AN OUTSIDE VIEW

One of the Papal Papillons Anti-Catholic articles have been coming out almost daily in the Guardian over the past couple of weeks. It is no longer news that the Nazi Pope, having personally and single-handedly invented Zyklon B in his school chemistry laboratory, tested it in sadistic experiments on the biology department's guinea pigs, and then perfected the final solution on his school friends' pets by exterminating them in his father's garden shed, nor that he is a notorious queer basher who will go to any lengths to cover-up paeodo-priests. Iceberg of Evil But queer-bashing and covering up is only the tip of the Iceberg of Evil that is the Vatican. The Inquisition is still going full-steam-ahead. Popes and the Roman Cardinals eat babies. It is one of the perks of the job. They are served on feast days and every day throughout Lent, when ordinary Catholics are expected to fast. Regarded as a great delicacy, they have to be under ten days ol...

Midnight Mass Mass for the day And this motet by Palestrina at the Offertory The first two of these should be sung in all Catholic churches but you will be lucky if you get to hear them or the Palestrina.

View on Harrow , originally uploaded by Rienk Mebius . I picked up this picture on Flickr. The far tracks are the lines out of Marylebone. They are not electrified and there are no plans for electrification on this route, which runs only as far as Aylesbury. At one time it was part of the Great Central and trains ran to Rugby, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester. The route beyond Aylesbury is largely intact and could be reinstated at relatively little cost as a conventional railway to provide the additional capacity that HS2 advocates insist can be provided only by constructing a high speed line. They assure everyone that it would cost just a teeny-weeny bit more. That sounds implausible.

Introit and hymn for the Fouth Sunday in Advent. How many people will get the opportunity to hear this?

Ticket dated 11 November 1972, issued for a special railtour to demonstrate the practicability of a train service around London. A service on what is substantially the same route eventually opened on 9 December 2012, forty years and one month later. The train used was a DMU from Cricklewood, normally used on the St Pancras - Bedford route until electrification in 1975. The train ran from Broad Street to Richmond, where it reversed and ran to Clapham Junction and then to Woolwich. After that it ran back via Clapham Junction and Olympia to Willesden Junction, then via Gospel Oak and South Tottenham to North Woolwich, then via Stratford to Broad Street.  It must have reversed somewhere as the east curve at Dalston Junction had been closed by then and consisted of just the two platforms (lower photograph). The train service which opened in phases from 2010 has transformed travel in London's inner suburbs.

Surveys by The Tablet and others have suggested that the new English translation of the Mass has not been well received by congregations. Since these were not properly controlled surveys, and the number of respondents was tiny, now that the results have been published, there has been plenty of comment to the effect that people are generally quite satisfied with the new translation. It is difficult to get an overall picture. I was no admirer of the ICEL translation and good riddance to it. However, the new one also leaves me uncomfortable. It has a contrived, faux-antique quality. Latin texts do not go well into English. The grammatical structures of the two languages are so different. Then there are the politics of the English language, which makes it especially unsuitable for use in situations which must be as inclusive as possible. It seems to me that the real issue in this debate is that however the Mass is translated, it will always be contested, because English is one of the b...

Census results now being published show a sharp decline in the numbers claiming to be Christians. Norwich and Brighton top the list of atheist towns. Yet the decline of religion is primarily a first world phenomenon outside the US. However, we are only at the start of this phase of the journey. The existential issues with which religion deals do not go away. The overall pattern is of conflicting trends. One of the factors that is sustaining religion is immigration. It is not going to decline. Religion provides a social focus and means of entry into the new community. Drawing immigrants into local networks is particularly a role of the Catholic church in Western Europe and has helped to sustain the numbers. Immigration has also spread the Orthodox church in Western Europe and then attracts a handful of local adherents - this is especially true of the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches which have maintained traditional liturgical practices abandoned by the Roman Catholics. Whilst th...

