Fr Mildew

Commenting continued

2012-01-29T15:38:00.002Z

Commenting continued
CLIFTON DIOCESE..Key members of diocesn safeguarding (3) have just resigned from the diocesan board. The account in the Capsule is rather confused but the problem seems to have been that friends of a certain priest who was convicted of downloading porn and later accused but not convicted of breaching his sex offenses order, these friends had complained that the safeguarding officer had treated the priest unfairly and the first diocesan procedure found against the safeguarding officer but on appeal a second enquiry found in favour of the officer. She resigned and two other members resigned saying the diocese itself had not supported the safeguarding officer ! This is the problem as ever, how does a diocesan office support both the safeguarding officer AND the priest at the same time? One realises that full investigation has to be made into accusations but I have know several cases where clearly innocent priests, cleared by the police, have been kept waiting for months afterwards....and the longer this goes on for an innocent priest the more difficult it is for him to resume ministry. Both Bishop Ward and Fr Michael Hollings died shortly after being cleared and returning to ministry. Surely the procedures needed could be speeded up.? Furthermore, does downloading porn mean that the person downloading it is a real sex offender ? Hardly the same as a real abuse of another ?
DEATHS Fr Gregory Winterton of the Oratory at Birmingham died recently and spent most of his priestly life promoting the cause of Blessed Newman and at a great age had the satifacting of meeting the Holy Father when he visited the Oratory last year. Several tributes have already appeared.
The Capsule also reports the death ofo Margaret Feeny who spent a large part of her life in helping agencies involved in helping the hungry and in particular work for the Africa Centre. When she called a meeting in 1962 of existing agencies, the gathering led to the start of CAFOD. Earlier she had been a member of the Sword of the Spirit movement during the war and was connected with Catholic Institute of International Affairs which she handed over to Mildred Neville. I just wondered if I had smelt a little rat, may be nothing, but both CIIR and CAFOD have certain trends which traditional Catholics do not like...but the Capsule does ??? The CIIR is now called PROGRESSIO and I know nothing at all about it. Could someone enlighten me please ?

Press comments this week.

2012-01-28T15:53:00.002Z

Press well before reading This week I only consider the Capsule.
DOWNS SYNDROME BOY Strange case here of the Capsule and the Catholic Herald (I think) reporting the same case and the same facts but stating different conclusions. The Case concerns a Downs Syndrome boy who was refused admission to a lst Communion class at his parish. When he missed the first class his parents were told he would have to wait. So the mother approached the Vicar General on the grounds that it was really discrimination against Downs syndrome children. Correctly the V.G. said that there might be concerns over the child's ability to understand the meaning of Holy Communion but that the diocese would examine how it could activele engage with the parents to reach a situation whereby the child could prepare for first Communion. The Capsule incorrectly headlined their account "Downs boy to receive Communion" while the Herald made clear a decision had not been made at the moment. The Church's position is that Downs syndrome children (varying in understanding) should be considered on an individual basis before a decision is made. The child (any child) should have an appreciation of what Holy Communion really means...the host is not merely a piece of bread...but Christ himself under appearances of bread and wine. In this case as in others, all parties should be considered..
CHRISTIAN UNITY> At home Cardin Murphy O Connor worries that ecumenism is undermined by lack of action by Christians on a local level in matters of co operation , joint action on issues, and lack of prayer together. Suspicion, inertia and impatiene, he urged, were the main causes of this position. "Ecumenical work requires perseverance over months and years" . The problem is that while in 50 years since the Council there has been a movement towards progress on these fronts, there has been virtually no progress on the read core issues, the vital differences of belief between the Catholic Church and the other ecclesial bodies over key issues, both moral and theological.
In his recent visit to Germany , the Holy Father spoke of "steps towards rehabilitating Luther", and that he was impressed by his Luthers struggle theological searching and inner struggle" over the key question of how does a person receive the Grace of God ? I have to say I feel rather uneasy about the idea of rehabiliting or re evaluating Luther and the Reformation.
MORE either tomorrow or Monday.

More Comments again

2012-01-23T10:38:00.002Z

More Comments First something you will find amazing. I am agreement with the Laird on his article this week. He deals with the history of the word "Consubstantial" in the Creed and shows how the word was introduced after Nicea and then expresses his disagreement with the change of the word in the English Creed. My point is that the word has no meaning at all for the average P.I.P (person in pew) whereas the old translation "of same being" is the best translation possible for the word Consubstantialem in the Creed. It then has meaning for P.I.P.
LETTER IN CAPSULE from a Mr Burleigh who objects to Cardinals being called "Princes of the Church" He also objects to the majority of new CArdinals being from the Roman Curia and says it marks further evidence of a falterning Church stumbling backwards to a pre Vatican 2 presentation of itself....How have we arrived in 50 years to a curial centre more powerful than in Renaissance and post Tridentine days pre Vatican 1. Whatever happened to collegiality and the teachings of Vat 2 on episcopacy.? Well if there has been any going back, it is because some Bishops in the Church have gone too far the other way and all sorts of modernism and liberation theology need curbing from centre.!
ANOTHER LETTER From a Mr Loughran takes issue with Bishop Stack who had objected to this idea of "presumed organ donation" whereby your body can be cut up by doctors after death unless you opt out. I agree totally with Bishop Stack. Organ donation must be entirely voluntary.
IN THE CATHOLIC HERALD on page 7 we find a picture of one of those dreadful modernist church built in the 60's onwards. This one in South Ruislip London. It appears that the Congregation for Divine Worship is to issue guidelines in an attempt to ensure that future buildings avoid the desacralising atmosphere of many of these churches. The author of the accompanying article clearly likes these modernistic monstrosities including the one illustrated. The altar at the apex and the Blessed Sacrament tucked away in a wall behind. He then raves on about the post Vatican 2 changes which he says in practice if not in intention reoriented the practice of the liturgy away from the sanctuary and into the nave from the altar to the COMMUNITY AT THE ALTAR.! Encouraging people in the space to enagage as a corporate entity as EQUAL PARTS OF A SINGULAR AND INCLUSIVE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD...however unattractive to some are robust manifestations of the renewed theology of Vat 2.!!

Start of fresh comments etc varia

2012-01-21T11:33:00.001Z

Start with a Note Following a comment a now realise that you cannot watch Desert Islands again on Sunday because the weekday edition is in fact a repeat of the Sunday. However you can get on i player.
THANKS FOR COMMENTS AGAIN. I was glad to see that two letters in this weeks CAPSULE also agree that the death recorded in Genesis is spirituall death of loss of Sanctifying Grace not actual death which is part and parcel of our life Cycle. A third letter supported the original letter and as usual wanted a complete view of all our doctrines !
OTHER POINTS part one. The main stress in both the Capsule and the Catholic Herald seems to be on the problems of Downside Abbey. AS a frequent visitor I am much saddened. However the impression given in one article is that 7 monks are currently under investigation. This is not true. One case involves a monk who left the monastery many years ago and now lives in Ireland . Fr Anthony Sutch was completely cleared and I believe is now back in his Parish. Fr Nicolas of course was teaching at the monastery back in the 80's and was cautioned then but not charged. He was placed at Fort Augustus until that closed down and returned to Downside with no contact with the pupils. More recently the Police re opened his case and he is now serving a term in Prison. Fr Dunstan was accused only of downloading porn...and there was no question of abuse. He is now laicisied after a term in prison. Fr Appleby's case does not involve boys at all but a misplaced friendhip with an adult. That leaves two monks still at the monastery but under caution now to have anything to do with the school. The school area is now almost completely cut off from the monastery and boys and girls are not allowed in at all even to the library. (they have their own library anyway)
So although the problem is serious there, it has been overhyped and misrepresented by the media. I have know the present Abbot for a long time..even before he became a monk. He is a leading Catholic Historian.
Now I must leave the rest until either late Sunday or Monday.

Did you hear Paul Johnson on Desert Island discs this morning....first class

2012-01-20T18:04:00.002Z

Paul Johnson If you missed dessert island discs this morning it is usually repeated Sunday at 11.00 or 11.30am Informative and useful and very funny. Johnson now 83 is a Catholic educated at Stonyhurst. He was taught well by his mother who told him there were no grey areas in morality..that Jesus taught that actions were either right or wrong (in themselves that is).
At her d eathbed aged over 90 he told her that she had always been a good Catholic and would quickly be in heaven...that she had never done any wrong. She replied "well I have been critical of the clergy at times" Haven't we all ! Last year he took the aged Margaret Thatcher to Rome to meet Pope Benedict and though ailing she said how much she enjoyed the meeting.
The first time they spoke was when students at Oxford and he asked if she would like to punting. She turned down the offer saying she might get her hair wet. There many other wonderful anecdotes also. The music was rather bland however he did pick Mozarts Ave VErum in memory of Stonyhurst.

another apology and other matters

2012-01-19T16:14:00.002Z

Further apology needed as I do not now think I will be able to post tomorrow. My old friend and confessor #Fr John Hartley is out of hospital and I wish to see him tomorrow. So I wont have time for the hPress comments.

I read a rather alarming talk given by the Holy Father to a group of American Bishops (from Vat News) He speaks of a growing threat in the States that freedom of religion is under attack from the secular humanists in the States who in some states at least refuse to concede to medics who state a conscientious objection to performing immoral procedures on patients like abortion etc. The Holy Father is alarmed that an anti Catholic prejudice is growing over there.

FR Mahony views and mine continued.

2012-01-17T15:15:00.002Z

Continuation of yesterdays post. M Note. This post must only be read after reading what I wrote yesterday otherwise it will be meaningless.
Now what we are left with is rather like Teilhard de ~Chardin's evolutionary view of mankind. Christ's life marks a key change in the evolution of Homo Sapiens. In the early part of the article Fr Mahony tells us that the interpretation of Romans 12 v 5 ~"sin came into the world through one man" given by St Augustine is based on a mistranslation but I could not follow exactly what the trouble was. Anyway it leads him to deny the fact of the origin of sin, and hence Augustine's teaching. St Anselm's devolopment is also denied (concerning the restoration of friendship between man and God based on Justice...restitution that had to be made for that initial terrible sin, and this restitution could only be by a momentous atonement...the death of Christ. All that goes with Fr Mahony's theory. Anyway he goes on to describes the consequences of his theory and they are very drastic. The death of Christ is no longer an act of resitution for sin, but a demonstation of of "raising of the human species to a new level of existence" As a result then the sacrificial nature of the Blessed Eucharist is replaced by a "ritual celebration of the continuing presence of the risen Christ saving us from mortality and contributing to our increasing community with a loving God" Surely this is totally inadequate ? AS with this view we no longer have any sense of sacrifice, the Eucharist could be celebrated by any layperson, man or woman...as the priest no long offers the Mass "in Persona Christi". Surely absolutely wrong ? The author goes on to state that our moral obligations should no longer be based on natural moral law traditon (as he calls it), which is too static ?? but on some form (rather vague in our author) of conclusions arising from moral reflections. Sounds like moral relativism to me ? Sin for our author still exists as he finds it based on some kind of selfishness with a disregard for others...now replaced in the evolutionary scheme with a system of altruism introduced by Christ. He concludes by stating that this view of evolution and its "impact on Christian beliefs" can lead to an actual "enhancement and enrichment of it" and not an impoverishment of doctrine as you might think !
Well I am sorry but these views deny defined doctrine surely and should be condemned? I welcome more comments...let them roll in and thank Fr Marsden for his initial comment on part one.
Now you must leave me until I have digested the new round of press reports...I have plenty more music to get to grips with for the weekend ! rather more agreable than telling you all this material !

Are these views of Jack Mahony heretical or are mine also ?

2012-01-16T20:55:00.002Z

What do you think of these views ? I am starting this piece on Monday evening and it is continued on Tuesday (pm). Dr Mahoney gave this lecture at Gresham College in December. It deals with the relationship between the origin or otherwise of original sin, evolution of Christianity, reforming our whole theology of the purpose of Christ's coming to earth etc...by a proposal to develop the evolutionary principle to mankind itself. It is quite difficult so I have to simplify somewhat. Dr Mahoney starts by accepting evolution (as I do) but believes that it continues today (as I do not). He destroys the theology of ST Augustine and St Anselm as we shall see and changes the whole meaning of the life of Christ.
"Through the incarnation Jesus became part of mankind to exemplify in human terms God's own altruism towards us and to teach us to imitate it behaving H with mutual love towards one another and God. The witness of Jesus can be seen as a major evolutionary step in the moral advancement of humanity and an indication that universal altruism is the moral invitation and evolutionary destiny of the human species."
The article goes on to explain the authors own view of death. "His own death was an act of cosmic significance initiation a new phase of human existance into which he could usher his fellow humans." Indeed he seems to state that His action saves us from the extinction and final evolutionary fate which would otherwise overcome us so that we could share divine life.He admits this is in contradiction to our traditional belief that the Incarnation and death of Our Lord was to save us f rom the effects of original sin and so restore the original friendship with God lost by the sin of Adam . Surely you may well say this is defined doctrine and cannot be disposed of quite so easily. One problem however does arise over original sin and the very origins of man itself. I have in the past suggested (and I give my own personal view that you may well also disagree with !). The Human Race is (for me) a derivative of Homo Sapiens (who originally continued to live as tribes and made no basic devopments in improving their lives due to limited intelligence. Our first parents were endowed about 10,000 years with a likeness to God which we used to express in our old Catechism, that our likeness is based on intellect and free will. The intellectual improvement meant that now humans would live mainly in townships which quickly devloped into quite sophiscated developments, the use of the wheel, the smelting of bronze and later iron etc. Now in my view (and of course it is very much open to question) our first parents dominated the initial civilisation. They knew they had these special gifts but showing to the other humanoids of the time how to develop civilisation they thought themselves equal to their creator and were (possibly cast out of their city) and informed of their great sin against their creator. Now where I might be on thin ice myself is a belief that when the author of Genesis wrote of the introduction of death as the fate of the new truly human race...he meant the death and ending of their friendship with God...ie the absence of supernatural grace , not that they would evade death in a physical sense. Now as this is quite a lot to swallow at one go, I have decided to publish to night and continued tomorrow pm.

first comments for week.

2012-01-16T12:31:00.002Z

First Comments The main press event for me is about the most dreadful article I have ever read from the Capsule. This is an account of a lecture in summary given by Professor Jack Mahoney. However it will have to wait until tomorrow. Here are some other points.
RELATIVISM I noted some time back that the Holy Father had stated that one of the basic causes of the recent riots over here was moral relativism...which in effect creeps into our "Catholic" education system as well as to state schools...this is that moral or ethical teaching is not really based on a natural law in turn based on the basic 10 commandments and capable of being worked out by everyone who reasons about this point, but this is replaced by the theory "everyone must work his own moral syllabus" Of course that in turns lead to the students view that I I I COME FIRST And I can do what I like if it suits me, and if my gang are doing it, like stealing, setting fire to premises, enjoying a riot for the fun of it etc. I find it sometime when speaking with other priests who talk of "taking people WHERE THEY ARE instead of where you want them to be" (in terms of behaviour).
THE CATHOLIC HERALD had a letter in this week protesting about the false dichotomy between ecumenism and evangelisation. The writer says that the Vat Council's decrees on ecumenism have concentrated on tolerance, understanding etc. But this may well clash with the need to evangelise especially where the differences are fundamental. Indeed the writer adds that several "prominent cardinals and Bishops are on record as saying that the Church no longer wishes to convert only to help others to become better adherents to their own faith." Indeed with such a theory it is says the writer "We cant be both" (evangelise and ecumenise).l

Renewed Apology

2012-01-14T16:24:00.002Z

Renewed Apology I am sorry but I have only a few minutes available to tell you that I cannot produce the full blog today. I have not had hardly a minutes time. However I did read in the Capsule of the death of Rosemary REndel, an old friend whose father was the Rep to the Holy See years ago. She was an historian. She died in DEcember . May She Rest in Peace. Also . dead is the Catholic philospher Sir Michael Dummet. I may put something in about him when I get round to a full blog. May he rest in peace . I have no time whatever tomorrow. Hopefully Monday looks easier.

Apologia

2012-01-13T15:02:00.003Z

Apologia I am afraid I cannot start on the weekly comments. I was feeling rough this morning and this afternoon I must practice our motet for Sunday. Byrd..Ave Verum. It is very tricky indeed and our lead tenor was away on Wednesday. Listen to it on You Tube. Particularly beautify is the end part, "Miserere mei". The musical text appears as the music goes along...

Corrections and note only

2012-01-11T11:40:00.002Z

Corrections and note I should have added to significant events of last year the introduction in Austria of the rebel movement of priests against doctrine and morals which as I write has not been really dealt with. This infection has spread to Ireland and other countries on a small scale at the moment and is supported by We are Church movement here .
NOTE thanks for two comments. I am afraid that I cannot withdraw my objection to the word "ineffable" which even I had never heard of until recently and would be meaningless to the majority of listeners and readers. I admit it is a difficult word to put into English in anything less than 3 words...the words Patricius mentioned. I cannot see the point either of changing "offering" into "oblation" in EP 3. and other places.As a commenter points out , the original 1998 version was far better. (See comment for full reference). Next post Friday. Interesting note about Bp Konstant as well.

Mildew's own review of the last year for the Church

2012-01-10T10:03:00.002Z

Review of 2010 I cannot give you the figures for overall growth of the Church generally but in this country the figures are more or less static now as regards Mass attendance , thanks to the number of immigrants with strong faith particularly Afro-Caribbean Catholics. Catholic marriages are down in this country but evidence is emerging that more Catholics marry abroad than they do over here. We do well for confessions heard in the two parishes I help in but I am not certain of the overall trend.
MAIN EVENTS. Certainly two events stand out. The start of the ordinariate in this country and the introduction of the new translation of the Missal prayers. (but not the readings). I have earlier put down my opinion of certain weaknesses in the new translation, and the start of the new translation for the oratio's (collect secret, postcommunion) have I am afraid fulfilled my worst expectations. At least twice I have been utterly muddled by where a particular prayer is going. Sentences far too long and could have been easily broken down into two or more. I noticed somewhere the use of that weird word "ineffable" which no one ever uses today and is of uncertain meaning. The events leading up to the publication of the translation were highlighted in the Capsule. 20 years of dithering in my opionion,even the question of publication rights has created problems, let along costs of the big missal.
The creation of the ordinariate has thrown up some problems. Some of the new priests are being used in existing parishes to make up for shortage of home grown vocations. The main problem is financing the ordinariate and the need for some churches at least to be given over to the ordinariate or built for them.
NEGATIVE FACTORS. At least the head of the Catholic Education Service, Oh Oh OOna (Stannard has gone) but will this mean the end of the existing inadequate catechisms? The rot set in many years ago especially after 1970 when the infamous Corpus Christi college was going strong until it was closed down after much protest from traditionalists, but the overal head, Fr Konstant remained in charge of Catholic Education for many years with dire results. At a local level the Vaughan school forced a back down by Archbishop ~Vin on the question of admission policy and membership of the governing body, but the question of the admission of non Catholics and on what basis remains an issue.
ON OTHER ISSUES It is a matter of deep regret that the notorious Sohoo Masses for homosexuals continue with couples being encouraged it seems to hug and kiss each other and to approach ~Communion hand in hand.
Sermons of doubtful theology are given at times. The whole thing is wrong.
Another issue where surely Archbishop Vin is wrong is the question of the approval or otherwise of civil unions for gay couples. The Ab. accepts them and points out that they are useful for settling monetary affairs but most of us regard them as an abomination and little short of civil marriage.
I note that Abp Vin has not yet been made a Cardinal but most point out that the existing rule is that smaller countries (numerically in terms of Catholics) should only have one Cardinal able to vote at a conclave. Cardinal O'Connor will be able to vote until he is 80 later this year.
Patricius left a lovely comment on the Abp not being on the list just published. "Abp not on the list---no Vin ~Rouge." Well he can probably put some on the table by next consistory. Perhaps a good quality "Chateauneuf du Pape". (so named because the vineyard is close to Avignon where Popes lived for a while." Avignon is a great town, you can still visit the old papal palace, fall of the famous "Pont" which only goes half way across the river, has two good art galleries, and hosts a Messaien festival every year for lovers of his music.

