On saints and our sovereignty...Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, pray for us

Father Z had the announcement on the fact that Fulton J. Sheen is now Venerable. I grew up with his voice wafting from the black and white television in the living room, as my parents watched him weekly.

I think we should pray to him for America, on this sad, sad day.

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, pray for us on this day, as America will never be the same. The government now can make us buy anything it wants us to buy. Justice Ginsberg called this "the death spiral". God forgive us for more and more dead babies paid for by all of us...We must fight this decision in the ballot-box.

Here is Ven. Fulton J. Sheen's famous talk against tolerance, which is very appropriate today.

Christian love bears evil, but it does not tolerate it.

It does penance for the sins of others, but it is not broadminded about sin.

The cry for tolerance never induces it to quench its hatred of the evil philosophies that have entered into contest with the Truth.

It forgives the sinner, and it hates the sin; it is unmerciful to the error in his mind.

The sinner it will always take back into the bosom of the Mystical Body;
but his lie will never be taken into the treasury of His Wisdom.

Real love involves real hatred:
whoever has lost the power of moral indignation and the urge to drive the buyers and sellers from the temples
has also lost a living, fervent love of Truth.

Charity, then, is not a mild philosophy of "live and let live";
it is not a species of sloppy sentiment.

Charity is the infusion of the Spirit of God,
which makes us love the beautiful and hate the morally ugly. 
  

Santorum on the SCOTUS Decision and a Prayer

President Obama believes he is above the law, entitled to abusing his power to get what he wants, and willing to violate the constitution and the oath he was sworn to uphold.  He has proven to be a very dangerous person to have this kind of power, and if he is not stopped this November, I am fearful that the make-up of this country as established by our founders will never be the same. Rick Santorum today

Father Z has a prayer for the freedom of the Church on his blog. Here it is:

Ecclesiae tuae, quaesumus, Domine, preces placatus admitte: ut, destructis adversitatibus et erroribus universis, secura tibi serviat libertate. … We beseech You, O Lord, having been appeased, receive the prayers of Your Church, so that once all adversities and errors have been destroyed, she, secure, may serve You in freedom.

I am waiting to see the results of any freedom of conscience, and against contraceptives and abortions. If these are not addressed, this is the end of Catholic Medical hospitals and clinics.


What a sad day for the Constitutional freedoms of choice to live or be forced to die. 


Newmax.com has the best commentary.

The First Mass of Father Hunwicke at the Brompton Oratory

Picture taken by Transalpine Redemptorist--I am the woman farthest away from the camera

The side chapel to Our Lady Mary at the Brompton Oratory, under the title of Our Lady of Victory, was the venue of Father John Hunwicke's first Mass as  the newest priest in the Ordinariate. The Latin Low Mass brought about 45 people to celebrate with Father on this glorious day. Afterwards, we lined up at the main altar rail for his first blessings.

I am struck with the respect and honor this particular priest has for the Mass of the Ages. I wish I knew something about his vestments, as the chasuble looked like a  mille-fleur  tapestry. One of the Fathers of the Transalpine Redemptorists took photos, so I suggest you check out that site later, and also for photos of the Ordination in Oxford last night. I do not take photos. These photos of today's Mass may show up on the New Liturgical Movement site first.

One interesting comment was that the First Mass looked like a mini-blog convention, with three bloggers from the Ordinariate present (not counting Father John Hunwicke), and at least four other bloggers. I attribute the interest in that bloggers in Great Britain are more traddy and more intelligent than most....(tongue in cheek). Father was inside when the Royal Airforce did a V-shaped flyover. I am sure it was for him (smile).

May God bless Father Hunwicke and all the Ordinariates, who, by the way, if you have need of a charity, is greatly, greatly in need of funds for families, housing, etc. There is a donate button on the Ordinariate Portal site, found here: http://ordinariateportal.wordpress.com/join-the-ordinariate/

The Poetic Sincerity of Language

Language is important. Recently, I was reading an article on technology and came across two phrases, one of which, I have seen before. The first phrase,  referring to computers, cell phones, laptops, notebooks or even an espresso machine, is "sexy piece". Now, I cannot understand why a machine of plastic, diodes, and other semiconductor stuff is "sexy". But, I am over thirty.

Partly to blame is advertising, (surprise, surprise), which uses all types of buzz words and phrases to get one's attention in this age of too-much-information. But, I cannot label something like an espresso maker, "sexy". Or maybe some people just see sex in everything. What limited imaginations some have.

The second phrase may be particularly French, I do not know. The phrase is rude and used to describe ugly, outdated machinery at someone's workplace or in their home-office. That phrase is "desk manure". I suppose an 2002 fax machine, or an old monitor from 1998, would allow a person to use the language of agricultural derision, but not me.


