If you have never checked out this beautiful blog, which I think is the most gorgeous one online, do so today, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
http://arsorandi.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/collect-of-day-sacred-heart-of-jesus.html
Friday, 15 June 2012
Eye Candy from the Feast of St. Barnabas in Dublin
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| Real nuns and.... |
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| Cute altar boys..... |
Homily is at this link. Photos sent to me by a friend at this link.
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| Sorry these are not in order |
at St. Kevin's Latin Mass Church
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| Holy, holy, holy |
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| Thank God for good bishops |
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| One of the most, if not the most, beautiful Church in Dublin |
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| Sigh, for this to happen in every city in the world |
Germany under siege..the not-so-quiet reconquista
from the Great Spencer "German police raid Islamist group," from Wexford People, June 14 (thanks to Twostellas):
German police have raided properties linked to an ultra-conservative Islamic organisation (Millatu Ibrahim) after the interior minister banned the group.
Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said the Salafist organisation Millatu Ibrahim, had been calling on Muslims to fight against Germany's "constitutional order".He said the group's goal was to see Germany ruled by Islamic Sharia law.Some 1,000 police raided buildings including homes and mosques in seven of Germany's 16 states....
A Canadian Problem of Feeding the People of the Land
However, in light of the changing lifestyles, the hunter-gatherer tradition is dying. In some cases, villages have had to move away from the sea, where the people had fished for centuries, because of erosion. In some cases, in my opinion, the ridiculous rulings of the fisheries and meat departments in the Canadian government and American government have ruined the peoples' normal way of preparing and selling meat and fish. Stupid rules ruin lifestyles of the Inuits. Part of the problem is the ban on seal products.
The Nunavut Inuit Child Health Survey conducted in 2007-2008 found that nearly 70% of Inuit children aged three to five years in 16 Nunavut communities resided in food-insecure households, meaning they did not have sufficient access to appropriate foods for a nutritious diet.
Overall, 31% of Inuit children lived in homes with moderate child food insecurity; many were fed less expensive food or did not eat enough because there was no money for food. Another 25.1% lived in homes with severe child food insecurity; many skipped meals, went hungry, or did not eat for a whole day.
The UN's Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, recently travelled to Canada, where he said 2-3m people couldn't afford the diets they needed to lead healthy lives. He said one million First Nations people and 55,000 Inuit were in a "desperate situation".
I love the Inuits and Athabaskan peoples. I wanted to homestead, that is, buy the government lottery ticket for land, but my family members were against it. I would stand in line at the grocery shop and meet men who only came in twice a year for stuff. They would talk and talk about their lives, their dogs, the weather, and then say goodbye, "maybe see you next year". Cool and hard work, but I have never been afraid of hard work. The North is God's country and gorgeous. I have never seen such beauty as I did in the far north by the sea.
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At a gathering in Alaska, I was invited to dance with one of the tribes. The women asked me to dance with them. They taught me the hand and feet movements. The entire experience was one I shall never forget. I was greatly honored, but they told me they were honored and bowed to me. I was touched by their kindness and hospitality.
I love Alaska, and northern Alberta is very, very big. Nunavut is gigantic.
I pray that a solution to the problem of feeding the people is solved. They should be allowed to return to their natural, old ways. This is an unpopular position, as the save the seal groups disapprove of the way the seals are killed. Who is more important-a child or an animal? This problem is man-made.
Thursday, 14 June 2012
SSPX offered a Personal Prelature--taken from Fr. Z.
SSPX offered a Personal Prelature
To review: The Holy See gave the SSPX a “doctrinal preamble”. The SSPX studied it and proposed in return some modifications. The Holy See and Holy Father studied the modifications. Then the CDF and SSPX Bp. Fellay had a meeting, during which the Holy Father’s decisions about the modified preamble were delivered. Thus, we were left to wonder what the Holy Father’s decisions were? Positive? Negative?
I suspect they were positive, since within the VIS story is an important bit of information.
The SSPX is being offered a Personal Prelature. I don’t think that offer would be made had the CDF and Holy Father not have accepted what the SSPX had proposed earlier.
