Quartiae Lamentatiae Judae

I could not tell what it was when I gazed toward the sky
Shaped like some alien monstrosity, the head of a giant fly
There were no walls, only panes of glass to let in the light
So looking to investigate could you imagine my awful fright
To be confronted by a vision of the most diabolical sort
A vision in which beauty and reverence had to be abort
Truly the parish council who chose the architect were inept
Preferring an open plan to a sanctuary, nave and transept
In place of a stone altar with the relics of saints entombed
There was a wooden table for this meal to be consumed
While in circular formation were expensive wooden thrones
Giving optimal reception for the assembly's mobile phones
Instead of a crucifix calling to mind the crucified Lord
A statue of a prancing figure which only Judas could afford
As for the tabernacle where Christ resides in sacred hosts
It had been confined to a corner to be visited by ghosts
Likewise the altar rail where we received upon our knees
Had been stripped like Eden's forests of its avenue of trees
The confessional was removed, God's own judgment seat
For sin was no deadly matter when you learnt to be discreet
The journey of our Lord to Calvary which adorned the walls
Had been replaced with posters you find in community halls
There was no room for an organ because it had to make way
To a band with rock music blaring in hope the teens would stay
So too the side chapels, which once afforded two extra masses
Had to give way to a crèche and coffee shop for the upper classes
The holy Virgin was left wanting of comeliness and dress
The fair queen of heaven n earth, how could they so transgress!
And what caused most pain was the children's colorful depiction
Of the Make Poverty History program, the UN's latest fiction
For instead of being catechized in truth, tradition and orthodoxy
They were being inoculated with a kind of spiritual dropsy