More Comments et etc

2012-01-09T07:25:00.003Z

Comments I will give a few more comments on this weeks Capsule.
GREAT DEMAND FOR THE NEW MISSAL. After poor sales of the large size missal, publishers will be glad to see the greatly increased demand for missals the people can use. 3 firms can publish the peoples missal and the cheapest is £16.99 from Harper Collins. If you want a leather cover however make for CTS selling at £25.00.
FIGHT AT A MIDNIGHT MASS. Well reported was a fight between drunks at a Church in Southampton. The problem with the inebriated at midnight Masses is nothing new. In this case chairs were thrown. One might wonder if people would protest when priests consistently break the rubrics us at Mass. Still going on is "Good morning everyone" followed by a sermonette. Also still found ..the singing of Gloria with altered words and constant responses, like "Alleluia Amen" after every sentence..Totally banned even in the older missal
WELL KNOWN BROADCASTER Olivia O'Leary has announced her departure from the Catholic Church over its refusal to ordain women priests. She compared the prohibition to apartheid, an ethical desert!
BISHOP MULLER of Regensburg has written in Oss. Romano, in defence of genuine liberation theology (but rejecting the idea that reduces the Church to secular activity). Trouble is that he has fallen into the old trap in declaring that the Gospels are a "message of freedom and liberation"
MONKS SHOULD HAVE ONE FOOT IN THE DESERT OF THE CLOISTER AND ONE IN THE MARKET PLACE. This s tatement was first made by Abbot Basil Hume and now one of #Ampleforth's monks is taking this seriously and conducting a retreat reflecting on what Morrisons and the Benedictines can learn from one another and the retreat will include a visit to a Morrisons store near the Abbey. £230 apply to the monaster. 5 days february 13th start.
I WILL BE POSTING AGAIN TOMORROW

Various items from Capsules

2012-01-07T15:30:00.002Z

Comment on this weeks Capsule I got hold of two Capsules as I did not see the previous weeks edition. I decided to look through the current one today.
THE BISHOP OF LANCASTER MICHAEL CAMPBELLL has questioned the viability of Catholic Schools (and even calling certain Catholic Schools CAtholic at all) in areas where the number of Catholics attending can be very low indeed. In general the average number of non Catholics attending Catholic Schools is around one third but sometimes as high as 50%. Other Bishops disagreed and the rep from Hallam considered the school "an important tool for evangelisation and so provide non Catholics with the opportunity for non Catholic Children to become involved in the Catholic Community." I thought that the Catholic School was supposed to be for the promotion of the Catholic Faith and in effect what Hallam is saying is going against this by allowing the mixing of faiths...could have the effect of weakening the faith of Catholics...especially in todays situation.
NOT IN THE PRESS but announced today is a list of 18 new Cardinals to be created on 18th Feb. Our Vin is not listed because his predecessor at WEstminster is still entitled to vote being under 80. Sorry Vin, you will have to wait a little longer.
JOINT COMMISSION is formed in Rome to discuss the Reformation ahead of the 500th anniversary of the start of the movement. The question must always be...how on earth can the Lutherans in Germany ever give up their positions to enable them to join the Catholic Church. I am uneasy too about all this recent idea of studying Luther all over again.
CATHOLICS IN HONOURS LISTS. The Capsule has only found a few and the most interesting person, a non Catholic, is Prof. Diarmaid McCullough an Oxford don who presented a programme you might remember about 2 years ago for his "History of Christianity " onBBC TV.
He is also an Anglican Deacon. He propouns the view that it was the Catholic Faith that developed Englishness and our cultural heritage etc rather than the Church of England (as is often held).
FUNNY STORY IN LETTERS COLUMN. Neil Tully of Flint recalls a story of a young altar boy who forgot to fill the water cruet at a Mass. At the offertory he moved forward and said "I'm sorry Father but there is no water to wash away your iniquities". (ie the prayer the priest has to say then"
NOW I WILL TRY AND GET DOWN TO THE EARLIER CAPSULE AND THE CATHOLIC HERALD.

Message and warning of yet another spam going around.

2012-01-06T15:50:00.002Z

Message I now have the papers for this week and 2 issues of the Capsule. I cant do anything more today. Too tired after journey to ~Great Bookham and back for ~Epiphany Mass in Old Rite
NEW Spam. I have found a new Spam. I had a supposed E mail both from Fr Z and Mike Telford inviting me to join their association, and the heading was LINKEDIN . I saw Mike today at the Mass and he had rec eived one from Fr Z as well...in fact neither Fr Z nor Mike had sent any such E mail out. Of course the E mail invited us to joing the association by signing in with our PASSWORD. It may be going the rounds.

Sorry and also am I being scammed ? Help needed.

2012-01-04T10:39:00.002Z

Sorry.I regret that I have been unable to post since I returned from break in Herne Bay Convent. I am suffering from some bug or other which is upsetting my stomach and also causing much tiredness. I also have several things to catch up on. I will try and post Friday and in the meantime I will postpone the change over from the blog to a weekly E mail.
Can you help.? I have had repeated messages from someone purporting to be my service provider BT internet, but using a variety of addresses and this morning my link to the Google etc told me that a btinternt provided wanted to alter my hard drive. This was repeated 3 times. I think it is a scam but have no way of checking. I get nowhere speaking to mystic Indian voice you get connected to.

messages from world leaders and others for Christmas

2011-12-22T10:57:00.004Z

Here are some messages for all of you.

VLAD THE LAD PUTIN. I have had some bother recently from some people who don't seem to like me or my policies. So by way of my slave known as Medvedev I have published a set of new policies to address the needs of our Proles. I will ensure I am elected president in the Summer so that I can put them all in place. Meanwhile I challenge any of you with a black belt in Judo to come over and give me a good fight. If it is a good fight you will be awarded the special medal of #Russia. However if you try and succeed in beating me, heaven forbid, then it is a trip for you to the Lubyanka for an extended stay.

PRESIDENT AMOURDINNERJACKET of Iran. Happy Christmas to all you Kaffours. In our great country people are free to worship in any faith. The Yanks are worried about our nucleur programme. You have nothing to fear. Our Programme is entirely open to the world except that we keep the works underground in a cave in the mountains. I mean this very sincerely that it is not our intention to lauch a nucleur at tack on any one unless of course someone tries to invade.

PRESIDENT BASHER ASSAD of Syria. I am truly ashamed that any of our westerners believe that our loyal and consientious troops would ever fire on our own people. No, we have been invaded by hordes of terrorists and it is our duty to eliminate this threat. Some innocent civilians may die in cross fire of course. WE have introduced many reform s which I believe sincerely that most Syrians accept. Except of course in Homs which has always been a very backward city. In the old days there were no traffic lights and sign posts to towns on roads were indicated by a red light. When we started traffic lights, there were 100 accidents to Homs drivers.(This story is true and was told me by a Syrian)

PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE Dim Dong Dung of North Korea, Did you see that spontaneous outbread of sadness on the faces of our newscasters when the death of my old man was announced? We have a wonderful country and I want to ensure that no proles ever leave the country and get infected with terrible western ideals like Freedom. I will ensure a tough regime against our enemies to show them how strong we all are here.

Finally a note from

KATE AND WILLS; I hope you enjoyed that wedding we had recently. WE used the St James Version of the Bible and B.C.M right which has marvellous language which your current versions sadly lack. Anyway I am off now to the Falkland Islands. It is Summer Time over there and the temperature has been know to reach 70%F ! I will have a great time looking at the Pelicans etc Here now is a little flying joke for you. As you know I fly helicopters. Well one day a dimwitted new airline pilot told traffic control he was lost. Control told him to turn left 90% and descend to 5000 ft and then try and report his true height and position. 5 minutes later the pilot phoned control and answered "I am 6 foot tall and facing the co-pilot...........

Finally let me personally wish you a very happy and holy Christmas time and on Jan 2nd or 3rd I will give information as to the future of blog.

Humour for Christmas.Mildew suggests download

2011-12-21T16:15:00.002Z

HUMOUR at our Christmas Bloggers lunch on Monday the idea came up that I could publish as many old jokes as possible which could be downloaded and used at parties. In all jokes the word "I" can be replaced by "a young fellow" or similiar.
From a Christmas Cracker.. Why do jockey often place saddles on their beds ? Because they are afraid of night mares. again from a cracker
What wild animal can your find in a a kitchen? A G(or)rilla
Why couldn't the viper wipe her nose? Because the adder 'ad 'er 'ankie.
I had a rought flight from China recently/?. I was glad to be back on terra cotta. (actually said by John Prescot"
I was in London recently and saw a man talking to two sticks. He said "over there is Trafalgar Square and there is Charing Cross Station. So I asked him what he was doing. He replied "Showing a couple of Poles round London.
I went down to Sandown Park races recently and found some sheep gathered round the bookies stands. They were saying "Baa Baa Baa 10 to one BAR one.
I went to get a ticket to ~Victoria from our local station. The booking clerk said "£2.00 Change at Clapham Junction. " I replied "I want my change now"
I went to another clerk who said "There is a stopping train in 5 minutes from Platform 2" I replied "I want one that starts"
Our local Chinese restaurant killed himself with an axe..The verdict was Chop Suey Cide.
Uri Geller (the famous spoon bender) was going at over 100mph on the M4 to London. Stopped by a policman he said "Look I am in a hurry, I am Uri Geller and about to give a show" The policeman let him go and when he told a friend about this, the friend said "You should have been arrested" Geller replied "I made him into a bent copper".
A friend and I missed the last bus from Merton to Raynes Park (no 57) so as my friend could drive, he went into the garage at Merton and 15 minus later emerged with a bus indicating Raynes Park and Wimbledon.
I asked him why it took so long and he replied. "The No 57 was right at the back of garage. I had to move a couple of busses to get at it"
I noticed on our carol list one written by the 19th century writer Baring Gould. I said to my friend..."That one is best for the 3 kings on Epiphany Day.
I caught Italian flu the other day. I got it by opening too many windows and of course In Flew Enza"

Press comment etc etc.

2011-12-18T17:08:00.002Z

Comment I have only read the Catholic Times so far . The Laird analyses the need for a priesthood which "matches up " to the needs of the people of God in today's society. There is no room now for clericalism, an overstress on importance of authority. The Priest is not only at the service of the Bishop in his Parish but of the People of God inside his Parish listening carefully to their views at all times. This particularly applies for their views on certain matters of Church doctrine and practice, like celibacy, liturgy etc. Of course I guessed where he was going...at the end of the letter it is found...praise for developments in the Austrian Church and their "rebel" approaches which include readmittance of divorced remarried couples to the sacraments, women priests etc. These a re it seems signs of the times we cannot afford to ignore. Typical Laird stuff in other words and contrary to everything I and other priests stand for.
PARISH DINNER. I have just come back from the annual Christmas lunch at New Malden ~Church. There must have been about 150 people at least enjoying a full Christmas meal. A pianist played throughout and I sang one of my old "war horses", ie "The Lost Chord" by Sir Arthur Sullivan of G and S fame. This was in honour of our departing choir master and organist and if you dont know it , it concerns an organist who comes across a most marvellous organ chord which he is never able to recapture again...but in the words of the song "it may be that only in heaven I shall hear that chord again." At our sung Mass before the dinner we sang the Arcadelt "Ave Maria". Amongst the hymns was one of my fa vorites "Lo he Comes". Now we look forward to the Christmas Midnight Mass preceded by readings and carols. Several sections of 4 part harmony to try and learn.
By the way did anyone hear Morning Service on Radio 4 this morning from Belfast. They sang a carol "What is this Child", but not to tune of Greensleaves but to another tune....what was this tune ? I dont know it.
See some of you tomorrow at the Grosvenor for lunch...12.30

let me be brief

2011-12-16T21:22:00.002Z

Brief note I am sorry but the last few days have been difficult for me and the situation for me is that the next two days will be equally difficult. I have not seen the Tablet this week and have not had time to ready anything. I hope to put something out on Sunday afternoon very late but we have the usual big sung Mass followed this time by the parish dinner at New Malden...which means I wont even be back until 4.00pm..The week before Christmas looks pretty hectic too. I expected a quiet time in retirement but am not getting it. I am busier than in full time parish work. Part of the trouble is the ongoing situation in St Raphael's. Please pray for our PP there Fr Vincent, some supplementary material has come up which delays any news.

Quiz results other points;

2011-12-14T09:40:00.002Z

Quiz results and answers I think in the end there was only one set of results. The only set I received was from Georgem and it is 95% correct so to view the correct answers (the questions are given as well) The slight quibbles I have are as follows. As to the title of the Jewish leaders after the success of Judas Maccabeus...well the first few were just the Maccabean dynasty. I did not add up all the ages of the patriarchs put together but certain books of commentaries say that the resulting figures for the combine length of the period of the Patriarchs was 5000 yrs. There may have been some misunderstanding on my part here. The final quibble regards the issue of the infallible statement that the decrees of the Pope are superior to the Council (which in effect means that at the time of a council, the Pope has to agree to the conclusions before they become law and of course can issue infallible statements on his own but in the course of history I think there are no more than one dozen) ..the decree starting it off was I believe not one of Urban VI but that of Pius 2nd, Aeneas Piccolomini, who had a large chapel built in his honour in the Cathedral at Siena. In his life before becoming Pope he had led a quite immoral life with marriage and children etc and had been a fervent conciliarist. When he became Pope he dropped all that, turned over a new leaf and condemned the conciliar movement in those words.
So Georgem you win the first prize plus a bonus of £5 making £40.00 in book tokens which I shall present to you at the bloggers lunch with photographers in attendance and red carpet laid down (I dont think)

Quiz Blogging lunch -0ther comments

2011-12-12T09:47:00.002Z

Quiz As far as I remember there have been only 2 full replies to the Quiz. Today has to be the last day (unless special pleading allows one extra day)
LUNCH There are 7 of us ready to partake of the garganuan repast available at the Grosvenor Hotel at Victoria Station today week at 12.30 at the Brasserie Restaurant. Note...those who have been before will see that the interior arrangments are different at the hotel. The old Chez Gerard restaurant inside the complex is a now a chinese restaurant and the Hotel Restaurant is called the Brasserie which occuplies the space formerly used by one of the bars. Please now enter only from inside Victoria Station on the "Platform 17 exit wall" quite near the final exit from the Station. After walking through a short corridor and going up about 7 steps you will see the Brasserie sign straight ahead and on the right of the corridor leading to the Brasserie there is a bar (its one that was always there in fact) where I shall reign supreme from 12.00 noon supping champagne (I dont think..more like tomato juice)
The meal...well they have a Christmas menu which contains a fish course two meat courses and a vegetarian option. Cost £14.00 for main course plus starter or desert. OR full menu for £20. It is also possible just to select one main course from the ordinary menu if that does not appeal. Drinks are extra. I will pay on my card for all, but of course I expect the individual accounts to be paid over to me ! otherwise I shall be bankrupt. The restaurant is on both sides of the corridor, we will be I think in the left hand side as I asked for a table which would seat 6 or 7 and it is quieter.
OTHER POINTS. Frankly there is nothing much else I really wish to comment on from the Catholic Press. I did however note a viewpoint which is disturbing...the evident growth of dissident Catholicism even amongst those who are quite devout. It souds like a contradiction in terms and may indicate the extent of the dissent movement in our country. If you have any views on this point let me know
HUMOUR Fr Blake has been suffering from the flu. I wished him and selected two jokes about flue
a) Doctor...Your flu is known as the Alice flue. Patient What is that ? Doctor..You know Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
b) Doctor...How did you manage to get the flu? Patient. I have an Italian variety..I opened all the windows in the house and in flew Enza

Early look at the Press

2011-12-09T15:23:00.002Z

Early look at the Press.First I noted last night a report that the Pope was praying that the Euro currency would be saved. Well it seems to have been at least for the moment.
CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS. You have possibly already the information provided by Fr Blake on his blog about the meaning of ~Abp Nichols words on civil partnerships. The words of the Apb to Catholic News Agency are repeated in the Capsule where you cana read more easily the whole sorry story. I am inclined to think that any mark of approval for civil partnership of gay couples cannot be approved of by the Church directly. Best just to keep quiet. We all know that homosexuality is a serious sin.
THE ORDINARIATE. Mgr Burnham has expressed disappointmnet over the small number of those Anglicans who have decided to join the ordinariate...far less than those who had originally decided to move over to Rome. There are still worries about financing the ordinariate and problems over times of Masses.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY is to broaden yet again the parameters of its theology degree to include all religions, and also biblical studies, Church History and other allied topics.
DISAGREEMENT AMONG BISHOPS over whether being a Catholic today in todays world is more difficult than at any time since the reformation. Bishop Mark Davides made this point in a talk to the Youth 2000 group, while Bishop Conry did not think it was that difficult for the young to practice their faith and questioned whether older Catholics (inc teachers) had been failing to pass on the faith. I think Bishop Davies is right, as probably over 80% of our young people seem to lapse after school years (if not earlier)..........More later tomorrow..

Very short again

2011-12-08T10:20:00.002Z

SHORT NOTE. This is the last notice for the bloggers lunch at Grosvenor ~Thistle Victoria on19th Dec. 12.30 If you would like to come, please let me know. In particular Elizabeth of Sussex and Londiniensis who have come in the past have not responded.
I hope to print out some paper comments tomorrow. I have now had one attempt at the full Quiz and another promised. Why not enter with the answers you know if you think can manage all the shorts plus 3 hard ones@ You might stand a chance. I have not re ad the one I have already got yet. There are 3 prizes of cash available. Not quite lottery level !

Original Sin and my book on Abp Amigo published on Internet..

2011-12-05T10:40:00.003Z

Notes No answers yet received for the Quiz. If no attempt arrives this week I shall arrange for the latter questions and any 2 of the more difficult Old Testament question to suffice.
Having now completed the booking for my bloggers lunch on 19th I am advertising finally for any one else to come along. Please notify by Saturday this week.
ORIGINAL SIN> At last a few comments, ranging from Michael who rejects all talk of evolution and seems to think the sun goes round the earth, to acceptance of a fully human being with a soul as we know it dating from 100,00BC. Now the CAPSULE letters have thrown up another idea. That the first parents were created "ready to go" in heaven with bodies both physical and spiritual. Thus they were able to talk with God and be exempt from pain and suffering. But they rebelled like the fallen angels and were sent down to earth as a punishment to endure purely material lives without a spiritual content. (interesting but somehow does not work). I believe we are bound in faith to accept an original sin by our first parents based on the key sin of pride. I find it difficult however to understand why we should inherit some stain of OS from Adam to Christ...without entry to paradise...and afterwards still liable to particular individual sinners , this time with chance of forgiveness. Perhaps best left to faith.
However I listeed on Thursday to "In our Time" with Lord Bragg on Radio 4 discussing Christina Rossetti, the poet. She wrote ~"In the Bleak Winter" and a short poem entitled "Remember" which is all I knew of her writings. However she was a follower of an interesting Oxford Movement Vicar William ~Dodsworth, who mixed his high church views with a key belief of the Adventists. This view holds that after death the soul "sleeps" until the final judgement when the souls find out where they are going. The souls however do not realise the length of time they have been asleep up to the last day...so they think it is all instantanious. Nice idea but again it seems that it is inconsistent with our teaching on the matter !
ARCHBISHOP AMIGO Fr Ray Blake has dug up an old Video of the funeral of the Archbishop in 1949. As a young student at Mark ~Cross Junior prison camp , we were all taken up there to London. I was one of the last people to be accepted for the priesthood training by the Archbishop whose biography I wrote. What surprised me however was discovering that the book "Amigo Friend of the Poor" was "published" on the internet under "Google Books". I am therefore enquiring whether the laws on copyright extend to this kind of publication. Anyone know?

Start of weekly comments etc.

2011-12-03T12:12:00.002Z

Weekly Comments start here. The first thing I looked at in the Capsule was the report that the Jesuits are now advertising for a new head of St Benet's Hall, Oxford, their training centre for those at the University (an open to others as well). The post is for a lay head not a priest. It seems the J's are short of priests with the required intellect in the mid range of ages. Those with the required brain are either too old or if young, have not add enough experience in the order. (The missing years I guess were those when the Jesuits were notorious for the left wing ideas of some of their members and the "scholarship" they imparted)
THE ALLEGATION MADE BY ARCHBISHOP HEPWOROTH of the Australian Traditional Anglican Communion has been rjected by leading Judges. This was made against a Catholic Priest. I believe that Hepworth was at the time a Roman Catholic.
LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST. They are to lose some of their stupidest rules. These included bread have to be torn apart from buns etc and not bitten directly, oranges had to be eaten with cutlery, (as did chicken except on picnics) and spaghetti had to be cut up and not twirled. I know that they used to have a rule that their seminarians had to study in a common hall and then had to ask permission to visit the toilet from the "master in charge" We had that rule at Mark Cross junior Sem when of course studies were always taken in a common hall with desks.
VATICAN WELCOMES ALPHA COURSE LEADERS. The Alpha course is aimed to interest newcomers in a basic Christianity over a 12 week course often over informal type meals. The problem has always been that the course is too simplistic and does not approach the teachings of the Church. Of course it can be adapted to fit into a new thype of Catholic Evangelisation but as it stands is not aimed at directing people to the Catholic Church.
BELGIAN PRIESTS GO NATIVE. Some 211 have signed a petiton to the authorities to allow trained laymen to both preach and "lead" Mass where there is no priest, also to ordain married men, admit remarried divorcees to Communion. They speak of being "in solidarity with the new associations in Austria, Ireland, America etc. They do not go as far as some of the points made in those countries and all of them are from Flemish speaking Belgium (Flanders) which is not so Catholic as the French speaking areas.
CARDINAL TAURAN head of "interreligous dialogue" at the Vatican has spoken of increasing friendship with the Moslems. Strains had appeared however at a recent meeting when in discussions, the topics included the difficulties experienced by Catholics in Moslem countries and the question of Fatwas being issued those who converted to Catholicism whilst those who moved from Christianity to Moslem faith were welcomed and encouraged in their new "quest." I ask is there "really any such thing as a truly genuine friendship anywhere amongst the Moslems or are "moderate Moslems just biding their time" before...guess what.