From VIS:
Vatican City, 14 June 2012 (VIS) – “On the afternoon of Wednesday 13 June, Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and president of the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’, met with Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Society of St. Pius X who was accompanied by an assistant. Also present at the encounter were Archbishop Luis Ladaria S.J., secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Msgr. Guido Pozzo, secretary of the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’”, according to a communique released today by the Holy See Press Office.
“The purpose of the meeting was to present the Holy See’s evaluation of the text submitted in April by the Society of St. Pius X in response to the Doctrinal Preamble which the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith had presented to the Society on 14 September 2011. The subsequent discussion offered an opportunity the provide the appropriate explanations and clarifications. For his part, Bishop Fellay illustrated the current situation of the Society of St. Pius X and promised to make his response known within a reasonable lapse of time.
“Also during the meeting, a draft document was submitted proposing a Personal Prelature as the most appropriate instrument for any future canonical recognition of the Society.
“As was stated in the communique released on 16 May 2012, the situation of the other three bishops of the Society of St. Pius X will be dealt with separately and singularly.
“At the end of the meeting the hope was expressed that this additional opportunity for reflection would also contribute to reaching full communion between the Society of St. Pius X and the Apostolic See”.
Important Warning on the Worship of Angels: But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be among you lying teachers, who shall bring in sects of perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them: bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 Peter 2:1
As I am visiting in the area of St. Mary of the Angels in London, I was taken by the main window, which depicts the great angels mentioned in Scripture, plus one.
Now, I have a two-fold purpose in writing this post. Firstly, I want to clarify, as I have in the past in classes, that the Catholic Church has been clear as to which angels we may venerate and invoke. The list is very small. Only those angels who are specifically mentioned in the Catholic Bible are "approved." We have the great Hebrew heritage in the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, the two parts of the Canon of the Bible, which indicate that the three angels, who we call saints, are to be venerated. These are Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. I can write about each one at length in another post. But, today, I want to outline and present the argument which the Catholic Church teaches, that angels, as servants and messengers of God, can be honored by these names. The Old Testament and the New Testament give us these names, in many places, including the Books of Daniel, Tobit, and, of course, the Gospels.
At St. Mary's of the Angels. a fourth angel, Uriel, glows from the window, holding a trumpet. Now, the Orthodox venerate Uriel, as do some of the Jews, but Catholics, as this angel is not specifically part of our Tradition, usually do not. I was glad to see this spirit in the window.
Uriel is mentioned in the apocryphal 4th Book of Esdras and here is a quotation from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
The body of the Fourth Book, the unity of which appears to be unquestionable, is made up of seven visions which Esdras is supposed to have seen at Babylon, the thirtieth year after the destruction of Jerusalem (the date given is wrong by about a century).
Now, I have a two-fold purpose in writing this post. Firstly, I want to clarify, as I have in the past in classes, that the Catholic Church has been clear as to which angels we may venerate and invoke. The list is very small. Only those angels who are specifically mentioned in the Catholic Bible are "approved." We have the great Hebrew heritage in the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, the two parts of the Canon of the Bible, which indicate that the three angels, who we call saints, are to be venerated. These are Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. I can write about each one at length in another post. But, today, I want to outline and present the argument which the Catholic Church teaches, that angels, as servants and messengers of God, can be honored by these names. The Old Testament and the New Testament give us these names, in many places, including the Books of Daniel, Tobit, and, of course, the Gospels.
At St. Mary's of the Angels. a fourth angel, Uriel, glows from the window, holding a trumpet. Now, the Orthodox venerate Uriel, as do some of the Jews, but Catholics, as this angel is not specifically part of our Tradition, usually do not. I was glad to see this spirit in the window.
Uriel is mentioned in the apocryphal 4th Book of Esdras and here is a quotation from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
The body of the Fourth Book, the unity of which appears to be unquestionable, is made up of seven visions which Esdras is supposed to have seen at Babylon, the thirtieth year after the destruction of Jerusalem (the date given is wrong by about a century).
- In the first vision (iii, 1-v, 20), Esdras is lamenting over the affliction of his people. Why does not Godfulfil his promises? Is not Israel the elect nation, and better, despite her "evil heart", than her heathenneighbours? The angel Uriel chides Esdras for inquiring into things beyond his understanding; the "prophet" is told that the time that is past exceeds the time to come, and the signs of the end are given him.
