More mourning

I said the Saturday morning Mass for the last time as an interregnum duty today. Fr Dean Atkins' induction as priest in charge takes place a week next Monday, and is taking charge of worship at St German's as well as St Saviour's on Ash Wednesday. Last Saturday I learned that Pat, St German's PCC secretary had died in her sixties a few days earlier. This Saturday I learned that Gwyn, nearly ninety had died. Until just before Christmas he had still active as 'doorkeeper in the house of the Lord'. He was there at the back for almost every service, welcoming people and giving out books. 

Fr Dean will have the funerals of two people whose support he would have valued within a few days of taking charge. His predecessor, Fr Roy Doxsey, used to remark on how large a proportion of the congregation he had laid to rest during his time, many of them at great age. But as in so many churches, their numbers have not been replaced by as many newcomers. Affection and respect for the local Parish Church doesn't translate into loyalty and commitment as it used to. Will sustained hardship and uncertainty cause people to think again about what they value most? Come to think of it, I have two funerals this coming week, covering for Jan at 'the Res', while she's on sick leave. Caerau and Glanely still look to their local Parish Church and attend in good numbers for 'occasional offices'. While Sunday congregations are above average, getting them to grow with sustained regular commitment is dauntingly difficult.

Having finally made up my mind about the most desirable specification for a new laptop, I visited a few computer stores on my way home, to check for bargains and found what I wanted at Staples, a HP Pavilion G6 with Core i3 processor etc etc. I was delighted at how easy it was to set up, even if I did have to spend half an hour uninstalling unwanted bundled software, and setting up free open source programs I use all the time instead. 

As the weather cleared up I went for a brisk walk along both banks of the Taff after lunch, took a few photos of the club Rugby matches, to experiment with using different widescreen camera settings.

The G6 displays them impressively. I also used it to watch Whitney Houston's funeral streamed live from New Hope Baptist Church, New Jersey. Quite apart from all the star studded tributes in words and music, her home church's Gospel choir singing and praying were an impressive witness to the maturity and power of black Christians, rising to this sad global public event. Even local criminal gang leaders, out of respect for the local girl, issued dire threats against anyone considering taking advantage of the situation by stealing from the hundreds of cars bringing the 1500 mourners into the district.