Here and There

2011-12-02T15:56:00.002Z

HERE AND THERE i cannot send you my weekly comments until tomorrow. Ihave been out most of the day and am too tired. Next Fridays edition will be the last I comment on in this blog. After that and publication of the letters at Christmas and Quiz results, weekly news letters will be sent to my contacts. Any new contacts will be welcome.Just send me an E mail to my home e mail, michaelclifton@btinternet.com
and you will be added if I have not got you on my little list. The blog will shut down after publication of the letters from the famous, and the new system will start after the lst Jan as I away for a week from Christmas Day. To help me prepare could someone tell me how exactly you add the additional link up so that the whose e mail to those listed is pre prepared and then copies in as a link up?
Meanwhile I have booked up for the BLOGGERS LUNCH PARTY AT THE GROSVENOR BRASSERIE AT Victoria Station on Monday 19th December at 12.30. More details on that later on. More people are welcome. Want to hear a GOOD TUNE from You Tube. I rediscovered an old ballad called "In the Gloaming" recently. Very weepy beautiful though. Just google in that titlel.

Is Original Sin true ? New book by Prof. Jack Mahoney.

2011-11-30T15:49:00.002Z

Original Sin True ? So asks Prof Jack Mahoney in a new book coming out soon and reviewed by Clifford Longley in the Capsule this week. (A right modernist combination). Mahoney's thesis is "Evolution means that Homo Sapiens emerged about 100,000 years ago. It had sufficient fitness to survive whilst pre men all disappeared. On this timescale all the billions of humans alive today and earlier would have inherited original sin following an early fall of the first man which says Mahoney is just impossible. Therefore concludes the Prof. Original sin did not take place. So if evolution is true, no original sin possible. So the Prof now postulates of course in a "theoretical kind of way~" (typical modernist approach...avoid any question heresy) that we have to rethink the whole theology of sin, redemption, the Blessed Eucharist etc. What is the need for a saviour at all...(indeed on his reckoning what is the need for our faith at all?) He calls his book "Christianity in Evolution. an Exploration." s So what we get is a series of suggestions, proposals, a "sketch" a debate and all that nonsense. My own answer to the problem of O Sin and its origin I outlined some months ago after looking a review of another book. It is difficult to summarize but it might go like this. We start by asking the question Why did Homo Sapiens take from 100,000BC to 8,000 BC to develop his intelligence sufficiently to work out how to smelt bronze, how to start living together more in cities rather than as separte wild tribes ? My answer is that although Homo Sapiens Mark One was far more intelligent than its predecessors, it was incabaple of deductive reasoning and lacked free will. ie. It was incapable of making any real progress...it probably could not formulate real language anyway. Then #God creates a man and woman with proper intelligence, and free will, ie a human soul and progress is possible on a natural level. On a supernatural level right from the start our first parents misused their intelligence and free will, thought they were equal to God and were condemned. (That is roughly it) Strangely as I wrote this last night I heard of riots in the town of Ugarit in Syria which is commonly thought to be the oldest city in the world !

From the Press...Summary of Bishops Conference discussions

2011-11-29T15:46:00.002Z

From the Press. Bishops Conference summary. From the biannual jamboree where their nibbses meet together, (also know as the wind and string ensemble) we learn the following information. They are worried about CATHOLIC EDUCATION. First that cuts in government expenditure might hit our schools as local authorities reduce their grants. They also say a number of our schools are failing academically and have asked the Catholic Education Service to "develop strategies for improvement". On improvement might be for them to start teaching the faith properly !
ORDINARIATE. Archbishop Vincent has said that the Ordinariate lacks sufficient resources to a run a principal church due to the high costs of running churches. 20 more clergy are expected to move over to Rome in the second wave of conversions.
PALESTINE The ARchbishop is lobbying on behalf of Palestinians who have been told they will lose their land in the next wave of settlements. He is particularly concerned about the Catholic town of Beit Jala.
PRAYER The Bishops have a special prayer for the @Queen which will be read out in all Churches on Trinity Sunday next year (her Diamond Jubilee) More details can be found about the meeting at www.thetablet.co.uk for those interested.
However one issue annoyed me more than anything this week. The Bishops have stated they now believe that civil partnerships should be praised for providing a legal protection of those in same sex relationships. HE said that those who want a life long partnership can find their place and protection and legal provision this way. "We are very committed to the notion of equality !!! so that people are treated the same across allactivities of life....equality and committment are both important and we fully support them. He did say however that the Bishops oppose civil marriage. Nice one Bishops. The Tablet points out that in 2003 their nibbses told the government that civil unions would not promote the common good and we therefore oppose them !!
No wonder there is a crisis in our Church!!

Very short note Quiz is down three

2011-11-28T16:34:00.001Z

Owing to my preparing the Quiz earlier and editing it this afternoon, it now appears 3 posts down !

Does Holy Mother Church need modernising ?

2011-11-28T10:49:00.001Z

Does the Church need modernising ? The Laird writes on this topic in quite a well reasoned way though of course I disagree. Following a discussion at dinner he had met someone who said the Church needed a reality check because of its view on celibacy of the clergy, and the authority of Bishops and Priests and "authority figures at the VAtican" In commenting on this he writes for instance of the ban on placing secular objects like teddy bears, on coffins at funerals and the playing of secular music during the service. (He did not mention either the dreadful habit of including secular readings, or eulogies which ramble on and one) He asks if we need to get real when the new translation of the Mass uses high flown language that ordinary people neither use nor understand. (I am slightly with him on that one). He claims that Pope John 23rd wanted to run a reality check on the Church with the Council and he makes the usual misquote from his speech. The substance of ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing and the way it is presented is another....but he leaves out the key phrase "always maintaing the same meaning and substance" If this phrase is not used it opens the way for all the horrors of the liberal modernists. Finally he speaks of a real fear that by exclusive language and over insistence on the external trappings of the liturgy though over clericalisation and failure to re examine and modernise disciplinary structure of the Church we not only fail to read the signs of the times but are in real danger of putting the Church itself and liturgy beyond the reasonable expectations and very desire of the ones God has chosen. In general I do not agree but there is a risk in what he says. I have not found for instance yet many who agree wholeheartedly with the new translations. (The collects seem better but are again in danger of being overblown)
QUIZ REA DY LATE TODAY

Short note

2011-11-25T17:25:00.002Z

Notej Just a short note to say I am not likely to be able to post again until Monday morning. I am tired and rather depressed again as I write this at 5.30 pm. The next post down was actually put on this morning but drafted last night. The Quiz should be ready on Monday also.

Christmas Quiz. Good prizes

2011-11-25T11:57:00.005Z

Christmas Quiz. To celebrate the season of goodwill I offer the following questions in the annual quiz. The Prize money (book tokens ) will be as follows. lst Prize £35.00. 2nd Prize £20.00 3rd prize £15.00.
It is difficult. Entries must be in before 16th December. Moderation will be exercised so no answers appear before that date.
OLD TE STAMENT.
1) In the book of Genesis what happened to Cain after he murdered his brother.?
2) The story of the Flood is parralled in ancient literature by another well known description of a flood. What is that legend called ?
3 If you add up the years of those old patriarchs allowing for overlaps, how long did those patriarchs "reign" for ? It is an exact number.
4) In the account of the crossing of the Red Sea there are two accounts of the crossing, the well known first account would place the crossing in the Arabian sea possibly 20 miles south of the mainland. How many people made that crossing ? Also why is the 2nd account far more feasible ?
5) The Jewish people even after the crossing of the Jordan were unable to occupy all their supposed territory as allocated by the "Lord". Can you name one area in particular (any area) which they were not able to occupy? ...........
6) Why is that after the unification of Israel under David and Solomon the Jewish people split up into a Northern Kingdom and a Southern Kingdom (much smaller) based where in Israel ? Why did they split up like that ?
7) The Bible lists all the Kings of both sections. Most of the Kings are recorded as "having done evil in the sight of the Lord". Can you name one King from each section who did "that which was Good in the sight of the Lord?
8) Which King gives his name to a measure of which drink ? (one of those who did evil)
9) In the story of David there is one incident recorded by OurLord which seems to contain an historical error . What is that error?
10) What is the name given to the rulers of Israel following the death of Judas Maccabeus
11) What a) is the name of the gentleman who refused to eat pork (as narrated in l Maccabees? and b) what is that famous text indicating some Jews accepted the resurrection of the dead ?
12) NEW TESTAMENT. Jude...Towards the end his Epistle quotes from a work which is not in the Canon of Scripture (though was widely accepted at the time by Jews) What book ?
13) This book contains the name of "additionall Archangels" One of these which is not accepted by the Church is sometimes portrayed in older Catholic Churches but is now used as a kind of "godess" of mother earth.
Can you name this fraudulent angel ?
POPES.
14) Which Pope follows Linus,Cletus, Clement, Sixtus (as listed in EP 1)
15)What is the name of the first Pope who was not martyred ?
16) What was the unusuall "trial" of Pope Formosus?
17) Which Pope (14th cent) declared the decrees of the Pope were always superior to those of a Council of the Church? (he is linked with Siena)
18) How did Alexander 6th die (at least one version will do !)?
19) From 1740 onwards how many Popes were called "Pius"
20) Which of these combined being a mountaineer and librarrian before becoming a Pope.
Best of Luck with that lot. I bet noone gets more than 3 quarters right !

c

Extra to the last post., Takapuna gone etc Humour

2011-11-24T15:32:00.002Z

Extra to last post I thought I might add a little more to yesterday posting on my own views of the Church (which actually appeared this morning..Thursday). There have been many bitter attacks on the new translations of the missal including some who refuse to accept it entirely. I distinguish from my own misgivings which cover merely the use of a few words (with little meaning now..ie why not have "offering" instead of "oblation"?) to those who have a fundamental objection which can be put as

"the whole thrust of the new translation is to separate the role of the priest from that of the people...who are thereby alienated by certain changes" I note in particular the following points. The reply "And with thy Spirit"..which is said directly to oppose priest and people. (It really acknowleldge the special gift or charism (grace) which by way of an indeliblre "mark on the soul) of the ordained priest. Then there is the use of the word "chalice"....a sacred object...rather than"cup" a secular object.l

The return of the words "for many..! instead of "for all" All this of course is yet again an attack on the sacred priesthood as separate from the "priesthood" of the laity.

TAKAPUNA GONE. you have probably already seen the Hermeneutic's post yesterday on the fire at the John Fisher ~School of the priests residence Takapuna. This is the house where I had a room for 9 years while teaching at the school. (there were also two other houses which housed other members of staff...those houses still survive)It was a lovely old house probably built after World War l by some general who had been in India.

It also had the "Nesbitery" where Fr Nesbitt was living, and other residents in my time were Fr Martin Kensington RIP, and Fr Derek Rochford RIP and others (whom I have forgotten now).

Once their lived a man called Spooner.

Who dwelt a while in Takapuna.

But now its gone for ever. (This is a clerihew, 3 line verse aab form)

HUMOUR. Yesterday's Torygraph contained a whole page of cat and dog stories. One story concerned a vicious looked dog with great fangs who had severely bitten a lady out walking (having escaped ffrom her hom) This animal looked just like Frankenstein, or even a devil come back to earth for a while. Not one to meet outside you house on a dark evening.

Another story dealt with a Labrador who got loose in Richmond Park (near here) who was shown on a video chasing a flock of deer across the Park with the owner in hot pursuit. That one when caught was certainly in the dog house. Another story involved a young looking puss who had been issued with an harrassment notice for tresppacing in a neighbours garden ! I think that the case was dropped so cat-astrophe was averted, the long arm of the claw was released. The owner must have thought that puss was a cat burglar.IT so happens that if you go to the Telegraph's web site they have put on the video clip of the dog chasing deer in the park. (if you do not know the park, it is very large...the perimeter road is nearly nine miles long and used by traffic (non commercial and limited to 20 mph). One eatery on the way round was a home of the Russell family and now contains a restaurant and more recently a special facility for wedding receptions as from the front it commands a fine view over the surrounding area right up to ~Windsor.

Not a bad meal there either !

BLOG LUNCH I need to know soon if there are any more takers. Grosvenor Thistle brasserie at Victoria Station 12.30

Can the Catholic Church survive in Europe including Britain?

2011-11-23T15:37:00.003Z

Can the Church survive in Europe ? I am starting to ask this question quite seriously. Ever since Vatican 2 there has been a split between what are termed Conservative elements who see the changes as part of the "Hermeneutic of Continuity", and not affecting the essence of our belief, and those progressive elements who say the Church was reborn and all old doctrines and moral teachings should be reviewed. Up until recently all this was really left to theologians to start arguing (except for the problems with the liturgy of course) but today the problems seem to be getting out of hand. What has caused my change of viewpoint..(ie that it did not really matter too much provided you ignored the progressive viewpoint)? Well, this is because the progressives are now not only progressive but aggressive in their views. The movement for change expressed in the "Austrian Schism" as I call it, has spread to Ireland and America on a far wider scale, so that it now almost positively embraces secularism....we must adapt to secular society. In England the views are articulated in the "We are Church" movement. Alright you may say but they are still a minority, but they are far more vocal than the Hermeneutics. For instance just how on earth could that Catholic Head of Bonus Pastor school allow pornographic material to be shown in a sex education class ...and no action taken ? So in addition to the old favourites of married clergy, women clergy, remarriage communion for divorcees, contra ception, euthanasia, even abortion teaching all being pressed, we now have pure secularism, gay unions and marriages, transsexual changes welcomed (see yesterdays post), etc while our hierarchy do little ? With a feeling of pure Mildewism I see a catastrophe ahead. I know that the Holy Spirit is with the true Church but it might be reduced to a kind of rump, especially if you combine all that with the exterior threat from extreme Moslems which is a separate issue. The Church is attacked from outside then, and from inside from some of its own members who preach what they call "Loyal Dissent". My personal view is that this is all due to the false prominence given to the role of the laity in Vat 2 which almost encourages at times the idea that the views of the laity must always be considered even when they are totally at variance with official teaching, and those of us who are traditionally minded are called a lot of old fogeys. Comments would be most welcome.

MILDEW BLOGGERS LUNCH> At the Grosvenor Thistle Hotel Brasserie restaurant entered directly from Victoria Station at 12.30pm on Monday 19th December. Any more for the lunch ? I hope I might be more cheeful by then !

Comments again

2011-11-23T10:43:00.003Z

Comments cont. The Coptic Church in Egype is under great pressure again. They are preparing to put in as many candidates as possible in the elections, and they want to act soon because it now seems certain that the Muslem Brotherhood are really hoping for some delay while they strengthen their position.
ASSISTED SUICIDE A POSSIBILITY AS A LAWFUL ACTIVITY IN British Columbia following heavy support in the courts. OK you say, that is a long way from GB but the more US states and Canadian states hear about this, the more likely there will be actions taken worldwide and before long assisted suicide will be legal everywhere in the world.
GENDER THEORY DESTROYS THE FAMILY>Cardinal Ouillet head of the Congregation for Bishops has made a forthright attack on so called Gender Theory.. The idea of the theory is to negate as far as possible any sexual differences between male and female. This is more than mere so called gay marriages, but extends to gender change operations so that one can chose which sex you prefer. These ops are becoming more frequent and are the subject of a current series on transexuals on Channel 4 at the moment.
SSPX NEWS. The capsule reports that the SSPX priests have been allowed to say Mass in major basilicas in the Holy Land provided they are kept private and not advertised. In Germany this is causing outrage as the SSPX (at least the Williamson faction) are heavily anti-Semitic. Meanwhile a well known priest in our diocese raised the question of our local attitude to the SSPX if and when they become formerly recognised as a legal body in the Church. He thinks we should be glad to welcome them back again. This point the priest brought up at our Senate of Priests but any further discussion on the point was stopped as "it was time for lunch". I think it brave to bring the point up. Pity they stopped debate.
LETTERS. Two letters deserve our attention. One deals with the recent decrees on a new evangelisation. The writer is one of the "all inclusive sort" "We might learn from secular modernity the value of acknowleging and engaging with difference and diversity." " we need to be motivated less by the need to assert the rightness of our position and instead be led by the Holy Spirit more to listen and understand"
"humility openess and willingness needed"
Meanwhile Andrew Hornsby-Smith moans about the New Translation in rather virulent terms. The new translation says our new guru "is a grubby stitch up by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Vox Clara"
"I want my faith and liturgy back" His main grouse seems to be against the reply "And with your spirit "
Meanwhile those of you who never read the Tablet might just be interested in the long and very analysis of the new translations of all the 4 eucharistic prayers comparing the Latin originals, the 1973 translation and the new translation in parallel columns. Followed by a commentary on short sections of each prayer.
NEXT POST TOMORROW THURSDAY AFTERNOON LATE.

short notice

2011-11-22T16:37:00.002Z

SHORT NOTICE Sorry I am too exhausted to do anything today. I have far more time tomorrow and a little time on Friday. Saturday is very busy for me, Rosary Mass Exposition and some confessions at St Raphaels in the morning. Lunch at New Malden followed by loads of confessions of children and adults at New Malden from 2.00pm Sunday is always tricky owing to that Sung Mass at New Malden and my ownMass later.

Weekly press comments

2011-11-21T12:30:00.002Z

Weekly comments on Press. First let me deal with short comments from the Capsule.
GAY ACTIVIST BARRED FROM CATHOLIC MEETING. Martin Prendergast well know gay, has been banned from a meeting organised by Catholic Voices due to his strong views against Church teaching. Excellent news . Well done.
TROUBLES AT OUR SCHOOLS. Regrettably two of our schools in Southwark have been in the "news" for different reasons. Bonus Pastor secondary school in Downham near Bromley has been showing video clips in so calleld "sex education religion classes" which are in effect either pornograpy, or favouring those so called dignity euthanasia places. Euthanasia is virtually proposed as an acceptable option. A protestor outside the school was taken away by the away by the police after request from the head, but not ac tion was taken by the police, nor by diocese as yet. The other case is slightly similar to the famous Vaughan School business where the Diocesan authorities have tried to stop Coloma Convent school near Croydon from using an admissions policy which is said "disciminates against single parents with children, and favours those parents who are actively involved in parish activities. My personal answer is that there might be grounds for protest here but do parish priests still have a say in the matter of applications as they used to. All this could be resolved quite easily with too much trouble I think
DARTON LONGMAN TODD well known publishers is in deep difficulty over debts and is seeking a form of continuing to publish while asked creditors to take a cut in their debts. They publish the New Jerusalem Bible and other Christian titles.
I SEE THAT in Ireland the infamous "We are Church" movement have allied themselves with the Irish dissident clergy who in fact are pressing for the same aims with the notorious Austrian Clergy group. In Austria the Bishops have condemned the movements aims,but are determined to continue "dialogue" with the groups members in different dioceses. (in order to avert schism !!)
MORE TOMORROW

Reducing my output plus true story

2011-11-12T15:30:00.002Z

Reducing my output. I am afraid to say that due now to increasing fatigue and aching limbs ( now aged 76 and a half) I am cutting down considerably and will cease publication after Christmas and am sorry this is really IT. I cannot go on longer. The Christmas lunch will take place (I have only had two takers so far) You may see me at Towards Advent meeting on Saturday at ~West.Cathedral Hall but only between 12.30 and 3.00pm. I hope to prepare a Christmas Quiz with cash prizes also and send out the usual messages to you from world leaders. Bashar Assad has promised a message and the current Al Kayeda leader also. The next post will not be until Tuesday Week.
TRUE STORY taken from Craig Brown in a literary mood on thursday. You might call this story "I am sorry I could not go faster" there is also a very interesting connection with Ham, my last parish.
In 1931 a young wealthy chap just down from Eton named John Scott Ellisw had purchased a car in Munich where he was staying and asked his landlord to assist him on his first ever drive. On this drive he took a sudden right turn into Brennerstrasse when a gentleman in his late 30' walked straight in front of the car which hit him of course. Lunckily the car was going very slowly and the man got up and he was OK so the driver was duly apologetic and the man walked on. His landlord said, "Do you know who that was"? Reply "No" "Well that was a politician with a new party who talks a lot, name of Adolf Hitler. Mr Scott Ellis later recalled how for a few seconds he had held the fate of ~Europe in his hands. Faster driving and one death in Munich might have saved millions later !
Now the connection with Ham is that Mr Ellis later became Baron Howard de Walden, well known racehorse breeder. He came to live at Ham in Ormleigh Lodge (Lodge means huge mansion in Ham talk) He became a Catholic. At his funeral long before I got there of course, the whole of the common in front of the Church was covered with flowers. Ormleigh Lodge is now occupied by Lady Annabelle ~Goldsmith, widow of Lord Goldsmith founder of the short lived Independance party and they were parents of two well know offspring, Zac, the current MP for Richmond, and Jemima Khan now separated from her husband Imram Khan (but still good friends). Annabelle in her youth was a noted figure on the London scene with "Annabells Club" and a hotel in Paphos, the Annabelle. I see her sometimes and she looks rather dowdy in old age.! (like me)

Is Capitalism really non Christian ?