- In another vision (v, 21-vi, 34), he learns, with new signs of the end, why God "doeth not all at once".
- Then follows (vi, 35-ix, 25) a glowing picture of the Messianic age. "My son" shall come in his glory, attended by those who did not taste death, Moses, Henoch, Elias, and Esdras himself; they shall reign 400 years, then "my son" and all the living shall die; after seven days of "the old silence", theResurrection and the Judgment.
- Next (ix, 26-x, 60) Esdras beholds, in the appearance of a woman mourning for her son who died on his wedding day, an apocalyptic description of the past and future of Jerusalem.
- This vision is followed by another (xi, 1-xii, 39) representing the Roman Empire, under the figure of an eagle, and by a third (xiii) describing the rise of the Messianic kingdom.
- The last chapter (xiv) narrates how Esdras restored the twenty-four books of the Old Testament that were lost, and wrote seventy books of mysteries for the wise among the people.
Now, even though the Orthodox, Anglicans and the Jews still honor Uriel, that this Angel is found in a window in the Western, Latin Roman Catholic Church is rare. There are many windows of Uriel in the Anglican post-Reformation windows in England. I found one medieval window online on one of my favorite websites, Vidimus, which is on my blog list. It is from a church in Hereford. I do not have a photo of the window in St. Mary of the Angels, which would be a photo worth having.
I was surprised. For the Anglicans, this angel is a patron of Confirmation, but not for the Roman Catholics. Uriel has been picked up by many authors in the occult as a patron and one finds this name even in television shows. Be careful.
The Second point I want to make is very serious. There is a "church" in America, based on New Age heresies, which honors an angel named Ariel. There is no angel in the Catholic Tradition by that name, although it is used, of course, in literature. A church in the Quad-City area of Iowa and Illinois claims that Ariel has appeared and given special, that is Gnostic, knowledge to the people of that congreagation. Ariel is not an angel of the main Judeo-Christian tradition, but part of cabal-ism and other forms of mysticism, which are not Christian.
Confusion reigns. A daughter of a friend of mine was given a statue, bought at a Catholic religious supply shop, labeled "Ariel, Patron of Confirmation". NO. NO, NO.
I explained that this angel, especially in the New Age mysticism of the local church in her area, could very well be an evil demon, or, at best, a hallucination. That someone is making statues, labeling these as partons of Confirmation, and selling these in a Catholic shop, makes me wonder as to the intelligence or real spirituality of the makers, suppliers, and sellers.
Be on your guard for false teachings. Again, New Age groups are susceptible to this type of manifestation, as these "chuches" tend towards Gnosticism.
Again, do not buy anything "iffy" just because it is popular. I have written on this before, but the great angels in the window at St. Mary of the Angels reminded me both of the glory and the dangers of angels, of whom there are, dear readers, two varieties-those from heaven and those from hell.
Even the Beeb is Reporting the Horror of China's One Child Policy
China 'forced abortion photo' sparks outrage-from online BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18435126
A photo purporting to show a baby whose mother was forced to have an abortion has shocked Chinese internet users.
Feng Jiamei, from Zhenping county in Shaanxi, was allegedly made to undergo the procedure by local officials in the seventh month of pregnancy.
Ms Feng was forced into the abortion as she couldn't pay the fine for having a second child, US-based activists said.
Rights groups say China's one-child policy has meant women being coerced into abortions, which Beijing denies.
National and local family planning authorities are investigating the incident, the Global Times newspaper reports.
"Feng Jianmei's story demonstrates how the One-Child Policy continues to sanction violence against women every day," said Chai Ling of the US-based activist group All Girls Allowed.
The group says it spoke to Ms Feng and her husband Deng Jiyuan after the incident. Mr Deng said his wife had been forcibly taken to hospital and restrained before the procedure.
Unnamed local officials in Zhenping county quoted in local media reports denied forcing Ms Feng to have the abortion.
"This is what they say the Japanese devils and Nazis did. But it's happening in reality and it is by no means the only case... They [the officials] should be executed," one reader on news website netease.com said, according to Agence France-Presse.
Activist Chen Guangcheng, who was put under virtual house arrest for campaigning against forced abortions, fled China to the US last month.
