other ‘gifts’ to the Lord, too, representing the life, energy and commitment of young people in the parish.

Gifts that symbolise the Reclaim the Future! theme could be presented. For example: a globe, energy saving lightbulbs, recycling containers, fairly traded goods, pictures of people from different parts of the global community, and so on.

If you have invited the congregation to make livesimply promises or Reclaim the Future! commitment pledges, these could be presented too.

A simple, but highly effective way to present the gifts, is to use dance or movement.

Young people could be invited to ‘dress’ the altar. You could, for example, ask a group to prepare an altar cloth or frontal, based on the livesimply message or the Reclaim the Future! poster. People could also present flowers and candles, as well as the other items that are needed for the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Next up we have Get Crafty for National Youth Sunday...

Vestments

Have a go at making a vestment for your priest to wear for Mass. A chasuble is very easy to make as it is basically an oval with a hole in it and stole is just two strips of material sewn together.

You can just imagine how impressed all the teenagers will be...

Looking at the photo, I don't feel excluded at all.

Of course, it's one thing to take pot shots at liturgical shenanigans and make fun of priests in silly costumes. It's quite another to deal with the theology of the thing.

Under Going Further you will find a document entitled 'Theology of Sustainability'. This document contains the words 'Gandhi' and 'Ghandi' but not the words 'Christ' or 'Jesus'.

It also references a book 'The Human Story of God' by a chap named Edward Schillebeeckx who has regularly been accused of denying the divinity of Christ.

All of the above is being funded by the Catholic Bishop's Conference of England and Wales. The Bishop of Lancaster recently wrote...

"We have talked too much and done too little. We have witnessed over the past forty years a growing crisis in the Catholic understanding or self-identity of the Church...Have we forgotten what it is to be Catholic?"

Answer is Yes.

The lunatics really are are running the asylum.

From the Holy Cross Parish Newsletter...

Mass intentions for the coming week:

Sat 20th 6.30 pm Fred Knapp Thurs 9 am Harold Ward

Sun 10 am Pat Hyland Fri Holy Name 9.15 am Bill Kemp

Holy Name 11.30 am Chris Herbert Sat 9 am The Parishioners

Mon 9 am Service of the Word and Holy Communion 6.30 pm Mary Jones (RIP)

Tues 7 pm Service of the Word and Holy Communion Sun 10 am Jill Kemp

Wed 9 am Michael Whincop (A) Holy Name 11.30 am Fred Higginson

[link]

Spot the two pseudo Masses? Service of the Word and Holy Communion. So let's see, there are readings and then people receive communion. No danger of confusing that with Mass then!

The Church does allow non-ordained faithful to lead celebrations on a Sunday...

In some places in the absence of priests or deacons,(90) non-ordained members of the faithful lead Sunday celebrations. In many instances, much good derives for the local community from this useful and delicate service when it is discharged in accordance with the spirit and the specific norms issued by the competent ecclesiastical authority.(91) A special mandate of the Bishop is necessary for the non-ordained members of the faithful to lead such celebrations. This mandate should contain specific instructions with regard to the term of applicability, the place and conditions in which it is operative, as well as indicate the priest responsible for overseeing these celebrations.

It must be clearly understood that such celebrations are temporary solutions and the text used at them must be approved by the competent ecclesiastical authority.

[link]

My understanding of this, is that it refers to parts of the world where there is an absence of priests. I'm thinking remote African villages where a priest visits twice a year if they are lucky. I'm pretty sure it doesn't refer to weekday masses, but, let us be generous in our interpretation. Let's imagine it refers to a part of Hull where there is a priest living in a presbytery next to the Church. Let's imagine it includes days when there is no obligation to attend mass. Let's imagine "absence of priests" means "several priests within driving distance"

"A special mandate of the Bishop is necessary for the non-ordained members of the faithful to lead such celebrations"

It would be distinctly ungenerous to interpret the whole paragraph as referring to weekday masses and then pull a 360 when it comes to the mandate from the Bishop saying, "oh yes, but that's only for Sundays".

Has there been a special mandate from the Bishop?

I'm going with.... um.... let me think... No.

No, Because there's nobody would be so daft as to write to the Bishop saying: "Dear Bishop, Sorry to bother you but I don't want to cancel my weekday Masses and I haven't actually asked any of the priests in my area if they can cover but would it be okay if lay people ran a service instead? What's that? Sure, I'll send some texts over for you to approve right away."

What's happening here is "Women and married men can't be priests so let's try to find a way for them lead services and give out communion". Then we can 'prove' that women and married men can do these things just as well as a celibate priesthood.

The whole thing stinks.

I hope that the other priests of the West Hull deanery will ask Fr Pat about this and perhaps pass on their concerns (if they have any) to the Bishop.

There's an old joke. There are 10 types of people, those who understand binary and those who don't.

