Monday Oct 23rd
Spent a very happy Sunday at Holy Ghost Church, Balham. The 11.30 Mass there is celebrated with beautiful music, led by a good choir with plenty of congregational enthusiasm. People enjoy singing Latin. There are two earlier Masses, as well as the Saturday and Sunday evening ones. The most popular seems to be the 10 am (English, lots of good hymns) which is attended by vast crowds of mostly young families with quantities of children, some of whom are extremely noisy. It's all splendid that they are at Mass, of course, but why don't some families check their children from running about, or simply get them to focus on what is happening at the altar? This is actually very easy to do when, as in this case, Mass is being said with great reverence, and there are lots of glittering candles, and a bell being rung, and the sanctuary is beautiful, and there is a general sense of something supremely important happening......I can distinctly remember being rather bored at Mass when I was small (no music in those days, and no microphone, everything rather remote and inaudible - and as we lived some way from the church, Mass was in a tea-hut in the park, so not much by way of devotional items to inspire prayer!) - but one was urged to look at a picture-prayer book, or to pray quietly, or just to "be quiet and think about God".....
However, it was a happy morning - everyone v. friendly. A delightful lunch with the parish priest, curate, parish sister, and guests. Then, having used up all my leaflets, I cycled home and got things ready for my guests......nephew and niece arriving to stay as part of half-term family travels. It was, as always, a huge pleasure to have them: when nephews E. and G. were small they used to come here for half term and we had terrific outings to Buckingham Palace and St Paul's Cathedral and adventures chugging down the Thames in pleasure-boats and eating picnics in parks...., and then in due course their younger sisters L. and M. took their place and there were further delights with visits to Kensington Palace and climbing trees on Wimbledon Common and having a wonderful hospital for the dolls and Uncle Jamie being a noble wounded soldier and having to be bandaged up in a most satisfying way. And now, here is G. training as a lawyer and M. in her last year at school and on her way to visit L. at university....and E. is married with a most delightful baby of his own!
We sat and talked until terribly late, covering a vast range of topics, laughing a great deal, and not wanting to go to bed because there always seemed to be just one more thought or something hilarious to recount....
2 comments:
Holy Ghost, Balham is where I spent my first 26 years - attending the primary school and church. I am pleased to read that the parish is still traditional. The foundation for this was set by Fr Martin Bennett (now deceased)and it is a relief that a traditional priest is carrying on all the good work done during the 60's and 70's.
I am from Cork city in Ireland and spent a year attending mass in the Holy Ghost in 1990. I didn't live in Balham at the time but made friend with a local family through or common interest in Medjugorje. Fr Martin Bennett was parish priest at the ime and was a great source of insperation and spritual guidence to me at the time. For some reason he came into my mind today and I searched the internet to see if he was still alive. The last time I heard about him was that he was in a retirment home in Brighton. However, when I checked other comments on our blog I read that Fr. Bennett had died. Do you know when he died? I was saddened to read that he was gone but not all together surprised as he was quite ld when I last saw him at his retirement party in Balham in the early to mid 90's.
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