A few words....nothing matters but love
I have a simple message today. Love, even without return, as this is the perfect love of God. And, you will live in joy. You will be misunderstood, even thought to be foolish or unwise. You will be seen not as Christ, but as one of the lowest on the Earth. You will be criticized for being unworldly, or naive. You will be thought childish and you may be lonely. If you are poor or ill, you will not have comfort. Nothing matters but love.
Such is the love of Christ on the Cross, when those who taunted Him said, "And saying: Vah, thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days dost rebuild it: save thy own self: if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." DR Matthew 27:40.
Do not let your love turn to hate, but let it be purified by sacrifice, forgiveness, and praise.
Our God is the God Who did not come down from the Cross. And, He is the God of the Living and not the Dead. If you die to yourself now, you will live forever in Christ. He is All in All and carries our loves and losses in Him.
Cardinal Newman Prayer for Unity
I stole this prayer from JonathanCatholic. Prayers needed, please, for unity.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who, when You were about to suffer, prayed for Your disciples to the end of time that they might all be one, as You are in the Father and the Father in You:
Look down in pity on the manifold divisions among those who profess Your faith, and heal the many wounds which the pride of man and the craft of Satan have inflicted upon Your people.
Break down the walls of separation which divide one part and denomination of Christians from another. Teach all that the See of St Peter, the Holy Church of Rome, is the foundation, centre and instrument of unity.
Open their hearts to the long-forgotten truth that our Holy Father, the Pope, is Your vicar and representative; and that in obeying him in matters of religion they are obeying You, so that, as there is but one holy company in heaven above, so likewise there may be but one communion, confessing and glorifying Your holy Name here below. Amen.- Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Ah, Monsieur Normal and His Lady Friends
Will be a six post day. Why, oh why, would any woman be jealous of Monsieur Normal? It must be the attraction to power thing, to which so many women are not immune. The tweet that went viral yesterday is here. Ah, the French are so entertaining. For a man who lack convictions, except for socialism and his own career, I find these women amazing. But, then, I am only a little bit French and more Luxembourgian, and therefore, perhaps, less romantic, and not jealous, nor ever have been.
Politics and love do not mix. By the way, if you have not seen the interesting article on Hollande in the periodical, Standpoint, I suggest reading it in this month's edition, Issue 43. You may look back at my many anti-Hollande posts leading up and shortly after the election. France will regret losing Sarkowzy, I think and as I prophesied. Not rocket science...
The TLM as Renewing the Church and the World--What Else?
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| This or..... |
Why I am not there...The Church has been given the mandate to tell the world how to live, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations." This Archbishop should be talking about the Church Militant and not pandering the world. The world, the flesh and the devil are the enemies of the Church. Unless the Archbishop's definition is different than mine, I think he sounds like any priest from the 1970s who cannot bear to face the reality of the suffering of the Church Militant. No more "happy-clappy" theology, please.
The Archbishop went on to state that: "The Gospel must be preached courageously even if it does not seem to find roots in people’s lives," he added. "Resignation and keeping things ticking over will never renew the Church. A divided squabbling Church will not attract young people but only alienate them. On the other hand, no one should fear the message of the Gospel."
His message is confusing. The Gospel being a fearful message is a weird phrase I have never heard before. Nor, do I know what he means by squabbling. Is he referring to a vision of a false ecumenism? Is he referring to the trads? I agree with him that we should never be resigned, but I am not into his type of rhetoric. There is only one thing which will truly renew the world at this time and that is The Traditional Mass. Without the spirituality of the TLM, the Church will not be renewed. Our Pope knows this.
Period.
Let me quote the Pope, briefly on the world:
"We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires... The church needs to withstand the tides of trends and the latest novelties.... We must become mature in this adult faith, we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith."
"A new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished-not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty - a new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption that deaden our souls and poison our relationships."
"A world marked by so much injustice, innocent suffering, and cynicism of power cannot be the work of a good God."
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| this..... |
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| This or.... |
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| this.... |
"Wait" and "Hope"
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One of the greatest books in the world is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. Now, when I read a novel, I skip the learned introductions until I have finished the book, as I want to discover for myself the riches of the text without being given a map to do so.
