Obscure traditions :)

Some wonderful humour from readers of The Shrine of the Holy Whapping:

"What obscure traditions can we resurrect to astonish the English tourists?"
--attributed to Pius IX (and too good to fact-check)

Also on that comments page (I can’t find the original posts these comments are related to…must be hilarious as well):

An obscure hymn, dug up from parish archives in recent years ...

For all Thy Saints forgotten,
For all Thy Saints suppressed,
Who not only existed,
But won eternal rest;
Who, honored through the ages
Like Chris and Valentine,
Went missing from the calendar
In 1969.

Confessors, Virgins, Martyrs
Whose names our parents took:
Those names and stories vetoed,
Erased now from the book,
But still renowned and glorious,
Surviving death anew,
Provided someone's offering
The Mass of '62.

For poor young Philomena,
For good Hermenegild;
For youthful brave Venantius,
Who for the Faith was killed;
Now being so exclusive,
Seems just a trifle mean;
Perhaps we'll be more tolerant
And go all Tridentine.

Does it fit the tune For All the Saints? I initially thought it did. :D

This is apt because at yesterday’s Mass, Fr Alex mentioned that St Christopher was a legend, he never existed. But that’s not entirely correct:

From the Catholic Encyclopaedia:

The existence of a martyr St. Christopher cannot be denied, as was sufficiently shown by the Jesuit Nicholas Serarius, in his treatise on litanies, "Litaneutici" (Cologne, 1609), and by Molanus in his history of sacred pictures, "De picturis et imaginibus sacris" (Louvain, 1570). In a small church dedicated to the martyr St. Christopher, the body of St. Remigius of Reims was buried, 532 (Acta SS., 1 Oct., 161). St. Gregory the Great (d. 604) speaks of a monastery of St. Christopher (Epp., x., 33). The Mozarabic Breviary and Missal, ascribed to St. Isidore of Seville (d. 636), contains a special office in his honour. In 1386 a brotherhood was founded under the patronage of St. Christopher in Tyrol and Vorarlberg, to guide travellers over the Arlberg. In 1517, a St. Christopher temperance society existed in Carinthia, Styria, in Saxony, and at Munich. Great veneration was shown to the saint in Venice, along the shores of the Danube, the Rhine, and other rivers where floods or ice-jams caused frequent damage. The oldest picture of the saint, in the monastery on the Mount Sinai dates from the time of Justinian (527-65). Coins with his image were cast at Würzburg, in Würtemberg, and in Bohemia.

He existed. It’s just that nothing is known of his life, and those stories attributed to him are probably legends.

From Catholic Answers:

The Church never issued any kind of decree saying that Christopher never existed. Furthermore, competent hagiographers, including Protestant ones, tell us that there was a Christopher, but we just don't know as much about him as some of the legends that grew up around him would suggest.

The confusion over Christopher's status comes from the 1969 reform of the Roman Calendar. This reform had been mandated by Vatican II in Sacrosanctum Concilium, its constitution on the liturgy. Because the Roman Calendar was getting crowded, especially with saints with local rather than universal followings, the Council declared: "Lest the feasts of the saints take precedence over the feasts commemorating the very mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a particular Church or nation or religious family; those only should be extended to the universal Church that commemorate saints of truly universal significance" (SC 111).

A revision of the Calendar was undertaken after the Council, and on February 14, 1969, Pope Paul VI issued a motu proprio with the unwieldy title "Approval of the Genera Norms for the Liturgical Year and the New General Roman Calendar" (AGN). In this document, which is found in standard sacramentaries, the Pope explained:

With the passage of centuries, it must be admitted, the faithful have become accustomed to so many special religious devotions that the principal mysteries of the redemption have lost their proper place. This was partly due to the increased number of vigils, holy days, and octaves, partly to the gradual overlapping of various seasons in the liturgical year.

The purpose of the reordering of the liturgical year and of the norms accomplishing its reform, therefore, is that through faith, hope, and love the faithful may share more deeply in the whole mystery of Christ as it unfolds throughout the year. (AGN 1)
To put [the] decrees of the Council into effect, the names of some saints have been deleted from the General Calendar, and permission was granted to restore the memorials and veneration of other saints in those areas with which they have been traditionally associated. The removal of certain lesser-known saints from the Roman Calendar has allowed the addition of the names of martyrs from regions where the Gospel spread later in history. (AGN 2)

In the Calendar that this document serves to implement, Christopher's name is omitted. One can question whether Christopher should have omitted. The devotions to him were broad-based enough that they would seem to make him a saint of "universal significance." Nevertheless, nowhere in this reform is it implied that he did not exist or that he was not a saint.

Creative Minority

CMR's over the moon.

They've "arrived". The Holy Father is one of their "peeps" now :)

They're even planning for a Popemobile and getting ready for life with infallibility.

:D

Pie

May none of you desert Him!

"The society which Christ founded can be attacked, but not defeated, for she draws her strength from God, not from man. And yet, there is no doubt that she will be harassed through the centuries by persecutions, by contradictions, by calumnies — as was the lot long ago of her Divine Founder — for He said: “If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” But it is equally certain that, just as Christ our Redeemer rose in triumph, so the Church shall someday win a peaceful victory over all her enemies.

"Have confidence, therefore; be brave and steadfast soldiers. We wish to counsel you in the words of St. Ignatius, martyr, although We know you do not require such counsel: “Serve Him for whom you fight. . . May none of you desert Him! Your baptism must be a shield; your faith a helmet; your charity a lance; your patience a suit of armor. Your works should be your credentials, so that you may be worthy to receive your reward.” ~ His Holiness Pope Pius XII, "Meminisse Juvat"

Via Catholicism on Facebook

A Petri dish

Via First Thoughts:

Essayist Arthur Krystal on why writers are often smarter on the page than in conversation:

[W]riters don’t have to be brilliant conversationalists; it’s not their job to be smart except, of course, when they write. Hazlitt, that most self-conscious of writers, remarked that he did not see why an author “is bound to talk, any more than he is bound to dance, or ride, or fence better than other people. Reading, study, silence, thought are a bad introduction to loquacity.”

Sounds right to me. Like most writers, I seem to be smarter in print than in person. In fact, I am smarter when I’m writing. I don’t claim this merely because there is usually no one around to observe the false starts and groan-inducing sentences that make a mockery of my presumed intelligence, but because when the work is going well, I’m expressing opinions that I’ve never uttered in conversation and that otherwise might never occur to me. Nor am I the first to have this thought, which, naturally, occurred to me while composing. According to Edgar Allan Poe, writing in Graham’s Magazine, “Some Frenchman—possibly Montaigne—says: ‘People talk about thinking, but for my part I never think except when I sit down to write.” I can’t find these words in my copy of Montaigne, but I agree with the thought, whoever might have formed it. And it’s not because writing helps me to organize my ideas or reveals how I feel about something, but because it actually creates thought or, at least supplies a Petri dish for its genesis.

Read more . . .

I'd love to be a good writer one day, with my blank page as a Petri dish of ideas.

The Mind That Is Catholic

An extract from Zenit's interview with Fr James Schall S.J. Via Insight Scoop

ZENIT: Do you believe that Catholic schools do a good job of fostering a Catholic mind in young Catholics?

Father Schall: Briefly, no.

No one could think that the curriculum and spirit of Catholic schools today are based in the tradition of specifically Catholic intelligence. That requires discipline, study, and virtue.

