Read this-tensions between America and Israel

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/intelligence-committee-chair-describes-explosive-confrontation-between-netanyahu-and-american-ambassador/262056/

Vocation Encouragement from St. Thomas More and Rudy

I do not believe in lost vocations, unless a person has said "NO".

If you have been rejected by a diocese, religious order or convent, move on. Try another diocese. Try another order.

Think about marriage. If you have a divorce and annulment, pray for healing and wholeness.
Ask God what He wants you to be, how He wants to love you.

Be open.

Do not go on and on about your "lost vocation".  God has his way.

Remember that St. Thomas More tried and did not complete a religious vocation.

God had other things for him to do.

God has something for you to do.

The Blessed Virgin Mary probably thought she would live her life in a celibate way.

She became the Mother of the Messiah, the Theotokos.

Try and try again. I have a love-hate relationship with Notre Dame.

God made me what I am by giving me opportunities.

Do it!

You do not know what you can do unless you try.

Steele: Rudy,are you ready for this, champ?

Rudy: I’ve been ready for this my whole life!

Steele: Then you take us out on the field.

More on Maritain, Alinsky and Chomsky

I have this as a comment on another blog. The Saul Alinsky connections are finally being seen by many people. Fr. Z., has seen this for years. Here is more:

 Of course, not only Obama and Emanuel, but Hilary read and employ this philosophy. Jacques Maritain answered many of these statements in his discussion with Chomsky. In the States, the first attack was on the school systems as early as 1980, with the dropping of required World History courses in many areas to deaden the thinking and reflective skills of the voting populace. Then, the second ploy was to mobilize groups using the language of Marxism. Haves and have not, rich and poor, etc. had been more unified in political philosophy-the American dream was replaced by the dualism of atheistic materialism.

Alinsky and his groups were, in the early days in Chicago, anti-religious, as like Gramsci, they could see that the ONLY organized grass roots power was the Catholic Church and others, like the Evangelicals. Like Gramsci, these Machiavellians saw that the nexus, the source and process as well as center of power had to be moved from any institution to the people-who were being disunited.

Now, one may ask, what is the goal of all this and are all Alinsky and Chomsky followers Marxists?

Yes, to the last question and the goal is power, period. Machiavelli was a utilitarian and a political genius. He understood and wrote on the power of the focussed individual. Now, Machiavelli was not a moral philosopher. He separated conscience from politics.

And, like Alinsky, Marx, Lenin, Chomsky, and Gramsci, he thought all people were basically bad, flawed, and therefore, the political philosophy behind all these men, and Obama, is cynicism.

What people in the media call Obama’s aloofness is merely his narcissism and cynicism. A political cynic cannot “connect”, as Binx says in The Moviegoer. This lack of connection stems from a soul which is not connected to God.

By the way, all of this philosophy forms an “anti-Gospel” and is credal. The proponents and followers have the zeal of real Christians. These words do not reveal games but converts of the dark side who are not after the common good or, as Maritain notes, “the health of the state” but power.

I read Maritain years ago and his ideas on the person and the concept of personal identity and freedom are based on Aquinas and the encyclicals of the Popes from 1848. I hope readers recognize that year.

Maritain and Gilson addressed these problems as Neo-Thomists who had to speak to a world of growing and finally successful atheistic communism and other tyrannies. This is Maritain’s strength. And, Catholics must address Alinsky and crew. We have the weapons at our disposal, but so many Catholics are ignorant of the rich legacy of our Church regarding all these ideas.

How far the American culture has fallen

Read this from Michelle Malkin: unbelievable.

http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2012/09/07/circus_of_the_vaginagogues
and more here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRBTrlc77l0&feature=player_embedded#!

http://washingtonexaminer.com/sluts-and-condoms-for-obama/article/2507187#.UEmnIbKPV5U

Planned Parenthood pink shirts and blue condoms at DNC

Pope's Itinerary for Lebanon Visit-please pray for him

Benedict XVI's Sept. 14-16 trip to Lebanon, where he will sign the postsynodal apostolic exhortation following up from the 2010 synod on the Middle East.

The Pope will leave Rome on the morning of Friday, Sept. 14, and arrive in Beirut at 1:45 p.m., local time. 