The controversy over "gay marriage" shows no sign of going away. The Catholic church has been in the forefront of the opposition, taking the view that it is a sacrament, in which a man and a women enter into a loving relationship open to the conception and nurturing of children in a stable environment. If that is the definition of marriage, then same-sex "marriage" is a nonsensical contradiction. It is argued that the re-definition will lead to people taking a different view of what marriage is, that will ultimately destroy the institution. In my view the point is a valid one. However, the worrying thing is that those who have been speaking out against "gay marriage" seem to overlook the more insidious pressures on the family that apply all the time. The most family-unfriendly policy is war: many of the problems that families experience today can be traced back to the two world wars. Next is economic instability. Governments should ensure that families...

I notice that I am now being "pre-moderated" on the Guardian's Comment is Free (CiF) website; they deleted my comments in a developing sub-thread and half an hour after posting, a comment on the housing crisis had still not appeared. The comment that was deleted was critical about the way that the CiF format has had, by reducing the quality of the comments and discussion to one-liners, and preventing comprehensive deconstruction of the original articles, the quality of which is often poor. Regular contributors such as Polly Toynbee and Will Hutton have long since ceased to say anything of value and are not a credit to the newspaper. As I do not live in the UK, from my overseas perspective, there is a different take on what may and may not be said and how it may be said. I raised the possibility that the stifling of debate may have been intentional. Viewed from the outside, it is evident that the channels of discussion in Britain are nowhere near as open a...

Until about 1970, there existed a widely known genre of popular and specifically Catholic music. This is one of the things that makes the 1945 film The Bells of St Mary's work so well. Starring Crosby as the young priest Fr O'Malley and Ingrid Bergman as Sister Benedict, it gives an insight into the Catholic church before Vatican 2; a contemporary audience will find it sugary. This was a time when American Catholics were mostly immigrants and their children, of Irish, Italian or Polish origin. Yet they all knew the music. Thus, when the schoolchildren are heard singing O Sanctissima the doctor picks it up and joins in, then, as Fr O'Malley starts to sing, the millionaire sitting in front of them, turns round with a puzzled look on his face and asks, "Do you know it too?", before the priest reels of the entire piece by heart. This shared heritage of music learned in childhood was one of the things holding the community together. What happened to it? Is it...

The other day I went to a concert of Christmas music performed by a group of young children. They were, I would guess, between ten and twelve years old and sang beautifully and competently, having learned both the words and music by heart. We tend to underestimate the abilities of children. They would have no difficulty in picking up the Gregorian chant hymns that Catholic children would have learnt as a matter of course at any time up till around 1970. This music is a key element in the cultural heritage of the church, and it is more than a shame that it is still being denied to the coming generation. And I believe it is more serious than that. Music has a hold on people. Eventually we want to return to that which was familiar in our childhood. A priest said to me the other day that children drift away after confirmation and most of them never enter a church again. Teach them the music young, and perform it regularly within the liturgy and I believe that many will stay, and others...

As a lay person in the pew, the important point is that the liturgy is not celebrated in such a way as to be an obstacle to worship. The guidelines are clear. They were set out after Vatican 2 in Sacrosanctum Concilium . The texts are given in the liturgical books, such as Graduale Romanum . Latin should be used except for the sermon and readings from scripture. The approved form of music is Gregorian chant and the polyphony that is derived from it. There is no place for Protestant hymns, or folk hymns derived from popular music, nor is there any real requirement for new music in the liturgy. Or to rock for Jesus. There is also a need to exercise restraint, for example, at the Sign of Peace. However, the parish where these principles are observed is rare indeed. Thus the document Sacramentum Caritatis. is timely. A few extracts follow, relating to the points just mentioned. Art at the service of the liturgy 41. The profound connection between beauty and the liturgy should make ...

Next Sunday, the Third Sunday in Advent, is known as Gaudete Sunday, from the opening words of the Introit. It is one of the two in the year when rose coloured vestments are worn. This is a special Introit, Gaudete in Domino Semper , Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say "Rejoice". Unfortunately we shall not be hearing it in my parish church. Nor shall we hear the beautiful English version by Purcell (below). The service will probably start with some dreary Lutheran or Methodist hymn which has no place in a Catholic service. However, I do not intend to go there to find out as I will just end up being disappointed and annoyed. Fortunately there is the option of the Extraordinary Form Mass at a monastery nearby but it should not be necessary to make the journey. Here is the Purcell version. When this kind of thing could be sung but almost never is, why is anyone surprised that young people find the Mass boring?

