Olympic Pastors and St. Sebastian

Recently, the Monsignor who is the Chief Executor of the John Paul II Foundation for Sport, a registered charity, and who is also the Chaplain for Sport in the Archdiocese of Westminster, gave me some information on both the Olympics and the sports charity.

Msgr. Vladimir Felzmann, a fascinating priest with an interesting history, told me that he is one of the "roving" chaplains for the Olympics. Roving chaplains are not new, as I was involved in peripatetic ministry and outreach to students in the 1980s in London. The Anglicans came up with idea first, realizing that if the people were not coming to church, the ministers had to reach out to the people and be where they are.

There are 190 chaplains of several denominations involved in the Olympics, and Msgr. Felzmann will be working in Central London, with some Anglican ministers. Walking around the parks, streets and being present in the many activities which surround the Olympics, these missionaries will be "there" for the millions of visitors. There is, of course, an inter-denominational team of pastors involved in the Olympic Village, but the outreach may be much more effective.

Please pray for Msgr Felzmann and his confreres. Christ did send his disciples out into the world, and as the world in coming to London this week, Christ is sending disciples out again.

I shall have a separate post on the John Paul II Foundation for Sport, a very worthy cause.

By the way, St. Sebastian is the patron saint of sport, because, as a Roman Centurion, he must have been in top physical condition. May he intercede for all the priests involved in the Olympic ministries.

Olympic disgust five--are the games supposed to unite nations?

Sad days for London

By JOSHUA DAVIDOVICH and AP

Olympic organizing head Jacques Rogge insisted again Saturday that there would be no minute of silence for the Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich massacre, but said he would lead an official delegation to the German city to mark the tragedy.

Pressure on Rogge to include a moment of remembrance has ramped up in recent months as the opening of the London Olympics nears.

Last week US President Barack Obama joined a battery of other world leaders saying they supported a moment of silence for the 11 slain Israeli athletes at the upcoming London Games, which will mark the 40th anniversary of the attack by Palestinian terrorists.

Rogge, who heads the International Olympic Committee, continued to rebuff the calls, but said a September 5 memorial on a Munich airfield would pay a “very strong homage and remembrance” to the victims.

Munich’s Furstenfeldbruck airbase was the site of a botched raid by German commandos during the 1972 games that ended with nine Israeli athletes being killed by their kidnappers. Two other members of the team had been killed earlier.

Rogge said again that he did not believe the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, slated for Friday, was the right venue for a moment of silence.

“The opening ceremony is an atmosphere that isn’t fit to remember such tragic events,” he told a news conference.

Rogge was asked whether he was swayed by Obama’s view.

“We also pay big attention to recommendations coming either from the political world, or cultural world, or world of enterprise,” Rogge said. “And we take then a decision taking into consideration (those recommendations). I will not say that we are necessarily following the advice, but we take it into consideration, yes.”

On Sunday morning, a memorial event will be held in east London attended by London Mayor Boris Johnson and Efraim Zinger, head of Israel’s Olympic committee.

Also last week, American broadcaster Bob Costas said he would “call out” the IOC for refusing the request while announcing the Israeli team’s arrival.

Israeli leaders have been joined by politicians in the US, Canada, Germany, Italy, Australia and elsewhere calling for a moment of silence.

On another issue related to Israel, Rogge said the IOC would investigate any athletes who pull out of competing against Israelis in London claiming they were injured. In the past, athletes from Iran have withdrawn from Olympic events that included Israelis without facing sanctions.

“If an athlete is genuinely injured or ill, then of course it is understandable,” Rogge said. “But we will examine every case very thoroughly and we will examine every case with an independent medical team. If the medical team does not ratify the decision of the first doctor, then the athlete will be punished.”

Rogge said the IOC has reminded all national Olympic committees, not just Arab bodies, that refusing to compete against another competitor is “totally forbidden by the Olympic Charter.”

So much for national pride-the "me" generation hits the Olympics

Olympic disgust four. 

I do not understand this. What has happened to the national pride of the British? It is gone.

Several news agencies are reporting these stories, which are here taken from The Mail. Also, below, another  AP article highlights the border guards strike. The British used to take pride in being British. 

This is the entitlement me generation at their worst. No one in these unions seems to understand cooperation. Gramsci would be pleased, as he did not believe in nationhood. The great lies of socialism and communism seem to be at work here.