After the welcome ceremony he will travel to Harissa where he will visit the Basilica of St. Paul and sign the postsynodal apostolic exhortation.

The next day, the Holy Father will pay a courtesy visit to the Lebanese president, prime minister and speaker of the parliament. 

He will then meet with the heads of Muslim communities before going on to pronounce an address before representatives from government, state institutions, the diplomatic corps, religious leaders and the world of culture.

On the same day the Pope will have lunch at the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Bzommar with patriarchs and bishops of Lebanon, members of the Special Council for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, and the papal entourage. At 6 p.m. he is scheduled to deliver an address to young people gathered on the square in front of the Maronite Patriarchate at Bkerke.

At 10 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 16, the Holy Father will celebrate Mass at Beirut City Centre Waterfront and consign the postsynodal apostolic exhortation. 

Having prayed the Angelus he will then travel by car to the apostolic nunciature at Harissa where he will have lunch with members of his entourage. At 5.15 p.m. he is due to preside at an ecumenical gathering in the Syro-Catholic Patriarchate of Charfet. From there he will travel directly to the airport of Beirut whence his return flight to Rome is due to depart at 7 p.m.  from Zenit

Prayer for Priests Number Twelve or so....

A PRAYER FOR THE HOLY CHURCH AND FOR PRIESTS

O my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole Church:

Grant it love and the light of Your Spirit,
and give power to the words of Priests
so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance
and return to You, O Lord.

Lord, give us holy Priests;
You yourself maintain them in holiness.
O Divine and Great High Priest,
may the power of Your mercy
accompany them everywhere and protect them
from the devil's traps and snares
which are continually being set for the soul of Priests.

May the power of Your mercy,
O Lord, shatter and bring to naught
all that might tarnish the sanctity of Priests,

for You can do all things.

My beloved Jesus,
I pray to you for the triumph of the Church,
that you may bless the Holy Father and all the clergy;
I beg you to grant the grace of conversion
to sinners whose hearts have been hardened by sin,
and a special blessing and light to priests,
to whom I shall confess for all of my life.

(Saint Faustina Kowalska)

Number of Posts and the Time for Decision

As those who follow this blog can see, I have posted 100s of articles in the past month and a week. I am moving to Ireland at the end of the month and access to the Internet will be limited. I hope to keep blogging, and will let you all know. Blogging depends on several things which may be out of my control. Stay with me here until I let you know the details, which are in the pipeline.

God has given all of us Catholics a window of opportunity to preach the Gospel each in our own ways. As long as we are true to the Church and remain in sanctifying grace, the Trinity dwells within us. Our baptism calls us to evangelize. This call is not an option, but a command from Christ Himself.

Bloggers, blog. Media gurus, make your videos and DVDs. Dads and Moms, home school your children. Singles, make real decisions and real commitments. Do not float. Do not put off following a vocation.

Do it now. I repeat a prayer of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman here. This prayer is about YOU.


God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am. I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.

A love letter to Iowa

If I am ever homesick, it is in September. The mist beings to come off the rivers in Iowa, holding the areas in a soft gauze of mystery. In the fields, the grasshoppers make a slow, restful sounds, as these know the weather is changing and they will die. Birds stay close in the small clumps of empty choke-cherry bushes, and in the small copses of oak on the edge of the hot fields. The heat varies from day to day, and becomes a strange combination of comfort, yet the prophet of cold nights to come.

Egrets and ducks vie for room in the backwaters and small rivers. The ash, burr oaks,red and white oaks, elms, hickories, red and silver maples all change, coming to their brightest by the last week of September into the first ten days of October.  Fall festivals start this coming weekend and go into October. The ales are judged at some of these, and later, in October, the pumpkins.

Sometimes, we have proper Indian Summer in the third week of September, when the temperature goes up temporarily and kids squirm in their school rooms. Bees and butterflies slowly disappear. The nights grow quieter, as the tree frogs and crickets stop their nightly songs. One sees the pheasants and quail alongside the roads, as the corn is harvested, ending up in kitchens, being shucked by nimble hands or cut off the cob for seed corn and stacked away; the fields left brown and flat, reaching out to the horizon as far as the eye can see. Deer begin to travel through the cut fields and one must watch for them on the old roads. Six or seven at a time, these noble animals re-claim the land they left during planting and growth of the tall corn. Their young stare into the mist and wait for the elder stags and does. The deer population has gotten lower in recent years. If one commutes into the country every day in the car, twilight is the most dangerous time for deer. One must drive carefully.