2011-11-11T21:05:00.002Z

Capitalism The question is posed in reply by an article in the Catholic Times this week by you know who. The general drift of the article is to state that the Church should preach directly to the poor and with the poor and not to the rich asking them to help the poor. The author quotes with approval the stand taken by Canon Giles Fraser, former dean of St Paul's for standing in union with the protestors camp (and as I mentioned earlier) getting up at saying that he could see Chist being born in the stable of a protestor. As indicated, Giles is an expert on the teaching of Nietsche, the guru of Hitler...hardly a good example of what he is trying to say. The protestors have protested too much and overstayed their welcome. They are a bunch of good will merchants heavily infiltated by left wing loonies and even anarchists. They are stopping ordinary busineses in the city from their normal work (and I dont mean the banks themselves either). Anyway that is a diversion from the article. The author says the rot started even for the Church when after the years of persecution, the Church started obtaining property, and continuing with this process until after the ending of the Papal States. He rightly praises the social encyclicals starting with Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo 13th though I took exception to Pope John Paul's definition that land and labour counted for most for mankinds well being...that left out Capital ie cash to get things going, to purchase land, to trade goods made etc. You just cant do without it unless we revert to trying in each nation to be entirely self sufficient. In GB we are not self sufficent in basic foods.
Now I am not saying that the poor do not have serious problems in our society. Until recently I thought even poor people got a modicum of help from the state...until I read last week of a couple found guilty of stealing vegetable from an allotment. It appers they were literally starving, and of course were released. Of course another question is how do you preach TO the poor alone. I thought we preached to everyone rich and poor ? The author shows his extreme left wing views by quoting from the magazine of the trendies called "Concilium" (founded after the council and once had Fr Ratzinger as a member who left when he found out what they were up to). The article by a Brazilian Dominican called Frei Betto is pure liberation theology "Work is elevated to be a basic value even in ecclesiastical pronouncements as though it were something divorced from the relationships of property. Now capitalism deprives the majority of the population of ownership of capital, of the means of production, and the fruits of work (!!!!) The worker is not the subject of his own existence, he is dependant on the fluctuations in the Labour market, brought about by political or economic consdierations.." All this is purest of pure Marxism. The Marxist solution is the alternative to capitalism and that does not work either as it deprives the worker of basic freedoms and rights in the name of "equality". I could go on but wont as it is getting late.

Latest from the Capsule

2011-11-11T12:14:00.002Z

Capsule News this week. TOUGH DECISIONS FOR BISHOPS. The annual get together of the hierarchy takes place this week and on Tuesday their Lordships will spend the whole day prioritising...their limited funds and prioritising which works might be given a special priority ieNew evangelisation, parliamntary lobbying, materials for promoting family life are quoted. A paper has been prepared by the Secretary to the Conference, Fr Marcus Stock.
HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC EDUCATION SERVICE Oooona Stannard has gone for personal reasons it is stated (??the royal and ancient of the boot perhaps ? Perish the thought. However there is a chance see may return) The interim replacement will be Fr Marcus Stock no less...ie the Sir Humphrey gaining more power than ever (see above).
NEW BISHOP OF LAUSANNE GENEVA, Mgr Morerod (I might call him more rod and more stick). He is a Domincan and has been running tghe Pontifical University of St Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome together with being consultant to the Doctrine of Faith office, and more interestingly one of the 3 theologians trying to persuade the SSPX to accept the doctrinal preamble offered to them for consideration. Robert Mickens considers this significant for the SSPX was founded from his diocese and the seminary at Econne is just outside in the Diocese of Sion, and is it seems much trusted by the Econnites. Lausanne is one of the richest dioceses in Switzerland because as a German speaking area it receives the annual Kirchentax for payment of clergy, and in fact I know it supports the neighbouring Catholic Cantonment of Sion which does not get this tax help. Perhaps he might do something about a VG I met there a few years ago who told me that several sexual faults could not be considered as serious sins at all. Lausanne (I know it well) is built on a steep hill and he has a steep job ahead of him. You can visit the different heights of the town by a funicular railway with several intermediate stations on it.
THOSE DISSIDENT AUSTRIANS AGAIN> At their assembly recently they rejected a move to change their name from "CAll to disobedience to Call to reponsibility." fuelled no doubt by a report that about 70% of the clergy in Austrian support their general aims even if not members.
GERMAN CATHOLIC BOOK PUBLISHER. known as Weltbild totally owned by the Church has been accused by many in the Church of publishing pornography which indeed has been admitted. The Bishops are anxious to sell it off but are "hindered because they have not been offered enough cash for the sale" Disgraceful, they should sell at any cost to avoid such a scandal.
I hope to publish tonight possibly my critique of the Laird's offering in which is declares that Capitalism is anti Catholic.

Follow up to comments on court case.

2011-11-10T06:47:00.002Z

Follow up on yesterday. If you are interested in the court case on liability of a diocese in th case of an erring priest, then read Fr Ray Blake's comment list (he repeated my post and opened it up to comments) He has a huge readership and several lawyers have commented. You will note that in this case what is called "Vicarious Liability " operates,meaning in this case that although the diocese does employ priests..(they remain self employed)..the diocese can be held liable for criminal damage compensation in crimes committed by a priest (which is always the case if the employer employs persons) ie the diocese in these cases is treated AS if it is the employer. The case report can be read if you go to the comment of "Richard Greenstuff" who gives the lead to the report. What is interesting is that some of the legal people who commented and also a couple I phoned up stated that this case was nothing new at all and had been virtually settled by previous court cases. However there might be a "can of worms" for future consideration..ie perhaps "should the priests of a diocese be really employed by their Bishop?." I am not certain of the position now in canon law but in the old canon law a priest was ordained to what is called a "Title". If you could support yourself you were ordained "To your own patrimony" (this is now withdrawn I know) or "To poverty" which applies to the ordination of a religious. or (most commonly of course) "To the service of the Church." as priests take a vow of obedience to the Bishop. The priests who were ordained to their own patrimony had more freedom of movement but were still bound to the diocese in which they worked. I dont think it would be a good idea to be employed persons....it sounds too much like a business...with contracts of employment and all that paraphanalia.
POPE LEO THE GREAT. We keep his feast today. He is best known for what is called the "Tome" of Leo (actually 4 pages long only) which explains in the clearest terms the doctrine of the 2 natures in Christ..and led to the calling of the Council of Chalcedon whose 1540th anniversay is on this very day. In spite of his best efforts, there remained two breakaway groups Monophysites and Nestorians who claim the two opposite positions...either "One nature and person" or "Two persons in one" (I think that is right). One group are now the Coptics.

Does recent court case mean that diocesan clergy are now employees not self employed?

2011-11-09T10:07:00.001Z

Status of the clergy in civil law BBC Radio 4 carried an announcement of a court that effectively considers that all clergy in a diocese are counted as employees of the diocese. In canon law this is not the case, the clergy are self employed (or employed by God ?) The case refers to a lady claiming abuse by a priest now dead, who (presumably) failing to get compensation, applied for a ruling on whether she could sue the diocese as the person responsible for the actions of that priest and received an affirmative reply. This would of course open the door for other similar cases to apply if insufficient compensation was offered. What I would like to know however is whether such a judgement making us employees, would mean we could at least in theory sue the diocese in the case of possible wrongful dismissal, (or even receiving insufficient remuneration !) At present in some but not all dioceses, priests obtain an income from Christmas and Easter Offerings plus Mass stipends and stole fees for marriages, funerals etc. All that is of course taxable. If we were to be employed persons, presumably the diocese would in all cases have to pay a salary ? Perhaps some canonist might like to respond ?
STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH CATHOLIC CHURCH. The Church is considered to be a charitable organisation. Each diocese holds its own funds of course but contributes to central office, ie the Eccleston Square apparatus which is controlled by the Hierarchy and has its own workings. It costs about £4 million per annum and is responsible as a kind of civil service to the Bishops. It is controlled a "secretary", a kind of Sir Humphrey figure who has considerable power. Under its wing are national committees, the most important probably being Education. (There are over 30 such committees...and again they are separate from any such committees organised by each diocese except of course that such diocesan committees follow any directives from the national committees. You will agree perhaps that this is a pretty bureaucratic set up because each diocese is supposed to be completely independant of central control. (This could be an advantage (but is'nt for instance in the case of setting a standard rule throughout the country on the age of those to be confirmed...all the more necessary as people move around the country much more now). My view is that Eccleston Square is too powerful, there are far too many committees, it is far too costly and the individual Bishops are kept too busy on committees both national and diocesan. Just look at the lists in the Catholic Papers as to weekly enngagements.How many confirmations and visitations per Bishop? a key role for instance, against how many committees and also worse still "official dinners".?

That Quiz, Christmas blog friends lunch, Sarcasm from Damian Thompson.

2011-11-08T08:14:00.002Z

QUIZ Wow Wow...last words of Steve Jobs. Pain has considerably abated...first words of Lor Macauley (after being scalded) aged4.
No time to make New Enemies. ....Voltaire on being asked to renounce the Devil. Either those curtains go or I do....last words of Oscar Wilde
They could not hit an elephant at that distance...last words of Unionist General Sedgewick...Die, that is the last thing I shall do ....Lord Palmerston The Sun is God...JWM Turner the painter. "If this is dying, I dont think much of it" Lytton Strachey ...Dying is a very dreary affair...Lst words of Somerset Maughan.
POEMS QUOTES. All quotes are from Robert Browning. "God's in his heaven all's right with the world" As for the rest I learnt those by heart when young but cant remember what poems they are from. Two at least are from his long poem entitled "Saul" and I think one is from "The Bishop orders his tomb at St Calixtus Church in Rome" (re a bishop who did just that and arranged a practice for his requiem Mass with himself sitting up in his coffin ! Talking of another Browning poem "My Last Duchess" about the Duke of Mantua who arranged for his beautiful wife to be painted first and then killed off because he thought lovers would try and take her from him. The story would make a great dramatic film with the painter trying to make love to her as she ate the poisoned food.
BLOGGERS LUNCH> Time to think of having another meal at Christmas. Any day in the week before the Feast...early on is better. Venue , the Grosvenor Thistle at Victoria Station as usual. Anyone for lunch. ?? l
DAMIAN THOMPSON ON ANGLICAN BISHOPS> If you missed it look up Damian's post on the protest at St Pauls, it was printed in the Torygraph on Saturday.Quick quotes...On Rowan Williams "people say the Archbishop has a cultivated mind but it is the wrong metaphor, it's fertile but overgrown, if he trimmed it back we might discover an original thought" (He might try trimming the beard as well!)
On health and safety..."These days they are the only form of canon law recognised by your average vicar"
On our own lot..."Lefties, slow witted middle managers, and sneaky careerists. Indeed some of our own Bishops manage to be all three at once"

Comments Part 3 etc.

2011-11-06T16:08:00.002Z

Part 3 comments I take two examples from this weeks Capsule. The first is on the true character of Catholic Schools (OH OH) by a John Harris of Acle. He writes of the directives of Plymouth Diocese (Their Education dept). "The Catholicity of our schools is not defined by the religious background of the children they take in but by what they have to offer children." This we learn, is to be reaching out to the disadvantaged in our communities proclaiming their values through their committment to social justice.!!! This is a more inspiring vision than the notion that Catholic schools should be res erved for Catholics..a viewpoint that is more characteristic of of a tribal religion than a missionary one"!!!
Oh Dear Dear Dear, I always thought Catholic schools were designed to teach the faith to Catholics and through that faith, how to live their lives properly. Maybe all is not lost, the Bishop of Plymouth is due to resign soon.
The other letter regards an astonishing mistranslation in the Communion prayer for the first Sunday of Advent.. "May these mysteries O Lord in which we have participated profit us we pray for even now as we walk amid passing things YOU TEACH US BY THEM TO LOVE THE THINGS OF HEAVEN>.The translators it seems have misplaced the words in capitals here and the proper translation which makes more sense than the above would read, The mysteries in which we have particpated...teach us to love heavenly things.Not the walk among passing things as the actual translation as we have it, teaching us to love heavenly things.,I agree with the author Canon Griffiths of Abbotsford, Hants that a mistranslation like that is not exactly the best way to start off our usuage of the new translations of the prayers.
CORRECTION> A comment from Sixupman on yesterdays post points out that the views expressed by Fr Morgan do not represent the views of the majority of the SSPX and really are more aligned to the separatist views of Bishop Williamson.

Round 2 of comments for the week.

2011-11-05T15:28:00.003Z

Round 2 comments for week. First of all I note that the SSPX have rejected the proposed basis of agreement between themselves and Rome. Well I expected that. The so called preamble contained material that they refused to accept. As quoted by Fr Morgan (English superior) the problems included the fact that they had to accept "the New Mass, Vatican 2 as expressed in New Catechesis" and also that they had to accept that the Hermeneutic of continuity meant "new teachings which included and improved on the old". Practical arrangments they refused to disc anuss until the doctrinal points had been resolved. Very Sad all this.
WOMEN PRIESTS CAMPAIGN ARRIVES AT WESTMINSTER. A meeting was held in the Palace of Westminster was hosted by Labour MP Siobhan McDonagh (MP for Merton and Morden) I know her only too well. She lives in Colliers Wood SW 19 inside the constituency and one of my former parishes. We had disagreements when I was there over her attitude to contraception and abortion and I see she has moved even further leftwards now. When I was there she did not come to our Church. She told a "Capsule reporter" she had to make the campaign "more noisy and more popular" !!
THE ASSISSI GATHERING which the Holy Father called did not appeal to the Liberals it seems. They did not like the fact that the group which represented many different "Ecclesial Bodies and none" held no common prayers and that St Francis only got a passing mention. Furthermore the Franciscans were not invited to planning the event nor did any accompany the Holy Father and the "guests" who travelled together by Train from the VAtican to Assissi with the Holy Father.l (I think the Holy Father may be a secret rail enthusiast..the 2nd special train and the station inside the Vatican was "done up" recently ! Pope Benedict wanted no repetition of the previous get together when not only were joint prayers organised by the participants could hold services of their own inside the various churches. No wonder there was an earthquake there a few months later...
AUSTRIAN BISHOP SUPPORTS REBEL CLERGY> An ancient auxiliary Bishop from Vienna now retired told members he regretted they had included "women priests" on their agenda as it was deadlocked in Rome however he told them that communion for divorcees, priestly celibacy and the allowing of those who left the ministry to resume their work, were essential.

Early comments. The skull of St Vitalis, The end of the 4 last things

2011-11-04T15:29:00.005Z

The Skull of St Vitalis I was reading this morning that the Skull of St Vitalis was sold at auction in Meath recently. First thing that came to mind is how on earth did it get to Ireland from Italy and secondly how on earth was it allowed by the Church to be put up for auction (IF they knew) It is forbidden to buy and sell relics like that and if such things come up for auction the Church should take everymeans to stop the auction or buy the object to ensure it did not fall into the wrong hands. Well after furious bidding it sold for 3,500 Euros to an American crank who it seems enjoyed buying up extraordinary objects. iie Not the right sort of person to buy Saints relics. Anyway for him at least his purchase never left Ireland for he died 2 days later suddenly. The auction sale had not even finished (over 3 days). The Lord works in mysterious ways.

THE END OF THE FOUR LAST THINGS. Just to remind you, Heaven,Hell, Judgement and Purgatory (not in order here). This week the Laird devotes his entire post to a consideration of the Last things according to teachings of St Paul and the so called "revision" of Church teaching. He claims that modern thinking has no room for fear in the approach of death but we should all rejoice in the good fortune of life and enjoy it to the full, because at the end we will be welcomed into eternal bliss. Not a mention of any possibility of either hell or purgatory and as for sin, this seems to have gone out by the window !

I have not had a chance to look at anything else yet and I am concerned that strange things seem tobe happening to me. The computer is playing up even as I write and this morning I found that a cable link on my TV had come out....and this could not have happened without some force being applied to removing it...It was a large scart socket. Last week it was the freezer...what next ?

Just a quick Filler.

2011-11-03T16:56:00.002Z

Quiz I only had one reply so far. The poet is Browning throughout and the first one is from "Pippa Passes" I was hoping someone might help me. I learnt all those quotes at School but apart from a couple (which couple I cant remember) from "Saul" I do not remember where the others are from!
Craig Brown in a more literary mode gave some interesting true first and last words of notable People. So it is for you a question of guess who said what from this jumbled list. Were they first or last words ? which quote matches the person.
Persons first.. Lord Macauley, Steve Jobs, Oscar Wilde, General Sedgewick (American Civil War), Lord Palmerston,Voltaire, Somerset Maughan.
Words used, "Either those curtain go or I do"
"This is no time for making new enemies" "You may desist from your efforts, the pain has abated" "They couldnt hit an elephant at this distance" "Dying is a very dull, dreary affair, My advice to you is to have nothing to do with it" "wow wow wow" "Die my dear, that is the last thing I shall do"
and one extra."If this is dying I dont think much of it" and another one
"The Sun is God" (the first is by a 19th century author and cynic"(English
The second is by a well known painter (19th cent) (English).

Reply to comments plus Capsule letters

2011-11-01T16:29:00.004Z

Replies vVetusta Ecclesia writes that there are other possible ideas worth looking at regarding the use of banks and money. With regard to the Moslem system of banking , I know little about it but think it must be based on a co operative system. Such a scheme has been suggested in this country. It could work for simple transactions but the loans of cash to people mean someone is suffering a loss and this has to be made up in what we term interest. I do not agree that the transaction tax is unworkable and would ruin banks. It depends what rate it would be set at...possibly acting like an income tax but almost in reverse ie you cannot charge I would say more than £10,000 per million and probably half that would be better. We will see what happens.
Mike makes a comment on a Vatican decree being a dead letter. Of course the decrees issued in recent times need a healthy respect but they are nowhere near infallible. Of course it is a good idea to remain in prayer after Mass...and indeed that has always been stated. But the practice of fewer candles etc at Benediction and the necessity of a direct connection with a Mass is just the kind of stuff introduced by so called liturgical experts and there is no need to accept that kind of thing in my book anyway. What about Blessed Sacrament Processions, Day and Night expositin in convents like Tyburn etc etc ?
LETTERS IN CAPSULE I There are a couple of letters which are almost amusing this week.One from Kathy Pope in praise of the Austrian Priests protest writes that their "dynamism is like that of the years following Vatican 2 giving hope ..." to those who were living at that time. This good lady was also present at the National Pastoral Congress held at Liverpool in 1980 where she says "The joy and energy of that occasion was almost palpable. ...the potential of lay people seemed set to be released and even the fullness of womens ministry was tantalisingly possible" Of course it was a damp squib, I was there too in the Liturgy group led by a bald headed priest whose name I have forgotten. The Congress was completely dominated by left wingers who got themselves elected as deanery representatives. I got on only because one of the priests who was represent our deanery was moved and I took his place. A group of us met at the Shaftesbury Hotel each evening to discuss what went on in the different groups. When the Bishops came up afterwards with a document called "An Easter People" we responded with out own bulletin which was sent to all the Bishops. Nothing much happened thank goodness. Our good lady speaks again "The church has always been diverse...our shame is that we fear that diversity and distort the cause of unity into one of conformity instead of allowing the Spirt to blow how and where she wills.."
The second letter from a Peter Briggs of Oldham states that the new translation of the Mass means that "the congregation are not allowed to use the word LOVE in their responses." One might ask where that word was found in the old set of responses. But the guru of Oldham then states that right from the end of the period of persecution the Church continued the system by which the qualities of the Mass had to reflect the qualities of the Emperor and so Love "was not allowed to intrude as love rests on freedom and the emperor was not willing to allow his subects freedom !!!??? So just as the emperor had power of rewards and punishment, life and death, sothese same qualities were thrust upon a loving God, with the notions of heaven and hell !!! So the Church was ableto take a position as an intermediary between an individual and a pseudo-God portrayed as vengeful, rather than a loving God. The second Vat Council sought to bring a loving God back into the Mass but the authorities are now attempting to reverse this." Of course all this is rubbish. The whole idea that the Church tried to emulate the Roman Emperors in this way...I have never heard of it and it is false. I need a slight break now for two days or so from posting but I will not forget you !