The great Olympic walkout: Now train drivers AND airport immigration staff announce strikes which will hit Games

• Aslef union will take industrial action over pensions on August 6, 7 and 8
• Thousands of staff at the Home Office, including airport immigration workers, will also stage a 24-hour strike the day before the opening of the Olympics
• Train company bosses are 'shocked and angry' strikes are being planned at time of 'great national pride' for country
• Aslef general secretary, Mick Whelan calls cutting pension contributions 'highly irresponsible'
• Transport Secretary Justine Greening: 'If there were an Olympic sport of self-interest, Aslef union leaders would win it hands down'
• Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt claims unions would be 'completely out of tune' with public mood if strike held during Games
• Labour leader Ed Miliband: 'People should not be striking during the Olympics. People should not be disrupting the Olympic Games'
• Members of RMT union on South West Trains reject strikes by narrow margin of four votes

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2175874/London-2012-Olympics-Train-drivers-stage-days-strikes-Games.html#ixzz216zeVxHB

Olympic disgust three

If you never have lived in a city where there has been an Olympics. count yourself lucky. Londoners are not happy. It is as if one was having a party for mature friends, and then discovered your teen-aged daughter and son invited all their friends to your nice, organized soiree. All of a sudden, there are 300 kids on the patio asking where the pop and computer games are...Also, the rules are getting more and more odd.


Really, can you imagine these early set of games? Here is my take--τὰ Ὀλύμπια 


(Panning out from the Acropolis, an aerial view -heck, this is pretend, right-of a bunch of guys in loin-clothes or nothing on )


(A media girl from the local news center at the well is interviewing the athletes)


(This journalist is named Athena.)


Athena: Here we are in the center of the training grounds for this Olympiad. Let's find out where this young man is from and what his sport is...Hi, what is your name, sir?


Young man: Pericles, but I am not related, you know...


Athena: Sure, what will you be doing here this week?


Pericles: I am not an athlete. You can talk to those guys there, Plato and Ephorus, they will run in the foot race.


Athena: Well, I can't interview them because well, I have an artist here drawing pictures, and you are dressed...you know.


Pericles: Actually, I am a caterer. I set up stalls and sell olives, figs, dried fish, honey cakes, wine, flat breads, cheese, and other things. I even have fresh water in little clay jars with little clay lids-look-for taking into the stadium. They are recyclable. When the water is gone, you just throw them on the ground and stamp on them. 


Athena: But, Pericles, this year no one can take water into the stadium. Security rules. We are expecting troubles from the Goths, I think. 


Pericles: No water jars? Oh, no and I invested so much in these. Well, I still have giant leaves with ice and snow from the mountains here in this special hide carrier so that people can stay cool.


Athena: Pericles, no one can take ice or snow into the arena either. 


Pericles: What about the aulos and specialty Egyptian sistrum types of instruments for making noise to encourage your athletes? I have bags of them made for the tourists to cheer on the home teams. I even went to Egypt and picked some up, but they each have a strange word I can't read on the side.


Athena: I think these characters say "China". No, all those musical instruments will not be allowed, either. Oh dear, you must have missed the announcements posted up on the pillars of the Parthenon.


Pericles: I haven't had time...shucks, I might as well pack all this up and go home.


Athena: I am sorry. Where is home? 


Pericles: Well, I guess I might as well tell you the truth. My real name is Varazdat and I am a boxer. I was intending to make some money on the side before the games started.


Athena: You mean you are the future King of Armenia? Wow! What a scoop for me.


Varazdat: Well, sure. Go ahead and tell people. I am just a little concerned as I hear there may be more wars involving the Romans and the Goths-- and some of my cousins have been banished to a place called Britannia already by the Emperor.  I really do not want to go there.


Athena: Why?


Varazdat: I hear it is called the Nanny State of the North and it rains all the time.


Athens: Well, that is all now from Athens. Maybe I'll just go speak with that guy over there. By the way, good luck with your fisticuffs. 


Varazdat: Ah, thanks. I have a good feel about this competition. I am in great shape and I am the greatest...

Athena: Sure, right, bye.

You got to pick a pocket or two-ooo----Olympic disgust two

Anti-Olympic post two--check this out, please. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18798792

And...

What is missing is love...An open letter to the SSPX

Dear Members of the SSPX,

When I returned to the Church years ago at the age of 22, I had to make a decision, not only about the truth that Christ was God, but that the Church, as unholy as it had been manifested in my life, was the One, True, Holy and Catholic Church.

Now, the first decision was one based on Faith. The second was based on Love. I had grown up having priests and nuns in the family and being very familiar with religious people. The Church seemed to be so imperfect in so many ways, especially growing up in one of the most liberal dioceses in the United States.

So, my decision was not based on some dewy-eyed idea of the seen perfection of the Church, but on the Church as it really was in the world. That bishops were wrong in some areas of doctrine, that some priests were pedophiles, that many lay people were hypocrites using contraceptives and not carrying about the poor, did not make any difference to me anymore. Four people in my family had been abused by a priest for years and years. Nothing mattered as to sin or falsehood. The Church was and is the one institution created by Christ for our salvation. I could no longer be outside this institution. It was no longer a question of me judging, but submitting myself to the authority of the Church. I could not be holier than Rome. I could not be holy without Rome.

