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Catholic Nostalgia
Topic Started: Wednesday, 28. November 2007, 21:49 (1,045 Views)
Rose of York
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Michael, I remember mail being delivered in England on Christmas Day.
Keep the Faith!

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Derekap
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Though mail was delivered on Christmas Day it was usually just two or three items at most - probably cards in response to people the senders didn't expect! I also remember seasonal staff, sometimes students, delivering about 7 or 8pm in the evenings and, I think, also on Sunday mornings before Christmas Day.

This was in the days when if one posted a letter before about 8am it was delivered within the same town or city at lunchtime. Useful for anyone suddenly remembering a birthday or anniversary.

My mother and her sister for a few years joined seasonal staff in a sorting office. They spent the time twiddling thumbs and then coping hectically with a huge volume of mail which arrived suddenly and then twiddling thumbs ... and so on. But it was extra income for Christmas.

We even had bus services, though limited, on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. They were not well used where I lived - Boxing Day more so.
Derekap
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equado

I remember doing my spell as a student postie - over 40 years ago now - very early rises, frantic sorting and then a trudge up and down the tenements of Glasgow. It ws amazing how quickly you rememberd where individuals on your 'walk' lived so that when you sorted your mail it was in the correct order for delivery. (I don't remember much thumb twiddling - your relatives must have just been in the sorting office - softies!) :rofl:
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Gerard

I did my spell 30 years ago.
Up and down Glasgow skyscrapers - a lonely route.
I took a pocket radio along for company.
But it was only a couple of hours and - job done and home.

Gerry
"The institutional and charismatic aspects are quasi coessential to the Church's constitution" (Pope John Paul II, 1998).
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Rose of York
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Here is a nice bit of Catholic nostalgia. I made some bread. When the dough was ready to be set aside to rise I found myself cutting a cross in it, and saying "Bless the Bread". My husband asked "Why did you do that and say those words?" I replied "It just happened. My mother always did it."

Was blessing the bread an Irish practise?
Keep the Faith!

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Karin
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Karin
I don't know, Rose. My grandmother used to do that and she wasn't Catholic. But she did say, "Bless the Bread" she was baking. I was only a wee squirt then, but I can remember that (far back).
Karin

Hvaljen Isus i Marija. Kraljica Mira, moli za nas.
"Praised be Jesus and Mary. Queen of Peace, Pray for Us."

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MickCook
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Ay, when a were a lad Brass Band music wafted o're vally between Holts and Lees. We'd do our bit each whitson an walk wi our Church around Owdham. Mi mum would see the Proddies comin and put on a record, 'Faith of Our Fathers' and turn t' sound up full blast.

Some silly sod made a film called "Brassed Off" that brought all these memories back - then I start talking reight odd like.

:)
Mick
The Cook Companies
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Emee
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Mick

I love the film Brassed Off :D !

They filmed the band scenes at the band stand at Halifax Piece Hall.

Pete Postlethwaite is a very talented actor!
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Rose of York
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This is a brilliant article, about Catholicism in the fifties and sixties. It will evoke memories for Catholics who remember that era, wherever they live.

http://www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/news/local/mixed_marriages_made_in_heaven_1_1341117
Keep the Faith!

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Angus Toanimo
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Thanks for that, Rose, I enjoyed reading it! But it does show how society, and to some extent the Church, has gone down the pan since.
Posted Image
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PJD

I liked this bit:

"Catholics had no problem about drinking, gambling or smoking, providing it was done in moderation, but woe betide those who ate meat on Fridays!"

PJD
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Derekap
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What a wonderful article, Rose, and how very true. I am the product of a mixed marriage. Our church was just five minutes along the same Avenue and my non-Catholic father used to look out about the time of leaving so he could start frying the bacon and eggs and put the kettle on. He always knew that on Passion Sunday we would be later. In fact if it was the first Sunday of the month -a popular day for receiving Holy Communion, it would be even later and clashing with the next Holy Mass.

I disgree with Patrick, I don't think the Church 'has gone down'. Mixed marriage ceremonies can now be much more ceremonial and because vernacular language is used are more understandable to non-Catholics present. Funerals are more intelligible. Mothers of new born children are not, after their infants' Baptisms, whisked away to another part of the church and endure unintelligible Latin prayers in a kind of purification ceremony so that they can now go into the world. No bench rents and the embarrassment of having to move because Mr and Mrs Smith want to sit in their places marked with their names - after all you are a visitor and didn't know they came to the nine-thirty. No plates for money on entering, no disturbance by the second collection after distribution of Holy Communion and usually no retiring collection and no sooner home when the door bell rang for the Outdoor Collection and again once a month for the Altar Collection. Parish bulletins with notices you can't quite hear because Father isn't very clear or someone coughed at the crucial moment or waiting five minutes to get near the weekly notice sheet on the board in the porch. I nearly forgot, sitting down for the rest of the Gloria and Credo whilst the choir sung their innumerable repetitions of 'Misere Nobis' etc.
Derekap
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Clare
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Putting the "Fun Dame" into Fundamentalist
There's that parallel universe again!

Everything is wonderful, because people can understand the words used in the liturgy - no matter that a lot of them have no clue about the faith.
S.A.G.

Motes 'n' Beams blog

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Rose of York
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Patrick
Friday, 8. October 2010, 07:56
Thanks for that, Rose, I enjoyed reading it! But it does show how society, and to some extent the Church, has gone down the pan since.
In some respects, yes, and in some respects there have been improvements none of us would have expected possible in our lifetimes.
Keep the Faith!

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Rose of York
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Rose of York
Friday, 8. October 2010, 00:08
This is a brilliant article, about Catholicism in the fifties and sixties. It will evoke memories for Catholics who remember that era, wherever they live.

http://www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/news/local/mixed_marriages_made_in_heaven_1_1341117
There is no mention of the processions that used to take place, in the streets. When the Blessed Sacrament was processed on the nearest Sunday to Corpus Christi, no insults were shouted, no stones were thrown.

The Methodists had their Whitsun Walk of Witness. If we Catholic children had tagged on to the procession and walked, we would have been told off by parents, and any teachers who spotted us. If we had dared torment the Methodists in their procession, severe punishment would have been administered.
Keep the Faith!

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