All Saints Day

2011-11-01T07:03:00.002Z

All Saints Day happy Feast Day readers everywhere! A Day perhaps when we can leave aside gloom for a while and consider our last end as desired by the Almighty is Heaven and dont forget that All Saints means everyone up there. Now for a quiz based on Heaven from a poet.
QUIZ. You are asked to name the poet (only one) and if possible the actual poem from which these texts are taken. A clue might be that a Duchess can help. So what does that clue refer to..(extra question)
~Text One "God's in his heaven, all's right with the world"
Two "How good is man's life the mere living how fit to employ all the heart soul and senses for ever in joy. (poet looks to eternal life)
~Three "For thence a paradox which comforts while it mocks
Can Life succeed in that it seems to Fail ?
Four, "Grow old along with me the best is yet to be"
Now after all the recent heavy stuff on this blog some HUMOUR.
(Based on the Radio Show I'm Sorry I haven't a clue" The famous "late arrivals at the ball)
From a Shakespearean Ball. "Who is this coming up in a fast car ? Yes it's Shylock with his Porsche(a).
From a Builders Ball. Welcome please to guests from Russia, Mr and Mrs Fireplace and their son Peter the Grate."
From a Gardeners Ball. Welcome to Mr and Mrs Muckspreader with their daughter Ella, known usually as Compost Ella.
From a Football teams Ball. Welcome Mr and Mrs Barton and their silent son known as Dumb Barton. (and also)
Welcome from Liverpool to Mr and Mrs Field and their policewoman daughter, Ann Field, the Cop.
When you have finished collapsing with laughter there will be a further posting later today

Comment on an article in the Catholic Times .

2011-10-31T19:31:00.004Z

Catholic Times article. Today I should like to conentrate on an article by that well known Pundit, the Laird, in the Catholic Times. The main topic seems to be Benediction and the honour due to the Blessed Sacrament outside of Holy Mass.As a main source he uses . He claims that worship of the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass started off as a substitute in some way for not receiving Holy communion. He is correct in stating that originally the reservation of Sacred Hosts was meant for taking the Hosts to the Sick but seems to imply that public worship of the reserved Sacrament started up chiefly in the late 16th century encourged in some way by the Jansenist heresy which discouraged reception of the Blessed Sacrament. All this is total nonsence. The Laird should have studied the article in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Benediction in a recognisable form can be dated back to about 1360 and was certainly not connected to Holy Mass but was a devotional exercise. The Jansenist heresy was a late 17th century devclopment. The Laird makes an unsubstantiated statement that it was the over scupulosity of the Jansenists led to regarding as sin what he terms as the defilement with regard to naturally occuring sexual functions led to the excluding of people from Communion. Certainly the Jansenists were an odd bunch and regarded human nature as utterly corrupt and barely capable of any good actions unless one avoided any contact or reading etc which might in any way lead to temptations. All this was formally condemned time and time again but lingering on right up to St Alphonsus Liguori who saved moral theology from being too extreme. However all that is a distraction from the main thrust of the article. Another extremely odd statement is that because people could not go to communion owing to their weird beliefs, they regarded the moment of the elevation of the Host and Chalice at Mass as a substitute for communion, then it got a life of its own with the introduction of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament but without a blessing at the end. (This was true but the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was much earlier than Jansenism). The Laird goes on to say that at the time of Vat 2 the modern liturgists were upset by the degree of what might be terms the "frills", the large number of candles, the flowers etc atttendant on Benediction with the simple two to 6 candles used at Mass. .So after the council these modern liturgists got their way and in a decree entitled Eucharisticum Mysterium, it was decreed that Benediction had to have a direct connection with Mass in order to show the greater importance of the "Sign" at Mass and the number of candles to be used at Benediction was drastically reduced...to show that the "signs of Benediction" had to be subordinated to the supreme Sign of the Eucharist as Sacrament. What happened in practice was that this so called decree from the liturgical office in Rome was and is widely ignored and although much diminished in numbers today the old form of Benediction is continued and particularly for the 40 hours devotion altars and sanctuaries are often highly decorated. IE the Roman Document is a dead letter...Securus iudicat orbem Terrarum...the old Latin tag. At the end of the article our pundit quotes extensively from an unknown (to me) Duch writer Godfridius Snoek who at the time of the Council said that the Use of the Latin Language at Mass and the emergence of a "superior priestly caste" !!! had led people to identify Mass and Communion with the priest while rejoicing in their own ownership of the elevation and exposition and Benediction. The final sentence of the Laird is yet another attack on the Old Rite of Mass with its suggestions of a "holier than thou" priesthood. Any way I think we can all cock a Snook at Snoek!

Modern Banking Crisis, Vatican Statement.

2011-10-30T19:29:00.004Z

Modern Banking tThe Crisis and the Vatican Response. (Usury Par 3)

The Crisis hit a few years ago but has only got worse. The origins lie further back. Banks everywhere grew bigger and bigger, they grabbed up smaller banks, they ventured into fields they never used to indulge in. In our country RBS was the worst example gobbling Westminster Bank and a did foreign Bank, so needed bailing out by the government. They also became greedier and greedier. Bank business at basic is borrowing money and paying interest on it to investors and charging customers to borrow from it at a higher rate. But the golden rule when I taught the subject was that any financial institution should keep 10% of its liquid assets (cash and money at call) as a reserve and not to tamper with that figure. But particularly as banks delved more and more into the mortgage business (ie Halifax Building Society grapped by HBOS and then Lloyds being asked to take over the whole lot (thus weakening the most stable and old fashioned of all the banks) . Then of course with mortages being offered to those who had to find less and less ready cash up front (which meant in reality greater risks for the bank lending the cash) ie buying property for the customer with ownership reverting if the customer failed to pay the monthly charge. So when the crisis started and house prices fell , so did the borrowers find it more difficult to pay the monthly charge and leaving the bank with a property which was now of less value than it was when they obtained it. In international business weak governments issued "bonds" to raise cash (denominated in millions of pounds of course) which gullible and greedy richer banks brought up because the interest they were able to charge was high...then the countries could not pay the interest on this "Bond loan"...and then...the country needed more cash....then came the intervention of bailing out which we hear so much about today.

~What to do about all this is hotly debated with more and more countries liable to default on paying interest on their ~"bonds". So now the Vatican or rather a department in the Vatican has come up with its own plan which I am afraid to say I do not think too much of particularly the major plan which is to start a world wide fund management covering gradually every country in the world to which countries would contribute (by way of the individual banks plus a countries reserves) a sum of money to be used to iron out inequalities in the "system". This super bank would wield authority over the other countries in a fiscal sense...The trouble is that it would not work, many countries would see right through the weaknesses, and object to losing more and more power to manage their own affairs...and it would take decades to form properly. it is funded by a payment made every year by countries to the fund.N Other parts of the Vatican Scheme are a little better. Individual states to maintain greater control over their banks (sounds like backdoor nationalisation to me, and is a typically left wing idea). Yes some controls are necessary.

Restraining the amount paid in bonuses to top management by imposing high rates of tax...Much more acceptable. Finding a better way of helping the poor as rich people are making money at the expense of the poor..OK but can it be done easily ? Using a new tax by which is known as a transaction tax on all transactions in banking...say l% which sounds low but could raise billions....I am in favour of this.Now if you disagree with anything I have said over the last 3 posts, please please comment...I have had no response at all as yet.

Usury Part 2

2011-10-30T06:28:00.002Z

Usury part 2 I am able to complete this section as I have risen early.
In Jewish Law as established in the Post Exilic period and possibly based on the Mosaic tradition, it was lawful to loan money and charge interest for the loan. The essence of banking at all times is that the lender will offer interest to those who save money with the lender and charge rather more interest to those who borrow money (on loan). Our Lord speaks of money a few times. The one text frequently adduced for a ban by Christians is "Lend without hope of return" which I suggest is a counsel of perfection between individuals but on closer examination amounts to giving all your money away. In another reference to the Master who gives various talents to individuals, the one who receives just one talent hides his money away until the Master returns but is chided by the Master for not having put the money away with a lender and gained interest on it. Another text suggests money is a tainted thing which is true anyway. "Money is the root of all evil" Trouble is that it is a necessary thing in this life but as we might see , it gives rise to greed and cupidity etc. In the dark ages there was no ban on usury by the Church but when trade increased again theologians turned their attention to the topic this time more on a philosophical basis. The argument is this All "goods" we have can be divided into two classes, Things which are consumed in use like food, and things on which it is possible to distinguish between the object in question which is a more permanent thing than food in regards to its ownership and lending it out to someone for a charge whilst retaining ownership. The former are known as fungible goods (like bread) and the latter are "non fungible" (like a house). If a good is fungible there is no question of making a charge. You can give a person a loaf of bread for his consumption but dont charge him (I am not talking about bakers who make a living by selling what they produce etc).
In a non fungible object you can separate a charge for the use of the object from its ownership. The big question for the theologian was "Which category does money fall into ?" Looking into this they decided that money was consumed in use and no return could be made for it other than restoring the item when no longer needed to its owner (or when the borrower fails to pay the charge (interest). We see this today in mortgages which fail and the property is repossessed. The Church decided that money was consumed in use by an individual and introduced a ban on money lending and banking. Trouble is that the Catholic at the period who needed cash had to borrow from a money lender and these were usually Jewish, leading in part to various pogroms and hatred of Jews (ie in "The Merchant of Venice"). So theologians then looked around for solutions to the problem which might mean some excusing causes for charging interest and they came up with two, one of which was rejected. They are "Damnum Emergens" (loss appearing) and Lucrum Cessans (gain ending) The latter was rejected. The Franciscans had a scheme known as the Montes Pietatis which involved a double contract. The law of the Church however became more and more creaky as trading contined to expand and the "Damnum Emergens" was nearly always invoked. Vix Pervenit of 1745 restressed the original law but by 1820 the Church quietly dropped it giving rise to the statement often made that the Church had changed its teaching on usury so why not on contraception. It was taught to us that the reason the Law was dropped is that Damnum Emergens always applies. But surely this is an excusing clause to an unchangeable rule. My own studies gave a different perspective. Money is not just a sterile store of value, but a means of exchange. It has value in itself like a house and can be loaned out like a house, ie. It is a non fungible object and the Church did not accept this at first. It is my contention that banking is an essential part of life and the basis of capitalism to which the only alternative is communism in one form or another. Those protesters today who say we should get rid of money and thus banking are Harpics. (clean round the bend) in my opinion. To be continued tomorrow when I look at the modern crisis and the recent statement from the Vatican.

Usury teaching part one plus general points.

2011-10-29T12:15:00.004+01:00

General Points I am for some reason extremely tired and am unlikely to be anything else until Monday. So may comments on the weeks press will have to wait.One thing however is too important to overlook and it is the dreadful headline news from the TIMES newspaper on Friday morning about the problems with certain monks at Ealing Abbey and at Buckfast Abbey plus news that the former child protection officer in Plymouth Diocese has been charged with downloading pornographic pictures. Unfortunately the report is muddled and confusing. Even so it reflects badly on the Church in our country.
Now to USURY. Following a comment made on Fr Ray's blog that we should in the Church return to the teaching of VIX PERVENIT a Papal Document from Benedict 14th, I think it necessary to say a few words onthe topic inview of the present crisis and a document this very week from the Vatican about banking. Now to start with the topic is quite difficult, so I will have to simplify things somewhat. To start with a very brief summary on the topic of what is money for and the history thereof.
(First before that to define terms, Usury means taking ANY interest on loans, and Vix Pervenit reinforced the Church's teaching at that time reinforcing ban dating back at least to the 11th century) I regard this as a dead letter when issued and it was revoked by 1824.
Now in the beginning there was no money and no trade because individiuals lived in small tribal groups which were self sufficient and of course there was no government overall. This changed once people started mainly in townships which could not be self sufficient and also with the invention of smelting metals, particularly bronze and iron, trade became widespread in different sectors...ie European groups, Asian groups etc. It is difficult to state exactly when the first coinage appeared but it was well established for the Jewish People quite early on and in other large empires also. So trade prospered until a period in the dark ages when Europe was in a state of chaos. Coinage was often in Silver or gold or base metals for small items. Paper money came in much later probably around 1660. Banks as such can be found as lending agencies even when the Jews were in Exile in the 7th century BC. . AS originally stated a note stated that the local country promised to redeem notes into ordinary coinage on demand and this task was entrusted to a central government band. But but but, the amount of notes issued could not be greater than the total amount of coinage and had to be the exact equivalent in Gold or silver. Before and after that it was always possible to cheat by forgery. Henry VIII thought he could get away with issuing coins which contained base metals but people cottoned on to this little trick and the coinage was not worth what it should have been. Ordinary forgery of coins was always possible as it is now but much more difficult with milled edges round coins. Cheques for payment between peoples or states followed shortly after. Keeping the amount of Gold to the equivalent of notes in circulation lasted in our country until Churchill abandoned (I think it was after the 2nd war..perhaps one of you knows the date. The original scheme is called "The Gold Standard" and is replaced by a looser form of what we call the "Fiduciary standard" whereby it is the Government that promises to control the value of notes.
In ~Germany in the 20's there was hyper inflation eventually meaning that notes were valueless and the ordinary people had to go back to Barter or swap to buy or sell goods. (Imagine l million DM to buy a packet of cigarettes.) In modern times we are cheating again in my opinion again by issuing bonds with a stated value and printing cash to go with them....really backed up by nothing at all.
PART 2 Church teaching on all this. (please wait until tomorrow) the governments scheme is of course called "Quantitative Easing". We have to consider the whole question of loans and debts.

Knights of Malta continued. Ven Thomas Dingley

2011-10-28T16:11:00.002+01:00

Ven Sir Thomas Dingley, English Martyr of Knights of Malta His story is more complicated than that of Sir David Gonson. He was the nephew of grand prior of England William Weston who ran the English Langue from the Priory of Baddlesley (Hants) Dingley was well connected and known personally to King Henry VIII. He entered the order in Rome in 1526 and moved to Malta when that was given to the Knights. Not long after he was appointed Prior of the Commandery at Baddley in succession to William Weston, Grand Prior. He returned to take possession of the commandery but often it seems returned to Malta on official business.
He was appointed to a second commandery at Shingay but the appointment was contensted by another knight Sir Ambrose Cave . In a series of letters I only came across this afternoon (on the internet under the title "Correspondence concerning Sir Thomas Dingley" dating back to 1534 (over 20 letters from C.S.P. (State Papers) it becomes clear that Dingley did not think much of the Kings remarriage to Anne Boleyn and in private talks seems to have spoken very much against the King. He was in England in 1537 when he was arr ested and put in the Tower for opposition to the King. Even in prison (and this is before the suppression of the order) another knight then in England, Sir Clement West constantly supported the claim of Sir Ambrose Cave to the commandery of Shingay. Dingley was not given a trial but was condemned to death by an act of attainder in 1539 where he is named with many others including Blessed Adrian Fortescue for their opposition to the King on various grounds but always including Religion (The list includes the leading figures of the Pilgrimage of Grace of 1538) Unlike David ~G0nson Sir Thomas Dingley was executed on Tower Hill in July 1539. He did not proceed to be beatified owing to lack of specific evidence as to cause of death. I believe he died because of the combined efforts of Ambrose Cave and Clement West (writing on his behalf). He might have been beatified in 1929 if attention had been paid to an important document I found in Malta's library, known as the "Martyrologie" compiled by a knight called Goussaincourt, writing after the Grand Siege of 1560. Here we read that Dingley died for his faith in his own country. It is interesting to note that Ambrose Cave went on to hold important positions under Henry VIII and renounced his faith, eventually becoming Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire under Queen Elizabeth and thus in charge of persecuting Catholics there.

Knights of Malta continued

2011-10-28T09:57:00.002+01:00

Knights of Malta continued ENGLISH KNIGHTS iF You look through the various sites on the internet you will find a great deal of useful information but some scurrilous accusations of collaboration with Nazis. Himmler is listed as a member in one list ! That would be in the Order of Malta (if true) who make a promise but no vows. The Knights started of as a purely religious hospitaller group looking after the sick and injured in the Holy Land. By 1390 they had been granted Rhodes as a territorial responsiblity and thus began the rite of the Knights to be recognised as a country. (not by all coutries, especially after the reformation). They were organised into 7 language groups known as Langues (Tongues) and in Rhodes and later in Malta each group had a headquarter building. I have not studies the strength of the Knights of the English Langue in England before 1530. The main groupings were in Commanderies and after the suppression of the Knights Templar they took over their Commanderies in England but generally rented them out except Eagle. (there may have been others retained). Between 1520 and 1531 the Knights were homeless as an order as Rhodes was taken by the Turks. Then in that year the grand master was able to secure Malta which at that time was a small defenceless island but had (and still has) a great importance for the defence of the Mediterranean. The English Langue and the others set up shop in the land mass on the South Side of the great harbour at a locality known as Birgu (today called Vittoriosa but still known as Birgu also). The Langue headquarters were marked out by defence crenellations. All langue buildings in Birgu were vacated after the victory following the great siege of Malta in 1569 (when Valetta was built and named in honour of greand master La Valette). The old English Langue in Malta is now the town library in Birgu. Like the other langues it has a large upper room where the Knights slept (little privacy here). Downstairs was the dining area. While in Malta the Knights were expected to spend a couple of years on "galley duty" that is they joined the Knights own fleet. (they did not do the rowing !). The Knights then led a common life and if they mishehaved there was a prison inside the walls of the sister island of Gozo.
When they occupied Malta there were only about 9 knights of the English Tongue resident at Malta. They had their own hierarchy of rank also. Now we come to
ENGLISHKNIGHTS OF MALTA who became English Martyrs. There are three of them recognised. Blessed Adrian Fortescue, Knight of devotion who never visited Malta. His life is well documented elsewhere and his portrait by Caravaggio (I think) is to be found in the great Knights Church in Valetta today. Then there is Blessed David Gonson and Venerable Thomas Dingley.David Gonson was admitted to the auberge of the EnglishLangue in 1533 and submitted his pedigree of noble birth (16 quarterings were re quired) and legitimacy. He was duly admitted. He remained on Malta until the suppression by Henry VIII which took place in 1540 and was awarded a pension of £100.00. During that time he had a fight with another English Knight, Sir Philip Babinton which landed both in the prison on Gozo for a time . When Babington heard about the suppression or possibly even before it took place he abjured not just his membership of the order but also his very faith. Back in England he delated Sir David as an opponent of the King, a heretic, and various other remarks about the King. David was then arrested thrown in the Marshalsea prison and condemned to death as the result of an act of attainder (no trial necessary just a vote in parliament) and was dragged on a hurdle to St Thomas Waterings on the Old Kent Road where he was duly hung drawn and quartered on the 12th July. By that time he had been transferred to the Tower. He was beatified with many others in 1929.
That is all for now but I may give the conclusion later today or tomorrow as Venerable Dingley presents a few problems to the historian.

Apology extra

2011-10-27T18:21:00.002+01:00

APOLOGY I am afraid I cannot continue the Knights of Malta material as I have been busy all day. I had to go up to the archives at Bishops House to return some papers and answer a couple of queries up there as the main archivist Fr Charles Briggs fell over the other day and broke his shoulder. Just as a matter of interest here, one enquiry was on the Spanish Civil War and if you are interested there is a large amount of material on this including pamphlets and booklets published at the time plus various letters etc. These are available on request to view without restriction..
Also thanks to responding to a comment on Fr Ray Blakes blog I have been asked by a couple of correspondents to give a summary of a thesis I wrote about usury many years ago....it seems tobe rather relevant today !
HUMOUR IN London we have a system at many bus stops which tells you how long it will be before the next bus is due. This is known as Countdown. So I look for the time of the next bus and see that the system has broken down and all it shows is the word Countdown. A chap next to me says "It wont be on until this afternoon, 3.30 pm on ITV most weekdays."

Replies, Knights of Malta.