In the modern world, we find no group more deprived of the glories of their own mind than young Catholics. This is why those small enclaves that do address themselves to it are in many ways remarkable.

Catholic institutions of higher learning, as they are called, simply gave up what was unique about themselves and the reasons for having Catholic universities in the first place. This lost source was the active vigor of the Catholic mind read not as an historical phenomenon or as a social activism, but as a search for and testimony of the truth, that towards which all mind is directed.

ZENIT: What modern persons, in your opinion, best embody ‘a mind that is Catholic?' Why?

Father Schall: In most of my books, beginning with "Another Sort of Learning," I have provided lists of books or reminders of them -- books that I think tell the truth.

I always list Chesterton and E. F. Schumacher. I think the present pope, as well as the previous one, were marvels of the Catholic mind, a mind that comes to grips with all things, yet with the light of grace and revelation.

The philosophy department at the Catholic University of America, to which I dedicated my book "The Mind That Is Catholic," is a perennial source of wisdom and rigorous intelligence. There is no place quite like it. I am a great admirer of the work of Monsignor Sokolowski, whose latest book, "The Phenomenology of the Human Person," is itself the Catholic mind at work; it is a mind that knows of reason and its limits as well as of its reaches.

Why do these and many other thinkers "embody a mind that is Catholic?" I think it is because they take everything into account.

What is peculiar to Catholicism, I have always thought, is its refusal to leave anything out. In my short book, "The Regensburg Lecture," I was constantly astonished at the enormous range of the mind of the present Holy Father. There is simply no mind in any university or public office that can match his. He is a humble man, in fact.

It is embarrassing to the world, and often to Catholic "intellectuals," to find that its most intelligent mind is on the Chair of Peter. I have always considered this papal intellectual profundity to be God's little joke to the modern mind.

The modern mind has built up for itself theories and ideologies whereby it prevents itself from seeing the truth that a man like Benedict XVI spells out for it in lucid and rigorously argued terms – terms fully aware and familiar with all of modern philosophy itself.

But Benedict XVI is a messenger of the Logos.

Read the entire interview.

I shall request the Library to order Fr Schall's book. :)

Imagine he was a priest

When the injustice of it all makes you feel so weary...

O Jesus, I pray for Your faithful and fervent priests, for Your unfaithful and tepid priests; for Your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Your tempted priests; for Your lonely and desolate priests; for Your young priests; for Your dying priests; for the souls of Your priests in purgatory.

But above all I recommend to You the priests dearest to me: the priest who baptized me; the priest who absolved me from my sins; the priest at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way. Jesus, keep them all close to Your heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.

Pray for priests. They have to fight Satan as well s prejudice and injustice.

The heavenly host and our modern life

On November 8/21 the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of the holy Archangel Michael and the entire Heavenly Host. This celebration has great significance not only for Orthodox Christians, but for all of mankind. How is that? First of all, this celebration teaches us how to view correctly the question of equality and inequality. Mankind, especially from the beginning of the 20th century, is fervently searching for a certain equality which supposedly may be established on earth. Russia has become the primary victim of this idea, followed by other countries. The promised equality has never been established, of course, but traditional forms of government have been destroyed. Orthodox monarchy, which was the last mighty bulwark of universal Orthodoxy, was destroyed in Russia, and countless victims were sacrificed on the bloody altar of imaginary equality.

Archangel Michael, 15th century. Synaxis of the holy Angels. 15th century. Moscow school. Archangel Gabriel, 15th century.

How does this tie in with the feast of the Heavenly Host? Very directly. If mankind were less attracted to transient earthly ideas, but instead, gazed upward more often, it would notice that even in heaven, among the holy angels, there does not exist the senseless equality over which the godless rave so madly. In the world of the angels, as everywhere in God’s creation, there exists a definite hierarchy established by God. This hierarchical subordination and this blessed inequality cement the entire structure. If they were taken out, the structure would collapse. In the case of the angels, such a partial destruction of their heavenly aseembly occurred after the insurrection provoked by the highest and most powerful angel, Lucifer, who from that time on became the father of all those fighters for equality who actually fight against God. If Lucifer had not fallen, then the Church would probably have established a feast in his honor, as it did in honor of the holy Archangel Michael. But Lucifer did not wish to subordinate himself to God. He dreamed of becoming equal to Him and lured away part of the angels to follow him in his struggle against God. Thus the brightest angel became the blackest devil - Satan. Against Satan’s army there arose the Archangel Michael, one of the highest angels who had remained faithful to the Creator. Going into battle at the head of the bright angels, the Archangel cried out: “Who else but God?” - thereby denouncing proud Satan and all the godless of the future. The angels of God vanquished the dark forces of the first rebels, and Satan, together with the other demons, fell like lightning into the netherworld. From that time the Archangel Michael became the head of the entire heavenly host. For his zeal in working for God he is honored by the Church even to this day. However, the demonic forces continue their battle against the followers of Christ. God allows this, in order for us to be able to exhibit spiritual steadfastness and fealty to the Trinity. We are surrounded by danger everywhere. But in this daily and hourly struggle we are provided by God with great defenders and helpers - the holy angels, headed by the seven highest archangels; their names are Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salaphiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel. We have already spoken of the Archangel Michael. Archangel Gabriel has been entrusted with the service of being messenger to mankind. He came with the Lord’s tidings of forthcoming miraculous events to the parents of St. John the Baptist, to the parents of the Holy Virgin Mary, and also to the Mother of God Herself and to the righteous Joseph. Archangel Gabriel is the messenger of God’s Providence, the attendant of miracles and divine Mysteries. When we are overcome with doubts, when it seems to us that we have been abandoned by everyone and there is no help from anywhere, let us pray to Archangel Gabriel, that by his prayers the Lord would reveal to us His most holy will and would set our life upon the course of salvation. Archangel Raphael is a merciful healer, sent by God to comfort the sick and the sorrowing. From the Holy Scripture we know that Archangel Raphael expelled demons from a woman. And how many people there are nowadays who are possessed by demons…. Alas, both they and their relatives often turn for help to sorcerers who nowadays hide behind the pseudo-scientific name of “extrasensorics.” But will sorcerers, these servants of the devil, expel demons? Obviously not. The power to expel demons and heal those who are possessed by them belongs to the holy angels and particularly to Archangel Raphael. Let us ask him to intercede for us before the Lord, Giver of all good things. The name of Archangel Uriel means the light or the fire of God. This archangel enlightens the minds and the hearts of the faithful with the light of divine truths and the fire of divine love. All those who embark upon the study of knowledge can and should pray to this archangel to enlighten their minds and hearts, in order to avoid a destructive chasm between knowledge and faith. Archangel Salaphiel is the patron of prayer. He is even depicted so on icons: with eyes gazing downward, with hands crossed on his chest, with an air of humility and deep inner concentration. He is our primary teacher of prayer. Prayer is the most difficult thing to achieve, and one must be instructed in it. Unfortunately, some people assiduously study various worldly subjects, but disdain the study of the most important subject in the world - the Jesus prayer. Let us pray to Archangel Salaphiel for the Lord to grant us this gift of divine prayer. Archangel Jegudiel is the patron, defender and helper of all those who toil. And we must all be such, for we have been commanded to eat our bread in the sweat of our faces. We toil not only physically, to earn our daily bread, but also spiritually, in order to perfect ourselves. Archangel Jegudiel is depicted on icons with a crown of victory in his hands. Such crowns will be earned by those of us who will endure to the very end, who will worthily bear the light yoke of Christ. We are faced with a complex task, so let us ask Archangel Jegudiel for help in our daily lives. Archangel Barachiel is the angel of God’s blessings. While asking God to bless all our good efforts, let us also appeal to Archangel Barachiel for help. However, we must accept the Lord’s blessing not only for prosperity but also for our cross, i.e. the sorrows without which there is no salvation. And may Archangel Barachiel give us strength to carry our blessed crosses. In celebrating the feast of the angelic Host, let us not forget the most important thing, - and that is the faithfulness to God exhibited by the holy angels together with Archangel Michael. May the Lord help us, too, be ready to sacrifice ourselves for Christ. Following the example of the angels’ fealty, let us also remain faithful to true Orthodoxy. And nowadays this is more important than ever before, because Orthodoxy is attacked from all sides by the adherents of other religions and by the unfaithful, who demand that very same infamous equality, this time among all religions. We can never agree to such an equalization of Orthodoxy with religions which have distorted the true worship of God, because we know that there is no salvation outside of Orthodoxy. Let us appreciate our Orthodox faith, which teaches us true knowledge and true worship of God, for which, eons ago, the archangel of God Michael and his entire heavenly host battled in the heavens. Monk Vsevolod (Reprinted from “Orthodox Russia,” Vol. 22, 1999)