I, too, am and was at that time, a great sinner. We say the Church is made up of sinners, and we quote Christ stating that "...They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners."  Mark 2:17 Douay Rheims

But, do you, dear members and friends, want to fight the fight with sinners, side-by-side with the Pope, or on the outside? Can you love the Church, which is imperfect, in order for Her to be made perfect? As in marriage, would you die for your Spouse, dear SSPX priests? 


Please come back. For the sake of Love, Who is a Person and needs you.


Supertradmum

Married heterosexual couples-no; Gay couples-yes?

I mean, really. 


http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/07/16/married-olympians-we-cant-live-together-during-games-but-gay-couples-can/


LONDON (CBSDC) — An Australian Olympic married couple claims they have been prohibited from sharing a room in the London Olympic Village, even though gay couples are reportedly allowed to do so. (What?)

Olympic shooters Russell and Lauryn Mark told news.com.au that they are being discriminated against by officials.“The stupid part of this, which I have argued to them, is that there are tons of gay couples on the Olympic team who will be rooming together, so we are being discriminated against because we are heterosexual,” Russell Mark told news.com.au. Lauryn Mark additionally told the website that the Australian Olympic Committee has not helped them with their situation.“Basically they said if we want to room together we need to check out of the village and go into a hotel at our own expense. It’s not feasible,” she told news.com.au. “I am very frustrated because in sport there are a lot of same-sex couples and it’s OK to be partners with someone of the same sex, but if you are heterosexual you are penalized. ”Nick Green, head of mission for the Australian Olympic Committee, told the London Evening Standard that the Marks are not  being discriminated against.

“Accommodation and bedding are done in a particular way to ensure all the athletes are accommodated in the village,” Green told the Evening Standard. The couple has previously come under fire for Russell Mark’s claims that sleeping pills help him, as well as for Lauren Mark’s provocative photo shoot showing her in a bikini on the cover of a magazine.The two will still take part in the Olympics despite not being able to live together during the games.

The Loss of Civic Pride

Discussions online of the three-days of darkness on other blogs, and my own preoccupation with Occupiers and anarchists led to a reminder of the 1977 Blackout of New York City on this day. Now, many of my readers will not remember this, but is was a horrible turning point, I think, for many of us when we realized how quickly people turned into barbarians because of circumstances.


New York City was in the midst of severe financial difficulties and then, lightening struck the Con-Ed substation on the Hudson River. What ensured was an unleashing of evil.

In little more than 24 hours — the blackout lasted from 9:34 p.m. on July 13 to 10:39 p.m. on July 14 — 1,000 fires were reported, 1,600 stores were damaged in looting and rioting and 3,700 people were arrested. Neighborhoods from East Harlem to Bushwick were devastated. The authorities later estimated that the total cost of the blackout exceeded $300 million.

It is also the year the first Cuomo, false Catholic, got in power.

In that year, I was living in Minneapolis. New York City seemed very far away, but the violence at home, in Broadway, struck the media like an omen. 

Chicago is now under a cloud. Who would want to visit the Windy City with the soaring crime rate and inability of the city to ensue safety? I remember as a young person in my teens taking the train from Iowa to Chicago for shopping or baseball games. We would visit the Art Institute, the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the River and the Lake. We shopped until we dropped.

No more. Even though Chicago has more attractions, the gang warfare and the corruption of the political powers that be put one off. We used to love our cities enough to want to live in them in peace, security and harmony. No more.

Our cities are decaying and does anyone care? Look at the bankrupt cities in California. Civic pride died a long time ago in some places, when selfishness at both the top and the bottom took over.

Prayer for Seminarians and Those Discerning a Vocation; Also, Pray for Those Older Men Who May Be Called

from Papa Stronsay website

Please pray for seminarians everywhere. Also, pray for those men who feel or even discern they have a vocation, are older, and may not know what to do. I know several single, prayerful older men who thought of the priesthood years ago but never pursued the vocation. Pray for them.  Pray for women to see the beauty of the traditional orders.

Prayer of Blessed John Paul II for Vocations to the Priesthood and Nuns, for All Dioceses and Orders

Lord Jesus, as You once called the first disciples to make them fishers of men, let your sweet invitation continue to resound: Come follow Me!

Give young men and women the grace of responding quickly to your voice. Support our bishops, priests and consecrated people in their apostolic labor.

Grant perseverance to our seminarians and to all those who are carrying out the ideal of a life totally consecrated to your service.

Awaken in our community a missionary eagerness. Lord, SEND WORKERS TO YOUR HARVEST and do not allow humanity to be lost for the lack of pastors, missionaries and people dedicated to the cause of the Gospel.

Mary, Mother of the Church, the model of every vocation, help us to say “yes” to the Lord who calls us to cooperate in the divine plan of salvation.

Amen

The Church is in dire need of workers for the harvest. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest. Matthew 9:38