I was talking to a priest the other day who has been working as a chaplain to university students. He mentioned the loss of young people. Obviously there is the influence of the wider society, but a repeated comment from young people is that Mass is boring. And it usually is. I lived in Brighton, England, for many years. The parish flourished until the introduction of the English Mass in 1990. Then, an initial loss of about one-third of the congregation was followed by further steady decline. In 2001 a new priest was appointed. By then the parish was almost moribund. During his first months, the only change he made was to be available to hear confessions after every Mass. Nobody came at first, then people started to take this Sacrament regularly. The new priest also started to talk to the parishioners by inviting them for a coffee and a smoke in the presbytery kitchen after Mass, where he joined the group after he had finished hearing confessions. These were the last years of Pope ...

DSCF7134 , a photo by Fr Tim Finigan on Flickr. I had a couple of discussions with people recently on the subject of Latin in the liturgy. But why is this even being discussed? The situation is set out in Sacrosanctum Concilium. 36. 1. Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites. 36. 2 . But since the use of the mother tongue, whether in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or other parts of the liturgy, frequently may be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended. This will apply in the first place to the readings and directives, and to some of the prayers and chants, according to the regulations on this matter to be laid down separately in subsequent chapters. 54. In Masses which are celebrated with the people, a suitable place may be allotted to their mother tongue. This is to apply in the first place to the readings and "the common prayer," but also,...

The Guardian has just altered its "Comment is Free" website and introduced what is called "threading". Responses are gathered together instead of being in chronological order. This seems to be unpopular - an overall look at the number of comments suggests that there are less than half the number there were before. In addition making navigation difficult, the threading system has led to fragmentation of discussions to the point of meaninglessness. The comments have degenerated into one-liners. It may have seemed like a good idea, and if the aim is to stifle discussion, it is a good system. The Telegraph used it too, but I have stopped going there anyway since they put themselves behind a pay wall. Around three years ago, the quality of the comments was often better that that of the editorial pieces, especially those by the Guardian's old war-horse regulars. Some of the same people are still commenting but there has been a falling-off, possibly also due to ch...

Credence table , a photo by Elmar Eye on Flickr. It is only a few years ago that communion was almost invariably being distributed under both kinds. Two or more chalices of wine (illustration) would be consecrated, with Extraordinary Ministers to help the priest to distribute it. Some friends of mine were complaining that, following an influenza epidemic a couple of years ago, communion is no longer distributed under both kinds in the parish. This is an old dispute with a long history. It was an issue with the Hussites, and that was in the early fifteenth century, over a hundred years before the Reformation. There is a good theological reason why communion is given out only under the form of bread and this is discussed at length here . In short, it is not necessary for salvation and it leads to misapprehensions about the nature of Christ's presence in the sacred elements. The official situation is set out in Sacrosanctum Concilium, section 55. The dogmatic principles...

I have just read this book, published by Ignatius Press. It makes important points on an important subject , drawing on sources such as Sacramentum Caritatis . It is an explanation of Pope Benedict's position on liturgical reform, which is that those who have taken a rigid stand on the Tridentine Mass are as mistaken as those who took Vatican 2 as a go-ahead signal to make things up as they went along. The current position is that there are two forms of the one Latin rite - the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form. Priests should not be celebrating one to the exclusion of the other. And furthermore, the provisions of Sacrosanctum Concilium should be complied with, which means giving pride of place to Latin, Gregorian Chant and Polyphony. When this is done, as, for instance, at the London Oratory, there is no reasonable ground for criticism of the Oridinary Form of the Mass. Unfortunately, few of the current bishops have so far taken the Benedictine reforms seriously. With...

I made an unplanned attendance at an English Mass yesterday. The new translation was used. My impression was that it is popular with those who attend. Unfortunately, the priest who celebrates the English Mass is leaving and apparently it will not continue after the new year. Those attending are young people - perhaps thirty or so - who do not intend to stay in the country and so would not be happy with the vernacular mass. Logically, an international Mass would be in Latin, which is why Latin is the official language of the church. The Tridentine Mass is peculiarly suitable for an international congregation because much of it is said silently and everyone can follow with printed translations in their own language. But - and I spoke to one of them about it - the present congregation who attends the English Mass would not be happy with the Latin Mass. It would be a great pity to deter them by taking away a Mass that they were at ease with. If possible, then, a means should be foun...