From the Russian Orthodox Church in Baltimore, USA

My Bread of Life

"I was a priest in Saigon at the time the Americans were leaving the country and witnessed the turmoil and the fear. Three months later I was appointed the bishop of the diocese. The government wanted me to conform to the rules that would impair my ability to serve my people and harm the effectiveness of the Church. For example, i would not be permitted to continue the Church's services to the needs of the poor. I resisted the pressure of the state and refused to obey what my conscience could not accept.

"I was given a prison sentence that lasted thirteen years, nine of which were in solitary confinement. When I lived in solitary, I knew I would continue to love God with all my heart. However, how could I love people? The only people I saw were the guards who checked on me on a rotating basis. I decided I must love them, my enemies. I spoke to them with interest in their lives. "How is your family? How many children do you have? How old are they? Are you in good health?"

"In time, I had them tell me their troubles. I listened with sympathy. I prayed for them. After a long time I asked a favour one day. Could I have a piece of wood, some wire, a cake of soap and a knife? A guard gave this to me. I cut the wood into the shape of a cross. I wove the wire into a chain. I sliced the soap in half and hid the cross inside, then returned the knife. (He later continued to wear the cross and chain after his imprisonment.)

"I let another long period go by and then asked another favour. Would it be possible that each month my friends could send me a little wine and bread? My request hung in the silent air for quite a while until one day a little bit of bread and wine was given to me.

"From then on, I began to celebrate the Eucharist in my cell. I placed a tiny bit of bread and a few drops of wine in my hand. I had no books, no lectionary with the readings, and no sacramentary with the words of the liturgy. Besides there was virtually no light in my prison home. I knew Eucharistic Prayer II by heart as well as a number of psalms.

"I also had devoted each day to reflection on words and deeds of Jesus I could remember from the Gospels. In celebrating the Eucharist I did not feel alone. I felt the presence of the Church, as well as Mary, the angels, and the saints. Above all, I had the awesome presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist both at the Mass and in the tiny particle of His real presence I retained for adoration.

"The Eucharist became my bread of life in a tangible way for the remaining years of my imprisonment."

~ His Eminence François-Xavier Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận

Two years before his death, Cardinal Văn Thuận met a priest at the beatification of Pope John XXIII. He told his story to the priest, who then asked him what his ministry was now.

"I am in the office of Justice and Peace," he said quietly.

"What are your duties?

"I m sent to parts of the world where people hate each other. I know what to do to help them get over that."


Via Catholicism on Facebook

On fast food

“The style of fast-food completely ignores the sacred dimension of meals,” Salani told the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire on the occasion of his book launching this January. “At McDonalds you satisfy your hunger in a rushed way so that you can move on to do other things,” he lamented. Adding fuel to the fire, he insisted: “It lacks the communitarian or sharing aspect of a meal."

...

How many families or individuals who order out for fast food only to devour its contents before the television? This is the death sentence to convivium, conversation, good manners and family life. The communal family meal is truly supposed to be an exercise in courtesy. It would be unimaginable that all should not share the prepared meal. No special orders to suit the whim of the moment: “I’ll have the cheeseburger and fries, no, make that onion rings.” “I think I’ll have Chinese food instead.” I know homes where families can order out at three different places in order to satisfy everyone’s particular tastes for the evening. Each one is permitted to choose his meal from the assorted items....It all depends on personal taste.

...

The fast food style of feeding nourishes tendencies that are fostering a downright tribal lifestyle. Table settings are eliminated. China and water glasses – much less the proper wine glasses – are replaced by throwaway wrappers and paper cups. Adults and children eat with their hands, not silverware. There is no leisurely savoring of the flavors of courses served with the appropriate wine, a Chablis with freshwater fish, a rich Burgundy with the meat, a sweet Sauterne accompanying dessert. It has reached the point where people eat anything, at any hour, in any way, next to – not together with – anyone.

One of the first thing that strikes an American tourist in Paris is how the French can eat so much (four and five course meals), drink wine every day, and yet stay so thin. The answer is simple. Their diet and habits are healthful. They eat three meals a day. They don’t snack. They eat incredibly fresh food, especially the fruit and vegetables. The typical meal is enjoyed with leisure...

Does this remind you of another slightly less modern phenomenon? The highlights are my attempts at pointing to the key characteristics of the fast-food revolution. The idea of leisure struck me because I'm reading Max Weber's Spirit of Capitalism.

Marian T. Horvat joins the dots.

Via Bret Graham Fawcett on Facebook.

Made in the Image and Likeness of God

The creation of Adam; 13th c. sculpture; archivolt, north portal, Chartres

The passage that promopted me to go search for a photo of this sculpture:

A wonderful piece of sculpture adorning the cathedral of Chartres represents Adam, head and shoulders barely roughed out, emerging from the earth from which he was made and being molded by the hands of God. The face of the first man reproduces the features of his modeler. This parable in stone translates for the eyes the mysterious words of Genesis: "God made man in his own image and likeness."

From its earliest beginnings Christian tradition has not ceased to annotate this verse, recognizing in it our first title of nobility and the foundation of our greatness. Reason, liberty, immortality and dominion over nature are so many prerogatives of divine origin that God has imparted to his creatures. Establishing man from the outset in God's likeness, each of these prerogatives is meant to grow and unfold until the divine resemblance is brought to perfection. Thus they are the key to the highest of destinies.

- Henri de Lubac, The Drama of Atheist Humanism

via Insight Scoop

Quote of the Day

To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books.

- The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall, 1928.

Via the Great Geek Manual

St Vincent de Paul, Confessor

"It is not sufficient for me to love God if I do not love my neighbor.I belong to God and to the poor."