Things slow down right before, and of course, after the harvesting. Hunting regulations are printed yearly and complicated. For some game, the season does not begin until September 14th or October 6th. One must plan and keep tabs of the rules and which animals may be hunted when. The same is true for the migratory birds. September is a time for thinking about what to hunt and when. The rules on fishing are so complicated one almost needs a translator to find one's way through the state guidelines. There are some fishing seasons for some fish.  I grew up on fresh game and fish. There is nothing like eating a trout which has just been caught.

Some of the vegetables and fruits begin to be harvested in July, but some not until late September. The harvest season is different for seed corn or ornamental corn, for raspberries or for bunching greens. Winter squash is winter, and not fall, squash. Nuts are brought inside. Soybeans should be harvested by October 20th or so, depending on the weather. The air is full of soybean dust and those with allergies stay inside during and after harvest.

The burst of energy at harvest time defies imagination. Bins are filled, bails dot the landscape, cheeses laid up, pickling done, apples collected in bushels towards the end of the month into October, and accounts begin to be settled.

Pigs and cattle find their way through the stubble. Then, the rains come.

The university year still follows the rural time-table, with the first break happening at real harvest time. This year, there are many tragedies in Iowa. The drought has tripled the price of meat and bread. The fields emaciated. The crop is ruined and a depression looms. This year is different.

I miss Iowa in September. It is less manic than in the summer months, more purposeful and secure, and less hostile than the winter. There was always an air of expectancy, like the entire landscape was waiting for something to happen. September in Iowa is a gentle, resolute giant moving quickly, then slowly, towards late autumn.

But, I am afraid for Iowans, who traditionally have been independent thinkers. I am afraid that the glut of bloated government and the fuzzy lines of ethically remote phrases have been like siren songs calling the materialistic heart instead of the independent heart. I am afraid that relativism, which is antithetical to nature and natural law, so obvious when works with ones' hands in rural area, has destroyed discernment. I sincerely hope not.

All these photos were taken in Iowa, mostly by farmers.

Charterhouse in London

Today and tomorrow, I am highlighting the Carthusians in England. Nothing happens by accident.

St. John Houghton, thanks to Wiki

Yesterday, I had a delightful tour of the London Charterhouse given by The Reverend Canon Hugh Williams, Preacher of Charterhouse. Mother General of the Tyrburn Nuns had suggested I visit and a seminarian friend and I had a fantastic private tour.

The Charterhouse was established in 1371 and brutally ruined by Henry VIII in 1538. Henry was particularly angry with St. John Houghton and especially St. Sebastian Newdigate, a court favourite who became a monk of the Carthusians. Henry thought he would woe the order into accepting him as Head of the Church. Remember, the first martyrs under Henry were Dom John Houghton, Prior, Dome Robert Lawrence, Prior of Beauvale, Dom Augustine Webster, Prior of Axholme, Rather Richard Reynolds, a Brigittine Monk of Syon and Father John Hale, Rector of Isleworth.

They were hung, drawn and quartered on May 4th, 1535 at Tyburn. Now, also remember, that St. Thomas More saw them being dragged from prison on the hurdles, and he describe them as "bridegrooms" going off to meet their brides.

In the end, from that date, and on June 19, 1535 at Tyburn,  and on May15, 1537 at York, more were killed. Imprisoned at Newgate, nine Carthusians, including lay brothers died in 1537. The last one, Brother William Horne, Converse, or lay brother, was martyred on Aguest 4, 1540.

The priory was brutally ruined, and WWII bombing almost finished the building off completely.

However, as Canon Williams told us, a strange lay person, who was the richest man in England not in the aristocracy, Mr. Thomas Sutton, eventually bought the property, which, for a short time, was owned by the Howards.

Mr. Sutton was an interesting man, as he garnered wealth in some interesting ways. Enough said.

I cannot go into all the rich history, but one must visit the Charterhouse.

For me, the most numinous place was the ruins of the Priory Church tucked in behind the newer buildings. To see the original site of  the altar and the tomb of the founder, Sir Walter de Mauny was so awesome, in the real sense of the word. One could sense the holiness of the place.