What has struck me is that this is one of those novels which takes one completely away from the world in which we live to another world. Not many works of literature can do this. This transportation of the imagination lies in a masterpiece, such as Dante's Divine Comedy, Dickens' Little Dorrit, or E. M. Foster's Howard's End. Few book or poems can carry us into the mind of the maker, who creates for us a world of characters, events, and the majesty of language, even caught in translation. We are transported out of our grey world into a world of intensity and insight, colours and mystery, love, life, death.
The fact that the Count plays God and learns that he is a man who needs love and forgiveness, like all men and women, is one of the themes. That the Count is open to love after realizing the depths of his own sin and the horror of the evil in the world, is a theme of transcendent hope. In fact, the two last words in the novel are "wait" and "hope"-- the mark of the Christian in this world of darkness and uncertainty.
Another theme, and I have refused to read the scholarly introduction, is that suffering is redemptive. Of course, in 2012, most people no longer believe in this truth.
God allows suffering, although He does not necessary will it is His Love and Mercy. That some of us suffer more than others is a great mystery. The Book of Job holds that mystery. The Count of Monte Cristo does as well.
Suffering can be caused by many things, such as illness, poverty, or failure. But, the greatest suffering is not to have experienced love in this world. To live without experiencing human love is the greatest suffering.
Can there be a greater suffering than the lack of experiencing true love?
Christ allowed Himself to die at the hands of His Own People. He was betrayed to the enemy and endured the pain only a God, only the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity could suffer-that of all the terrible suffering which man inflicts on other men in this vale of tears.
For me, love is always a gift, even if unrequited. I would rather have experienced love, and not have it returned, than not to have loved at all. This takes courage. This is the Love of God on the Cross.
The Count learns what it is to sacrifice freely, willingly, for the sake of others. He is rewarded by a second chance to love and be loved. Would that we were all given a second chance in love and life.
I remember a great line from The Importance of Being Earnest. Miss Prism is speaking to Cecily about the three volume novel the governess-companion wrote. She states about the story that, "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means."
But, in Christianity, the good end happily and the bad unhappily, as the story of Redemption has created for once and for all, the happy ending. One can read Tolkien on this for more insight. But, we can see this ourselves in the Gospel and in the Teachings of the Church. We know that the only real Truth is the happy ending. Wait and hope.
The Count finds new love and he is able to return such love, after realizing he has gone too far in his revenge. He is generous and forgiving, finally, and finds generosity and forgiveness. This is a novel written in the Christian spirit of hope and love, waiting and finding.
I still have not read the scholarly introduction. I already know the philosophy of Dumas, being familiar with The Three Musketeers, which readers of my age grew up with on the shelves at home. Our fathers came from the age of heroes, and Dumas' generation was similar. Real heroism is found in sacrificial love. We have the best example in the world. He is our Lord and King, Jesus Christ.
As a post-script, it always astounds me how much writing these great men, like Dickens and Dumas, did in their short lives. Dumas was 68 when he died, after a career in journalism, drama, novels, and even children's books. One is in awe of such genius. For my part, this novel is one of my favorites. If, dear readers, you have not read it, do so.
Musings on happiness, grumpiness, and modesty
This blog could be called "have lap-top will travel", or, "woman with computer". Here are two women in the 1950s with an early IBM computer. Love the dresses and the shoes!
I have noticed something in my travels. There are locations where people are consistently happier or consistently unhappier than people in other areas. I have been wondering about this phenomenon. Do happy people congregate in one area and grumpy people in another? Maybe unreal expectations create grumpiness.
I have also noticed the sad disappearance among youth of culture and manners. Two young women yesterday, one from America and one from another country were rude to me, simply because they have not learned manners or a gentle manner of being. Their mothers were responsible for passing on such virtues. What happened? A lack of Christian training is at root. Yes, children, even girls, must be brought up wanting to be feminine and wanting to see their femaleness in light of Christianity.
I have not seen a young woman between 17 and 25 who looks like a female in over three months,except for the Japanese tourists, who is every country I have been to in the past year, dress and act like women. This generation in England and Ireland dresses in the ugliest fashions. I wrote about this early on the blog. Why be ugly when one can be beautiful? Odd, as youth is the time of beauty, to choose "ugly". Where is the spirituality of the Christian woman?