-St. Vincent de Paul

Saint Vincent's incorrupt body

Vincent de Paul was a Frenchman by nation, and was born at Pouy, not far from Dax in Gascony. From a little child he shewed remarkable charity towards the poor. His father removed him from keeping the cattle, in order to give him a school education, and he learnt earthly things at Dax, and theology both at Toulouse and at Saragossa. He took Priests' orders, and a degree in Divinity. He was taken prisoner by Mohammedan pirates, who carried him off, and sold him for a slave in Africa. In his slavery he converted his owner, who was an apostate, back to Christ. Under the protection of the Mother of God, Vincent escaped from Barbary. He first visited the thresholds of the Apostles, and afterwards returned to France. He was the saintly Rector first of the parish of Clichy, and afterwards of that of Châtillon. He was appointed by the King, Chaplain-General for the galleys of France, and worked with extraordinary zeal for the health of the souls both of those who commanded and of the convicts who rowed. He was made Superior of the Nuns of the Visitation by St. Francis de Sales, and discharged this duty for about forty years, with a wisdom which so approved itself to the judgment of their holy Founder, that he was used to say he knew no worthier Priest than Vincent.
...

The preaching of the Gospel to the poor, especially peasants, was the work at which he toiled unweariedly, till he was disabled by age. To this special work he bound himself and the members of the Congregation which he founded under the missionary Congregation of Secular Priests, by a perpetual vow approved by the Holy See. How great were his labours for bettering the discipline of the clergy, is attested by the building of Seminaries for the final education of young clerks, the number of meetings of Priests to discuss holy things, and the religious exercises preparátory to Ordination, for which, as well as for godly retreats by laymen, he wished that the houses belonging to his Institute should be always freely open. To spread wider the growth of faith and godliness, he sent his Gospel labourers not only into the several provinces of France, but also into Italy, Poland, Scotland, and Ireland, and also to Barbary and India.

...

There was no kind of misery which he did not strive with fatherly tenderness to relieve. Christians groaning in Mohammedan slavery, foundlings, deformed children, young maidens exposed to danger, houseless nuns, fallen women, convicts sent to the galleys, sick foreigners, disabled workmen, lunatics, and beggars without number, all these he relieved, and devoutly housed in divers charitable institutions which remain to this day. When Lorraine, Champagne, Picardy, and other districts were desolated by plague, famine, and war, he made immense efforts for their relief. He founded many charitable societies, to find out and succour the unfortunate. Among these are remarkable that of Matrons, and that of Sisters of Charity which hath been so widely spread. By those Of the Cross, Of Providence, and of St. Guinevere he aimed at bringing up young girls as school-mistresses. Amid all these and other most anxious business-matters, he remained always looking simply to God, kind to all, true to himself, plain, upright, and lowly. From all honours, riches, and pleasures, he ever shrank, and was heard to say, that nothing ever gave him any pleasure, except in Christ Jesus, whom it was his wish in all things to follow. With a body worn out with hardships, work and old age, he gently fell asleep in the house of St. Lazarus at Paris, the chief house of the Congregation of the Missions, upon the 27th day of September, in the year of salvation 1660, and of his own age the 85th. He was famous on account of his life, his works, and his miracles, and Clement XII inscribed his name among those of the Saints, appointing for his Feastday the 19th day of the month of July. Finally, at the earnest prayer of many prelates, Leo XIII proclaimed and established this hero of charity, illustrious for his services to all classes of men, as the patron before God in heaven of all charitable societies throughout the whole Catholic world which derive their origin in any way from his institution.

Source: Breviary.net

O God, who didst endue thy blessed Saint Vincent with apostolic virtue, to the intent that he should preach thy Gospel to the poor, and stablish the honour of the priesthood of thy Church : grant, we beseech thee ; that we may so hold in reverence his works of righteousness, that we may learn to follow the pattern of his godly conversation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

"What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him? And if a brother or sister be naked, and want daily food:

And one of you say to them: Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body, what shall it profit? So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, offering up Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou, that faith did co-operate with his works; and by works faith was made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled, saying: Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him to justice, and he was called the friend of God. Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only? And in like manner also Rahab the harlot, was not she justified by works, receiving the messengers, and sending them out another way?

For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also faith without works is dead."

~ James 2:14-26

The Society of St Vincent de Paul is a lay organization which takes St Vincent as its patron. It's primary mission is to serve the poor and less fortunate. SVP is a sister organization of sorts to the Legion of Mary. Frank Duff, our founder, was originally a member of SVP. As Legionaries, we are not allowed to provide material relief to people. That we leave to the SVP. Our tasks centre around the spiritual works of mercy, while SVP members engage in the corporal works of mercy. (More on the two terms here)

A small coincidence: tomorrow is my grandmother's birthday. She's a faithful member and a former officer (I think) of SVP. When I'm at their place, the sight of the poor and needy knocking at her door to collect coupons, etc is a frequent one.
And she's married to my grandfather, whose name is Vincent. :D

So happy feast day to my grandpa and happy birthday to my grandma!! :)

Kueh Bingka

Teresa was kind of perplexed that I hadn't developed a taste for any local sweet yet. I really haven't come to appreciate desserts like Ice Kachang, and the various puddings that I've tried here in Singapore. I also don't like most kuehs - too jelly-like for me.

Well, here's one that I recently discovered, and keep wanting to have more of.

Kueh Bingka is a Nonya dish. I love its coconutty taste and texture. :)

Hitchens on euthanasia, the UN, Obama and David Cameron

From the Mail's Peter Hitchens:

We seldom know exactly when we cross the border between good and evil. Normal, gentle, kindly people discover too late that they have become collaborators with wickedness, and dare not condemn crimes they have themselves committed.

This is the reason for the hatchet-faced defence of abortion by the liberal elite. They took part in the massacre of the unborn in large numbers before mass immigration provided them with legions of cheap live-in nannies and so made parenthood compatible with the two-career lifestyle.

Very often we start to do dreadful things because we are convinced that they are in fact good. Everyone now recoils in disgust from the German National Socialist eugenics and euthanasia programmes.

Hitler, being composed of almost pure evil, simply took the filthy idea to its logical conclusion. Non-German supporters of eugenics – like the contraception fanatic Marie Stopes – were embarrassed into silence by finding themselves in company with such monsters.

But the problem has not gone away. The killing of the inconvenient is always attractive to some, either because they think they can make a perfect world, or because the old, the demented and incontinent are expensive and unproductive. Not one of us, if we are honest, is safe from this temptation.

There is only one reliable barrier to getting rid of them – an unalterable moral law which says such things are always wrong and a criminal law which takes the same view.

Without that, we slither into mass murder. I will predict it for you. Within a few years of the law’s relaxation, we will all – doctors and relatives alike – slip across the boundary.

Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, gave it all away when he said that as a society we had ‘moved on’ since the days when it was a crime to assist a suicide. Indeed we have, just as we have ‘moved on’ from the days when most people could read and write, mobs were not allowed to persecute people to death, and Saturday night streets were not full of drunks and puke.

By the time Keir Starmer is old, and his children are wondering what to do with him, we may have ‘moved on’ further still, largely thanks to his extra-parliamentary law-making. But will it be in the right direction? And if by then he has a different opinion on the subject, will anyone listen to his feeble whispers of protest?

and some wise words about the UN, and another Obama snub (remember Gdasnk?)

Spot on Colonel, the UN is useless

Colonel Gaddafi’s comical rage at the United Nations ought to remind us that the UN is obliged to take unhinged despots of this kind seriously, and provides them with a surprising amount of power and influence. This is one of many reasons why the UN should be swiftly wound up.

