"The bells, ... the bells!"
A kindly Monsignor of the Ordinariate drew my attention to the following article at First Things.
Read the entire article linked below:
[An excerpt follows.]
Ring, Catholic Bells!
by Terence Sweeney
The bells at my parish had been silent for years. They rested in their tower quietly amid the wind, rain, and occasional flocks of pigeons. But starting two years ago, a few intrepid parishioners have been pushing the levers, awakening the bell clappers and some neighbors. Our lovely set of named bells ranges from big deep Adolphus (key of E) all the way down to tiny bright Gervaise (F-sharp). Adolphus is larger than a rather more famous bell here in Philadelphia, but he sings of a more perfect liberty. Each note on the scale is represented, but currently two bells—Elizabeth (G-sharp) and Edmund (C-sharp)—are out of commission, making renditions of “Immaculate Mary” or “Fly, Eagles, Fly” a little more difficult.
The goal is for bells to peal for daily Mass, after funerals, and for the noon and evening Angelus. [...]
Why ring at all? It has been a long time since people set their watches to the noon-day pealing, and we hear of good news and bad by means of phone alerts rather than church chimes. Perhaps we do it in order to make our own contribution to the sound of the city. Daily we hear honking, laughter, sirens, birds, trolleys clanging, and the occasional drum circle. And now we hear the sound of bells, a small reminder that our urban landscape can be a spiritual landscape.
[...]
One pauses and one hears. Pausing and hearing can be the first step in faith. “Be still and know that I am God,” the psalmist says.
So we ring out in the hope that someone might hear the call and enter. We ring out to add a touch of Christianity to these secular spaces. We ring out the death toll—rich and deep with Adolphus—hoping a college student will hear and suddenly catch on to what John Donne means when he says the bell tolls for us. We let parish children ring the bells so they can feel the reverberating joy of symbols old and new. And sometimes we ring for sheer joy. [...]
Perhaps the new evangelization begins with such small gestures as the ringing of bells. One Saturday, a young woman, loaded with shopping bags, came in after I had rung the Angelus. She was new to our neighborhood and came in search of the bells she heard. [...]
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