The New York Times and Cardinal Dolan on Gays

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/opinion/if-cardinal-dolan-is-serious-about-welcoming-gays.html?hp&_r=0

This is brilliant....

http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/vatican-press-office-response-to-end-of.html

and my promised post on St. Isidore of Seville will be delayed until Monday.

Because I am in a mood...

sigh....

It has been one week since Easter

and, can you believe it, I have had NO chocolate! The nuns gave me three eggs, which I passed on to supertradson.

This is crazy

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/family-violent-movie-airline/2013/04/05/id/498099

Visible and Invisible Popes

I was listening to some discussions on the relationship between popes and the world of the people and popes who have spoken primarily to the clergy.

Benedict was a clergyman's pope. He wrote and taught the clergy, as popes in the past had done, in order for them to take the good knowledge he was sharing at the theological and liturgical level. The clergy appreciate clear guidelines and the insights of such as Benedict (at least most do) and want to be taught the real deal

Francis and Bl. John Paul II are/were popes of the people, and by this, I mean even non-Catholics. A Mormon mentioned that the Pope serves as a symbol of religion in a non-religious world, even for himself and other non-Catholics.  A celebrity pope takes the burden on himself, like a celebrity soccer manager, who is in the press all the time and says a lot, while the players are ignored, letting the players get on with it. Gregory the Great, in early days, was a great example of the visible, pope of the people.

Most popes were invisible and worked through their cardinals, bishops and priests, rather than the people.

That we have had celebrity popes in the late 20th and 21st centuries indicates, perhaps, a need for the world, to have someone most people can relate to when it comes to Faith and Morals.

However, those who were discussing this favored the Benedict style of leadership, as they said it gives the clergy much more confidence in their weekly preaching to have a brilliant, yet clear, teacher as Benedict has been.

Interesting....

A zombie finds a cat....oh, well, it is in New York

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/21886271/zombie-finds-long-island-cat-in-times-square

The Teaching of the Catholic Church

I repeat, for the sake of some disgruntled commentators, that what I put on this blog regarding the teaching of the Church, is the teaching of the Church.

Am I entitled to my opinion on other things? Yes, as we all are.

Am I responsible to form my mind and conscience to that of Christ? Yes, as we all are.

T

TT

Sorry about yesterday

I did not know I was going to be in a complete wifi or Internet black hole for a day and one half....sorry readers.

Dartmoor is beautiful, but not practical for bloggers. A vacation for me would involve MORE time for blogging, not less.

A sign of the stages of persecution

Last year I said we were at the end of the fourth out of five steps of persecution. Here is another indication, just in case some readers do not believe this.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/04/obama-admin-in-army-reserve-brief-lumps-catholicism-in-with-al-qaeda-hamas-kkk/

St. Isidore of Seville, pray for us

Patron of geeks, the Internet, computer users, ITs, programmers, et al

And, boy, do we need prayers.

Happy Feast Day, Isidore. He is highlighted in my Doctors of the Church series this weekend, so look forward to those postings.










He lived in a time when the classical order of the world was being destroyed from within and without.

Is he important for us, or what?

Well, take a look at this

http://victimsofgaybullying.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/scott-rose-demands-death-penalty-for-traditional-marriage-supporters/

Pray for Seminarians Today!

A word for the seminarians of America and Great Britain

Fr. Guillermo Marco, the ex-press secretary to the Pope when the Pope was Cardinal and Bishop, noted yesterday that the one thing which a seminarian must pray for during his time in the seminary is, "Perseverance".

Fr. Marco noted that a nun told him this when he was in the seminary. This is excellent advice, men.

Pray for perseverance.

"Risky business"

http://freebeacon.com/risky-business/

A First Lady with No Class

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/04/02/michelle_obama_agrees_president_obama_is_a_sex_symbol.html


ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT: [Jackie Kennedy] was also one of the first to have a president -- husband -- who is kind of a sex symbol. Like, people used to look at JFK, 'Oh, he's sexy.' And then it was Bill Clinton, and now it's your husband, Barack Obama is looked upon by women across the country as a sex symbol. What do you think?

MICHELLE OBAMA: He's got a little swag, you know. That's Okay. I mean, I'm proud of him. He's a stylish, I think, man who is healthy and he's smart and he's passionate and he's inspiring. And who wouldn't fall in love with that, you know? It's okay, yeah.

What happened to "class acts"?

More on Obedience for the Laity-Four

Alas, minor orders no more...

A few more areas where the laity must be obedient are these:

1) when your confessor gives you absolution, you must obey;

2) if your local diocese or the council of bishops in your country declares a holy day of obligation or rules of abstinence and fasting particular to your diocese and/or country, you must obey.

3) of course, if your bishop asks all teachers in the Catholic schools to take the oath and promise of fidelity, you must obey, as that was a directive from Rome which the bishops can enforce;

4) if a bishop demands that all women who have been excommunicated for abortion, or anyone aiding or abetting an abortion needs to see him personally for the lifting of that, one must obey.

There are most likely more, but these were added by a smart seminarian who reads my blog.

Generation Gap Problem?

Video on line is down slightly. This is because people are using their mobile connections for the Net.

Great. I hate videos and would much rather read text than watch a video.

I do not have time to go through introductions and what-not which are not necessary.

In fact, today I was looking up a course on line and the entire introduction is on a video.

I did not bother.

Reading is a superior type of media for many reasons.

No more talking heads and silly graphics for me.

Turn off....

New World Pope

I have been thinking of several strains of history and political science, as well as the heresy of Americanism.

Now, my thoughts have led me to some questions.

Can a New World Pope understand, really, the Old World hierarchical structure of the Church?

Can a New World Pope realize that the Faith is Europe and Europe is the Faith?

Can a New World Pope know the importance of culture, the culture of music, art, drama, education which was established by the West?

Can a New World Pope appreciate his role as a monarch, the leader not only of the Vatican State and a Bishop of Rome, but also a world leader on the world stage?

Can a New World Pope control a curia which has its roots in Medieval order and Renaissance governance?

Can a post-Vatican II Pope from the New World convince our world increasingly utilitarian and evil to embrace the Beauty Who is God and all the splendour of the Creator?

Can a man from the New World have the wisdom of the European experience of faith, disruption of faith, loss of faith, communism, anarchy and the real need for order?

Is the New World too new? Pray for Pope Francis.

Just wondering....