Sacred Heart Battersea, anniversary celebrations

Today was the 125 anniversary of the consecration of the Sacred Heart Church at Battersea.  It was on this very day in 1893 that the Church was consecrated by Bishop John Cagliero in the presence of Don Rua and some other prominent members of the Salesians from Italy.  They made their way to London from Rome, in spite of not having money and in fact borrowing money from one of the neighbours in France! 

Well, the celebration itself was simple.  Nothing extravagant, by any Indian standard.  I'm sure it would have been very very different were it to be an Indian celebration.  However, I did like certain features of the whole celebration.  The Mass was simple - not long and winding.  Singing was the best I liked.  The choir had no mikes and before the Mass the conductor, invited the congregation to join and sing along.  The music was minimal - one keyboard, a couple of violins and a box guitar.  Hymns were something we could all join in and sing along.  The archbishop of Southwark was the main celebrant, but the responsibilities for different things were all distributed.  A deacon read the gospel, another priest from the US preached the (short) homily.  Fr Cereda joined the blessing of the Church and congregation.  The various aspects of the liturgy were in different languages, rightly reflecting the diverse congregation which makes up the Church at Battersea.  Children were everywhere!  Long, a really long line of altar servers.  One read the reading.  The intercessions were by different children. The responsorial psalm was sung by children.  The only 'decoration' in the Church was a string on either side of the aisle with all the flags of the different countries.  Nothing else!  Of course, for the occasion the Church was painted.  But no other decoration strung or stuck or put up. 

The whole Mass, including the short presentation (a song and procession and handing over of the various national flags), presentation of gifts to former parish priests and helpers, vote of thanks, a few words by Fr Cereda before the final blessing took exactly 1 hr and 30 mts.  By any British standard that is 'too long' but by every Indian standard that was lightning fast!  Of course, there were other aspects that could have been done better (not prolonged) - sound system, for example - but on the whole I liked it all.