Then again, we might recall how the fatuous supporters of the Iraq War (some still exist, amazingly) claimed that his decision to abandon his completely non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction showed that toppling Saddam had put the fear of Uncle Sam into the hearts of all Islamic tyrants.

The same people now rave in a lunatic way about attacking Iran and Pakistan, countries which actually learned the opposite lesson – that Washington will leave you alone only if you have the Bomb.

Then there’s the ridiculous claim America is somehow angry with us for letting Abdelbaset Al Megrahi (who plainly had nothing to do with the Lockerbie outrage) out of jail. This is supposed to be behind Barack Obama’s unwillingness to meet Gordon Brown for more than five minutes.

If this were true, it would be monstrous. Those who are desperate to blame every bad thing in the world on Gordon Brown seem to have let political partisanship cancel out patriotism. How dare Mr Obama snub us over the release of one innocent man – when more than 200 of our soldiers have died fighting America’s war in Afghanistan?

Actually, that’s the real problem.

Mr Obama snubbed Britain, not Mr Brown. To him, we are an unimportant European country which has nothing to offer him. He’s probably forgotten we even have troops in Afghanistan – another reason we should pull them out.

on David Cameron and the EU:

Czechs know all about Tory piffle, Dave

Davd Cameron is said to be encouraging the Czech President Vaclav Klaus to hold out against signing the EU Constitution (alias the Lisbon Treaty) if the Irish vote for it this week. Apparently Mr Cameron has let Mr Klaus know that Britain will stand by him if the going gets rough.

Oh, really? How can anyone be fooled by this piffle? First, I should have thought Mr Cameron wants
a referendum on Lisbon about as much as he wants a bout of malaria or a broken nose. If Britain then votes ‘No’, what will he do?

The EU would make us vote again and say ‘Yes’. Or we would leave the EU. Mr Cameron is clearly in favour of staying in the EU. In that case, he ought to be honest and admit it and – along with many other Tories – stop pretending to oppose something he in fact supports.

As for the heroic President Klaus, I suggest he recalls a previous occasion when a British Conservative leader promised to help the Czechs against a continental empire. Chap with a moustache and an umbrella. Neville something. Didn’t work out.

Read the entire article here

Cosmic conflict

AmP features it as his Friday off-beat video.

I was surprised to see Doug Batchelor at the beginning. That's what made me realise it was a Seventh Day Adventist production. I used to see quite a bit of him when my parents used to watch 3ABN, their satellite channel. He seemed a nice guy (not like some of the weirdos that came on air sometimes). But I still remember the subtle trickery he once used to prove that St Peter was not the rock on which Christ built his Church.

By the way, they call us the antichrist but use our Kyrie in their soundtrack? Nice :D

Of Twitter, Facebook and...Flutter

The thing is, it's not far from the truth:

ABC News: Posted Mon Sep 7, 2009 5:01pm AEST

The Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) in Adelaide says it is worrying that two girls lost in a stormwater drain raised the alert on a social networking site rather than ringing triple-0.

The 10- and 12-year-old girls updated a Facebook status to say they were lost in a drain on Honeypot Road at Hackham in Adelaide's southern suburbs on Sunday night.

Glenn Benham from the MFS says it was fortunate a young friend was online at the time and was able to call for help for them.

"It is a worry for us because it causes a delay on us being able to rescue the girls," he said.

"If they were able to access Facebook from their mobile phones, they could have called triple-0, so the point being they could have called us directly and we could have got there quicker than relying on someone being online and replying to them and eventually having to call us via triple-0 anyway."

Professor of Media and Communications at the Queensland University of Technology, Terry Flew, says public education campaigns are facing an ongoing struggle to compete with social media.

"I'm sure they [the girls] would have had information provided to them in their schools about who to contact in an emergency, but as we know many things that are learnt in school can go in one ear and out the other," he said.

"For these kids, by the sounds of it, being on Facebook is just such a pervasive part of their lives that it seems the first line of response if they need to communicate a message to others.

"I guess for these people the natural way to send a message out to their friends and others is via Facebook, unfortunately in this case the message was that they were stuck in a stormwater drain."

He warns that presents a real challenge for public education authorities to get their message across.

"Clearly it's not good enough to say 'well they should have rung emergency services', the point is that they didn't, and we need to think about why that's the case and what strategies can be used in the future," he said.

How Walt Disney Cartoons were made

This is really cool :)

Angelus

I've liked this painting since I was a kid :)


The Angelus, Jean Millet, 1859




Stop to pray the Angelus at 6 o'clock and noon and remember the Incarnation, the love that brought God Himself down into the world and the faith of the beautiful Lady who said fiat.

The Angelus bell rings to spread good-will to all on Earth. Maybe we should remember that as we pray the Angelus as well and be mindful of our call to be peacemakers and to spread the Gospel to all.

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Granda Liturgical Arts

From NLM:

As part of the ongoing Arts Initiative we have been pursuing on the NLM, we have been showcasing various examples of the sacred arts being pursued today, both to show for your own edification, as well as to hopefully help to further foster the pursuit and commissioning of these arts as part of a new liturgical movement. We are pleased today to present to you today some of the work of Granda Liturgical Arts.

From St. Kilian chapel within the Church of St. Ann in Coppell, Texas, comes a reredos in the Spanish baroque style.

A hanging pyx in the form of a dove which was originally designed for the Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Valparaiso, Nebraska, but which has since become one of Granda's standard offerings.

Details from a monstrance designed for St. John Cantius church in Chicago by one of their parishioners and realized by Granda.

Beautiful, aren't they? Check out the rest at NLM

Freaky

Barack Obama's amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

Via CMR. He's right...rather freaky. The smile doesn't move throught thirty pictures...

The lie

"That which seems to Us not only the greatest evil but the root of all evil is this: often the lie is substituted for the truth, and is then used as an instrument of dispute."

~ Pope Pius XII, "Anni Sacri"

Wow. That's so true.

Here's just one example (though I'm sure there are people who're wilier than this guy in twisting history and reality):

"one wouldnt need an abortion if conservative retards didnt frown upon sex. a conservative value that stems from the bible."

That's from the unreasonable guy who I featured last night (yes he replied...and we exchanged several mails...but I realised it was useless to continue arguing, so I stopped).

He blames abortion - not on economics, not on human nature, not on selfishness - but on conservatism!

Gaddafi's UN Debut

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Moammar Gadhafi's debut appearance at the United Nations was bound to be memorable, but his long and rambling diatribe Wednesday is one that few will forget.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.

The Libyan leader was introduced as "king of kings" by his countryman Ali Terki, the president of this year's U.N. General Assembly, at the assembly's annual session in New York.

Then, dressed in his familiar black beret and sweeping his flowing brown Bedouin robe behind him, the notoriously charismatic leader strode to the stage with a yellow folder and a copy of the U.N. charter.

For the next 96 minutes, he talked.

His topics ranged from the U.N. Security Council to the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy to a one-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians: Isratine.

Gadhafi began his speech like many other leaders, welcoming President Obama as the leader of the host nation of the General Assembly and congratulating Obama on his first General Assembly session. Obama spoke immediately before Gadhafi and left the hall before the Libyan leader took the stage

The diplomatic niceties ended there. Speaking without a text and referring only to a few handwritten pages, Gadhafi launched into a blistering attack on the Security Council, and he blamed the United Nations for failing to prevent more than six dozen wars since the world body was founded in 1945.