Blå Tåget , originally uploaded by Elmar Eye . Travelled from Göteborg to Stockholm last Saturday on Blå Tåget . Swedish carriages from the 1960s - the high point of Scandinavian design - have been tastefully refurbished, and the train is complemented with a German dining car and a lounge car from the 1970s. The locomotive is modern and hired in. The train runs on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and was well filled, possibly because the fare undercuts the SJ ticket price and people do not mind the slightly longer journey time, an extra half an hour, making it four hours, which is perfectly acceptable. In fact, the slower speed makes for a pleasanter and more relaxing journey as one can watch the landscape go by. Food is cooked on board in the traditional way, so if you have your meal about half-way through the trip, the journey is soon over. After a tentative start earlier in the year, patronage seems to be building nicely. Keeping the speed down keeps the costs down and clearly t...

St Lars Catholic Church, Uppsala , a photo by Elmar Eye on Flickr. Went to Mass here yesterday. The architecture of the church is firmly stuck in the mid-1970s. In its way, it is an attractive and well thought-out building, with good quality materials, but it lacks the markers that are associated with sacred spaces. The worst thing about it is the arrangement of the Sanctuary. An organ, slightly askew, reading desk, altar, crucifix with an Rothko-style offcut barely recognisable as a cross, three IKEA-style chairs and a cube of a tabernacle, are spread out in a row along the end wall as if they were items for sale in an auction. There is no symmetry or sense of order - in fact, the lop-sidedness is deliberate. It lacks focus. Goodness knows what theological statement is it all trying to make, but the message that comes across is confusion. The same, unsurprisingly, goes for the liturgy: a pick-and-mix collection of Lutheran and Wesleyan hymns, a few 1980s settings and a garnish...

Pro-HS2 research group Greengauge 21 says it thinks the rest of the country will benefit more than London from the high-speed link. In its evidence to the  Independent Transport Commission , the organisation cites better connectivity to the ‘gateways for global commerce’, the main international airports and also the Channel Tunnel for access to the European HSR network. This prediction is a statement of faith more than anything else. What counts are door-to-door journey times. I am sceptical whether HS2 is the best way of achieving wothwhile improvements, as it is the local networks that are just as important. One reason for the appeal of the south-east is its proximity to Europe by road, which is the most frequent freight mode. Improved rail services could help to relieve the motorway network by taking some traffic off. Improved intermodal freight would help the north somewhat. The simplest way of rebalancing the UK economy would be through the tax system, so that it favoured a...

The launch of London-Frankfurt high-speed services has been pushed back due to Siemens’ delay in supplying 16 ICE 3 trains to Deutsche Bahn, who ordered the trains in 2008 and were promised delivery last December. DB originally wanted to run London-Frankfurt trains for the 2012 Olympics, but then pushed the start date back to 2013 – but further delays mean the service will not now be launched until at least 2016. The delay is reported as being due to software problems discovered during testing.There was a time when the only things running through a train were a pipe for the braking system, and a pipe for the steam heat. Then they added electricity, with a dynamo-battery set under each vehicle and cables from vehicle to vehicle in case of failure. Ventilation systems were passive so didn't break down and door operation was manual with someone on the station platform to check that they were properly shut before the train moved off. Trains like those are of extreme simplicity, inexpen...

The vote against women bishops has aroused a storm of protests by agnostics, atheists and equalities fascists. Most of it is ill-informed and ignorant. Arguments about modernity and the need to get out of the medieval mindset or come into the twentieth century are no argument at all. They reveal a poverty of intellect and an unwillingness to thing about the real reasons why a change might or might not be desirable. Church office is not a prize to be sought after like getting oneself in the MD's chair. The desire to be a bishop is unworthy and in principle a reason why the individual is not suitable. This was one of the themes explored by Trollope in Barchester Towers, alas now little read. But in the case of the Church of England, there is a complication. The question of Anglican orders was investigated by Rome in the late nineteenth century by a commission set up by Pope Leo XIII. This led to the publication of the Bull Apostolae Curae in 1896, which concluded, " We pron...