2011-10-26T10:57:00.002+01:00

Comment replies First I hope the gas man who cometh on Friday will sort out my machine which is going but rather erratically just now. I have now had the blood sucked from me by a nurse for a sample to give some idea of what may be wrong with me together with the famous "Sample".
As to whether I think the Holy Father is rowing back on Vat 2. I think the correct way of putting it may be to state that the interpretation given to certain decrees was false, and is the result of the so called progressives getting the upper hand in the early days after the council. I have suggested in the past that the position of the Church as the People of God be more firmly placed as the key to the more significant Mystical Body of Christ, that the Liturgy decree did not establish the real horrors of today but a post Vat 2 document on the Roman Missal played havoc in wrecking churches and moving the Blessed Sacrament off centre, suggesting that the altar be renamed "The Table of Sacrifice" and virtually stated to be more important than the reserved Sacrament etc. Those ruling were reversed in a revision recently of that decree.
KNIGHTS OF MALTA. Recently in the vaulted crypt of church of St John in Clerkenwell, Ian Scott was installed as the 57th Grand Prior of England of (to give it the full name) Grand Prior of the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta. Christopher Howse wrote an interesting article on the Knights of Malta as they are known today. These days 104 countries recognise the order as a sovereign state in its own right with diplomatic relations. I think (but not certain) that Howse is wrong in stating that their territory is reduced to a palace in Rome where the Grand Master lives. A few years ago the fort at the end of Valetta in Malta was ceded back to the Knights from which it was seized I believe by Napoleon. The present Grand Master is also an Englishman Mathew Festing. It should be pointed out that the position of ~English Grand Prior today is the 3rd of the modern sequence of Grand English Priors as the Grand Priory was ended by the Royal Edict of 1541 when most of the remaining English Knigts of Malta left Malta with a royal pension of £100 per annum (sometimes a little more). After that apart from a relative of the Westons who bacame the assistant to the Grand Master La Valette who fought off the Turks in the first great siege of Malta (and is buried with him in the Church of the Knights in Malta). The Knights known generally then as the "Hospitallers" arrived in Malta in 1530 after being thrown out of Rhodes by the Turks, (and much earlier being thrown out of Jerusalem by the Saracens) I should like to say a word about the English Knights of that time tomorrow including their 3 English Martyrs. Blessed Adrian Fortescue, David Gonson, and Thomas Dingley.

Cardinal de Lubac

2011-10-25T08:17:00.002+01:00

Cardinal de Lubac The lecture by Cardinal Burke was technically in honour de Lubac but it was not clear from the analyis how much time the CArdinal dwelt on de Lubac in the lecture. I therefore being an ignoramus in such matters as deep theology decided to look into his life and works and discovered a fascinating story. Using two or three sources from the internet I give first of all basic facts of his life.
Cardinal de Lubac was born at Cambrai, one of six children in 1896 and entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1913. Owing to the delicate religious situation in France he commenced his studies in England but was called up for the army and was severely wounded at Verdun in 1916. Returning to his studies at Canterbury, St Leonards , and Ore Place Hastings (where he overlapped Teilhard de Chardin amongst others) he was sent to the house of Jesuits at Fourviere (Lyons) in 1926 and ordained in 1927. He star ted lecturing on Fundamental ~Theology at Lyons and contined there until 1961 with two breaks. The first for the second world war where he joined the French Resistance and was in hiding, and in 1950 (as he described it) "a real bomb shell". He was dismissed from his post at Lyons by order of the Jesuit provincial (and not by Rome) because of "pernicious errors in his theology" (I will deal with the teachings later).
Just after this some of his views appear to have condemned by Pope Pius 12th in the Encyclical "Humanae Generis". After the Pope died he was reinstated at Lyons, then chosen as a peritus at the Vatican Council. It is said that he contributed greatly to Lumen ~Gentium, Dei Verbum, and the great document on the nature of the Church.... After the council the so called liberals (of which he was one) founded the magazine Concilium but after a couple of years he became disillusioned with the way the Council was being "taken over " by progressives and together with Fr. Ratzinger and Hans Urs von Balthasar founded the alternative theological magazine "Communio" Having refused a cardinalate once, he eventually accepted this position from Pope John Paul 2nd but only survived 3 years afterwards and died in 1991. A long and fascinating career. No one ever doubted his holiness and sincerity.
TEACHINGS AND WORKS. He started off by 3 studies on Buddhism but in 1936 he published the first work which gave him trouble later, called "Catholicism". Looked at today it hardly seems controversial at all. He claimed correctly that the laity in the Church of that time were neglected and almost 2nd class catholics. He promoted the idea of the Mystical Body of Christ as an ideal model and certainly his theology on this topic would show that the laity as the people of God were to be considered essentially as key players (with the right skills) in the promotion of the Church.
Taking up his pen again after the war in 1948 he published his work entitled "Surnaturel" Supernatural. This is where the real problem lies. In the book he seems to blend together nature and the supernatural (grace) with the result that the grace we have and receive is not entirely freely given to the just. Also that it makes mankind automatically destined for heaven. (which might give rise to that fundamental option business...but he is not responsible for that). So in Humanae Generis we find "Some also question whether angels are personal beings and whether matter and spirit differ e ssentially. Others destroy the g r atuity of the
supernatural order since God they say cannot create intellectual beings without ordering and calling them to the beatific vision." (~This is from paragraph 26 of the Encyclical). DeLubac was also very keen on returning to patristic sources as a source of theological development and this is mildly criticised in paras 18 and 19. De Lubac however is not named nor was he ever censured by Rome directly. The influence of De Lubac can be clearly seen in his development of the role of the laity in the council documents but as I indicated he saw that this role was being pressed too far by the liberals...as by 1970 he had become a conservative thinker along with Ratzinger and Balthasar.
Now this is only a brief survery (none the less it has taken me 50 minutes to do this...and I could only do so because I am missing breakfast altogether due to a fasting only blood test at 11.20. !

Cardinal Burke's speech amplified in Capsule

2011-10-24T07:09:00.002+01:00

Cardinal Burke I feel I must give more on this speech as it seems that a a transcript is not available. Technically the lecture in Manchester was the 2011 de Lubac Memorial Lecture and the topic, The New Evangelisation project. Heart of the New Evangelisation. The writer of the article points out that de Lubac who was involved in the formulation of the VAt 2 documents Dei Verbum , Lumen Gentium and #Gaudium et Spes became appalled later on that the council teaching was being undermined by "progressive clergy inclined towards liturgical expermentation and Marxist sociology." It was also true that de Lubac feared the economy of Grace was being collapsed into humanistic naturalism.
The Cardinal started off by pointing out that the new evangelisation first started by Pope John Paul 2nd was based on holiness of life, "the extraordinary nature of our ordinary life because it is lived in Christ and therefore produces in us the incomparable beauty of holiness" He pointed out that the apostolic letter of Jan 2001 "start of the New Millenium" involves a wholehearted embrace of the high standard of Christian living"" ..."We can only become Holy if Christ lives within us"...we must abandon the foolishness of seeking our freedom other than in the will of God and celebrate the faith in the sacraments..and extension through prayer and devotion." The Cardinal stressed the importance of the moral law that our creator "has written into our body and soul". I find that most important as so many moral theologians today reject the idea of a natural law within us in fa vour of situation ethics. Before turning to what some regarded as controversial topics he said "If we live this holy life we will also be evangelising, enabling others to see God's gift of love." Reminds me that of the old saying rather sadly lacking today "See how these Christians love one another".
He then moved on to deal with the troubles we face today. He spoke of grave moral evils which we are to witness against, procured abortion, "the abhorrent practices" of the artificial generation of human life and its destruction at the embryonic stage of development. He spoke of the evils of so called mercy killing of those who have grown weak through advancing years, those who want to re define marriage and family life to included the "unnatural sexual union of two persons of the same sex." He spoke of being at odds with those who think Humanae Vitae was a mistake, those think mandatory priestly celibacy should be abandoned because it deters vocations, the evil nature of homosexual acts, those who think a male only priesthood is an affront to women and those who think refusing communion to divorced and remarried Catholics is often unjust. On vocations he said that in our society "it is difficiult for young men to hear Christ's call. He spoke of the dangers of rampant individualism, and corrosive influence of family breakdown, and pervasive pornography. "We have to pray in the home, pray for vocations," and said parents and the parish priest were key players here.
He spoke to on ecumenism and said that while it was possible to work together on social things "as sadly (the reformed churches) no long er have a strong teaching on respect for human life." He was worried that work with evangelicals was hampered by their lack of a central doctrinal authority other than Scripture. Muslems must be treated with great charity as our brothers and sisters but "we must give witness.to the fact that Jesus Christ aloneis the salvation of the world" WE must start by understanding each others position and note the importance for Muslems of Sharia Law which for them governs all aspects of Christian life.
Finally he stressed that reform of church teaching and practice would not be evangelisation at all and that what was mandated at Vatican 2 was that the "hermeneutic of reform" meant that tradition is handed down to us is not a hermeneutic of rupture and discontinuity"
Now reader , you can see from all this how firmly he spoke and how he must have cheered up traditional believers and upset some like the writer in the Capsule who clearly thought he might welcome change.

Disasters plus further comments

2011-10-23T16:44:00.002+01:00

Disasters it has not been a good day. At Mass at New Malden there were only two of us instead of 9 in choir as the rest had gone off to Bruges to sing. It was exhausting to sing at full pitch and the people below were not very loud and often behind us in the choir. But the really bad news is that my favorite clock (a Victorian Slate clock...very heavy..an old family item) has stopped and I need help to get it to the clock shop in Putney, and at the same time the freezer unit on my fridge unit is not working properly (it goes right up to about minus 5 with alarm light showing instead of about minus 18 then goes up again then down again. Engineer to call tomorrow if available. All food saved and in other freezers in the flats here.
FURTHER COMMENTS That stolen babies in Spain business is in the Capsule. It seems that initially under Franco, babies were removed from mothers soon after birth and told they had died. They had in fact been adopted...the reason was that the mothers were deemed politically dangerous ! but then it continued with the excuse that the mothers were morally or economically deficient...usually babies from unmarried mothers. This practice seems to have contined until relatively recently with nuns and priests responsible ! Yet another scandal I am afraid.
ASSISSI PEACE GATHERING BY RAIL. All important particpants including Pope Benedict will gather at the Vatican...the Railway station inside the Vatican and travel together by train to Assissi ! Great stuff, should do a lot for rail travel. The party will include the Bearded Wonder of Canterbury, Moslems, Hindus etc. Unlike the previous get together they participants will pray separately and quietly in rooms with no universal prayer together. A frugal lunch will follow an address by 9 leading participants. The rooms will be an hotel (and presumably the lunch) I suggest pasta, caviar and chips. They will be called "Pilgrims for Peace"
CARDINAL BURKES arrival and departure from Manchester. According to a letter in the Capsule he entered to Handel...Music for the Royal fireworks with the audience buzzing with anticipation. According however to the writer, they left in silence after his speech because of course, they had expected words of encouragement for changes and so called progres and got the complete opposite. The exit music was Vidor (often used at weddings..nice loud bourdon notes)
I will give further details tomorrow

This week in Press again.

2011-10-22T12:04:00.002+01:00

This week Taking the Capsule first of all. There are a couple of letters complaining about the views expressed on sex and marriage and I would be very grateful indeed if you could possibly send me your comments (read yesterdays mailing for the original) There is one letter objecting to the Laird's views on dress code. In the original I might have mentioned he went in for a long diatribe about the preferential option for the poor and this week a Dr Carlisle of Sheffield says that poorer people often dress respectfully and behave better in ~Church than some middle class oafs who have hands in pockets and wear very cas ual clothing at Mass.
EXTRA COLLECTIONS 4 times a year to try and clear huge diocese debt in the Diocese of Cork and Ross. (annual deficit 300,000 Euros.). My experience says that wont really work, people just cut down on other monies to the Church.
ORDINARIATE PRIESTS are likely to say Mass "Ad Orientem" when their new missal comes out said Mgr Burnham when the dynamic of the Church suggests it. (why not in all churches ?)
NORTHERN UK DIOCESES ARE LOSING PRIESTS RATHER RAPIDLY. In 10 yrs Middlesborough estimates to see a drop from current 62 to 36 active priests. Lancaster expects a 40% drop and Liverpool drops from 170 to 100 as soon as 2015.
IN ROME during recent riots, attacked a catechetical centre a ttached to St Marcellus and Peter where a crucifix was ripped from the wall and a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was taken outside and smashed in the Street. This mob ended up in front of St John Lateran basilica where they battled the carabinieri for hours with bricks , homemade bombs etc, so much so that it looked as if ~Rome was burning.
IN BELGIUM Catholic teachers are angry over an imposition by the Abp of Brussels (Bishop Leonard) of a new rule limiting the number of teachers who are divorced and remarried. (one would jolly well hope so). But he has been warned about discriminatory practices. A senior Catholic education official in Flanders said the Abp was ignoring the dedication of Catholic teachers and "does not seem to be living in the present day" Interesting that, for you often hear that remark about the Church rowing back on VAtican 2, and blocking progress, and not living in the real world (implying the Church should change its teaching according to the aura of the masses in todays world, (instead of following the law of God).
There is much more to say but it will have to wait.
iI had a message from some weird BT agency saying it would have to cancel my e mail facility because of a virus affecting certain files on my machine. It was not written in the usual way and appeared in blue print with no address given and required me to give my user name and password so they could provide a new e mail account to replace mine if I did not respond quickly.
Sounds like a scam...anyone know !? Urgent.

More News from the Capsules.

2011-10-21T15:38:00.002+01:00

Capsules galore. As I was away I only got hold of last weeks capsule yesterday and today I received this weeks issue. Yesterday I discussed an article by the Laird in the Catholic Times on authority and the Austrian clergy rebellion. That same week (ie last week) the Capsule printed two items about the rebellion. Mgr Schuller the head of the rebels spoke at the Irish "Asssocation of Catholic Priests" (should be the Association of Catholic rebels". Remember they issued a "Call to Disobedience" in June and Mgr Schuler explains here why there is no going back on their demands. "the lay people had done enough, and now they wanted to be heard by the hierarchy but were not getting any results..our patience as priests ran out, we got tired of useless dialogue...Time is running our because the Vatican is going backwards." Well looking at what he said it is quite clear the Austrians and their association in Ireland and the U.S and GErmany are not going to give up their demands. They have a planned meeting with Cardinal Schonbrun but he can only speak for the rebels in his own diosece and what is really needed is some sort of concerted action by the whole of the Bishops conference.
In a second related article we read that the Cardinal has launched what he says are "9 catechesis" which deal with producing a real change of heart in Catholics (metanoia). We must concentrate not on what we as human beings want but on what Jesus Christ wanted, a new evangelisation which must take place before any reform can take place.
Now for some shorter snippets from last week.
CARDINAL BURKE gave a lecture in Manchester 10 days ago. I hope to deal with this separately during the week. Excellent speech.
FR DYLAN JAMES who lectures at Wonersh writes in "Faith Magazine" that the purpose of sex is not for loving on its own but for having children in a state of loving. Sex cannot be separated from pro creation he says and "contemporary society (in this) , the sexual urge has been overdeveloped"
An interesting point here. When I was at the Seminary we were taught that in applications for marriages involving a catholic and a non catholic you could NOT put down LOVE as a reason but had to write in "Firm determination to marry" as the reason or rather unfortunately "Eventus Rei", literally "The coming of the thing",..the thing being a "Baby on the way "!!
IT SEEMS THAT the "revolutionary movement" might be spreading to Italy. An esteemed journalist writes of many other writers who are expressing alarm on developments in the Church under Pope Benedict including the "restoration" of the ~Tridentine Rite. One of the other writers is a Bishop of a small diocese near Palermo who blames the recent developments on "Papal advisors" and says the restoration of the old ite of Mass was an "unmotivated concession to protestors of the conciliar reforms." Incidentally I hear that Bishop Williamson of the SSPX is causing a problem and may lead a break away movement in theSSPX. he certainly wont accept any agreement reached.
WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT ? There is a letter in that weeks Capsule from a certain gentleman calling himself simply Basil Loftus" but not on anything he has written before but complaining about a suggestion that those attending Mass should have a standard of dress not less than is expected or even demanded in civic buildings and restaurants. He moans that many who attend our Cathedrals and wear appropirate clothing are "invariably well heeled" and that many who live in ordinary parishes do not have a choice of acceptable clothing and the only public office they attend is the benefits office or occasionally the magistrates court (presumably for non payment of rents etc). He has a point in a way but I detest myself the way in which many men (who could dress far better) turn up in what I term slovenly clothing, like T shirts with slogan on them and jeans. Dressing properly for Mass is a mark of respect for Our Lord.
Missals for the New propers of Mass are now available from CTS and the big missals are being delivered next week by the way to the clergy who have ordered them. (there will be Sunday Missals and weekdays missals available).

I am back again

2011-10-19T17:27:00.002+01:00

Back again I arrived at 4.00pm after my break. Wonderful weather and good for walking in the sea air on the cliffs at Reculver. On return 25 e mails and comments. I have only glanced at them but they are published for those who scour this blog. Dilly, I do not know the answer to your problem of the possible divorce granted to Eleanor of Aquitaine by thePope. I will try and look it up...unless someone in the blogosphere knows the answer?
I never had a chance to see last weeks Capsule and tomorrow the new one is out. I did look at the Laird and I am sure you will be pleased to know that he is a firm supporter of those dissident Austrian Catholics X! Iwill try and give you a little of his outpouring to morrow. I am off to the weekly choir practice tonight so little time. But here is a starter on humour.
HORSE RACING> My horse r acing relation, Mick Mildew saw in the paper that the government needs to "get the financial situation into a stable condition" Mick has the answer. Go our and buy some horses with a good chance of winning. He suggests they start with the amazing Frankel (for me the best flat horse I have ever seen). It will be in training next season and after that stud duties will command a huge fee. The price the Gov. must pay the Sheik who owns it will of course be huge, certainly over 10 million pounds. (Not certain which Sheik owns it, perhaps that great smoker Mustafa Fagnow.)
He suggests for the jumps a relation of a horse called Certain Justice which raced some years ago and won 20 times at ~Fontwell Park. He suggests calling the horse "Justice on the Stock Exchange" After all Fontwell Park is the only course in the country which races the big fences on a figure of 8 course. It is also full of ups and downs. The jockeys and horses hardly known which way they are going. (Just like the stock exchange).

Worst kind of modern paganism...

2011-10-18T13:25:00.001+01:00

Paganism modern style. In the previous post I dealt with early paganism and now following a line suggesed by an article by Christopher Howse (again), a word on modern paganism based partly on a work entitled "A very short introduction to Paganism". The worst form was introduced by Aleister Crowley (d 1947) who is sometimes called the most evil person of his generation. He dabbled first in Egyptian gods and started worship of Osiris and Horus (deities of that time). He later developed his own theory "Thelema" with a motto "Do what you will" and he certainly did that..The basis of teaching on this is "Sex Magic" need one say more on that. He was bisexual, a drug addict who dabbled in all types of drugs. Some people he influenced included Margaret Murray the Egyptologist (featured on back page of this months BBC History Mag I think) She had a special theory of the continuation of traditional witch craft up to day. (She also decried the Biblical stories of Jericho having done some excavations there ) She even suggested that Joan of Arc and Thomas a Becket had been sacrificed as part of a ritual killing to ensure fertility ! The most important figure was however Gerald Gardner (d 1964) the father of modern WICCA. It has been suggested that themes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer has normalised the idea of WICCA simply as a pagan religion without the use of spells. (I believe I saw an example of a spell being cast by an evil man on his ex wife which led to her death without known cause (found on the floor of her house aged about 38.) Some of these paganist movements are certainly at large and are inspired really by the Devil.

Early rivals to Christianity.

2011-10-16T12:37:00.000+01:00

Early rivals to Christianity Most of this post is taken from an article by Christopher Howse in the Daily Torygraph recently. (general points)
In the early Church heresies and deviations are mentioned even in Scripture. In l Timothy (which we priests read on Saturday) there is a mention of the "Knowledge" which is roundly condemned. This is an early form of Gnosticism which word means Knowledge. The best known form is Manicheism which St Augustine turned to in his early life. Like all these sects they thought themselves a cut above g enuine Christianity. False Gospels were written in those early days viz Gospel of Thomas etc. In the Epistles of St Paul there is reference to "powers , dominations etc". These are not earthly powers but a belief common amonst the Jews that there were a group of angels who helped God in the work of creation. You look at these texts and you will find that ST Paul speaks quite slighteningly of them but they survived thanks to the Pseudo Dionysius as part of the 9 choirs of angels (headed by the genuine Archangels, cherubs etc. Those powers etc are basically gnostic ideas which crept into Judaism in the post exilic times. They include sometime the word "Virtues" which does not mean what we call Virtues but are a term used by the foundation of all Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism.
Christophe Howse reviewing a work on religious history of the Roman Empire about St Hippolytus writing about 230 AD of a sect called Naassenes. Hippolytus was rather an odd fish though a saint. He became a pretender to the see of Rome and an anti pope, but Pope Pontian found himself incarerated with Hippolytus in the sant mines of Sardinia where both died from ill treatment and considered martyrs.
~The Naassenes were another odd lot. They might be considered the founders of the mother earth movement (Fr Matthew Fox and Fr Richard Rohr) They went further , they took part in a cult of Cybele and her followers the Naassenes had themselves castrated according to one source but Hippolytus said they simply lived like euneuchs and worshipped a snake they called Naas to whom all were subject and has all things good in himself as in the horn of a one horned bull so as to impart beauty and bloom to all things that exist. (You might wonder how anyone could believe such junk but it still happens).Hippolytus was particularly horrified by the way they attended the mysteries of Mater Magna, the great earth, where they incorporate their own ideas which link the serpent of Eden with the coming of Christ. The only source for Hippolytus writings on the Naasenes is a text found in Mount Athos in 1842 called "The Refutation of all Heresies". It shows how some Christians thought they could legitimately partake of pagan rites. Obviously some still are !!