"It should not be called the Security Council, it should be called the 'terror council,' " Gadhafi said. The Council should "implement the will of the General Assembly," which should be a "world parliament," he said.

Gadhafi railed against what he called "inequality" of U.N. member states, quoting from a copy of the U.N. charter, which calls for equality of nations.

He called for reform of the Security Council to make it more representative, including expanding it with more member states. He called for abolishing the veto power of the five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- which he said used the veto to serve their own interests and treated smaller nations like "second class, despised nations."

Then Gadhafi blamed the U.N. for failing to prevent 65 wars since its founding in 1945.

"But 65 aggressive wars took place without any collective action by the United Nations to prevent them," Gadhafi said, discussing several in detail.

Tackling several conspiracy theories, Gadhafi suggested that the "swine flu" virus was a military tool or corporate weapon produced from a lab, and hinted Israel was behind President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

And he argued the Taliban should be able to form an "Islamic emirate" without being accused of being terrorists. After all, he said, the Vatican formed a similar religious country.

Watch Gadhafi's debut at General Assembly »

At one hour and 36 minutes, Gadhafi's speech didn't rival Cuban leader Fidel Castro's record soliloquy in 1960, which lasted four hours. But it more than doubled the time taken by Obama, who spoke for 40 minutes. Speakers are encouraged to limit their remarks to 15 minutes.

The United States delegation was represented during Gadhafi's speech by a low-level note-taker. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice departed before Gadhafi took the podium.

Time.com: Top 10 U.N. General Assembly moments

Still, Gadhafi said the world should help "our son" Obama and remove the enormous burden of the United States as host nation. Complaining of his long journey for the gathering, which left him jetlagged, Gadhafi suggested the United Nations headquarters be moved outside of New York so that the rest of the world wouldn't have to deal with the extraordinary security precautions taken by the United States since September 11, 2001.

He had only warm words for Obama, and said he feared the United States would return to its previous ways after he left office.

"We are content and happy if Obama can stay forever as the president of America," Gadhafi said.

Obama's spokesman wasn't as effusive in his praise, chalking the Libyan leader's diatribe up to "Gadhafi being Gadhafi."

Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday that trying to explain Gadhafi's speech would take "the better part of the afternoon," almost as long as the speech itself.

This was the icing on the cake:

Times Online:

A Libyan interpreter brought over by Muammar Gaddafi to translate his speech at the United Nations General Assembly collapsed 75 minutes into the rambling diatribe, it has emerged.

Visiting dignitaries usually rely on the UN's highly professional team of interpreters but the Libyan leader brought his own expert linguists to translate his speech into English and French, saying that the UN's Arabic language interpreters would not be able to understand his Libyan dialect.

In the event, according to the New York Post, Colonel Gaddafi spoke in standard Arabic - but still got lost in translation. An hour and a quarter into the speech his interpreter shouted into the live microphone in Arabic: "I just can't take it any more."

At that point, the UN's Arabic section chief, Rasha Ajalyaqeen, took over and translated the final 20 minutes of the speech.

"His interpreter just collapsed – this is the first time I have seen this in 25 years," another UN Arabic interpreter said.

Ms Ajalyaqeen was given the next day off.

"Ten minutes with Gaddafi earns you a lot of annual leave," one of her colleagues said.

HAHA. Surreal

There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church

Fr Z features some comments found under an NCR article. The highlights and comments are his:

Here is a real winner. Just sit back and read this with a beer, or cup of tea, or something. Enjoy!

Submitted by Aileen (not verified) on Sep. 21, 2009.

After reading through all of the comments again this past weekend, I was struck with a curious thought. [A thought curious to whom?] It would be most revealing if everyone who made a comment had included their year of birth and the year of their first holy communion… and whether they are laity or ordained. My real life experience has been that those who so fervently desire to return to the old traditions and ways of pre-Vatican II (or how they imagine it), are too young to actually remember it, and just how burdensome and depressing it could be to live under such repressive and unforgiving rules. [LOL! Excellent. What she doesn’t understand is that people want "continuity" with our tradition, not rupture.] Today’s retro-uber-orthodox would have a rude awakening if they achieved their wish. Most Catholics today are not aware (or perhaps have forgotten?) just how oppressive the situation was. One example among many (for those of us who do remember): ANY divorced person was formally excommunicated for the mere fact of divorce; [Really?] even the wronged spouse who had been left for another person through no fault of their own, nor had they remarried. [?!?] Marriage tribunal to address such an injustice was virtually unheard of for the average Catholic in the pew. [Why would they? People would have recourse to the tribunal if they were thinking about divorce.] Pope Paul VI (post-V2) changed that unjust rule, thankfully. [What rule was that?] Because laity were considered an inferior sub-culture below clergy, the list of misery perpetuated upon them was long and final. ["misery"?] One reason there was a bumper crop of clergy in those days was because, for Catholics, it was the only game in town. Being ordained, or having a child or sibling who was ordained, provided some modest ‘status by association’ for their family members among the laity. [Ahhh… that’s why men were ordained!] Some folks today have the illusion that people in the old days were just "more spiritual". Actually, they were pragmatic. In those supposedly good old days, laity "paid and obeyed" without question… and got their ticket punched for Mass. They got ‘zero’ input on anything (forget any pastor/parish council). A woman’s only Catholic badge of honor was hinged to remaining continually pregnant during her entire reproductive span. Infertility had the reverse effect, and was considered a disgrace… even carrying a ‘suspicion of secret sin’. Babies born dead (and so unbaptized) were denied a funeral Mass or burial in consecrated ground… the same denial held true for the mentally ill who committed suicide (they were consigned to hell). [Wow… lot’s of baggage here.] For women, the only ‘holy’ alternative to marriage and marathon procreation was to ‘take to the cloth’ in a convent. Those are just a few of the nostalgic “goodies” of the good old days that some in today’s Church long for so fervently. There was much more than just the "old" Mass in Latin or the happy black and white Bing Crosby movies. Like so many romantic notions, they tend to fade in the harsh light of day and actual practice. No one was a bit more “spiritual” as a result — only intimidated and guilt-ridden. To desire a return to those former ways actually approaches being pathological… possibly masochistic. [ROFL!] When Pope John XXIII “opened the doors and windows of the Church” and convened the Second Vatican Council, it was this dark oppression and joyless legalism that he sought to remedy. [Ahhh….that’s what he did.] How ironic that today there are some who would take the Church back to that dark, enclosed place where only those who could perfectly keep the rules were welcome, and the hierarchy’s imposed unjust suffering on laity was believed to be the will of God. I can understand why certain bishops would love that arrangement. I cannot understand the appeal to laity.

I bet you can’t.

Read the rest at Fr's blog.

Wow. When someone has no idea how the Church works and what She teaches, they come up with some fantastic straw man, and beat it to death.
This is the case with many anti-Catholic Protestants and atheists. Apparently it's the case with some Catholics too.

“There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church— which is, of course, quite a different thing.”

- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Hitler Happens

We say "never again" while it's going on around us. Violence is around us everywhere. Government sponsored violence is a regular routine in many parts of the world.

The formula is a large centralized government and an unwillingness to acknowledge the sacredness and God given rights of the individual. Shake well. Results should appear within a decade. Let's face it. Hitler happens.

