See you on the 22nd September!

We have a very busy few weeks now with just the 22nd to rehearse for our.....

Annual Mass of Thanksgiving at 8pm on 29th September

The music list is HERE. Then we have just half a practice after that Mass to rehearse for.....

11:30 Mass 4th October

Bishop Pat will be concelebrating this Mass. It will be a Mass for the parish to acknowledge Monica Milligan's employment as Parish Secretary. As such it will be a Combined Choirs' occasion.

We will all sing the English Chant Mass. The proposed Music awaits Father Deo's approval, as well as possible last minute changes from myself, neither of which will happen until later in September.

Plainchant Choir

Jane has provided the Music Lists for 20th September and 18th October. Please look at the September one in advance, as it will be led by me from the console in Jane's absence.

The congregational Latin Mass booklets have arrived at church, so the monthly Plainchant Mass moves closer to becoming a Latin Mass once again.

August Holiday Word Search

Answers (by hand, or scanned and by email) by 30th September please. Let me know if you want a paper copy. Click HERE to download and print out.

Prayers, please.....

Please continue to pray for Carole, George, Maria and Family, Anne Mitra and Mary & Frank Elliott. I continue to ask you also for prayers, please, for a Choir member's Private Intention.

Father Deo, after contracting malaria which has delayed his return to Bart's from Tanzania, is also in need of prayers.

Please also remember Gwen Russell: some of you may remember she sang Alto with us for a while. Her brother, David, passed away on 22nd August and her father, Ernie, died on 24th August.

Father Carolin's Grave

As most of you will know, Father Carolin's grave in Streatham Park cemetery is in urgent need of restoration. He is buried with his mother, Rosalie and sister Audrey. The parish is committed to raising the £4,500 necessary to place the simple memorial that Father Carolin would have wished for in time for the Blessing of the Graves in the November month of The Holy Souls, and has appealed for donations to meet the cost. The Diocese has agreed to maintain it into the future. See the latest Newsletter for details.

Father Carolin was Parish Priest here for 30 years, 1963-93, and it was at his request that the Polyphony Choir was founded.

Anthony Nolan's Destination: Cure

Please do watch the video from George - a really worthy cause now close to our hearts.

New Music

This is the arrangement of Stanford's When in our Music God is Glorified that has now been placed in your folders. Do take time out to listen to it.

Nicholas Wilton's Piano Music

Local Catholic composer Nicholas Wilton, who has a number of choral items in our repertoire, is about to put out a professionally recorded CD Single of some of his piano music miniatures. You may have already listened to the preview tracks from the Home page of our Web site. He is selling them for £10, but has kindly agreed to provide us with 20+ copies at £5 each as we have always supported his endeavours. Expressions of interest would be good to encourage our possible purchase. The CD's booklet may be seen HERE.

Choir's Stainer CDs

Even after all this time, people still buy from the page on our Web site - many have gone to the USA, and stocks are now getting low.

For your coffee breaks

An absorbing read on Music in the Liturgy and words on Manliness.

London's last surviving Catholic Embassy Chapel of Penal Times

That 'Marmite Man' yet again! Awesome technique: I'll ask Antony if he fancies a pair of  shoes like that!!

Ever dreamt of moving away to the peace and quiet of the countryside? Guy Browning's article from The Guardian some 13 years ago is still worthy of a read and a smile.

Making the Sign of the Cross.

Will we ever be able to believe what we see on the screen again!? CGI from The Ripper.

Speakers on! A couple of current, and extremely successful, radio jingles:
1. LBC's Theme and Variations.
2. Classic FM's Theme and Variations
Click on the first example on each page, and the rest will then play sequentially. All from the pen of David Arnold (who must earn a pretty penny or two from royalties for his skill).

The Official Hymn for the Year of Mercy was written by Paul 'In the Spirit of Vatican Two' Inwood. Predictably he has announced that it will be published with guitar chords..... Click on the link on this page to hear it sung by the Sistine Chapel Choir.

THIS is fun!

The current London Boroughs of Wandsworth, Southwark and Lambeth were, until 1889 in the county of Surrey. There's a short history of Streatham HERE, as written in 1792. There's a small map (sorry it's not too clear) from 1933 HERE. Take your own points of interest from it. Mine is that the Hindu Temple at the junction of Ellison Road and Colmer Road was once a school. I'd always wondered!

The Music Jigsaw

For those who may casually think of change, THIS is the jigsaw I put together for the priests, organists and Directors each term in planning the music in the parish.

Samuel Coleridge Taylor

A quick reminder, if you have an interest, to book Norbury historian Sean Creighton's illustrated talk about our local composer, African Music in the English Style. Publicity will soon be more more widespread as October is Black History Month.

A little bit about St. Joseph

Some of us (not all of us!) will remember when "Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse" was added to the Divine Praises during Benediction by Pope Saint John XXIII in 1962. (I'm sure it was originally rendered as "Blessed be St. Joseph, her spouse most chaste"? Can anyone remember?). After a couple of years of walking up to English Martyrs, Streatham from St. Andrew's school every Friday afternoon for Benediction, it, like so many liturgical changes, took a long while to get used to.

As an aside..... my child's bus pass was only valid from Streatham Garage for the journey home on the 118 to Mitcham from school each day, so there was always the weekly risk of being caught by an observant bus conductor and being charged tuppence (less than 1p) for the additional two stops from St. Leonard's on the way home!! The O Salutaris and Tantum Ergo we sang every Friday then are the versions I play for Benediction at St. Bart's when I'm on duty. If I thought sufficient numbers of those attending would remember it, then I'd bring back the Adoremus in aeternum instead of O Sacrament Most Holy........

Back to St. Joseph..... At the same time, Pope Saint John XXIII added St. Joseph to the Roman Cannon. At the time, of course, it was the only Cannon.  Nowadays we have four Eucharistic Prayers for Sundays and Holy Days, of which the first three are generally the most heard. St. Joseph still appears, but only in Eucharistic Prayer 1 (still known as the Roman Cannon). That said, he may also get a mention in EP3 on his feast days (as might any other 'Saint of the day' and/or, at Bart's, St. Bartholomew, our parish Patron Saint), though that is an option, not an obligation, for the Priest. We don't hear EP4 so often as it may only be said at Masses which don't have an attributable Proper Preface; it is also the Eucharistic Prayer that Priests are generally least familiar with.

The two feasts of St. Joseph have differing statures. St. Joseph, on 19th March, is a Solemnity, so is transferred to another date if impeded (by a Sunday, or by falling during Holy Week, as examples). This date was established in several western calendars by the 10th century, and in Rome by 1479; it was added to the Roman Missal by Pope Saint Pius V on 14 July 1570. St. Joseph the Worker, on 1st May, is an Optional Memorial, so is omitted if impeded. The 1st May was deliberately chosen by Pope Pius XII when he instituted the Feast in 1955 to counter the growth of the very secular May Day celebrations, especially in the United States.

Previous issues of UPDATE (some images may have expired) - Oct12 Nov12 Dec12
Jan13 Feb13 Mar13 Apr13 May13 Jun13 Jul13 Aug13 Sep13 Oct13 Nov13 Dec13
Jan14 Feb14 Mar14 Apr14 May14 Jun14 Jul14 Aug14 Sep14 Oct14 Nov14 Dec14
Jan15 Feb15 Mar15 Apr15 May15 Jun15 Jul15 Aug15 Sep15

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