I am not going to make any moralising comments like those about God not allowing man to boast his technological achievements or symbols of progress. Some preachers at the time likened the Titanic to the Tower of Babel. What would they say of modern cruise ships like the ill-fated Costa Concordia or other top-heavy vessels of even more outlandish designs?

As with more recent disasters at sea, there have been acts of stupidity, cruelty and arrogance – but also of heroism and self-sacrifice. No vessel is unsinkable once its safety design limits have been exceeded. The Titanic was not designed to withstand the flooding of more than four of its watertight compartments. It is as simple as that.

I am something of a “Luddite” myself and I consider that technological progress often exceeds man’s moral capacities. But, after all, the Titanic was a ship. Most ships do not sink from the day their keel was laid to the day they are sent to India for breaking up. Boats with engines are probably safer than sailing vessels, but any propulsion system can fail. In the case of the Titanic, the hull was cut open. As with the Internet, it is not technology that is evil but perverse humans. Is it not the same thing with an aeroplane, a car or a kitchen knife?

We live in a culture where someone is always to blame – always a conspiracy, a scapegoat where there is not necessarily one. Sometimes, a crisis occurs and circumstances combine and prevail to make the whole thing worse and impossible to recover. This happens with methods of transport, but also with churches – but, umph, I won’t go into that like on the blog I sank a couple of days ago…

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I will offer Mass today for the approximately 1,500 souls who perished when that great ship sank.