Please go and have a tour. Public tours are on Wednesday afternoons. Also, if you can, help the poor who live there. The Charterhouse takes care of up to 46 laymen who need care.

On strange comments regarding the TLM...

Why is there a generation of priests who refuse to learn the Latin Mass? It is one of two accepted forms and people want to experience it. I have had some conversations recently with some fifty-ish year old priests on the form of the Mass and these are sentences paraphrased said by priests.

1) The TLM did not encourage a personal relationship with Jesus!

2) The TLM did not encourage the priest to reach out to the laity!

3). The TLM was always said too fast and without reverence!

4) Priests experience joy with the NO but not with the TLM!

5) It was the will of the Church to change the Mass and break away from the TLM!

6) No one wants Latin Masses and these are divisive!

7) The Spirit of Vatican II is not found in the TLM, which is retrograde! (I have to think about that one)

8) The NO evangelizes but the TLM does not!

9) The TLM does not encourage lay involvement and therefore is not part of the post-Vatican II Church!

10) I came into the priesthood years after Vatican II and the TLM is not part of my experience!

11) In this diocese, the TLM is not a priority!

12) The TLM is all about the priest and not the laity!

13) The TLM is showy!

None of them wanted to learn it.

On Palestine, a lack of history and Catholics

A little history on Palestine has been discussed on Fr. Z. I am going to summarize a few points too long for the conversations. As to Palestine, which is a geographical area and not a nation,  the earliest inhabitants, who were pushed out or killed by the Islamic forces, were pagans, Catholics and Jews. Many Arab Catholic families converted early, as early as the year 200. The Greeks and Romans lived there and many of those were converted as well. It has never been a separate nation since the Jews conquered it. Ezechiel is a good source for the boundaries, as is the Torah, both ancient texts showing claims pre-dating any Muslim claims by at least 1,100 years. The Muslims took it over in the middle of the 7th century and of course, some of the crusades were fought there. The British finally took it back from the Muslims in 1832, but it still was only the name of a geographical area, not a nation. In the 19th century, Jews persecuted in Russia and other places began to re-settle areas of Palestine along with Christians and Muslims. The United Nations decided to follow the Balfour Agreement and the Sykes-Picot Treaty after WWI, and part of the Versailles Treaties included the divisions of the Middle East we see today. Islamic Arabs fought against all of these treaties in wars which have continued to this day.

As to using the term indigenous peoples, one cannot give a claim to those there now, as from the time of the Alexander the Great, Europeans as well as various tribes lived there. One must also remember that before Mohammed, Arab tribes were fiercely clannish and fought each other. They were also in many cases migratory clans, not staying in one place until quite late. The earliest cities after the destruction of the Canaanites by the Jews were Jewish and European, a la the Greeks. If anyone has a claim on it, it is the Jews, as part of the Promised Land given to them by God. “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates – the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” Genesis 15:18 on. That is a territory much larger than the present day Israel.

In addition, Melchizedek, who honored Abraham, was King of Jeru-Salem,  Jerusalem, which was the capitol from David one. Therefore, as we know David was king in 1000 BC, the claim of the Israelites to Jerusalem goes back over 3,000 years and longer. 

It is too bad America high schools and colleges do not teach world history anymore. And, as Catholics, we are part of the Judeo-Christian heritage, the Old and New Covenants belong to us. If we are anti-Semitic, we are hating ourselves. The Promised Land was promised to Abraham and his descendants over 4,000 years ago. That history is our history as well as Catholics.

Newman's Essay on the Gentleman as Requested

"The Definition of a Gentleman"

by Cardinal Newman, from The Idea of a University, a series of lectures given in Ireland, 1852.