Your conference speech for all season

2011-10-13T12:36:00.001+01:00

Conferences Some of this is based on an idea from Craig Brown.

PART ONE. my own idea. What the party leaders really meant but did not quite say so.

ED MILLIPEDE. I was elected by you the Trade Unionist vote. I know that many of you are upset by my policies and actions since. However I wish to say that I am 100 per cent on you side and I mean this sincerely even if disagree with you on some essentials. And I really mean this, sincerely, yes sincerely and when I say sincerely I really mean sincerely. You can always honestly trust me. Honestly. I am not a dishonest person.

DAVE BANGERON> Yes I am a conservative and in spite of half my members disagreeing with me particularly Catholics, yes I support gay marriages. I and say this sincerely. I am a Christian and I support gay marriages. ~Why should'nt I ?

WE politicians have to follow public opinion whatever we think privately but Isincerely say I support gay marriages.

MR CLOGG. We are happy to share power with our enemies but expediency forces us to do so otherwise we would never get any of our policies through and dont forget and I say this sincerely, we have got many of our policies through. I know we have not got too many of ouru policies through but we have got many, and I say this sincerely, we will get more through.

PART TWO some ideas from Craig Brown last week.

guide to what any politician should say at any conference

Our party has had great leaders, great leaders who did great things but then they stopped doing nice things and had to resign. But I am not one of them, nor would I pretend that I was. I am someone different, I am my own man , not just MY own man but YOUR OWN MAN too..

Trust, Trust our trust , your trust, you can always trust me, a trust we share , lets be clear about this, that is what I want to talk about today. Many governments have tried to put the cart before the horse, look where it got them, the cart in front and the horse behind. Fine if you want the horse to go backwards,but this cart wants to go forward....

We believe in great values, we dont believe in something for nothing or nothing for nothing. Yes that is what we believe in This is a big challenge we must confront the crisis we have together, even if it means changes, but you can believe in me and I sincerely believe this. We believe in the Big society,not a small society,but a large one, a big society and I honestly mean this,yes honestly.

Eastern Orthodox Church teaching on marriage.

2011-10-08T15:30:00.003+01:00

Marriage in the Orthodox church.The thrust of the article in the Capsule is that the practice of the Orthodox church can be a model for what we in Western Catholicism could follow. In the Eastern Orthodox, remarriage after divorce is possible. (What is not clear for me and never has been...is how on earth did the difference ever begin? At what period, from the start, after Chalcedon or when ? So perhaps some theologian could answer that one for me) Anway the basic argument used by the orthodox is as follows. Yes, we accept the words of Our Lord that what God has joined together let no man put asunder and in our view the marriage between two baptised Christians is sacramental. Now the split originates because there is a distinction which all recognise that there is a difference between matrimonium in fieri, matrimony at the moment it is contracted and matrimony in facto esse...the reality of life after the beginning. This can be the basis for the eventual nullity to be granted. Now what the Easterns have done is to distinguish the validity of a marriage from its sacramentality. In the Eastern rite, you can only have one sacrament but if the marriage breaks down you can have a 2nd marriage which the Eastern Churh recognises as Valid but NOT sacramental. It can be noted that in the Eastern rite the SACRAMENT in marriage is conveyed by the priest with a nuptial blessing, and in any subsequent marriage, the priest goes through the rite but leaves out the nuptial blessing, leaving a VALID marriage,but NOT a SACRAMENTAL ONE. Our position is that the priest is only the witness to an exchange of consent made in his presence. Historically our author tell us these positions were widely discussed at Vatican two and the proposition for the new Code of Canon Law would be a) that Christ raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament and then you would leave out the second part (part b) which states "wherefor evey marriage between baptised persons is a sacrament" This was the position of a leading canonist called Fr Peter Huizing who wished to throw out part b,thus allowing remarriage after divorce but only as a valid marriage but non sacramental. It appears that part b as a canonical fact was only added by Pope Pius VII and that the council of Florence in the 15th century which was trying to reconcile the Eastern position with that of the Catholic Church did not include part b. No one denied the arguments put forward by Huizing later EXCEPT that the Church had always accepted part b of the definition of a Catholic marriage as "Catholic Doctrine" But our author states and here I would take issue with him, that the expression "Doctrina Catholica" in the hierarchy of truths of the Church is well below "de fide doctrine" and could be changed, like "limbo " teaching was. I believe however that the Eastern position was wrong from the start and that part b is essential, only allowing for nullity of marriage , ie a statement that the marriage was null and void from the start (from marriage in fieri, due to a fundamental flaw in consent,and essentially marriage is conveyed by the couple exchanging consent in the presence of the priest and not by a nuptial blessing. The rest of the article I regard as mainly a diatribe against not only our teaching on marriage but on church authority. Now all this is complicated and you might like a) to read what I put here and even dare I say it b) to read the article in the Capsule.NOTE

Now as I am away for 10 days from Monday, I will try and put on some pre published material for two or three extra posts during this time. now I have managed to produce 3 posts dated for 13 16 and 19 October to keep you happy

Commenting on Capsule Snippets

2011-10-08T11:59:00.002+01:00

Snippeting from Capsule. going on.
THOSE MOANING IRISH PRIESTS> They belong to the Irish Association of Catholic Priests with about 500 members so they say. They are complaining first of all about being under "intolerable stress" due to an ageing clergy and lack of planning on the part of Bishops. "The whole thing is falling apart" said one brave heart. In a keynote speech told 300 members about his moans with few men and women offering to give up their lives in the service of a crumbling church. He said efforts to stir up interest in the forthcoming International Eucharistic Congress were falling on death earts and reminded him of Willie Whitelaw at the 1974 elections as a campaign "stirring up apathy". The speaker a Fr Kevin Hegarty had lost a job as editor of the Catholic Intercom mag. over his own position on clerical celibacy and the handling of the abuse scandal. He has gone further now and spoke about the need for a "Vatican 2 inspired church which would open its doors to married priests and women priests, benefit fromj secular insights on human intimacy and democracy and work on developing a healthy holistic theology of sexuality.Evidently a follower of Jack Dominian and Bernard Haring.!
IN GERMANY CARDINAL LEHMAN found himself trying to defend some of the statements made the Holy Father on the topic of the Church's need to detach itself from wordliness (the german word Entweltlichung means "detachment from the world". What the Holy Father meant was that the Church in GErmany found itself very rich thanks to the Kirchentax imposed on the laity (which goes to the church) and that this wealth should not be shown in the lives of clergy etc. However some of the hearers had understood this to mean that they should withdraw themselves from charitable works towards others. Although the Holy Father had commended charitable works he did point out that agnostics who sought God were nearer to the Kingdom than church members who did not believe. At the youth rally before the Freiburg meeting the particpants were handed green and red cards to show as answers to some questions. Green would mean Yes and Red mean No. The first question was "Can homosexuality be a sin?" Reply ...a mass of red cards . the second question was "do women play too little a role in the Church"...reply a mass of green cards. Question 3. Do you agree that what denomination a personbelongs to does not play a part in my faith (ie in effect is one faith as good as another) the reply was agin ..a mass of green cards.
STILL ON THE PAPAL VISIT, on the topic of relationship with the Lutherans the head of the ~Churchs ecumenical commission said he believed that the Pope had rehabilitated Luther. I do not agree. All the Pope said was that Luther's question "how do I receive the Grace of God?was the driving force of his Life and that this made a big impression on the Holy Father. The Church recognises the theological Christ centred dimension of Luthers theology (but this does not mean that Luther is rehabilitated I would say).
THOSE AUSTRIAN CLERICS AGAIN. Well they refuse to withdraw their demands and they would maintain their disob edience to Church teaching on the matters they previously set forward (I dealt with this some months ago).
IN GENERAL THE Capsule spends much time on the "problem" of communion for divorced and remarried Catholics. Three letters moaning about this whilst the redoutable Daphne McCleod writes supporting our teaching. But the really big point this week is a long article by one B...l L...s. on how the church might adapt the rules of the Eastern Orthodox church on this question. I will deal with this tomorrow. It is not a bad article as it gives a good history of the position from a canonical point of view but the conclusion is surely...not acceptable.

Fr Haring plus notes

2011-10-07T17:12:00.003+01:00

Notes A small correction. Swaddlingcote would not be a satisfactory answer in the quiz because the word derives from a totally different route word. I am also glad to tell you that the little problem I had (mentioned yesterday) is now resolved.
FR HARING was a Redemptorist priest in Germany and during the war w as forced to take a non cambatant role in the war. Before the council he wrote a 3 volume work on moral theology entitled "The Law of Christ" He had been appointed a professor of moral theology at the Redemptorist university in Rome and the book was rather mildly condemned (some put it stronger) by Pope Pius 12th. It was the start of a long series of dissertations on morals which soon became centred on the question of contraception. Together with Charles Curran and Hans Kung he organised a kind of rebellion against Papal teaching on this point (Humanae Vitae 1968). He introduced the opinion in morals known as the fundamental option...if you firmly vowed never to committ a serious sin then you would not do so. (not much room for the devil etc). He went further in his attacks on contraception believing the human "embryo" was probably not a human baby until after 40 days and expressed an opinion that Artificial Insemination, Sterilization might be considered as possible ways of birth control, while decrying the advantages of natural methods of contraception. He later put forward some very advanced views on morality stataing the church should reconsider its whole teaching on marriage and divorce which is based on religious principles, and replace this with a teaching based on the common good, care for the weak and disadvantaged and joint values of society. All this is a result of his personalist moral teaching which in effect teaches that morality is almost a person relationship between a person and the almighty rather than any real influence of natural law or church teachings. So at the end of his life he issued his "Dream for the Church" in which he envisaged (written 1985 I think) that the next Pope would call him self "John the 24th" and abolish all ecclesiastical titles, stop people calling him "His Holiness " etc and advocating women priests on the same footing as male priests. This he claimed would ease the way towards a full unity with other Christian Bodies. He died in 1988. He was never really condemned except that his view of the fundamental option was attacked by Pope John Paul2nd and rejected.

Blessed Titus Brandsma, patron of bloggers now plus the quiz.

2011-10-06T10:14:00.002+01:00

Blessed Titus Brandsma Carmelite Priest and Martyr. 1882 to 1942. Executed by lethal injection after arriving at Dachau concentration camp. (He is the first of 45 Catholic Martyrs who died at that camp now declared Blessed). He was a Carmelite priest philosopher who taught philosophy at Nijmegan in Holland. As a philosopher he also specialised in the works of St Theresa of Avila and mystical theology. He acted as a journalist to many Catholic periodicals and after 1935 was to the forefront in attacking Nazi ideology. When the Germans invaded Holland and took it over, they arrested him and after short spells in local prisons was taken to Dachau and executed (giving a Rosary to his executioner before he died).
The guild of Catholic Bloggers have taken him as patron and are now to be known as the Blessed Titus Brandsma guild of Catholic Bloggers. We are to operate under certain rules which if we breach we will no longer be counted as members.
The guild met under the auspices of the leading blogger, the Hermeneutic at Blackfen last week. I suggested that each blogger made a very short summary of his particular emphasis in his own blog and that this could be published in the list of bloggers. I would for instance say "Commenter on Catholic Press, pointer out of errors, plus specialist knowledge of English Catholic Church History and Church Music, plus Humour and quizzes"
THAT QUIZ. Well my idea of the answers was for the towns for comfort to be Settle and Chesterfield. The word "Settle" is in fact an older version of the word "Settee" Chesterfield is a type of armchair "invented" by the Earl of Chesterfield.
The pun correctly answered by one correspondent is that the parish Church of that town has a twisted spire clearly recognisable from the Railway. The other names suggested in the answers I reject except Swaddlingcote. My only caveat is whether the name precedes the town as it is a Biblical term. Now for the cakes my idea was Eccles, Pontefract and Kendal Mint Cake, but there are other versions of Eccles cakes (buns) slightly different found at Chorley, Banbury, Ripon and possibly other towns.

True Redemption, not Harings version.

2011-10-05T10:18:00.002+01:00

Note I have had 3 replies to the little quiz set yesterday. The places for a rest...well I disallow Bedale and Easington as they are corny replies. The towns I want are specific for rest. I have two correct answers. On the cakes I am glad someone sent in a cake town I did not know and I have since discovered another but you have missed the northernmost town.
REDEMPTION. The view of Haring is inadequate. Boiling it down it seems that Christ was being tried out by God in some way , whichis a ridiculous notion. The comparison with Abraham is false as his faith WAS being tried out. The idea in Haring that the Sacrifice on the Cross was merely to show us a way of peace is again inadequate as it totally leaves out the redemption from Sin incurred originally by Adam and then inherited by us. Behind this of course is the fact that the Redemptive Act, the supreme act of giving one's life for others, is the greatest act of love for mankind that is possible.
I looked through the treatment of Expiation in Sacrifice in Blessed Columba Marmion's book "Christ in his Mysteries" Page 96 though the point is elaborated over several other pages. By no means is it some vindictive act by a vengeful God. Yes it is true that God could have chosen another route for redemption but this way of suffering un.to death is the greatest possible way of showing Divine Love for us. In the Old Testament Sacrifice was always a way of showing adoration to a divinity (in all pre Christian faiths) In the Jewish faith it was more detailed...the offering of a victim (usually an animal) which is made by a Priest who is a mediator with the Godhead, which makes the animal useless to man, but symbolically is a victim offered to God. On the Cross the Priest and Victim are the same of course and that is what makes this redemptive act so unique. On page 90 Marmion quotes a text from a vision of St Catherine of Siena where God explains like this..."through the union of two natures Christ has thrown a bridge across the abyss that was separating us from heaven. I want you to look at this bridge which I have built for you in my Only Son, to contemplate its g reatness that goes from heaven to earth...this was necessary in order to create a way that had been severed and to permit a crossing over the bitterness of the world so as to arrive at life (eternal."
Please pray for me as yesterday I had a great shock when an old friend lost his temper with me on the phone over a remark I had made and went on and on. So I put the phone down on him. My remark I considered quite innocuous, but he flew off the handle. I was terribly upset.

More on the Redemption,yesterdays post continued

2011-10-04T16:19:00.002+01:00

Note First a correction. St Anselm became Archbishop of Canterbury 28 years after William the Conq. landed. (Mea Culpa on that one). Second I was contacted by a priest without a computer who had been sent some tapes of a "retreat " by Fr Richard Rohr OFM. If you check him out on your computers you will find that he is totally unorthodox, in fact basically a "new ager" or earth religion follower like the notorious Fr Matthew Fox. Worse in fact, in his retreats he encourages nudity!!
CONTINUATION FROM YESTERDAY. The second half of the article is based largely on the work of Fr Bernard Haring CSSP in a work entitled "Faith Imperilled" which is turn is based on German Protestant Theology of the last 100 years. (so that is why the Laird chose the Grunewald Crucifixion). He starts by asking whether in the account of Abraham and Isaac, did the Lord really intend that Isaac should die ? Haring replies that in this case the Lord intervened because he wanted to stop at all costs the death of a human being being made in the name of God. He claims that the original command of the Lord was quite understandable to Abraham because he lived in circumstances in which according the tradition of the time such a sacrifice was expected since God could only be placated by the sacrifice of the first born son. (Surely this is rubbish in regard to Abraham...if it applied generally to all first born children they would all have been killed...muddled thinking). Haring goes on to state in the book that from that time there developed in Israel's consciousness a growing awareness that such attempts to placate God with human sacrifice was in fact an abominable crime against ~God and mankind" . Anyway our author then asks why in the case of Christ God did not intervene ? The answer the author gives is a further muddle. he writes "because the death of Christ was NOT a human sacrifice made in the name of God." Well we all know that ! But Haring then comes out with the following
it was a necessary consequence of the risk that God took in sending his only Son to make an irrevocable commitment to the reconciliation with God of a peace loving humanity !!!! God wanted to show humankind the way of peace whatever the cost" so this is the new meaning of our redemption ! The Laird comments on this twaddle thus the killing of Jesus on the Cross was the consequence of that risk and not 'an agreable sacrifice that having been taught for centuries unwittingly promoted an image of a cruel and vindictive God' "so for the Laird and Haring the idea of a redemption from sin seems to have disappeared. Now tomorrow I shall just say a few words drawn from Blessed Marmion on the true explanation which in no way suggests a vindictive God anyway.
A LITTLE QUIZ TO TEASE YOUR MINDS. (not for those who met me on Saturday)
Name at least 2 towns in the North of ~England which might be good to have a rest in. One in Yorkshire, one in Derbyshire. There is another one I was told on Saturday but I have forgotten that one ! One of the two is a real twister...and there is a pun here? Why?
Then name 3 towns again in the North which have cakes which are not cakes at all !

God so loved the World (motet)

2011-10-03T09:55:00.002+01:00

Comments first. I hope to do a few blogs this week, but am away for 10 days from Sunday. I do feel better now but need that break. I do not know where that altar piece is from (as illustrated in my recent blog). I got the picture from a selection on the internet without attribution.
God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son into the world to redeem the world....etc. John chpt 3 verse 16. This is set to music by William Stainer (died 1901) and is part of the larger work "The Crucifixion". We sang the motet yesterday at New Malden. (I think I got the notes right but the range for the tenor voice is over one octave) It is perhaps the best known part of that forgotten work though Stainer wrote hymns and other music of course) But this leads me on to consider the whole topic of red emption in view of a strange article by the famous Laird in the Catholic Times. I think it is up to his very best (or worst in some way). The article is entitled DID GOD WANT CHRIST TO DIE? That title alone would arise suspicicion. However let us start analysing . The articleis headed by a picture of Christ in Agony on the Cross by Grunewald, and that itself is part of a large work entitled the "Issenheim Altar Piece" which is found in the ~Gallery at Colmar in France. We normaly consider this to be a Lutheran work as although it depicts Agony very well (it is a great picture), surely it also depicts Christ as a mere man uncertain of why he is on the Cross..ie doubting. (would you agree with that view?)
In the text the Laird takes up the point of why did Christ become man (Cur Deus Homo...a key work by St Anselm. A slight aside... The Laird says (he) "came to England just after William the Conqueror invasion of Britain in 1066 (adding) I always look up dates to check them but I think we can leave that one!" What a joke, Anselm did not arrive until 33 years later...but I too think I can leave that one! Anselm was giving the ordinary meaning of the Redemptive Act that God was obliged (not that Anselm used that word) to seek satisfaction from mankind since this was a matter of justice. (In fact that is an incorrect version of what Anselm meant. Put that way this does not square with the traditional teaching that God chose to redeem mankind in the clearest possible way by a sacrifice of love whereby God becomes man in the person of Christ to be a sacrifice far superior to the Jewish Sacrifices as the Victim and Offeror (or priest) is God himself. The Laird then distorts the meaning of St Thomas Aquinas who said that God could have chosen other ways for redemption which is indeed true. However the Laird considers that although God could have chosen other ways, this still represents
a vengeful God who was calling for human sacrifice to make up for sin, and certainly not to buy us back from the Devil Yet as the Laird continues (in his view) these and other outlandish views !!!! in the History of the Church have been given respectability by respectable theological scholars !!!! and held for hundreds of years.So for his solution the Laird turns to the writings of Fr Bernard Haring ! a well known Redemptorist moderniser priest who died in 1988. Now all this is quite difficult and I will leave the dynamic conclusion for tomorrow leaving you with a little Humour
(From this week's Catholic Herald) Headline "Pope presented with gift of l million bees" Mildew comments. "Is this a papal "sting operation" against the Pope ?

Mildew mildewing !

2011-09-24T11:19:00.002+01:00

This is only a temporary break in my blog silence.
First I am afraid that learning how to do photos on blogs is for me quite difficult as I am mildewing away. The photos shown were done for me by a friend, student at Rome on holiday. I have written the guidelines down and when I feel better I will indeed try on my own and quite agree that photos are most useful on a blog.
SECOND. A mildew moan. The new edition of the Missal has been delivered to the Bishops and is now stored over here by CTS...but has been in store abroad for a while ! In the interim we were dished out with a temporary missal for a few weeks only which cannot really be used as an #~Altar missal because it will not lie flat. So a) Why did they not wait a little until the full edition was ready...indeed it may have been ready all the time which makes things even worse and is certainly available now !
b) If they felt it necessary to publish an interim missal why was it not given hinged covers so that it could lie flat ?
So in both scenarios who is to blame ? The CTS. ? The Hierarchy? or the beurocrats of Eccleston Square ? Whoever is to blame I describe them as both suffering from "Dagenham Days" and of actually being "Harpics". Both these terms are naval slang. "Dagenham is the next station on the london underground to Barking...so "Dagenham Days" means in slang. "Almost barking mad"! while "Harpics" refer to the famous toilet cleaner and the famous wording on the instruction leaflet "Clean completely round the bend"!

Experiments with photographs

2011-09-20T11:09:00.004+01:00

Picture taken at Bluebell Rly recently at Kingscote Station . The line might be ready to run throught to East Grinstead at the end of next year.

