Thursday, February 07, 2008

Mass at Lille Cathedral


Found these pictures here, now compare and contrast with the last post, the pictures of the celebration at St Sabina by the Pope.

18 comments:

worcester fragment said...

Quelle horreur!. Perhaps it should be entitled "Mass" at Lille Cathedral.

George said...

Oh dear Lord. Having followed your link Fr Ray, I think you've posted two of the more 'conservative' pictures!

Is that a vase with the Blood of Christ, and the 'platter of bread' looks like something our local Indian restaurant serves up - poppadums, chapatis and nans!

What's the lion dancer all about???

Jeffrey Smith said...

If the congregation's big enough for them to need that much, and from the other pictures, it seems it was, then good for them. Time for everyone else to quit sniping.

Anonymous said...

Nice basketwork! But would look better on a basket.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Jeffret to see back, I think it is not sniping but comprisons, essentially the movement from something which at least looks of a particular period to something which is timeless.
The Lille picture is so dated.

Anonymous said...

It really looks so stupid. If the cathedral was full I dare say it was hardly the Mass that was the draw. Could be wrong of course. They must have been celebrating chinese new year as well by the looks of it. Maybe that explains the multitudes, after all it is France.

Anonymous said...

Is this serious? I thought all the Hugenots were driven from France. Vat11 The French Revolution of the church!

Dr. Peter H. Wright said...

Good heavens !

That's exactly what I thought, but Fr. Ray has got in first.

The photos from Lille all look so old fashioned, so dated.

It was, I suppose, inevitable that the the modern liturgists would run out of "new" ideas sooner or later.

This may have looked daring, innovative, etc., a few decades ago, but they now seem to be stuck in a time warp.

Rather sad and pathetic when you see from the earlier post of Pope Benedict how properly executed ceremony can reflect the timelessness of the Church.

gemoftheocean said...

The platter thing is tacky. #1 altar breads can get stale very quickly and it's also not very good to have them exposed in the open air (presumably in the nave before they are brought up?) A mass of altar breads that high is inherently unstable and balancing two "frisbee" breads on it is ASKING for the inevitable. A person bringing up the altar breads should not have to be a circus juggler. Those Frisbee hosts get broken up and invariably bits and pieces of them get all over everything. It can be a pain rear to manage all the crumbs from getting all over everything willy nilly.

The altar is hideous, and the chalice wins "ugly chalice award" hands down. I'd say it looks like a loving cup trophy given away at a stock car race, but I think every they have better taste.

And is the priest just "winging it" re: the prayers of the Mass? I don't see a Missal in evidence.

Really. It's like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa.

the owl of the remove said...

The Lille picture is liturgical archeologism of the worst sort - the "one bread/one cup" idea taken to ridiculous lengths. It is also similar to the Neo-Catechumenate who insist on using a huge chalice the size of a punch-bowl because of the fundamentalism of "one bread/one cup." - And they say the traditionalists are liturgical fundamentalists!

Physiocrat said...

Looks like a Pancake Day celebration but I never knew they were meant to be consecrated.

Anonymous said...

What would Pius XII have said?

"...perverse designs and ventures of this sort tend to paralyze and weaken that process of sanctification by which the sacred liturgy directs the sons of adoption to their Heavenly Father of their souls' salvation"

Mediator Dei(1943)§64

gemoftheocean said...

And I especially have a gripe about the "altar." It's not even good tacky. It's sloppy basketweave, and the materials look like something you'd get at a bargain table at a fabric store if halloween was in season and you were making some sort of Maharincess of Franistan[apologies to Lucille Balle] costume. 35 cents a yard, by the look of it. And the construction? If kids were making that for a table to be used in a high school theatrical production I want to swat them for bad design and execution.

It's evident more than a few people could have done with "six of the best."

[There. I've thrown in two cultural references. Likely one to be confused and one to be understood by each side of the pond.]

Anonymous said...

Not to mention the green vestments. But I suppose with all the rest that is a minor matter.

Anonymous said...

What delightful pictures from Lille Cathedral! Are those three dear old gentlemen in green having a picnic on that huge uprturned basket? They're certainly putting their golf prize cup to good use and the plate of chappatis will be good with a bit of sauce! I suppose the lion dancers have popped in from a nearby Chinese restaurant where they're celebrating Lunar New Year. Ah, well. I can remember Lille Catheral when it used to ba a Catholic Cathedral. But that was a long time ago!

Anonymous said...

Being at present temporarily housebound is a good excuse for reading blogs! I did decide to give up the computer for Lent but sadly this only lasted until Wednesday evening!

This posting interested me as even though I have spent a couple of weekends in Lille I never realised it had a cathedral. From further information I learn that it is the basilica there which when walking past on my last visit was so uninspiring i did not even enter. It only became a cathedral in 1913.

The Bishop has just been transferred elsewhere and researching further I found an interview with him which was headed 'No motu proprio in Lille.'

this came as no surprise after seeing the photos!

Dr. Peter H. Wright said...

Pelerin,

Please don't even think of giving up visiting blogs for Lent !

These are exciting times for Catholics, and the best place for any news is a Catholic blog !

Anonymous said...

Dr Wright - thanks for your encouragement! yes I told myself reading the catholic blogs was indeed beneficial but I still felt ashamed that I was not able to give up even for a short time.

Not being able to sleep i've been visiting the Lourdes site and it is wonderful to watch the ghostly figures moving in the grotto at this time of the night. very moving. And yesterday I was able to watch Mass from the grotto celebrated by the Bishop of Lourdes on the site of jourduseigneur - the French tv sunday programme.

The Bishop's name always makes me smile and I can imagine the amusement when he was chosen for this diocese celebrated for its water - Mgr Perrier must have had to put up with numerous jokes!

Fifty years ago I read about Lourdes and the life of St Bernadette for the first time. It changed my life so today has a very special significance for me.

Our Lady of Lourdes pray for us!

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