Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Whit Tuesday

Last day away! I have made the return journey to Christchurch, in much better weather down the beautiful Kaikoura coast (kaikoura means meal of crayfish - so naturally I had crayfish, calamari and mussels for lunch, with salad)... to-morrow, I fly back to Australia.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make Mass either yesterday or to-day; I did pay a visit to the Blenheim parish church of St Mary - a lovely church built of wood (I pass over its internal reordering in a spirit of charity), but Mass there is at noon. At Kaikoura I stopped by the unprepossessing church of the Sacred Heart, but found it locked; there was a notice that weekday Masses were held at the presbytery anyway - more of this wretched "hole and corner" business, with the priest - as I have experienced even in Hobart - saying Mass at his dinner table for himself and some longsuffering guest. (Of course, I hope that Fr at Kaikoura has a well-appointed private chapel...)

Having come back to Christchurch, I located a copy of volume I of the Gilby edition of the Summa, for only NZ$9! I passed by the Anglican cathedral, where they were singing Evensong; I stood in the porch and gazed about, but didn't go in. Nice singing is great, but false worship it is, and Augustine warns in the Lessons at Matins to-day to avoid heretics.

While this post was originally written prior to my holiday, I give thanks now that it has turned out to have been thoroughly enjoyable, New Zealand proving as friendly and beautiful a destination as all assured me it would be; I shall return. God defend New Zealand!

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