A friend of mine who used to be a free church evangelical asked me this question the other day. The use of Rock music in worship has respectable credentials, since it has its origins in the baptist Pentecostal churches, with congregation mostly of African origin, the the southern states of the USA. Elements of the style - its characteristic rhythm and tonality - come, no doubt, from the tribal music of West Africa, from whence it was imported along with the people, who were also imported. So what is the problem with it? In principle, nothing is wrong with it, any more than there is anything wrong with Lutheran and Wesleyan hymns, or the music of the seventeenth century Anglican church. All of these are expressions of a Protestant from of worship and behind them is a Protestant spirit and a Protestant theology. If you hold to that, then it is perhaps hard to argue that there is anything wrong with Rocking for Jesus. But would Jesus join in, or purse his lips and leave? What music woul...

The left has lost no time in whipping up its anti-Israel fervour, following the latest outbreak of hostilities. As far as I can make out, it was Hamas who set off the latest round of rocket attacks, having assembled a supply of weapons from Iran over a period of several months. Civilian deaths are always a bad thing but the Hamas government has the support of civilians so it should not come as too much of a surprise when the Israelis react robustly against attacks from Gaza. However, it is worth noting that the Israeli response is mild in comparison to the attacks by the Syrian president's forces on his own people, something which the critics of Israel somehow manage to overlook.

The pro-abortion lobby has seized on a recent medical fatality as a reason for abolishing the country's strict abortion laws so as "to bring the country into the twenty-first century". As the debate has unfolded it has become evident that no-one really knows what happened, inevitably since medical confidentiality is involved, and that no-one is really clear exactly what the Irish law is on the subject. The official position appears to be that an abortion is permitted if the life of the mother is endangered, but that is ultimately a matter of medical judgement. The relevant principles are, it has been argued, the Irish constitution and an 1861 law, which itself is open to interpretation. Irish doctors have asked for better clarification and that is evidently necessary. But the whole incident has been used as an excuse by the pro-abortion lobby to argue for the kind of lax abortion laws that apply in the UK, and to take a side-swipe at the Catholic church at the same ti...

GOSPEL Matt. 13:24-30 At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him. 'Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?' And he said to them: 'An enemy hath done this.' And the servants said to him: 'Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?' And he said: 'No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: 'Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn.' " Just a thought about this passage that...

St Mary Magdalen, Brighton glass #20 , a photo by Elmar Eye on Flickr. In all the discussion about the new "Archbishop of Canterbury", it seems to have been forgotten that the last Archbishop, Cardinal Pole, died on 17 November 1558.

Cathédrale St-Paul. , a photo by Rienk Mebius on Flickr. Beautiful and well preserved Medieval Cathedral but what is the thing that looks like a gold painted radiator in front of the altar? It is ugly. It should be taken away. And the ugly chairs one the sanctuary should be put in the Cathedral cafe. A perfectly good altar can be seen behind which can be used instead. The celebrant would then be facing east, the same as the rest of the congregation. The damage done by the 1970s liturgical reforms spread far beyond the liturgy itself.

Sea view - South Devon 1946 , a photo by Elmar Eye on Flickr. Our first holiday was after the war, in July 1946. We stayed at Teignmouth on the South Devon coast. My father must have gone on a fishing trip when he took this picture with a Kodak box Brownie taking 8 shots on a roll of 120 film, which would most likely have been Kodak Ortho. This might be South Devon but it could have been Cornwall. There is lots of detail here - timber boats including two cabin cruisers, a large two masted sailing vessel, probably a nineteenth century ketch, a couple of clinker-built rowing boats and a steam tug. Probably South Devon or Cornwall. It looks like it was a breezy morning. To judge from the angle of the anchored boats there was a strong tide running  Despite the blue sky, with only a few clouds, the softness of the shadows suggests the sun must have been slightly obscured when the picture was taken. An amazing amount of detail shows up, considering the type of camera, never renowne...