Growing up in Iowa, on knows that manure means something useful, albeit unpleasant to the senses. I am not sure those journalists whose use these terms know anything about animal waste, or perhaps, even sex. My real concern is philosophical, of course. If sex, for example, is only one more commodity, bought and sold to the highest bidder, than certain machines would fall under the same subjective language code. If anything ugly is likened to something which is naturally useful in its proper context, I suppose there is room to doubt the poetic sincerity of the writer. Ah, I have just coined a new one, "poetic sincerity". That the Victorians were sincere and poetic makes them the ultimate arbiters of phraseology. Do you think they thought the items of the industrial age appearing in their homes, such as hot and cold taps, showers, gas light fixtures, or even incandescent light bulbs were "sexy"? I am sure William Blake would think not.

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land

"l Love London in the Rain"

I know the City of London better than the back of my hand. Don't ask me why. But, one reason is that I had a good friend who used to work in the City and we would meet for lunch, and I would go to Mass at Ely Place, etc.

The wine and champagne, as well as the Macallan for my wedding reception was bought at El Vino's. I have had lunch or a drink at the Ye Olde Mitre (Bishop's Mitre), Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, The George, and the old Wig and Pen several times. I have walked through many of the small lanes of the Temple areas, visited many churches, including that of the Templars, St. Etheldreda's in Ely Place, St. Mary's, St. Clements (both shut up today), St. Paul's and others on the outskirts, such as St. Martin-in-the-Fields, where a fantastic organ piece was bein played just as we came in this afternoon at the end of Evening Song.

I have seen in the past the statue of St. Thomas More near the Courts of Justice, but could not find it today in the rain. We past The Coal Hole, of  Fr. Z fame on our way to Trafalgar Square. There were more people and less pigeons than the last time I was there.

I showed my friends where Twining's Teas started in 1705, when the newspapers of the empire used to hold sway, and where Dickens and Johnson met their friends.

We did not get to the area of Bleeding Heart Yard, nor Covent Garden--next time. We went on to Westminster, as I mentioned above. We did not go into the Soane, which is so unique. Next time.

We did see the theaters around the Aldwych, and we stopped to admire the knight on top of the Savoy.

We walked at miles here and there, ending up in Pall Mall, across from where Notre Dame has a London program where I attended a party many years ago. We did not go into the museums or art galleries, but one of my friends climbed up on one of Nelson's lions and had his photo taken. Great day. Sadly, we could not get into the Knight's Templar Church, as the choir was practicing.

Happy day, happy memories. We ran around the fountains at Somerset House and wished we had time to go into the Courtauld. Next time.

I need to go back and spend more time walking in the footsteps of More and Dickens. I love the City of London and the City of Westminster. There is not enough time in the world.

And, I agree with Johnson, "Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

Malta Against the Vatican: the Success of Materialistic Thinking and the Demise of Catholic Thinking

My real Catholic Friends are trying to stop the freezing of embryos in Malta. I wrote about this about 

six weeks ago here on this blog. Malta is sliding into babarism and some of the priests have been 

giving advice contrary to Rome on this subject. Malta is no longer Catholic. What the Siege did not 

accomplish, the socialists have--destroying morals and family life. 

Here are some links to the Catholic Teaching Magisterium on IVF. Loud and clear and consistent...

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651207_dignitatis-humanae_en.html

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

Personally, I am sick of priests contradicting the Church's teaching on Life issues. We are so beautifully consistent in our approach, as seen in the above documents.

What follows is the hideous anti-Catholic thinking becoming more prevalent. The updates are included in the links.

Sunday, June 17, 2012 by 

Jean-Pierre Farrugia, MD, MP (Nationalist), Blata l-Bajda

Embryo freezing is the solution

Dr Miriam Sciberras (The Sunday Times, June 10) stated: “In Malta at present we do not have embryo selection, embryo freezing or abortion included as part of our best medical practice protocols and we are proud of this.”

Such concern for the human embryo is at best naive but in any case very economical with the truth. With all due respect, supporting the medieval status quo of transferring all three or four embryos created altogether, as is currently local practice, may obviously result in any scenario ranging from four abortions to a quadruplet pregnancy – the latter associated with all the complications of prematurity, i.e. birth at around 30 weeks’ gestation.

I am purposely leaving aside the fact that for unknown reasons in nature and assisted technology, the fertilised egg may split into two or more embryos during the first stage of development to avoid further complicating or making this issue even more sensational.

As I wrote in The Times on April 21: “The issue remaining unresolved is whether egg vitrification can exclude the possibility of creating more than the exact amount of embryos targeted for implantation.”

It is not yet scientifically possible to have created the two embryos to be transferred. Transfering one has negligible results; transferring three is bad practice. Unfortunately at present only freezing of the supernumerary embryo inadvertently created can solve this issue. And this is where incentives for all embryos to be used by the same biological parents (80 per cent of IVF procedures fail in any case) or adoptive ones (under EU directives all stored embryos are guaranteed to have been created by gametes screened for hereditary and infectious diseases) come in.

Whoever thought the IVF Parliamentary Committee I chaired in 2010 had liberal views should note that in barring gamete donation and restricting eligibility for assisted reproduction to stable heterosexual couples, we did put a lid on gay couples’ desire to raise children, knowing full well that our sovereign nation, like the rest of the continent still had to determine whether these expectations were appropriate or otherwis