call the midwife part 2

[NimbleHiker]

I am setting up the next thread before i forget.

Though they used the RC rite of anointing.

The vicar was perfect. Few actors playing clerics do as well as that.
Quick check: the part was played by the vicar at the (high Anglican) church the writer and her husband attend.

(I wasn’t sure how to refer to him but that’s what the website says.)

It seems hard to carp at the end of such a brilliant episode, but the only jarring thing for me was the music at the memorial service: the singing was just too good, especially the In Paradisum with two rows of nuns, the front row too emotional to sing well (Srs Julienne, Veronica and Catherine.)

Otherwise, it was lovely. Yes to Pam Ferris: I wasn’t sure who the spirits of the nuns behind her were. It was such a brief shot but I think I saw Sister Hilda. I suppose that could be some sort of CGI/AI.

edit: I see @Toddlerteaplease and @StopWindingBobStopWinding posted about the cleric while I was typing.

Yes definitely. I was looking at Beryl's face to see any sign of recognition.

I missed that! Thank you for mentioning it.

I wondered if he was a real priest. He felt like one and not an actor.

The only thing I was a bit surprised at was the fact that Sister Julienne, even though she had returned to Nonnatus House was not doing the alternate shift with Sister Catherine caring for Sister MJ. I also would have expected Sister Julienne to speak at the funeral and not a novice MJ only met 18 months previously.

@MarchWindsAndmy RC bishop friend pointed out that he used the RC rite of anointing. I looked up the one from the Book of common prayer and it’s quite different.

Knowing Sister Monica Joan she probably demanded the RC rite and no one was going to refuse!!

I had an ultrasound in my local NHS hospital in September 1981. I don’t remember having an early one in my previous pregnancy the year before.

Those were the days when you had to go to your GP to find out if you were pregnant. I think you left a urine sample at the surgery and came back later for the result.

I don’t think any of the nuns would have left her side at the end. Sr Julienne would definitely have been there.

Do High Anglicans use the Book of Common Prayer? Genuine question. I am Salvation Army so I know nothing of such rites and rituals except that some Anglo Catholic churches are more traditionally 'catholic' than nany RC churches are.

I agree. The sequence of events we saw would only have made sense if Sister Julienne had been at the Belinda Mullocks child birth which was going on at the same time.

I think the coming series is going to be a prequel.

The church the writer attends holds High Mass, Low Mass, and Holy Communion (BCP) services each week, and Sung Mass sometimes.

The Book of Common Prayer has had many revisions. I know very little about this, but I do know that when I changed from attending Holy Communion at an Anglican Church to a Methodist Church the wording was very similar. Wikipedia explains this.

Well done, that is one of the things I enjoy doing when I watch it

Correction. I had an ultrasound in September 1980, and in the previous year. I am confusing year of scan with year of birth. I’m clearly still emotional after tonight’s episode. ❤️

It’s very useful to have such an authoritative source!

They never have any evil bitch midwifes do they? ones who blame and berate single mothers (or unmarried mothers as they used to be called) or who harangue and belittle women in labour and tell them off for "making a noise" being "difficult" Throughout the many series every single midwife has been kind, encouraging and compassionate. Very many women, myself included could recount experiences that were the total opposite of this.

I thought the Order was RC? I believe in reality the Order was stopped doing midwifery because "Virgin Brides" were not supposed to have anything to do with anything sexual. IIRC I read that in one of the original books. The books are much more honest and explicit but a good read.

How lovely to see so many familiar faces in those photographs. I didn't spot Chummy though...

No the order was always Anglican. I have the books written by Jennifer Worth.

There’s an interesting article in Radio Times about tonight’s programme.

For those that don’t like clicking links, it says Pam Ferris has retired from acting, and was initially smuggled on set, and that Heidi Thomas herself plays one of the ghost nuns.

Also this:
Such was her determination to give Sister Monica Joan an exit befitting the character and Judy Parfitt who played her, Thomas, who is Anglo-Catholic, asked her own priest to give Monica Joan her last rites and to conduct her funeral.
“Rather than ask him to be an advisor, I thought ‘why don't I ask him to actually do the scene?’ So that's a real priest in those scenes who knows exactly what he’s doing and the congregation is people from my own church. They came in a minibus and brought the church vestments. It really elevated the occasion and gave it a perfection and purpose that made it feel like much more than a pretend funeral.”

I was very surprised to see that they had the correct vestments. Think they are from Watts & Co. They got it wrong before when Tom wore a gold chasuable to a carol service.

Loved that 🥰 cried my eyes out when the nuns came for SMJ 😭 I always get emotional at the thought of the people you love waiting for you when you die.

I was born in 1978 and my mum said there was no ultrasound then but by the time my brother came along in 1980 there was.

Im not convinced my the electric wheelchair, sadly I think the reality would be that disabled children would be sent to ‘special’ schools and received a pretty rubbish education.

Yes. Wish I could have had Nonnatus nuns in charge instead of my experience