Books have been written on this subject but the most obvious differences are The Mass is usually said in the vernacular * Vesting and recitation of the Judica me verses takes place in the sacristy instead of in the church. The Proper is replaced by hymns. * The priest faces the congregation instead of facing in the same direction as the congregation. Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison are each repeated twice instead of three times. * There are two readings before the Gospel instead of three. The readings are to a three-year cycle instead of a one-year cycle. A responsorial Psalm usually replaces the Gradual verses. * The prayers over the preparation of the gifts are different. There are four alternative Canons of the Mass instead of just the one, which is now the Eucharistic Prayer option number one. The Canon of the Mass is recited aloud instead of almost silently. There is an acclamation after the consecration. The Our Father is recited by the congregation ...

Last night (All Souls' Day), the choir sang the Requiem, at least a fair bit of it, in Latin, including the Introit, Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei. But the Tract, Offertory and Communion got lost and replaced by the Responsorial Psalm and vernacular hymns mostly of recent composition and therefore unfamiliar. The Dies Irae also disappeared. The latter is in fact the Sequence and not part of the Ordinary Form, but can nevertheless be included. And that is about as good as it gets at an OF Mass. The previous day, All Saints' Day, we had a visiting choir which sing a collection of things including the Kyrie by (probably) Haydn, a baroque polyphonic piece at the Offertory and the Sanctus from Faur é's Requiem, interspersed with a modern vernacular Gloria and a slew of Protestant hymns. It was a buffet menu put together so that there was at least something to please everyone. But it added up to nothing coherent, and more like a concert than a service. The standard of singing ...

A train running at 125 mph consumes 90% more energy than one running at 90 mph. In addition, there are other costs, since the trains have to be specified for higher speeds, one-third of the front and rear vehicles cannot be used for passenger accommodation, there is additional wear and tear, signalling systems must be designed for the longer stopping distances, thereby reducing track capacity, and the railway becomes subject to EU regulations for high speed lines, with all the associated compliance costs. Reams of careful calculations would need to be made before the proposal to reduce top speed on some 125mph routes to just under the 100 mph threshold could be dismissed as lunatic.

Leica M9 with Elmar lens , a photo by Elmar Eye on Flickr. Leica users get accused of snobbery. My reason for getting this M9 is because it is easy to use and I already had a few Leica lenses, most of them ancient. The cameras are a bit overpriced but then I don't run a car which is most people's big money gobbler. It is a pity that so many Leicas are bought to put on display or are fashion accessories. One cannot blame Leica for playing to this market, which values crocodile skin coverings and gold plating. However, if it did not exist, the production of the cameras would probably not even be a viable proposition. If I did not already have the lenses I would have probably got one of the Fuji series, perhaps the Fuji X-Pro 1. This uses some very clever technology to get the very best out of a smaller APS size sensor.

A friend of mine has been campaigning this weekend for two anti-abortion groups. One of the groups has an in-your-face approach using gory photographs and takes the view that abortion should be illegal under all circumstances. The other group takes a softer line, arguing that because abortion is so widely regarded as acceptable, the best that can be done is to minimise the numbers by persuasion and some tightening of the rules. My friend expressed misgivings about the first group, but another friend argued for the hard line approach when there were proposals recently for a tightening of legislation in the UK. He argued that the amendments should not be supported because this implied support for abortion. One can see the point in all this, and the opposition always use difficult cases - rape, incest and conditions threatening to the life of the mother - to further the argument for liberal abortion laws. There is another issue as well, which is that Christians then get accused of be...

Increasingly, the post Vatican II changes are being re-evaluated. Innovations like communion in both kinds, the Blessed host received in the hands whilst standing, from lay ministers, removal of communion rails, are being recognised for what they are - a deliberate de-sacralising. The process is reinforced by the use of the vernacular, something which many of the other world religions have carefully avoided by reserving an ancient classical language such as Hebrew, Arabic, Sanskrit or Pali, for liturgical use. This is sound practice, not least because vernacular languages are politically loaded. The English language and the way it is used is closely tied to the class system and Britain's colonial legacy. One does not need to look any further than across the Channel to Belgium to see how divisive language can be. Then there is the influence of the Novus Ordo on the music. In the EF, hopefully, at least the Introit will be sung to the tune of the day, and the other seasons have the...

