<\/div>\n
How nice to see you dear! What a lovely surprise! I was just going out to prune the roses, but let me take off my hat, here, would you put my gloves over there on the swing? Thank you dear. Let\u2019s go in and fix a nice glass of mint tea. I know it\u2019s a little bit naughty, but I usually have a little drop of something in mine. Would you like some? It doesn\u2019t do any harm you know, and Dr Bellavance says it\u2019s good for my heart. Then we could sit on the porch for a spell. You know my dear, I thought quite long and hard about what you said last time about the hymns at church. I\u00a0shouldn\u2019t worry yourself too much about whether the hymns appeal to the young of not. Goodness gracious, have you heard what they like to listen to? When my grandson Henry comes over to mow the lawn he lets me listen to his music and I\u2019m afraid it just sounds like cars crashing to me. I can\u2019t hear the words and there doesn\u2019t seem to be any tune at all. Think what it would be like at Mass dear if we really did give the young people the sort of music they wanted to listen to. No, I think that would be a mistake don\u2019t you? In my view we need to lift people up to something higher, not take our Good Lord down to the lowest level. I know when he was here on earth\u00a0he went to parties where they must have had loud music, but he\u2019s in heaven now and doesn\u2019t have to do that anymore. He suffered enough here on earth, we mustn\u2019t make it worse for him. I don\u2019t tell\u00a0Henry this, but to tell you the truth the music he listens to sounds like it was composed in Hell not heaven, and to bring it into church.\u00a0I don\u2019t think so. It\u2019s just not right.\u00a0Goodness me, what next? Big screens in church and go go dancers I expect! You know dear, my neighbor invited me to their church called CrossWinds or Breaking Wind or something of that sort, and she said they actually do have a Dunkin\u2019 Donuts in the lobby and big screens and their pastor is not really there but is a holograph or something. I didn\u2019t really understand what that is, but it\u2019s not what I want when I go to church. You see, I was discussing this with Fr. O\u2019Keefe and he said that he chooses hymns very carefully so that they go with the readings at Mass, and he always chooses hymns that people can sing, but the problem is that nobody is taught to sing nowdays. When I was at school we had singing lessons, and we practiced! I remember singing My Country \u2018Tis of Thee and She\u2019ll Be Coming \u2018Round the Mountain. We used to enjoy it. This will make you laugh dear, but when I first became a Catholic I asked Henry about the crossed armed Catholics. He asked what I meant, and I said, \u201cWhy all those young men standing at the back of church with their arms crossed and their mouths closed. They look like Mass is the last place they\u2019d like to be, and never open their mouths to sing a hymn or say the responses. Why don\u2019t they just stay at home!\u201d You see, I wasn\u2019t being very kind was I? So Henry explained that I shouldn\u2019t judge them, and at least they were there and how could we know their motives. He was absolutely right. I do miss Henry my dear. He was so sweet and wise about everything. Always gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. So I don\u2019t worry too much if the young people don\u2019t sing hymns at Mass. I do wish they would learn to sing them though because I think they\u2019d get more out of Mass if they did. Henry\u2019s brother was a monk you know\u2013Fr Placid he was called, and I remember once when we visited him he didn\u2019t speak for about an hour, then he said, \u201cHe who sings prays twice.\u201d Before long I got him chatting away quite happily and I remember one thing he said, that the real reason people don\u2019t sing at Mass is because when people sing they become vulnerable, and when you sing a hymn as soon as you open your mouth you also have to open your heart, and you know my dear I think that is the real problem, and I\u2019m afraid we can\u2019t do much about that except offer up a few more prayers. My that is refreshing isn\u2019t it? Would you like to help me with the roses dear? They need some more mulch around them, and I\u2019m finding the wheelbarrow rather heavy these days. We could work on it together for a bit, and when we\u2019re done we can have another mint julep, I mean mint tea.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How nice to see you dear! What a lovely surprise! I was just going out to prune the roses, but let me take off my hat, here, would you put my gloves over there on the swing? Thank you dear. Let\u2019s go in and fix a nice glass of mint tea. I know it\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Mrs Brady Catholic Old Lady<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How nice to see you dear! What a lovely surprise! I was just going out to prune the roses, but let me take off my hat, here, would you put my gloves over\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mrs Brady Catholic Old Lady\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How nice to see you dear! What a lovely surprise! I was just going out to prune the roses, but let me take off my hat, here, would you put my gloves over\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-22T08:57:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-26T15:21:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html\",\"name\":\"Mrs Brady Catholic Old Lady\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-22T08:57:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-26T15:21:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\"},\"description\":\"How nice to see you dear! What a lovely surprise! I was just going out to prune the roses, but let me take off my hat, here, would you put my gloves over\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mrs Brady Catholic Old Lady\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mrs Brady Catholic Old Lady","description":"How nice to see you dear! What a lovely surprise! I was just going out to prune the roses, but let me take off my hat, here, would you put my gloves over","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mrs Brady Catholic Old Lady","og_description":"How nice to see you dear! What a lovely surprise! I was just going out to prune the roses, but let me take off my hat, here, would you put my gloves over","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html","og_site_name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","article_published_time":"2010-10-22T08:57:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-26T15:21:35+00:00","author":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html","name":"Mrs Brady Catholic Old Lady","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-10-22T08:57:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-26T15:21:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad"},"description":"How nice to see you dear! What a lovely surprise! I was just going out to prune the roses, but let me take off my hat, here, would you put my gloves over","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/10\/mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady-5.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mrs Brady Catholic Old Lady"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","caption":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}