---

Hence it is that it is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate. He is mainly occupied in merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him; and he concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself. His benefits may be considered as parallel to what are called comforts or conveniences in arrangements of a personal nature; like an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispelling cold and fatigue, though nature provides both means of rest and animal heat without them. The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast --- all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at his ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favors while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort; he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets everything for the best. He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp saying for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. From a long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage, that we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend. He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults, he is too well employed to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice. He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement, because it is irreparable, and to death, because it is his destiny.If he engages in controversy of any kind, his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy of better, perhaps, but less educated minds; who, like blunt weapons, tear and hack instead of cutting clean, who mistake the point in argument, waste their strength on trifles, misconceive their adversary, and leave the question more involved than they find it. He may be right or wrong in his opinion, but he is too clear-headed to be unjust; he is as simple as he is forcible, and as brief as he is decisive. Nowhere shall we find greater candor, consideration, indulgence: he throws himself into the minds of his opponents, he accounts for their mistakes. He knows the weakness of human reason as well as its strength, its province and its limits.
If he be an unbeliever, he will be too profound and large-minded to ridicule religion or to act against it; he is too wise to be a dogmatist or fanatic in his infidelity. He respects piety and devotion; he even supports institutions as venerable, beautiful, or useful, to which he does not assent; he honors the ministers of religion, and it contents him to decline its mysteries without assailing or denouncing them. He is a friend of religious toleration, and that, not only because his philosophy has taught him to look on all forms of faith with an impartial eye, but also from the gentleness and effeminacy of feeling, which is the attendant on civilization.

In the Public Domain

Watch and Pray: Susan B. Anthony List Video on Television Tonight

Wow, check this out. I lived in Illinois when this man was elected. He voted four times against saving babies who were alive after abortions. Look at the witness of this beautiful woman from the Susan B. Anthony List.

I have followed that site for years.

This is also highlighted on LifeSiteNews, a fantastic website.

Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals-Do These Sound or Seem Timely?

“Never let a crisis go to waste”  as said by Rahm Emanuel, was first said in a different way by Saul Alinsky. He wrote in his Rules for Radicals, “in the arena of action a threat or a crisis becomes almost a precondition to communication” taken from Machiavelli’s The Prince “strike and beat down fortune through skilled action ” XXV. Jacques  Maritain has an excellent argument against Machiavelli and the Chomsky view of political engagement. Check out this site. 

Rahm cut his baby teeth on this stuff. The Alinsky, Chomsky Marxist agenda is behind all this nonsense at the DNC.

• RULE 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from 2 main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood.
• RULE 2: “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
• RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
• RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
• RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
• RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.
• RULE 7: “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news.
• RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
• RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.
• RULE 10: “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
• RULE 11: “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem.
• RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.

Sounds like the rules for the Democratic National Convention.

Ignatian Meditation Three

Christ is showing us something very daring in the passage from last Sunday. Mark 7:1-8; 14-15; 21-23.

He uses Scripture to teach those who were experts in Scripture. He could, as it were, beat them at their own game. But more than that, Christ was loving the Pharisees and scribes, meeting them in their own arena of expertise.

The fact that Christ engaged them and talked with them, challenging them, indicates a real zeal for their souls.

He was loving them exactly where they were in their walks in life.

He used their own language to stop them from taking their own religion for granted.

He was calling them to a deeper understanding of their own stunted faith.

Christ did not ignore the Pharisees and scribes. But, neither did He compromise the Truth.

He :engaged the culture" to use a worn out Vatican II phrase, but He went on to proclaim the Truth loud an and clear.

No compromising, but engaging. We can learn from this passage about evangelization.

Ignatian Meditation Two for This Week

Staying with the Gospel reading from Mark, I was struck with Christ's follow-up on the idea of what is unclean coming out of the interior of a human being. Christ Our Lord gives a long list of deadly sins which are  truly evil: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, and folly.

What have these sins to do with legalism? At first site, nothing, as the Law, the Ten Commandments demands that all avoid these sins and clearly defines what these are.

Christ is reminding the Pharisees and "some of the scribes" what the serious sins are. Washing hands before eating is important, but, hey, this list of horrible sins is much worse.

This is not to say we should not wash our hands, or follow rituals, which is the mistaken impression gleaned from some who read this passage. We do not throw out good and holy rules, but we know what priorities are in the spiritual life.

One must rid one's self from mortal sin first, then venial, then imperfections, in that order.

Christ is taking the Pharisees back to square one, as it were.

It is too easy to keep the little rules and miss the life of constant metanoia, constant repentance and redemption.

Christ let his apostles eat without washing as an object lesson for the Pharisees.

Christ goes farther than the Law at the Last Supper. He is a teacher and gives us clear parables in action.

Washing is outside, repentance is inside.

On Gentlemen-are they an extinct type?