And we can keep saying "Never again" like some kind of spell or mantra that wards off Hitlers of the future but Hitlers happen. All the time.

Read the entire piece at CMR

"please write me back so i can school you on the real world."

I left a few comments on a Youtube video, trying to defend the pro-life stance. This little gem was sent to my Youtube inbox a short while ago:

abortion will be legal until it isnt necesarry. it was legalized so women wouldnt hurt themselves in "back alley" abortions. maybe if your idiot religious culture didnt frown upon teenage pregnancy, we could start cutting back on killing the unborn. i know, you cant even comprehend such a world. thats good, because we dont want you here. we should round up the religous and slaughter them like cattle. thats an obama program i could get behind. i have a theory on why religious america is so up in arms. try to follow. every single day you and your religious cohorts must compromise your beliefs. it has been happening, gradually, for the last 500 years or so. we discovered the earth wasnt flat, you compromised. we understand gravity, you compromise. we understand about cultures and early beliefs, you compromise. these are things that were explained in the old testament (and i believe the torah and qua'ran). but i am guessing you are christian.. well, as christian as you can be. there are no real christians left. everything that was written about christ was done so thirty years after he died, that is, if he ever lived. oh, and if you didnt compromise, youre either a zealot or a priest. actually, i doubt most educated priests believe their own garbage. dont get me wrong, its good that the easily influenced all get together once a week and rant about idiotic bullshit. you call it church. but lets get back to abortion. if you could see how stupid pro life people look to intelligent people, you would feel shame. and atheists are the same as you idiots. both of you are so certain... one says "i know theres a god" the other "i know theres no god"... really? no you dont. youre all **** insane and its time for you to die... or at least move to austrailia. do you hate obama? lol, i love that we have a liberal president. wanna know why he hasnt picked a church to go to? no, not because he is muslim, lol, even better... he is a harvard educated agnostic. does that just kill you? we are winning. its time to start killing you evil idiots. wanna know why white people voted for obama? to stick it in the ass of every racist idiot republican that supported george w bush. we voted for obama so you would have to wake up and have a black president. not because he and biden were clearly better for america.. not because we need to leave iraq (well...), but because we knew all the rednecks would lose their collective shit daily... i give you glenn beck. lmao. please write me back so i can school you on the real world. you are going to lose. your time is over. can you feel it? science wins, religion loses.

Since I didn't want to be deprived of the promised learning opportunity I did reply:

Hello!

I think I'll break my reply down into points.

1) Why do you assume I'm a Christian? I am and I'm thankful for the gift of faith, but my opposition to abortion doesn't automatically come from my faith. It comes from a rational decision - I find it rational (scientifically and philosophically) to conclude that the child inside the mother's womb is a human person.

I'm a political scientist and I believe politics must work towards justice. I believe therefore that the leaders of any country, and especially a country that claims to be the a world leader (and perhaps rightly so), should work to safeguard the rights of everyone, and in particular the most vulnerable and defenceless among us.

So please don't rant about religion like this: it's not relevant to the dicussion

2) I'd like to address some points you bring up about religion though.
What's this "we vs you" idea when it comes to science and Christianity?

Remember, it is the Catholic Church that developed the university system and the scientific method.

Read up about great scientists like Albert Magnus (philosopher and scientist), Robert Bacon (one of the earliest proponents of the scientific method), Nicholaus Copernicus (heliocentric theory), Christopher Clavius and Aloysuis Lilius (architects of the Gregorian calednar which you use every day), Gregor Mendel (genetics), Plaise Pascal (mathematician), Charles Augustin de Coulomb (physics), George Lemaitre (the Big Bang theory), Loise Braille (inventor of the Braille language for the blind), Jerome Lejeune (discovered the cause of Downs' Syndrome). One thing common to them all is that they were Catholics. I think the evidence points against you if you're hoping to prove to me that all Christians are anti-science.

3)The priests I know aren't zealots. They're gentle and wise. Before becoming priests some of them completed PhDs in fields like engineering. Also, to become a priest you need to do the equivalent of a post graduate university degree. So priests at least aren't uneducated people.

4) "But let's get back to abortions"
Yay! You're going to explain in a reasonable way why you're right about the abortion issue.

Oh. You're not?

5) "we should round up the religous and slaughter them like cattle...youre all **** insane and its time for you to die... or at least move to austrailia."
Wow. Way to go with your argumentative skills! :) Very reasonable and enlightened of you.

6) I don't hate Obama. I think he's wrong on some important issues though.
He doesn't go to church - does that kill me? Not at all. I'm pretty nonchalant about it. Don't worry :)

7) I'm pretty sure your election analysis is a bit off. I think Iraq played a role you know? :p
Oh well.

8) You're not a fan of Fox News? I'm not a huge fan either! Oooh. There goes another stereotype.

9) No, I don't feel that religion's time is over. I'm pretty confident about my Church. We've withstood some pretty bad times in the past. We're still intact. I think you'll be seeing us around for a quite a while more.

10) Hmmmm. In all the deluge of words, I didn't see any careful, reasoned defence of your pro-abortion stance. Or any careful, reasoned defence of anything for that matter.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for mailing me, and for your concern!

D.

I was waiting for the schooling. All I got was an expletive and the cryptic bit of advice that I should read the newspaper.


Hehe I know it's useless arguing with the likes of him/her. I was bored, that's why.
They need prayers more than anything. I'll remember to give him/her that.

Update: He did reply, and we did send a few mails to and fro. There was never an improvement in the reasonableness of his statements though...

Call upon Christ

"I will remember how St. Peter,

at a blast of wind, began to sink because

of his lack of faith,

and I will do as he did:

Call upon Christ and pray to him for help.

And then I trust he will place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas

hold me up from drowning."

St. Thomas More

Quote via Holy Cards

The Christian faith...liberates man from the irrationality of political myths

The state is not the whole of human existence and does not encompass all human hope. Man and what he hopes for extend beyond the framework of the state and beyond the sphere of political action. This is true not only for a state like Babylon, but for every state. The state is not the totality; this unburdens the politician and at the same time opens up for him the path of reasonable politics. The Roman state was wrong and anti-Christian precisely because it wanted to be the totality of human possibilities and hopes. A state that makes such claims cannot fulfill its promises; it thereby falsifies and diminishes man. Through the totalitarian lie it becomes demonic and tyrannical. The abolition of the totalitarian state has demythologized the state and thereby liberated man, as well as politicians and politics.

But when the Christian faith falls into ruins and faith in mankind's greater hope is lost, the myth of the divine state rises again, because man cannot do without the totality of hope. Although such promises pose as progress and commandeer for themselves the slogans of progress and progressive thinking, viewed historically they are nevertheless a regression to an era antedating the novum of Christianity, a turning back along the scale of history. And even though their propaganda says that their goal is man's complete liberation, the abolition of all ruling authority, they contradict the truth of man and are opposed to his freedom, because they force man to fit into what he himself can make. Such politics, which declares that the kingdom of God is the outcome of politics and twists faith into the universal primacy of the political, is by its very nature the politics of enslavement; it is mythological politics.

To this, faith opposes Christian reason's sense of proportion, which recognizes what man really can accomplish in terms of a free social order and is content with that, because it knows that mankind's greater expectations are safe in God's hands. To renounce the hope of faith is at the same time to renounce political reason and its sense of proportion. Abandoning the mythical hopes of an authority-free society is not resignation but honesty, which sustains man in hope. The mythical hope of a self-made paradise can only drive man into inescapable anxiety-into fear of the failure of the illusory promises and of the immense emptiness that lurks behind them; into fear of his own power and of its cruelty.