I have come to three conclusions on these musings and I would invite comments.
First, many young people never go to places where they must or should dress up. The lack of concerts, art exhibits, even church gatherings which not longer demand dress have diminished. Now, in a certain class, and in certain families, such as the one in which I grew up, dressing up for certain occasions was the rule. We had formal dances, proms, teas, concerts, art openings, dinners, weddings, baptisms, even funerals at which certain dress was the order of the day.
I am amazed.
Now, I have also seen that the women who dress down are not happy. Sorry, but this is true, and the older women, even older than myself, who have shown me such unhappiness that I cannot imagine why they live in the places they do, mostly very up-market, dress like Mao fanatics.
I just do not understand. We women have a grace from God which is part of our female person- hood. I am a female, and I am proud of the fact that I am a daughter of God the Father. My confidence is in God, not my clothes, but as part of the heritage of the Incarnation, I try and do my best to be female and be feminine in this world of androgyny. Catholic women have a duty to do so.
Unhappiness creates a style of dressing which reveals the deep sadness of a soul. Grumpiness can be a bad habit.
My second point is this. Unhappiness spreads. Negativity spreads. There are certain places in England and Ireland I would not live in for a million pounds. In these areas, and I shall not name towns or cities, materialism is god. The tawdry is in and people seem very discontent. How sad. Negativity is a mind-set. One can choose to be positive or negative. One may be born melancholy and perhaps the gene pool collects such melancholics into one town or city. But, the Christian is not allowed to wallow in existential angst or uncertainty or sadness. In fact, sadness can be a choice of sinning, like cynicism. I choose not to live with negative people unless my little light can bring some joy into a situation. We choose our environments, our nurture as well as our nature. We choose to be happy or unhappy, despite circumstances.
Is not love always the answer?
A Catholic woman should bring beauty into her world. This does not have to be expensive, as it is an attitude, not an expensive wardrobe. For some reason, young women do not bring beauty into a room or a house or a college. Why? We have lost the art of the feminine. We must re-discover, as Catholic women, beauty in ourselves and others, bringing that beauty wherever we go. I believe it is a "Christian thing". Beauty brings light into a room, peace into a family, and respect into a relationship. It springs from the soul. Beauty is connected, believe it or not, to modesty. Modesty is also an attitude, of respect for one's self and others. I found this quotation, which perhaps is connected with happiness as well:
…synonymous with
chastity, or purity of
manners. In this
sense, modesty
results from purity of
mind, or from
the fear of
disgrace…unaffected
modesty is the
sweetest charm of
female excellence, the
richest gem in the
diadem of their
honor.
Noah Webster
1828 American
Dictionary
Sigh. On The Tablet
If one ever wanted to use popular media in order to teach a class on modernist and not so modern heresies, one would only have to read and comment on the letters to the editor in The Tablet to the pupils. I have seen, just this week, Pelagianism, relativism, eirenism, Semipelagianism, and, of course, immanentism. Ah, The Tablet provides so much entertainment.
On a more serious level, as the laity has not had decent catechesis for years and is too ideological to read the CCC, the editorials push heresies like drug dealers on the edge of the school play-ground. For example, in one editorial this past week, one editor was harping on the lack of change in the synodal structures of the Catholic Church, wanting a church which resembles that of the Anglicans. What? Why?
The Anglican church will implode this summer with the likely vote for women bishops, thus finally showing to the world that the Anglicans are simply not Catholic. We welcome all the Anglo-Catholics who have seen or will see the light-that the Anglican church is not the one they really believe in.
That the editors feel that the structure of democratic voting is a good thing astounds me. The article hearkened back to ARCIC on church structure, (which I read long ago), a commission now surpassed by the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Ordinariate.
I love the liberal phrase, "the management of the Church" as if the structure of the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church can be reduced to committees and democracy.
Until the liberals leave off whining about not being heard in Rome, as they rapidly lose ground to the real Church Militant, I guess we shall have to put up with drivel. But, then, we do not have to read drivel. I do, simply to warn those who might be open enough to realize heresy abounds in England's so-called elite rag. It is a dying animal, however, and will become extinct.O
A mini-thought on love
I want to quote from Pope Benedict's book, Feast of Faith, on love, which is a quotation that would have fit into my long series on love.
