By the sea...

...at Whitstable in Kent. Seagulls calling, and sunshine and a seabreeze, and  crowds and crowds of friends converging on the local church, where Fr Stephen Langridge was celebrating his Silver Jubilee with a glorious Mass and a most wonderful party. Great numbers of young people...and many of the young who buzzed around Balham when his parish was the home-base of Youth 2000 are now young-marrieds with babies of their own, so there was a wonderfully happy family-feel to the day. Baby noises of chirruping and gurgling and a bit of wailing during the Mass, but older children were beautifully behaved...and see note below about Communion.

And numbers of young men in training for the priesthod. Fr Stephen's work as Vocations Director is important, and it is so encouraging to meet the young men who will be tomorrow's priests.  The whole day was fun. There was lots of delicious food - a hog roast,vast salads, great ice-buckets of chilled wine. There were bowls of strawberries served with jugs of cream. There were old friends to greet... priests who had taught Fr Stephen long ago, or trained with him at the seminary, or worked with him...and people from Balham whose weddings he had celebrated, or whose children he baptised, or to whom he had simply been a popular and hard-working parish priest.

The Vocations Centre at Whitstable adjoins the church and forms part of a square around a wide lawn, with the parish school. It was all delightful with roses in bloom and bunting strung all around the garden, and so much happy talk and laughter...

Later, instead of going straight to the train, I walked along by the sea, and was hailed by two young friends from the party who with their baby were enjoying the late summer evening too...and we  had ice-creams and warm doughnuts, and paddled in the sea and it was all perfect...

Whitstable is the seaside as England best offers seaside, with the special addition of its famous oysters: pebbles and sand and families, a harbour with lots of boats, real activity with fishing and nets in proper muddly sheds and shelters, and  with oysters and fish-and-chips on sale, and real pubs with noise and beery men and nothing too posh or pretentious. As one chap said, stopping to admire the baby while carefully handing over a brimming plate of oysters to his own family "Who needs to go Abroad? This is marvellous, innit?"

On Communion: I've noticed that today's small Catholics automaticaly  fold their arms in the form of a cross  and bow their heads for a blessing  as their parents recieve Communion - this was not done at all when I was small, and instead we were left stranded in the pew. The young Catholic children of today walk up with their parents, and can see what happens at the reception of Holy Communion and so have some knowledge when their First Communion classes begin.  In my long-ago First Communion lessons, we had a  "This-is-what-to-do" session, but in our parish we had a rather awkward handing of the plate from one communicant to another, instead of a server holding it. My well-founded fear of dropping the plate - I have always been clumsy - lingers in the memory...