A feast fit for a Prince of the Church, our dinner with Cardinal Burke
His Eminence has a packed schedule as evidenced by the photos that our intrepid Chairman, Joe Shaw took. Cardinal Burke also granted an interview to my editor, Dylan Parry, for The Mass of Ages with the sparkling line:
"I think Catholics should simply say that ‘I cannot accept this teaching as it goes against what the Church has always taught and practiced.’ I don’t think that Catholics should permit themselves to be driven away from the Church by those who are not upholding the Church’s teaching."
Sorry that I have been late blogging about this and posting my photos, it is high dinner party season and I have been giving quite a few in my West London flat as well as tearing around London to attend not a few wintry parties. John Carmichael and I are also working hard promoting the paperback edition of Drunks and Monks.
I tried to look my best for the dinner in honour of Cardinal Burke. A friend of mine who works in fashion is on the look-out for red dresses for me and this one came from London Fashion week, it came hot off a fashion model's back and had a whiff of peppery perfume about it. My hair was meant to be thick ringlets, but the gale-force windy weather made it more fuzzy instead.
The cardinal was greeted with popping champagne corks, as we all enjoyed a glass of bubbles before sitting down to a scrumptious meal. The first toast, where we all solemnly stopped eating and raised our wine glasses was to Her Majesty the Queen. Then there was a toast to our esteemed guest, Cardinal Burke.
Our starter was celeriac and apple soup, followed by salmon and golden glazed potato gratin. I quipped that this would be the menu I'd chose for my last meal on earth. My friend, Fr Tim Fiinigan recorded my delight on Twitter by posting this pic.
Something quite funny happened after Cardinal Burke posed for a photo with me - he asked if one of the young men standing near me was my husband. The young man replied, 'shouldn't there be a list of what a Catholic girl ought to be before a man proposes marriage?' I think that I'd fall very short of the list!
Another confusion that had to be cleared up; I was quick to reassure Cardinal Burke that just because I wear red does not mean I am out to pinch his job.
When I had the chance to chat to Cardinal Burke, I gave him a hard-copy of my interview with Archbishop Cordileone, who during the interview praised Cardinal Burke as, 'very gentle and gracious, wise and holy'.
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