<\/div>\n
Guest blogger, The Rev\u2019d Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda\u2019s, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth University. He completed his studies for the ministry at Latimer Hall, Durham. He is married to Daphne and enjoys home brewing, model railroading and is an avid member of the Great Snoring Morris Dancers.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nWhat\u2019s that Nigel? What did I make of the Holy Father\u2019s visit to Birmingham? Well, you\u2019ve certainly put the cat among the pigeons with that one! Ian, instead of topping up my lager shandy do you think you might just manage a whisky? Ice? Thank you so much. Yes, I don\u2019t mind if you do make it a double. Very kind. Very kind.<\/p>\n
I must say I wasn\u2019t at all inclined to go all that way with Daphne. Birmingham\u2019s a long haul, and the prospect of standing in the rain with thousands of Irish washerwomen, Philippino nurses and Polish plumbers didn\u2019t really strike me as the idea of a good time. No, indeed, Nigel. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m being \u2018racist\u2019 as you put it. I don\u2019t mind that sort of person at all, they\u2019re perfectly alright in their place, it\u2019s just that one can\u2019t understand the language, and they might be as nice as can be, but it makes one feel awkward being in the midst of so many foreigners.<\/p>\n
Still, \u201cAnything for peace at home\u201d as the saying goes! So Daphne and I tootled off together with some folks from her church, and I must say, when the Pope of Rome arrived it really was rather impressive. I have to hand it to them, whoever organized the whole shooting match, certainly did a good job. Thousands of people there, all of them waving flags and singing. Rather good fun, and I have to admit I got into the spirit of the whole thing even though I was rather dubious. I was feeling a bit peckish and a rather sweet Polish woman shared her picnic with us. Some sort of dumpling affair. Funny looking, but jolly tasty!<\/p>\n
The numbers and the enthusiasm was rather disconcerting I must say.\u00a0 I mean to say, the dear old Archbishop of Canterbury would never get that many out on a rainy Sunday morning. Then, when the old fellow arrived the sun came out. A very nice co incidence if you believe in that sort of thing. Yes indeed, rather impressive in its own way. Of course, I asked Archdeacon Huffington-Post about it and he pooh poohed the whole thing. Pointed out that the Catholic priests demand total, unthinking obedience from their flock, and that is why so many turned up. He was really rather amusing. Said, \u201cFarther Murphy O\u2019Malley says, \u2018Now ye all better go along and see the Holy Farther, and don\u2019t ye fergit to bring your sons and brothers and husbands and the whole clan.\u2019 So they all turn up\u2013with their endless broods of snotty young uns, and no wonder there\u2019s a crowd of em.\u201d<\/p>\n
Har, har. Not very kind, of the old Archdeacon, but he does have a point I must say. What did I make of Blessed John Henry Newman? Now then, I don\u2019t mind singing a few of his hymns. Lead Kindly Light Amid the Encircling Gloom is one of my favorites for Evensong, but I must admit, I can\u2019t really bring myself to call him \u2018Blessed\u2019. It\u2019s not manly, if you know what I mean, and I don\u2019t understand this obsession with \u2018Venerable this\u2019 and \u2018Blessed that.\u2019 After all, we\u2019re all saints aren\u2019t we\u2013each in his own way? Also, I have to admit that I\u2019m a little bit biased. After all,\u00a0 Newman was an Oxford man, and that doesn\u2019t bode well. You never can trust an Oxford man. Then he went and converted to the Romans. That was a rum thing to do. Not trustworthy at all. No, as a matter of fact, we didn\u2019t read him at theological college. Old Canon Farnsworth said we were better sticking with the good old Anglican writers like Wodehouse or Conan Doyle. Said Newman was hard going and likely to confuse us, and besides he was a papist.<\/p>\n
So all in all, not that impressed really. The Romans put on a good show, it must be said, and Daphne and her chums were certainly beside themselves. I did promise her to read that Newman book\u2013something with a funny Latin name in which I think he apologizes to a couple of gals named Vita and Sue for embarrassing everyone by becoming a Roman. I\u2019ll give it a go, and let you know how it goes, but I\u2019m not very hopeful I must say.<\/p>\n
I hope the visit of the Pope hasn\u2019t upset you too much, and hope you haven\u2019t all got \u2018Roman Fever.\u2019 I remember a lad at theological college who I\u00a0 went to school with went all funny about the Roman Church and \u2018swam the Tiber.\u2019 Name was Geoffrey Swann. He wasn\u2019t a strong fellow at the best of times. A bit over sensitive if you know what I mean. Always crying off rugby with a note from his mother. I think the Principal should have given him a stern talking to and sent him out to do some parish visiting. That always knocks some sense into a fellow. Ended up as a monk somewhere in Wales, poor chap.<\/p>\n
Well, thanks so much for the extra shot of \u2018Dutch courage\u2019 as they say! Must head home. It\u2019s been marvelous chatting with you lads. I expect Daphne will be waiting up with her Catechism in one hand and a cup of cocoa in the other, ready to fire away with more of her infernal theological questions. Never mind. Must soldier on! Chin chin!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Guest blogger, The Rev\u2019d Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda\u2019s, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth University. He completed his studies for the ministry at Latimer Hall, Durham. He is married to Daphne and enjoys home brewing, model railroading and is an avid member of the Great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[4,21,94],"class_list":["post-963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-vicar","tag-alter-egos","tag-anglicans","tag-humor"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Vicar on the Papal Visit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth\" \/>\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\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Vicar on the Papal Visit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-21T16:41:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-26T15:13:23+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=\"5 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\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html\",\"name\":\"The Vicar on the Papal Visit\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-21T16:41:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-26T15:13:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\"},\"description\":\"Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Vicar on the Papal Visit\"}]},{\"@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":"The Vicar on the Papal Visit","description":"Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth","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\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Vicar on the Papal Visit","og_description":"Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html","og_site_name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","article_published_time":"2010-09-21T16:41:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-26T15:13:23+00:00","author":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html","name":"The Vicar on the Papal Visit","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-09-21T16:41:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-26T15:13:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad"},"description":"Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-vicar-on-the-papal-visit.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Vicar on the Papal Visit"}]},{"@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\/963","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=963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}