  Leitz brought out the collapsible Elmar f/3.5 lens in the 1920s. It was then upgraded to an f/2.8 version in the 1950s and made available in both screw-fit and bayonet fit for the Leica M. The top picture is taken with a lens at f/5.6 setting, made in the late 1950s and is the very centre of the image. The lens was redesigned and  revived for a while in the 1990s and continued in production until 2002. The earlier version is chromed brass with a 15 blade diaphragm giving a perfectly circular aperture. The newer version is black aluminium with a 6 blade diaphragm giving a hexagonal aperture. The only difference seems to be that the newer lens has better contrast, presumably due to a reduction in stray light inside the lens, which makes the older example seem soft. But as for the definition, there is no perceptible difference. The newer one suits the black M9 better, whereas the old one looks best on its chrome M2. The comparison below is of a shot of part of the test ...

Locos are now around £3 million. IEP cars are around £2.8 million. Hauled vehicles are around £1 million if you need new ones, and around £300k for a thorough refurbishment of an old vehicle such as a mark 3, which will run for another 20 years at least. The differentials do not stop with the initial costs. Several power cars are inevitably going to cost more to maintain than one locomotive. If the country end of a route is much less busy than the London end, then either the train is overcrowded at the London and or it is under-utilised at the country end. If the line is not electrified throughout, either there is diesel running under the wires - undesirable but not a catastrophe, or a change of traction. Either there is dead diesel traction on the electrified route, or dead electric traction on the non-electrified route. The neat solution to the problem is to electrify out from London to the end of the busy section, split the train and push/pull enough of the vehicles to sati...

Vadstena klosterkyrka , a photo by Elmar Eye on Flickr. We had a weekend at Vadstena, which was looking stunning with all the trees in autumn gold. It was attended by groups from choirs from Catholic churches all over Sweden, with a programme directed by the diocesan musical director, Ulf Samuelsson. We stayed at the STF hostel at Omberg, where forests of giant ancient oaks and beeches were also at their autumn best. The music, however, got off to a difficult start, with a rehearsal in the vast cavernous interior of Vadstena abbey church, a fourteenth century building with a reverberation time of around ten seconds, as well as some particular resonances. Making matters worse was a organ that sounded as if it was out of tune in the bottom register - low frequency discords being amongst the most unpleasant sounds possible. That the music was evidently not selected with regard to the special characteristics of the building quickly became apparent. With normal-paced music, muc...

As is well known, some Jewish communities in Sweden have been at the receiving end of a wave of antisemitism, including violent incidents. This is not coming from native Swedes but from Muslim immigrants from the middle east, or from their children. An article in Svenska Dagblad yesterday set out to explain why knowledge of the holocaust is irrelevant to the perpetrators. The author, Helena Mechlaoui, argues that those responsible have themselves suffered from the actions of the Israel and the US, and feel that their sufferings are being ignored whilst attention is still being given to those of the Jews more than half a century ago. She appears to justfy the hostile actions on the grounds that Jews generally support the actions of the Israeli government, which is possibly true. From this she draws the conclusion that Sweden's Jews deserve what they get: bullying in schools, street attacks and vandalism of synagogues and other Jewish communal buildings. She then goes to point o...

Latest setup - old and new , a photo by Elmar Eye on Flickr. Leica M9 with early 1960 Elmar. I am going to use this for a while and see how it works. The ergonomics of this old lens is better than the 1990s version of the Elmar. I particularly like the focussing button which locks in the infinity position. I got it a few years ago but only used it for a little while with film as I thought the definition was soft, but will give it another go with the digital camera. Nice to have this backwards compatibility.

Catholic Pentecostalism, otherwise known as the charismatic renewal movement, is characterised by a particular style of worship which has much in common with Protestant Pentecostal practice. I do not want to talk about it except to say this. The Catholic church is, and always has been, a Pentecostal church. And traditional Catholic worship is Pentecostal. This is particularly so when Latin is used and sung to Gregorian chant melodies. The fact that the Latin words are not immediately understandable means that one has no option but to let go and accept the sound. And the sounds of Latin are very particular, with pure open vowels alternating with simple consonants, and almost entirely lacking in the compound vowel sounds found in the Germanic languages or the complex consonts that characterise the Slavonic languages. Latin vocals are produced by opening the mouth and throat and letting the sound emerge on the breath. Thus it becomes a form of speaking in tongues. Gregorian chant mak...