Cindy returns..

Well Cindy has now got over her 'hissy fit' about some of the bad language that was being thrown around Catholica - only took her 8 months. She has been a very busy sacristan since then and wants to share with the readers here a few more of her stories if they would like to hear them?

St Michael's has been a hive of activity over the past months especially with a change of parish priest. There were many tears shed as Fr Cunning packed his swag and moved on to greener pastures (well maybe, who knows? Could any frantically busy parish be called a green pasture?). It was an emotional time for everyone concerned and Cindy provided boxes of tissues at all the Masses over the final few weeks.

Fr Sharp arrived after many sad farewells at his previous parish. Eight months later life has settled back into a pattern and the St Michael's parishioners are delighted with their new PP (parish priest).

There have been many arrivals and departures (Baptisms and funerals) or hatched matched and dispatched as the saying goes. The different coloured altar cloths seem constantly being changed. White for weddings and funerals, green for Ordinary time, red for feast days for the blood martyrs and white for the virgins. Some days there are so many things happening in the church in one day confusion reigns. Silly Cindy took off all the green cloths with the white ones waiting to be put on for the next funeral. Fr Sharp asked her a question and she lost her concentration and absent mindedly put the green ones back on again!!!!

There have been big celebrations for a school anniversary however the Bishop was not invited. Lots of food and drink and 'remember when' stories were the order of the day. Photo albums were dragged out displaying the old black and white tattered edge photos from the 1940's and 50's. How would today's kids survive without the Internet???? Most of them have never heard of hopscotch or jacks.

Just today St Michael's celebrated a funeral with a delightful lady of 89 going to her God. Her farewell was a great celebration of a life well lived. Her coffin was white and painted with a beautiful flower decoration. The top of the coffin was decorated in the same coloured flowers and it was a sight to behold. In keeping with the personality of the dear lady - the music planned for the crematorium later was The Chicken Dance!!!! Imagine that happening back in the 1950's, so the Catholic Church has come a long way when you see things like this happening.

Cindy was excited out of her tree to go to an evening last Wednesday night when Bishop Geoffrey Robinson presented his new book to the public. She has a personally signed copy and has her head stuck in it at every available moment. Dust bunnies in her home should not be disturbed is her motto -she was not born to spend precious time on housework.

Since her last scribe in Catholica Cindy has managed to lose some weight despite her struggle with the wretched chocolate addiction. After years of struggling with every diet from the 'cabbage diet' to the 'carrot diet' when her skin turned orange - she has at last found an eating plan that she enjoys and takes off weight. Having dropped a size, she had to rush to the end of season sales and purchase some new clothes (in liturgical colours of course so she does not clash with the altar cloths).

Well that is it for today, Cindy needs to cook something tasty for her Petal Frogs to eat for tea or he will go to the fish and chip shop and she does not want him to increase his cholesterol and get sick. They have more holidays planned now all their kids have left home and they have joined the new tribe of 'grey nomads'.

'Til next time, Cindy

*EDITOR'S NOTE: I also note that the deluded vet over on the CNDB is trying to make a claim that the editorial policies at Catholica have changed as a result of pressure from himself. They have not. They are consistently the same policies that I developed and observed when I was coadministrator of the CNDB. As I see it the purpose of these forums is to encourage discussion on spiritual issues in the same sort of language that people use in everyday life. As such we allow the use of colloquial language, including the magic "f" word — which you may have noticed was used a couple of times by the young people in the interview we published on Monday. That interview in fact serves as a good illustration of how the word is used colloquially these days in the mainstream of society. The use of the word there was not "over the top" nor as some uncouth navy might use it as an adjective before every noun. We neither encourage nor discourage the use of colloquial language. We are seeking to encourage here discourse at the sort of standard that is the normal community standard in private homes or when friends meet in the street. That is not to be read as implying there is no standard on Catholica when it comes to language. Obviously if a person came in here using any of the magic words like some navvy as an adjective before every noun that would offend the standard. We judge this community is adult enough to be able to handle the use of any colloquial language when the use of certain colloquial words is appropriate within the context of where they are used. Similarly, regarding the deluded Vet's claims regarding our arguments on the failings of Humanae Vitae. He has evidently given up following closely the discussions that go on here as in recent days I have drawn attention in perhaps the most forceful way I have ever expressed myself on these matters and drawing to the defence of my arguments the arguments of Bishop Geoffrey Robinson.

Cindy the Sacristan is the pseudonym of one of the long-time members of our community. In real life she has spent many years in a voluntary capacity as sacristan in a large outer suburban parish.

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