I’m at Hyde Park, trying to be tolerant. Thank God for the beautiful Mass this morning

It's been an endurance test watching on the internet too!

We banner carriers were warned to eat before we got to Hyde Park, because there wouldn't be anywhere to leave picnic kit while we marched in the procession. Over coffee and a sandwich, my friend and I commiserated with each other about the misery we were about to endure whilst waiting for the Holy Father. As it happened, we found the dreary hymns were somewhat drowned out by the excitement of meeting friends, some quite unexpected, and looking forward to the arrival of the Holy Father. In a particularly graced moment, we happened on a (perhaps the only?) priest who had come equipped with a stole to hear confessions. On the whole, I thought the atmosphere of joy ( a notable quality of the Holy Father) supplied what was lacking in the contributon of the 'liturgy preparation team'. One other thing, if the dancing (I remember Irish, Polish and African) part of the pre-match entertainment had not been billed as 'liturgical dance', it would have been absolutely delightful.

The privilege of praying before the Blessed Sacrament with the successor of St Peter completely outweighed the less inspiring aspects of the vigil, such as the slightly embarrassing passing of the microphone from man to woman to child to woman to man to child (you get the picture ) during the Litany of the Sacred Heart (pity one of them dropped the baton and missed out a section).

My prayer is that our bishops, who heard the whole congregation in absolute silence during the period of Adoration and Benediction, will realise that the devotion of their flock is real, and only needs opportunities to manifest itself. I also pray that many of the young people who heard the Holy Father's call to join him at World Youth Day in Madrid next year will answer it positively.

I was in Hyde Park yesterday and really enjoyed the day. I was ashamed at how few people knelt for Adoration though and I won't even talk about the Liturgy. I love the Pope and everything he represents but I do wish he could just be a bit more blunt. People should be given more direction instead of being able to make their own rules up. My Priest had his stole and was available for Confession – there should/could have been an area for that.

A small correction or two: It was Credo III, not the 'Credo from the Missa de Angelis'. The two are often sung together, being well known but, strictly speaking, the Plainsong Masses (I. II. III, IV etc.) o not have their 'own' settings of the Credo.

It would have been odd, attention seeking behaviour for anyone to have genuflected at the 'et incarnatus est'. In the Ordinary Form, kneeling is prescribed at Masses of Christmas and the Annunciation. For the rest of the year, one bows. It would be a shame if liturgical liberals strted making up their own rubrics 'because it would be nice' — just look at where that got us in the 1970s!

I'm as trad as anyone -member of the Elgar Society and creator of the socs page on Facebook ans member of Assn for Latin Liturgy- but I thought the Hype Park liturgy was superb and had something for everyone. there was classical music. plainsong during Benedistion and good modern and trad hymns which all made for the wonderful atmoshere. It is clear that in the church now, one camn receive the host in the hand or on the tongus as you please. there is no reason why one groups prefernces should try to outlaw the practice of others. the importnat thing was having the Pope among us and his deep teaching.

While it is possible to receive Holy Communion in the hand or on the tongue, whilst standing or kneeling, I remain amazed at how few people have reflected on the example the Holy

Father sets, and, indeed his reasons for doing so. Personally, if the Holy Father told me that it was more efficacioius to receive Holy Communion whilst standing on my head, I would not understand it, but I would give it very serious consideration. Apparently it is believed that the Holy Father was strongly influenced by the little book, Dominus Iesus, by Fr Atnanasius Schneider.

Other than as a purely academic interest, I could really care less about what this pope has to say on the sanctity of life or any other subject for that matter.

I agree that social workers should be held accountable for any crimes they have committed.

Does that mean that I and the many thousands like me who were abused by catholic clergy, should not hold those who committed those crimes and those who covered it up accountable?

I don't follow that logic if that is what you are saying Robert.

“Personally, if the Holy Father told me that it was more efficacioius to receive Holy Communion whilst standing on my head, I would not understand it, but I would give it very serious consideration.”

I beg to differ. It should be given no serious consideration at all, because it would be a dramatic breach with tradition and would make a laughing stock of the Mass. As Catholics we are not subjects of an oriental despot whose every whim we obey slavishly. We have the gift of faith and have the right and duty to use our discernment. Pope John Paul II made a horrible error in allowing altar girls, and it is not Protestantism to say so. Conservative Catholics do their cause no good by insisting on the infallibility of every pronouncement, view, inclination, or policy of whatever Pope happens to be gloriously reigning.

OK Gustav – you have a point. It would be absurd and disrespectful, not to mention a breach of tradition, to receive Holy Communion standing on my head, and I probably shouldn't have used that as an example, but it never occurred to me that anyone would take it literally. Nor did it occur to me that the idea of a Pope suggesting such a thing would be remotely possible.

I did not mean, either, to give the impression that I felt obliged to give slavish obedience to the whims of an oriental despot. What I meant was, one of the responsibilities of the Pope, as of any bishop, is to teach. Since the teacher is generally held to know more than the pupil, it is advisable for the pupil to listen carefully to the teacher. This does not necessarily mean that the pupil is obliged to suspend the faculty of thinking for him/herself, but it does mean thinking carefully before disagreeing. I have found Pope Benedict to be a reliable teacher, and I am confident that, in following his instructions, I am unlikely to be led astray.

As it happens, I agree with you about altar girls (and women); this was a breach of tradition, as was the permission for Communion in the hand. It is instructive that both permissions were granted retrospectively, to avoid a situation of scandal caused by the disobedience of certain bishops' conferences. We might disagree about whether the concessions were the right way to deal with the prevailing situations, but I think the motivation of preserving unity was not a bad one.

That said, I stand by my original point that, if the Holy Father expresses a strong preference for one way of doing things over another, I would need a very good reason for deviating from it. Likewise, his preference for seven candles and a crucifix on the altar is well known; I find it inexplicable that this arrangement was not to be found at any of the public Masses he celebrated on this visit.

I was there and was surprised by the number of peole standing at various points during the adoration. I was taught to kneel until the reposition – but maybe habits will change as exposition and benediction become more common.