It's a joke that usually has to be explained (and consequently, not a very funny one). Counting in binary begins with 0, then 1, then 10 (because there is no 2). Therefore, 10 is binary for 2. There are 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary and those who don't. If at this point you are laughing then you are very easily amused.

We live in what some have called 'the digital age'. It started with music stored digitally on CD (okay so arguably it started with Morse Code or even more arguably scratches on a cave wall) and before you knew it we had Digital Watches, Digital Cameras, Digital Television, Digital Hymnals...

...wait a moment, did he just say Digital Hymnal?

Now a Digital Hymnal, if it was what you might think it was, would be great. If everybody collected a hymn book on the way in to mass and when they opened it up the pages cleverly displayed the next hymn then we would be free from the limits of a paper hymnal. Nobody would need to find pages, we wouldn't need numbers on the wall, just glance in the book and sing what you see. Ella could select good hymns instead of the limited selection from one particular edition Hymns Old and New. People with arthritis wouldn't need to fumble with pages and you could have a switch on the side allowing a large print/high contrast view for those with impaired vision. Hey, you could even pipe different words depending on the location of the singer in the room for antiphonal singing.

Unfortunately, that's not what a Digital Hymnal is. The kind of Digital Hymnal I'm talking about, the kind employed by Fr. Massie in the West Hull Parishes (St. Wilfrid's, Corpus Christi and St. Joseph's) is more like an electric keyboard without the keys. Remember those awful demo songs where you type in the number and you can hear Fur Elise on the harpsichord, piano or barked by a not particularly convincing dog? Fr. Massie's Digital Hymnal is like one of those. It has a keypad and you type in the hymn number and it plays the hymn.

Personally, I find this deeply troubling and not because it sounds bad either. My problem is this: Playing an instrument during the mass constitutes an act of worship. Using an electronic device to play music does not. The existence of a box that makes music discourages human beings from making music themselves and as such discourages worship. God gives people gifts to produce music and in doing so they glorify Him.

I am fully aware that I stand in the minority on this one. The general consensus even among usually sensible sound Catholics is that any music is better than no music. I disagree, I think people singing without music (even badly) is more glorifying to God than the tone being set by machine.

So what to do? Well, for some time I've been considering a blog entry in which I would parody a service offering to replace all the parts of the mass with digital components. Why have extraordinary ministers cluttering up the altar when a simple mechanical dispenser can do the job? Why have humans do the readings when a recording could be used, who want's to hear some old woman when you can have a recording of Brian Blessed or Peter Dickson (who?). Why have a priest resident when the Pope himself can transubstantiate a vast supply and have it shipped out. Surely people would prefer Papal Eucharist to the regular kind? Speaking of the Pope, why have homilies by local priests when you could pop a TV on the lectern and have the Pope himself, live!

If all that seems a bit irreverent that's because it is! I'm not suggesting it. I'm not the one with a Digital Hymnal.

Calm down James. This isn't going any further. Your silly imagined situations are just that, silly imaginations. Nobody is going to, say, do a Digital Homily. No priest in his right mind would replace the Homily with a CD recording of some girl from Blackpool doing a talk at a conference.

Would they?

Today. Sunday 5th August 2007. Parody became reality.

Before mass this morning Fr. Massie draped unsightly orange extension cable across the sanctuary and when I gave him an inquisitive look remarked 'Digital Homily'. I thought he was joking. When the time for the Homily came, Fr. Massie took a frankly huge ghetto-blaster and placed it on the lectern, explained what we were about to hear and (after we waited through a bit of fast-forwarding) played us a talk on CD.

It's worth noting that the contents of the CD were sound enough. Amy from Blackpool didn't say anything untoward though it did feel quite long. I agree with Fr. Massie on this: it was a good talk and it was good for people to hear it.

What I don't agree with is replacing the Homily with a talk by a lay person, digital or otherwise. Certainly, that a Homily must never be be given my a lay person is clear. Redemptionis Sacramentum states:

[64.] The homily, which is given in the course of the celebration of Holy Mass and is a part of the Liturgy itself, "should ordinarily be given by the Priest celebrant himself. He may entrust it to a concelebrating Priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to a Deacon, but never to a layperson."

...

[74.] If the need arises for the gathered faithful to be given instruction or testimony by a layperson in a Church concerning the Christian life, it is altogether preferable that this be done outside Mass. Nevertheless, for serious reasons it is permissible that this type of instruction or testimony be given after the Priest has proclaimed the Prayer after Communion. This should not become a regular practice, however. Furthermore, these instructions and testimony should not be of such a nature that they could be confused with the homily, nor is it permissible to dispense with the homily on their account.

Whether a homily can be given by a layperson as long as it is pre-recorded so the priest can vet it is highly suspect. So, frankly, I don't know what Fr. Massie is thinking. If he carries on like this and things go really well he might end up with 1000 people in his Church (that's 8 by the way).

Still, he could always invest in some Digital Parishoners.