"...love does not consume: it gives and, in giving, receives."
And,
"Yes, there is such a thing as love, therefore there is hope."
Sacrificial love is the goal of all of our hearts, whether we realize this truth or not. To me, the episode of Moses meeting God in the Burning Bush is a sign of that sacrificial love. God is All-Loving. He burns with this Love which is communicated in the Eucharist. Sacred ground is the Mass.
"...love does not consume: it gives and, in giving, receives."
And,
"Yes, there is such a thing as love, therefore there is hope."
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Here it is, folks--euro death
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0612/breaking24.html
and
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/326075/Now-80-demand-vote-to-quit-EU
Just a reminder, it has only been a little over 20 years since the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, which led to the creation of the euro. Not a long time in history, (extremely short), and proves the entire project was not well-thought out. Understatement.
and
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/326075/Now-80-demand-vote-to-quit-EU
Just a reminder, it has only been a little over 20 years since the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, which led to the creation of the euro. Not a long time in history, (extremely short), and proves the entire project was not well-thought out. Understatement.
Why can't the Irish be honest about themselves and stop the blame game?
One chooses freedom. One chooses responsibility. One chooses personal healing. One chooses forgiveness. One chooses Faith. One chooses life.
I must be bold, but I disagree with Mary Kenny in The Catholic Herald last week on her take of Rome and the Eucharistic Congress. Why the Irish feel that the problems in the Church should affect their Faith is beyond me. A good priest said years ago that if people blame their falling away from the Church on the sexual abuse cases, they had other reasons for going, such as using contraceptives or irregular marriages. Those who have been following my blog know my personal feelings on this from family members who were abused-one does not lose the Faith because of trauma or sin.
Mary Kenny in her article seems sadly out-of-touch with her own people. When I was in Ireland a few months ago, it was clear to me that the populace was contracepting. I hardly saw any babies. I met couples in cohabitation without marriage, and even in upper middle-class areas, where I visited friends, addictions abounded. Worst of all, the great evil of unforgiveness shrouded the consciousness of even the best of Catholics, (see my posts from January and February).
Kenny and the Irish do not need to place any blame on Rome for the lack of faith. I think the Irish are like my compatriots in Wisconsin-they walk around with a chip on their shoulder, daring someone to knock it off in order to start a row. Sorry, but it is time to grow up. The individual lay person is responsible for his or her faith, period. A child becomes a man or a woman when that person accepts responsibility for life and grace.
The Vatican has been unresponsive because the Irish government would not cooperate with safety procedures needed for a Papal visit. Money was supposed to be the issue, but like spoiled teens, the Irish in government were making a point--we do not need to be seen as Catholic anymore. If only 34% of the Irish are even Sunday Catholics, why should the other 60% plus get excited about the Eucharistic Congress. Indeed, false ecumenism is part of the week, which turned off many good, orthodox Catholics. Also, the Irish only have themselves to blame for a lack of welcome to the entire Church outside of Ireland. Who wants to go to a Mass where afterwards the people go on and on about the past? Our God is a God of the living, not the dead.
A five post day....
Damian Thompson's New Book and Thoughts on Addiction
Sexual addictions of all sorts have ruined family life. The most common cause of divorce now in the United States is addiction to pornography, a statistic from 2011. Thompson's article is on all addictions, but he also notes the great evil of pornography.
One item which I did not see in Thompson's article, but glean from statements from the Pope is that the cult of individualism leads to personal addiction, such as those of sex, computer games and drugs, as an isolated individual needs some type of interaction and gets it online or in forums. When I was in Malta last year, I discovered, by accident, an entire network of online homosexual porn, which apparently is legal. One of my Catholic friends was shocked when I explained to her that I found this just by googling and she tried to deny that Malta would allow this. Hmmm. Head in the sand syndrome does not help people with addictions. Souls are lost while the vast majority of Catholics in the pew either tolerate the evil of addictions, or pretend these are not in their families and places of work.
