h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Saly,

I didn't know until this morning that Tim was a preacher, or a vicar in a C of E church. One of today's posts by you mentioned a sermon he preached.

Leslie J.

Hi Leslie,

Tim's a lay reader, so authorised to preach and to lead a 'service of the Word',or evensong/matins, but not a priest hence not able to give communion, baptise (except in emergency) or marry people.

Do you have an equivalent role? In the CofE, it has some similarities with a deacon, except that a deacon would normally be expected to progress to priest after a time.

Nice to hear from you. How is your wife getting on?

Best wishes to you both

Sally

Hi Sally:

Mary is doing fine thanks. We returned an hour ago from Niagara on the Lake and earlier we were in Beamsville, Ont. A visit was made to a winery called Peninsula Ridge Wines. It was very extraordinary the way they lay out vines and harvest the grapes. None have been harvested yet and the Cabernet which we saw will be harvested in October. Every line of vines is as straight as a laser can make them, and the tractor uses lasers when planting the vines. In fact they are picked mechanically by special machines at night ( when it is cool) and placed in one of 12 large tanks for processing. This too is automatically done. The machines were made to specs in France. The wine maker hired by the owner is Jean Paul from France, one of the best. The technology is simply marvelous.[ What they don't know I know, is that all the wine companies are currently being audited for Excise Tax as adjustments have to be made retroactively because of a change in Excise Tax law recently. I didn't see any of our people there when I passed the office though]

To answer your question about deacons in the Catholic Church, the deacons can give communion and so can laymen called "ministers of the eucharist" in the presence of a priest. The numbers run into the hundred or so at Mass and so the m of e and deacons are needed. Men only can be deacons but m of e can be either sex. Deacons can be married or single and can preach a sermon and under certain circumstances marry people. (No same sex couples, of course)

Our church is cracking down on abuses of the use of m of e and now saying that they have to be absolutely necessary because of numbers of communicants before they are allowed. The Catholic Church probably thinks that it is really the priest or deacons job to distribute eucharist. Oh! one more thing. A single deacon is a stage to the priesthood and all priests pass through it. The converse is not true, a single man can become a deacon without being trained as a priest.

Hi Leslie,

I'm glad to hear your wife is doing well. Do you go to Niagara often? You've mentioned it a few times. The winery sounds interesting - have they persuaded the grapes to grow in laser-straight lines too? I've seen French and German vineyards, and they are always very orderly. I didn't know they could pick the grapes by machine though.

Thanks for telling me about deacons. The role sounds similar to a CofE deacon. I don't think a deacon can give God's blessing, or say the Eucharistic prayer over the bread and wine, but can assist with the distribution of communion, as can a reader. We also have some lay people who are authorised to give the chalice - if they have an official title, I've never learned what it is

I was glad when you mentioned St Therese of Lisieux the other day. It reminded me of a long ago visit to Lisieux. The Basilique is quite incredible.

I shall have to go off now and do some shopping - the children will keep eating, and they complained this morning that there was nothing to put in their packed lunches for school.

Look after yourself, and Mary.

Sally

Hi Sally:

Before I go to the health club I thought I would get a few words in here.
We don't often go to Niagara Falls or Niagara on the Lake. At the latter place they have a George Bernard Shaw Festival and I can't stand him or his plays. I saw one once, and after the show everyone except me stood up to applaud the actress. I think the play was Lady Barbara or some such thing. I am sure she saw me.

Anyhow, the grapes are grown a foot or less from the ground and as they are planted by laser guided machines, so they are picked up by machines which ( although the guide didn't say so) are presumably laser guided too. It would be 15 times more expensive, we were told, if they did it using hand labour. As a trained Cost Accountant, I can't believe he included the capital cost annual amortization in that estimate.

Last year we visited Stoke on Trent and the Royal Doulton factory outlet. What impressed me most was the Cafeteria . I enjoyed the colour scheme there and the tea of course. We bought something, I forget what. It was for my grandchild. [Our best China is Wedgewood, blue and gold which we have had for over 30 years, and not a piece is yet broken] I sound like Mrs. Bucket about to invite you to one of her Candlelight suppers.

At Spode, I think, a place nearby, Mary was looking in the factory showroom and I was touring the old Dicken's like factory, without permission, no one stopped me. I saw the canal and a barge going down it. It reminded me of my youth in Leeds, leaving school at 16 I did work in the office of some similar factory. Happy days. I was totally happy at Spode' factory. Give me a pair of blue overalls and I could have settled right in for life.

Well Pondero. No doubt you have suspected that we have been up to something over the past month.

sparrows.org.uk

Come over and visit. I am pre-modded at the ctmb for the next month, by the way, so will not be posting there for a bit in case anybody asks for me. Not that they will. Ani.

Hi Leslie,

You were quite close to us last year then, we live about half an hour away from Stoke on Trent. The Trent is the second-nearest river to us, and occasionally floods the far end of the village. The Swarbourne is the nearest, and that floods our part of the village - although the last flood was in 2000 and we've only been here for a year.

We've visited one or two of the potteries in Stoke. I went to Wedgewood years ago. My mum hates them, because they keep discontinuing their ranges, so when she breaks pieces, they can't be replaced. It's a good thing you are so careful with yours. A few months ago, we set off to take the children to one of the factories. Knowing from driving through, that there were signs directing you to several places, we didn't check the exact route before we set off. And could we find any of them? All the signs seemed to have vanished, and we eventually found one - and couldn't tour the factory as it was shut. Not the most sucessful outing ever.

We did collect plenty of publicity leaflets, so next time, we might find somewhere more interesting to take them all.

Tim's reminded me that the shop closes soon, and we want a bottle (or several) of wine, so I'd better finish now.

Take care.

Sally

Hi Sally,

Sweet Caroline posted this link on the CMB, so I thought I'd come and say hello.

I was interested in what you were saying about baptism. My husband's a lay reader, and he is allowed to take baptisms, and funerals too. He says that if it's an emergency, anyone can baptise - lay reader or not.

Hope you are well

Gill