Thus the first service to politics rendered by the Christian faith is that it liberates man from the irrationality of political myths, which are the real threat of our time. Taking a stand for sobriety, which does what is possible and does not cry with an ardent heart after the impossible, is of course always difficult; the voice of reason is not as loud as the cry of unreason.

- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

Read more

Death is an ally for a believing Christian

Hinn also appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network in October 1999 to claim that God had given him a vision that thousands of dead people would be resurrected after watching the network -- laying out a scenario of people placing their dead loved ones' hands on TV screens tuned into the station -- and that TBN would be "an extension of Heaven to Earth."

(From Wikipedia, without a citation, be warned. But it does sound typical of Hinn and his colleagues)

But why? Why this fear of death? Why is dead people being resurrected by contact to a TV screen, a vision of heaven on earth? I don't get it. If you believe in an afterlife, if you believe in the beatific vision, isn't this nonsense?

Buying books

Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.

-Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860)

Via quotemaster Jean :p

Scipione Cardinal Rebiba

A very interesting bit of trivia about apostolic succession:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Scipione Rebiba (1504 – 23 July 1577) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Chieti on 16 March 1541, created a Cardinal on 20 December 1555, appointed Archbishop of Pisa in 1566, Bishop of Albano in 1573 and Bishop of Sabina e Poggio Mirteto in 1574^[1].

Cardinal Rebiba is a notable figure in the history of the apostolic succession in the Roman Catholic Church. More than 91% of the world's more than 4,000 Catholic bishops alive today trace their episcopal lineage back to Rebiba.

In the early 18th century, Pope Benedict XIII, whose orders were descended from Rebiba, personally consecrated at least 139 bishops for various important European sees, including German, French, English and New World bishops. These bishops in turn consecrated bishops almost exclusively for their respective countries causing other episcopal lineages to die off.

It is widely believed that Rebiba was consecrated by Gian Pietro Carafa, the Cardinal who became Pope Paul IV, but supporting documentation has not been found and therefore the episcopal genealogies stop at Rebiba.

For instance, the episcopal lineage of Pope Benedict:

• Pope Joseph Ratzinger (1977)
• Bishop Josef Stangl † (1957)
• Archbishop Josef Schneider † (1955)
• Joseph Cardinal Wendel † (1941)
• Bishop Ludwig Sebastian † (1917)
• Archbishop Johann Jakob von Hauck † (1912)
• Bishop Ferdinand von Schlör † (1898)
• Archbishop Joseph von Schork † (1891)
• Archbishop Franz Joseph von Stein † (1879)
• Archbishop Friedrich von Schreiber † (1875)
• Archbishop Gregor (Leonhard Andreas) von Scherr, O.S.B. † (1856)
• Antonio Saverio Cardinal De Luca † (1845)
• Giacomo Filippo Cardinal Fransoni † (1822)
• Pietro Francesco Cardinal Galeffi † (1819)
• Alessandro Cardinal Mattei † (1777)
• Bernardino Cardinal Giraud † (1767)
• Pope Carlo della Torre Rezzonico † (1743)
• Pope Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini † (1724)
• Pope Pietro Francesco (Vincenzo Maria) Orsini de Gravina, O.P. † (1675)
• Paluzzo Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri Degli Albertoni † (1666)
• Ulderico Cardinal Carpegna † (1630)
• Luigi Cardinal Caetani † (1622)
• Ludovico Cardinal Ludovisi † (1621)
• Archbishop Galeazzo Sanvitale † (1604)
• Girolamo Cardinal Bernerio, O.P. † (1586)
• Giulio Antonio Cardinal Santorio † (1566)
• Scipione Cardinal Rebiba †

And Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith:

• Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don (1991)
• Archbishop Nicholas Marcus Fernando (1977)
• Thomas Benjamin Cardinal Cooray, O.M.I. † (1946)
• Archbishop Leo Peter Kierkels, C.P. † (1931)
• Willem Marinus Cardinal van Rossum, C.SS.R. † (1918)
• Pope Giacomo della Chiesa † (1907)
• Pope St. Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto † (1884)
• Lucido Maria Cardinal Parocchi † (1871)
• Costantino Cardinal Patrizi Naro † (1828)
• Father Carlo Odescalchi, S.J. † (1823)
• Giulio Maria Cardinal della Somaglia † (1788)
• Hyacinthe-Sigismond Cardinal Gerdil, B. † (1777)
• Marcantonio Cardinal Colonna † (1762)
• Pope Carlo della Torre Rezzonico † (1743)
• Pope Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini † (1724)
• Pope Pietro Francesco (Vincenzo Maria) Orsini de Gravina, O.P. † (1675)
• Paluzzo Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri Degli Albertoni † (1666)
• Ulderico Cardinal Carpegna † (1630)
• Luigi Cardinal Caetani † (1622)
• Ludovico Cardinal Ludovisi † (1621)
• Archbishop Galeazzo Sanvitale † (1604)
• Girolamo Cardinal Bernerio, O.P. † (1586)
• Giulio Antonio Cardinal Santorio † (1566)
• Scipione Cardinal Rebiba †

And Archbishop Nicholas Chia:

• Archbishop Nicholas Chia (2001)
• Archbishop Adriano Bernardini (1992)
• Angelo Cardinal Sodano (1978)
• Antonio Cardinal Samorè † (1950)
• Clemente Cardinal Micara † (1920)
• Pietro Cardinal Gasparri † (1898)
• François-Marie-Benjamin Cardinal Richard de la Vergne † (1872)
• Joseph Hippolyte Cardinal Guibert, O.M.I. † (1842)
• Bishop St. Eugène-Charles-Joseph de Mazenod, O.M.I. † (1832)
• Father Carlo Odescalchi, S.J. † (1823)
• Giulio Maria Cardinal della Somaglia † (1788)
• Hyacinthe-Sigismond Cardinal Gerdil, B. † (1777)
• Marcantonio Cardinal Colonna † (1762)
• Pope Carlo della Torre Rezzonico † (1743)
• Pope Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini † (1724)
• Pope Pietro Francesco (Vincenzo Maria) Orsini de Gravina, O.P. † (1675)
• Paluzzo Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri Degli Albertoni † (1666)
• Ulderico Cardinal Carpegna † (1630)
• Luigi Cardinal Caetani † (1622)
• Ludovico Cardinal Ludovisi † (1621)
• Archbishop Galeazzo Sanvitale † (1604)
• Girolamo Cardinal Bernerio, O.P. † (1586)
• Giulio Antonio Cardinal Santorio † (1566)
• Scipione Cardinal Rebiba †

An interesting article on apostolic succession can be found here.
It's a fascinating topic. :)

Ooh I just realised something. Archbishop Chia has a saint in his episcopal lineage: St Eugene de Mazenod, OMI. A majority of priests in Sri Lanka belong to the OMI (Oblates of Mary Immaculate). And my dad's school was De Mazenod College.

Cardinal Rebiba.

Link via Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, a pretty amazing site (A digital resource created and produced by Salvador Miranda, consisting of the biographical entries of the cardinals from 1003 to 2009 and of the events and documents concerning the origin of the Roman cardinalate and its historical evolution.)