Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated

Chris is on his way to South Africa via London to participate in the ribbon cutting of the SALT telescope. He sent me this e-mail today from London where he had a long layover.

Georgie my love,

As usual when travelling on Sunday, I set out from Gatwick to Victoria
Station with no plan but to walk aimlessly until I found a Catholic
Church. I said the same prayer as always, "Lord if you want me at
mass, show me the church." Last time he showed me the Santiago subway
station instead, but I knew how to get to the Plaza de Armas from
there, and I knew from our visit the Cathedral was there. This time I
wandered an hour, and found 3 churches, all Church of England. I
considered going in one of them, but there were two elderly ladies
waiting to greet me, and no one else there, and I didn't want to
explain that they were my second choice.

One of the Anglican churches was down a side street, and on my way back
from walking to it I saw an older couple parking their car. They got
out and began to go at a near run in a different direction than I was
walking. There were not many people out, and I enjoyed the riddle
"what makes an older couple in their late sixties run early on Sunday
morning?" I decided to follow. Then I heard the peal of bells, and I
could see them speed up even more; with my luggage I could barely keep
up. They twisted down streets like geriatric olympians. Just as I
thought, they were headed toward the bells, which turned out to be
coming from a very large Catholic-looking church. We reached the
square, but the sign in front of the church did not give a
denomination, which usually would mean it is Church of England. The
bells were pealing continuously and people were rushing across the
square in front of the church to get inside it.

So I thought, "whatever is in there must be pretty good, so I'll just
go see." I went in. There were a thousand people or more packed in
rows, far up in the front a choir of 30 or more singing in Latin, and
14 or more altar boys, acolytes, deacons, and priests in precession
with a large gold cross and incense. What followed was the most
beautiful solemn high mass you could imagine, all sung in Latin and
English. I wept. Half-way through I looked back for the first time to
the rear of the church. In addition to the thousand in rows, there
were large crowds standing in the back. This is a Sunday in ordinary
time, no special occasion. Just our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
body, blood, soul and divinity. No wonder they ran.

I would say the rumours that Europe has lost its faith are exaggerated.

Chris