No, this is not a Peter Wimsey fan club site. I just wanted to create an ambiance of gentlemanly behavior here.

I know a few gentlemen. All but one is a Catholic.

There are not many Catholic Gentlemen, or even gentlemen left in the world.

In this month's issue of Standpoint, Andrew Gimson reviews in his article the question of the vanishing class of real gentlemen. What happened?

One of the references Gimson includes is from Philip Mason's The English Gentleman, which reveals that gentlemanly behaviour was for 100 years or so a second religion, but a national characteristic from the Middle Ages. Of course, one cannot write an article on being a gentlemen, without referring to Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman's famous essay, which I have quoted on this blog before. For Dr. Arnold, with whom the article begins and with Venerable Newman, Christianity is key to being a gentlemen. I would have liked to have know Venerable Newman. There are not many priests who are gentlemen, either. It is not a quality of manhood which is stressed in the silly emphasis in seminaries on "wounded healers".

So, what are some of the characteristics of a gentlemen as seen through the eyes of all these great men of the past? Well, moral leadership is a key virtue of a gentleman. That phrase contains two ideas-one, morality and two, leadership. Those of us who for whatever reason have read Dr. Arnold's famous sermon on "Christian Education" recollect some of the ideals put forth. His son, Matthew Arnold, the poet, is quoted in this article as well, hearkening back to his father and the lost, receding generations of real gentlemen. They were passing away quickly.

And, if you, like me, have read all of the above, you have probably read Evelyn Waugh's gripping Decline and Fall, here mentioned by Gimson, the rot was setting in after World War II, with the emergence of the "lost generation".  But the sting is in the present generation who may have been raised as Anglican gentlemen, but have tried very, very hard to break with that tradition. David Cameron seems to be running as hard as he can from this category. As Gimson states, it is considered "snobbish and out of date". Too bad, so sad.

Western culture has been enamored with classlessness and with mediocrity for several generations and I am bored to death of both. Part of the "cult" of the gentleman in 19th century and the first half of the 20th century England was that the man was supposed to impose morality and character on the culture. The culture woefully has lost the input of such behaviour. In both England and America, the Predator has taken over from the Protector.

Gimson states sorrowfully that we have lost the gentleman without replacing him. This is a tragedy and will forever change England.  As Gimson writes, "...to have an elevated standard of conduct increases the chances that some people will live up to it..."

Gimson refers to "barren utilitarianism". Well, those of us from across the pond knows what that does to an education system and a culture. Mediocrity and then brutishness becomes the rule of the day. I even heard a priest state that Jesus Christ was not a gentleman. Good grief.

Here is what Gimson states we need, and I agree, "...an ideal which includes modesty, magnanimity and the willingness to sacrifice oneself for the sake of others, especially those who are weaker."

And, I have lost count of all the ladies I know who are single, each one a lady who wishes she could meet a gentleman with or without the top hat. Are they extinct?

Meditation on Sunday's Gospel

In Ignatian fashion, I am meditating all week on last Sunday's Gospel. What has struck me today is that Christ saw, of course, as He is God, the stupidity of modern psychologically and warned us against it.

What do I mean? In the verses here, Christ rebukes the Pharisees and scribes. Note in Mark 7:15 and 21-23:

"Hear me, all of you, and understand:
15	there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him."
21	For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery,
22	coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
23	All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man."

What Christ is saying is that our Spiritual Nature overcomes nurture and the culture. What is outside of us DOES NOT have to be appropriated by us.

That a man is not made evil by what is outside, but only by what he has on the inside flies in the face of some modern psychology. Some people honestly believe that they are not responsible for their own actions.

Wow! They blame everything and everyone but themselves for their faults, sins, evil.

The financial status of themselves and the world, whether they are loved or not, or recognized or not, whether they are poor or rich, people blame the complications of their lives for evil.

Christ cuts through all of those excuses and emphasizes free will. We choose evil and appropriate it.

We remain in ignorance by choice in the Western World. We are responsible for what we take in-be it porn, food, things, or whatever.

Christ points to the heart as the centre of good or evil. Where is your heart? If it is in politics, you have strayed into idolatry. If you have exchanged your freedom for ideology, your heart is no longer capable of purity without great work and prayer.

Theophan the Recluse

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