Another American statistic is that 60% of the populace has an addictive personality. How did this happen to a nation once of extroverts and pioneer energies? Catholicism needs to address addictions and it needs to start in the home. However, the gene pool may have something to do with this statistic, as new brain scans reveal that the addictive brain looks different than the healthy, normal brain. What comes first, the habits of addiction or the brain's proclivity to addiction, has not been proven. Siblings seem to show brain addictive tendencies, which is interesting. Are we marrying people who have addictions for some reason? Maybe the contraception culture has something to do with this trend.
Sadly, I know parents who are so tolerant that they allow their children to be involved in addictive behavior. I would not want to be one of those parents in front of God at the particular judgment.
LifeSiteNews on European Parliament Spokesperson on Child Sex Abuse
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I mourn the loss of real childhood. I have Montessori training and had a Montessori school and know the importance of the stages of childhood uninterrupted by adult concerns. Movies, music, books, toys, and television push children into sexualized thoughts and actions early. The modern child has lost her childhood. The clothes sold for girls for years here and in the States is one aspect of this sexualization of young girls, as well as the push for make-up on young girls and bad role models, such as movie stars. Children are more susceptible to images than adults. I share this excellent article from one of my favorite websites. One of the big problems is that adults, even moms, miss the signs of this push to making their girls into sex objects. (And, I realize the kitty is male, so no comments on girl-boy confusion, please. Same idea-a child needs to be a child.)
Child sexualisation ‘imposes’ adult sexuality on young children: MEP at EU meeting
| Hilary White, Rome Correspondent | Mon Jun 11 15:37 EST | Family |
BRUSSELS, June 11, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The sexualisation of children is “nothing more than imposing the sexuality of adults on young children, teenagers and especially girls when they are not ready for it emotionally, mentally or physically,” MEP Joanna Skrzydlewska said at a meeting at the European Parliament last week.
Skrzydlewska, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the equalization of girls and a member of the Member of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee, organized the meeting to discuss the problem of childhood sexualisation at the European level with researchers, representatives from production and advertising companies, parents’ groups, MEPs and government representatives.
“In today’s culture, which also addresses children, eroticised images and sexually suggestive content are omnipresent. This affects the development of children and young people, and affects the perception of sexual behaviour in our societies,” said Skrzdlewska. This sexualisation, she said, is “also the case when the value of a person is measured by their physical attractiveness, which leads to the objectification of the individual.”
She distinguished between “sexualisation” and the normal development of healthy biological processes and self-image, saying the former is distinguished inasmuch as it “leads to imposing adult sexual behaviours on children.”
“We should ask ourselves if the direct results of sexualisation, such as the increase of child sexual abuse, the intensification of the phenomenon of child pornography or the increase of sexual violence against women and girls, are the price we want to pay in relation to the commercialisation of life and human relations,” Skrzydlewska added.
Agata Byczewska, a media spokesman for the group at the European Parliament, said, “Modern societies are neglecting the problem. Adult standards for looks and behaviour targeted at girls are manifest in numerous fields, especially advertising campaigns and TV shows.”
The sexualisation of children, mainly through age-inappropriate imagery in advertising and the instant availability of hard-core pornography on the internet, has come to the attention of British government officials after years of debates in the newspapers. The papers have highlighted the sale of such items as high-heeled shoes for infants and toddlers, “Bratz” dolls dressed in miniskirts, high heels and fishnet stockings, padded bikini tops for seven year-olds, and sports clothes for little girls with provocative “sexy” words and phrases.
Some critics have said that the sexualising of young girls is merely a natural extension of the hyper-sexualisation of the entire culture. While their mothers are enrolling at the local gym in pole-dancing classes, even very young girls are wearing scaled-down versions of brassieres and lingerie modelled on Victoria’s Secret fashions, usually bought for them by mothers seeking to “bond” with their children. The EU group pointed to the recent publication of a fashion spread in Vogue magazine that featured a 10-year-old girl in provocative clothing, make-up and poses that garnered criticism around the world.
Since at least 2006, studies have been conducted around the western world, including the 2007 Australian Senate Report, the 2007 American Psychological Association Report, the Home Office Report in 2010 and the 2011 Bailey Review in the U, which have uniformly found that children are being pushed into adult sexuality at earlier ages through the use of media imagery and products directly marketed to children. The report by the American Psychological Association said highly sexualised marketing to young girls plays upon children’s desire for affection and the need to conform. It can lead to a host of life-long problems, including eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression.
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