Recent picture of choir outing lunch at Bell Inn at Alresford on Mid Hants Railway.

This is a test image

Apology

2011-09-17T07:48:00.002+01:00

APOLOGY I am suspending blogging for a while. I do not feel 100%, feeling rather depressed and rather behind in the work I have to do. I have little or no time for reading at the moment. Extra Supplies are falling my way. I doubt if I will be back until Mid October. Just keep an eye out at the end of this week though.

Correction to the Review of yesterday plus an interesting moral maze for tonight

2011-09-14T11:44:00.002+01:00

Corrections I have altered the following points in yesterdays review. I inadvertently put "refuse absolution" instead of "receive absolution" I left out the name of the blog by James Preece which also contains a good review. The blog is
"Catholic and Loving it". The price of the book is £9.95 and I have included the web site of St Pauls publications.
INTERESTING MORAL MAZE. I used to teach elementary economics and tonight the topic for discussion is "should the rich pay more tax to help the poor"
This affects Christian moral teaching which would agree. In our system we have a system of income tax which does this by making tax "proportionally progressive" ie the more the earn the bigger proportion you pay and the poorer are also helped by raising the start of any income tax deduction (done every year). A recent problem has been the introduction of a 50% income tax on extremely high earnings. Some claim it will not even work at all. I heard one person say there should be equal rate for all. That would certainly mean hardship since the rate would have to be about 30% for all to raise the same amount of money...but unbelievably for me, the same idiots proposing this say "no no" but put on V.A.T on food ! Now that would add enormously to regular food bills for all and hit the poor the hardest. It is also flatly against Christian principles. V.A.T. if anything should be lessened in my book anyway ! Of course the rich idiots claim that if you tax the rich too much they will move out of the country and businesses will relocate. Greedy so and so's whose so called bonuses give them inflated incomes any way. What does an extra million a year add to the utility of the payment ? Perhaps they might have to buy a cheaper yacht, move into a slightly smaller house worth a couple of million less than their present pads ? I was much influenced on all this on a visit last year to the Isle of Wight from Lymington which was full of yachts and cruises as far as the eye could see ! I look forward to the debate tonight. I think it is 9.00pm on Radio 4.

Catechism by Hughues d'Orfeuille reviewed plus other points

2011-09-13T16:21:00.003+01:00

CATECHISM REVIEW the catechism was first reviewed by James Preece on his own blog on Sept 6th. His blog is "Catholic and Loving it" That very encouraging review stresses the difference of approach from so called modern catechisms and marks a return to what we might term "God centred" approach rather than starting with the "child where he is now" approach which has crept in all over the place in this wretched child centred approach (which in a general way I think leads to selfishness in the child). So I look at the way the way the work is presented
The Catechism in full is entitled "CATECHISM WITH THOUGHTS FROM THE CURE OF ARS, and is translated from the French. Published by St Pauls Publications, London, dated (ie in Translation) 2011 and should be readily available in Catholic Bookshops. Price £9.95 www.stpauls.org.uk
The Book has 158 pages Softback and the print size is very satisfactory with the advantage also that it can fit into your pocket if required.
The Set Up of the book is divided into Three main Master Sections. They are in order THE APOSTLES CREED. GRACE AND THE SACRAMENTS, THE COMMANDMENTS, Including the commandments of the Church, the Virtues and Prayer. It would be useful not only for children aged 7 to 17 as suggested by any Catholic who wants a simple straightforward account of what the Church teaches.
Each Chapter contains a number of LESSONS In all there are 44 such lessons but in teaching children I should imagine each lesson would take say 2 or 3 classes.
The breakdown of each Lesson is similar. So I take here the treatment of Confession and Satisfaction (part only of a series of lessons on sin and the Sacrament of Penance). So we start with "Words to read " in which each section is explained. So here the author deals with the obligation to confess grave sins, while still maintaining the utility of confessing venial sins, the pardon of sins in the actual confession, and what is meant by Satisfaction. Clearly the teacher would need to expand on these points.
Then we go on to 6 basic questions (on this section...there are more in other sections). They are short and snappy reminiscent of the old "Penny Catechism" and can be learnt by heart. ie. What is Confession? Confession consists of telling one's sins to an authorised priest in order to receive absolution from him.
(later) What is Satisfaction ? Satisfaction consists in making reparation for our sins. (the next question and answer deals with ways of satisfaction besides having a penance to recite)
Finally at the end of the Questions there is a short extract from the sayings of St John Vianney. (Incidentally I seem to remember that years ago I read in French a little Catechism consisting of longer quotes and possibly based on the instructions he used to give in his Parish ? I cant find it now. Does anyone remember ?)
I think this gives an overview of the contents and approach. No funny pictures, just straightforward text, neatly presented. A good handbook for life.
POPE BENEDICT ON THE USEFULNESS OF ART AS A HELP TO FAITH.
The Holy Father spoke on this topic and this is referred to in a short article in the Catholic Herald. Rather interestingly he spoke of the word of Marc Chagall, whose work I am not familiar with but of course he is just one of may religious painters in all ages. Chagall was in fact a Jew, which in no way detracts from his art. (I pointed out that Caravaggio is a wonderful painter even if his personal life was a mess) In Music of course the same is true. First class religious music is not confined to Catholic writers. If the Holy Father likes Bach (a Lutheran) and Mozart (a pretty dodgy Catholic and later freemason)...so what. Music is wonerful.

In Brief again

2011-09-12T18:46:00.002+01:00

BRIEF MESSAGE I have not felt well since an excellent outing with the choir on Saturday to the MidHants Railway. I will try to do something tomorrow (Tuesday).
In reply to Jonathon, I do not think there is any reason whatever to ruin say existing green belt areas round large towns. Outside those areas but in the general countryside I am opposed to building what amount to new towns. For instance a 4000 houses planned for a Somerset Village. Best to add a far smaller number of houses to villages..say 400 at most , which the Community may be able to absorb reasonably well. Also it may be possible to have larger blocks on ground which is not suitably for anything else. Transport links have to be considered as does work availability.

Various points.

2011-09-09T11:28:00.002+01:00

Comment on Press. I did not find much in the Catholic Press this week of any real interest. Most comment on the initial reception of the new translation. One writer in the Capsule writes that he thinks that in a few weeks we will all have grown used to the new translation but it wont make the slightest difference to many people whose approach to the Mass was fixed years ago and the various improvements in meaning will simply pass over their heads as they pray interiorly (or not at all in some instances). Left wing Una Kroll who writes as a "Catholic Priest" (which she cannot be !) did not like the translation because it stresses too much the need for repentance instead of the joy of the Resurrection.
Meanwhile the Laird is rabbiting on about joint prayers with non Christians. Rather pointedly as you might expect his article is headed by a picture of Pope John Paul 2nd at Assissi standing next to the Dalai Lama.
He mentions the reps of other faiths all prayed to their own "gods". We all know the result.....a massive earthquake a few months later ! The Fresh meeting to he held soon at Assissi will certainly not include any of that nonsense.
One of the most ridiculous heading on front page of the Catholic Herald was to be found this week. "Pope praises the work of Lutheran composer"
The composer in question was Johann Sebastian Bach. It is already well know that the Holy Father is keen on Bach's music and the fact that he was a Lutheran does not affect the quality of his religious music notably in the St Matthew and St. John Passion and the Mass in b Minor. In fact he knew that writing such a Catholic piece would land him in trouble and ordered that it should not be published until after his death. I suppose at that rate I should switch off Verdi Requiem on the grounds that he was an agnostic though born a Catholic, and presumably I should not enjoy anything sung by Mephistopheles in Gounod's "Faust" etc or say Scarpia in "Tosca" etc.
THAT QUIZ. Dilly did not point out in the answers that Faberge is best known for his "jewelled eggs" which could be worth millions.
I have received a copy of the new translation of Marmion's "Christ the Life of the Soul" which I deal with later also a review of an interesting catechism by Hughes d'Orfeuille with thoughts from the ~Cure d'Ars which will be reviewed at same time by yours truly. Both excellent works.

Reply to comments, abortion amendment defeated , humour

2011-09-08T16:20:00.002+01:00

Replies The answers to my little quiz are given more or less correctly by Dilly. I think however that a piece of Netsuke could hardly be described as tiny (though admittedly not very large). Highly decorated and much sought after.The painter was indeed Morland who certainly always included country scenes with horses. Also much in demand and prints should be easy to find, he was a prolific painter.
I was asked also to look at a particular sermon. I will try and look it up later on.
Abortion amendment defeated As the Radio said this morning, "Nadine had her day in the Commons but it was a bad day for her." She was rather put down by Cameron to the amusement of the House , then here amendment was defeated to allow abortion counselling to be independant. This has prompted a debate on Damian Thompson's blog on the topic. He pointed out that the various pro life bodies were often their own worst enemies and fought each other rather than acted together. I thought the amendment would have allowed a Catholic body to give advice, from a Catholic angle but I might be wrong on that.
HUMOUR I read the "Daily Mail" on Tuesday just to see what Craig Brown the satirist had to say and he did not let one down. He was writing on Osborne's idea that we should allow building on Green Belts as "the right to build on our greenery is vital for the economy." (~A dreadful statement and wrong anyway). However Craig uses it for one of his funniest posts ever.. "The Osborne Book of English Verse"... 21st century variations on familiar poems. You should be able to get the whole thing on the Daily Mail site otherwise try putting in "Craig Brown" on Google. It made me laugh so much it induced a coughing fit and I could not finish it until today. Here are one or two extracts.
"Adelstrop" by Edward Thomas. ( beautiful short poem written about 1910)
Yes I remember Adelstrop, the name, because one afternoon of heat, the express train drew up there. The steam hissed, someone cleared their throat, no one left and no one came on the bare platform (that is the first few lines of the original.
What I saw was ARNDALE.only the name and willows, willow herb and grass...were all covered by this shopping centre, reaching high up into the sky, and for that minute a blackberry rang close by.....
"Elegy written in a country churchyard" by Thomas Gray. (We had to study this as part of our A levels).
The tailback tells the knell of parting day, the groaning cars wind slowly oer the lead. The salesman homeward drives his weary way in his Nissan Primera Turbo XL 3...etc.
"Daffodils " by Wordsworth.
I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high oer vales and rocks when all at once I saw a crowd, a host of concrete tower blocks.....
"Jerusalem" by William Blake and to be sung at the Conservative party conference.
.......Bring me my Nandos and Pizza hut, bring me my Tesco on every floor, bring me my Zara and PC World, Bring me my Comet Superstore....I shall not cease from mental flight.....till we have built more shopping malls in Englands Green and pleasant land.
"Home Thoughts from Abroad" by Robert Browning.
O to be in England now that April's there, and whoever wakes in England sees some morning unaware, the highest c ranes and excavators gather round the greenest land while diggers uproot the orchard bough in England now..
I think this is satirical poetry at its best. Read the whole poems if you can and of course the originals.

New amendment on abortion counselling is debated today, assisted suicide to be lawful, (how awful) No more Christian assemblies etc

2011-09-06T12:23:00.002+01:00

Dreadful news and I dont mean the economic news. I mean increasing signs of the dechristianising of our land. The amendment by Nadine Dorries on allowing impartial counselling on abortions has not been altogether welcomed in Catholic circles but it would be useful if a Catholic agency or perhaps a join religious agency (of those who opposed abortion on religious grounds) were available. I fear that many Catholic women do seek abortions..but usually they are lapsed and the Church has no contact with them, or else the lady does not want to see the priest at all. As to assisted suicide there have been no prosecutions for ages and it is being quietly dropped with a lot of sad stories from the TV and other Media encouraging the practice. Now we learn that the former compulsory religious assembly held daily which had a Christian ethos is to be discarded in favour of some humanistic, joint values idea. This is already the case anyway in many state schools...and the result is again the general decline in religious practice aided and betted by people like Dawkins and Pullman.
QUIZ This time try you luck at being an Antiques Expert.
What is Scrimshaw and where is it found ?
What do you associate with Faberge?
What is the right spelling of the word pronounced NETSKEE and what does it mean ?
What or who is Clarice Cliff
What would you do with your Morland ?
Correct replies should apply to BBC to join their quiz "Antiques Master"

More on the new translation and on the interpretation of the Old Testament History

2011-09-05T12:02:00.002+01:00

New translation Yesterday I concelebrated (instead of singing at) the 11.30 Mass at St Joseph New Malden.. We have had the new translation for some time there but as that Mass has Latin Plainsong and certain other parts in Latin I learnt nothing new but today at St Raphaels Surbiton it was a different story. I concelebrated with Fr Logan using the Roman Canon. It was very slow going for both of us. I am on my own there tomorrow and Wednesday and provided one goes very slowly I think I can get the words right ! Of course the new translation is more accurate but as I said before you might call it "overaccurate" I realise many will disagree and I suppose one will get use to it in a few weeks. It is like learning a completely new rite at times. I have looked at their temporary English version of the Gloria ( a poor imitation of a simple plainsong version) and thought to myself ("This does not work very well"). Luckily it is usually Latin at N.M. for sung Masses. My own view is that Latin should be used for the Kyrie (Greek), Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei. in every Church at one Mass every Sunday to cater for a mixed racial congregation whose grasp of English may be poor., but who certainly recognise the old Latin.
More on History in the Old Testament. One has to be careful in putting this but as a record of history up to the time of King Solomon (ie history of the Jewish People ) the accounts given of various events cannot always be believed in literally. They contain elements of truth perhaps but say in the case of Judges, the stories are basically mythological and only contain lessons for the future. One basis fact emerges throughout is that from the time of the Crossing of the Red Sea (it should be the Great Bitter Lake...much larger then and matches the 2nd account which is largely overlooked in fact) (I will go into that some time).Anyway from that time on we get continual references to the Jews deserting the True God and Jewish worship and later on being called to order as it were by a Just man. Also it is absolutely clear that the Jewish people were never really united at all but split up into their tribes, often practically at war with each other. They came together under King David and Solomon but split in two (Northern Kingdom and Judea) after the time of Solomon until the exile in Babylon. It is at this time that we can trace from other sources real proper historical history....and that is not very pleasant either. One wonders how the Lord ever put up with them at all !

Its that word again, plus further comments

2011-09-03T11:57:00.002+01:00

Its that word again Well the correct answer is PHTHISIS. The best answer came from "Littlemore" who is a nurse anyway. In todays term it means Tuberculosis, and the word suggests a wasting disease caused by coughing. The Latin derivation from this word (it is ancient Greek) is TUSSIS. a cough. The first 4 letters are from two greek letters which are represented in English by the word above. We call them Dipthongs and like this are virtually unpronouceable. In fact you would pronounce the word TYSIS today. Littlemore wins the Mildew award this week.
Now try this. There is at least one very common word in English with 6 or 7 letters which contains no genuine vowel. What is this word ?
COMMENTS now many of the articles in the press in all Papers deal with the new translations for the Mass which most of you will hear for the first time on Sunday morning. I have mixed feelings about them and am afraid to say that on balance I do not like them. I have no quibble with "and with thy Spirit" but I do not care for the new translation of part of the confiteor. They could have returned to the old version (English version as given in say St Andews missal pre 1968).
Why did they reinsert "consubstatial" instead of saying "of the same substanace"?
The changes in the Eucharistic prayers I find confusing. Why was it necessary to change "of same way" (during consecration) to "in a similar way". Latin "simile" means "same" anyway.
I have seen some of the collects etc. which come in later and I do not like them as they have tried simply to copy the Latin idiom directly into English which gives sentences which are far too long (I have complained about long sentences before)
Latin is very concise particularly classical Latin. Take the well known (to Latin scholars) "O fons Bandusiae splendidior vitro....cras donaberis haedam cui frons turgida cornibus" The 2nd phrase would come out in English as "tomorrow you will be given a young female goat whose horns are starting to sprout from its forehead." Not that you would get anything like that exactly in Church Latin but I noted that even in the modern Church Latin constructions there was certainly a move back towards classical Latin.
Sorry about this rant. Now wait until Sunday and see what you think in some good comments either for or against.

First dip into the Pres and general

2011-09-02T18:22:00.002+01:00

General.Although a little better than yesterday I feel quite washed out and very tired. Still here is a little something.
Press comment Looking at the Capsule first I note the following which may be of interest.
CARDINAL KOCH tells us that at the forthcoming meeting to discuss the 500the anniversary of the Reformation he expects a joint admission of guilt for the Reformation to be made Catholics and Lutherans. Not too keen myself. Meanwhile in the diocese of San Marino a priest ordained 6 years ago has left the Church to become a Baptist citing a more caring approach and less bureaucracy and more Christ like approach to people. The Bishop calls him a heretic and a schismatic !
IN AUSTRIA. The prospective break away group favouring women priests, e t c etc which I mentioned a while back now have 400 priest members throughout Austria and 12,000 active lay supporters whilst about one third of all Catholic in Austria are in general supportive !
PROBLEMS AT DOWNSIDE SCHOOL reported by the Capsule.The Ofstead report has insisted that the school tighten up its child protection measures. It complains of out of date CRB checks on some masters and the Capsule reports that 4 monks were questioned about possible sex offenses last year but none were followed by prosecution. All very sad.
OVER NOW TO THE CATHOLIC TIMES. Here the Laird who gets a longer and longer column each week to promote his odd views, has this week dealt with the role of the parish council and the pastoral deanery councils introduced but not made compulsory by Vat 2 to give a voice to the laity.
All well and good until you discover as I did that such bodies were manipulated by left wing Catholics and woe betide priests like me who disagreed with them ! He concludes his diatribe by asking that the Church should listen more to the laity on the role of laity in such topics as the reception of Communion by divorcees, homosexuality, married clergy etc.
I think he might be more happy with that Austrian gang !

More on Book of Judges

2011-09-01T09:49:00.002+01:00

Book of Judges Well I had quite a few comments on that text from Judges. I doubt if you could call the vow of Jephtah a pagan vow but really a most unwise one. Jewish Law as many pointed out that the vow had to be fulfilled so Jephthah had no choice. The Book of Judges is full of cruelty and killings even from good Judges. Indeed the historicity of the Book is nil. It is merely a kind of later reconstruction (Norther Kingdom origin) of a set of legends passed on by forebears just to fill in the gap between Joshua and Saul. Note the tribal nature of the Jews, inter tribe rivalry and hatred. There was no settled kingdom until David ruled over all the tribes as did Solomon, but after his time there was a basic division between Northern tribes and Judea with many kings on both sides "doing evil in the sight of the Lord". One of the comments led me to Judges 19 and 20 which are a kind of appendix to the main list. Here there is a dreadful example of the most appalling barbarity between two separate tribes. Read it and see for yourself. One lesson the Jews might have learnt in later times was that when they departed from the 10 commandments and basic Jewish law, they descended into virtual if not complete paganism. (On a lighter note...the story of Samson and Delilah might be said to have a message for men..."Beware female hairdressers".)
which goes on to remind me that the ari.a "Softly awakes my Heart" from the opera Samson and Delilah is one of my most favorite tunes. Cant sing it as it is a Soprano aria.
I have been struck down by a heavy cold and bronchitus. Incidentally the Mildew Medical prize will go to a word of 8 letters starting with 4 consonants. (the 4 consonants together in Jephthar are in the middle of a word. Contestants most give the word, its meaning today and its derivation). The word is pretty obsolete now.

A strange text in Judges 12.

2011-08-28T10:13:00.002+01:00

Strange TExts A letter in the Catholic Times draws attention to a strange text from Judges Chap 11which was the lesson on Thursday last at Mass. Here Jephthah has vowed to the Lord that if he defeated the Ammonites he would sacrifice the first person to meet him after the victory but this turned out tobe his daughter. Having explained his predicament and asked for two months to bewail her virginity. He then treated her as his vow demanded. I agree with the writer that this text was a most odd choice for a Mass reading. Indeed I do not know the significance of it as it is complete contradiction of for instance the story of Abraham and Isaac. Perhaps some one who reads this might tell us ? By the way talking of the story of Abraham and Isaac I sometimes think of the poem by ~Wilfred Owen set to music by Britten in his War Requiem where Abraham prepares the altar for sacrifice when the voice tells him to "Sacrifice the ram of pride" instead.."But Abraham would not, and slew his son and half the seed of Europe one by one" (The reference being to the unnecessarly slaughter of the first world war.)

Blognic off. Further comments.

2011-08-27T12:08:00.002+01:00

Blognic off I am afraid that the proposed trip to West Grinstead is now off. In any case I am giving up motoring soon and do not fancy any long trips anymore. Inearly crashed twice on one journey recently to Herne Bay and it was my fault. (even my most grievous motoring fault). I have to go round the notorious Kingston one way system to get to St Raphael's Church and over the last 5 years this has become a nightmare because of the bad driving of others who go too fast and cut in and out of the 3 lanes. I can do the journey by bus and a 10 minute walk anyway. I might get a buggy (not a bug).
FURTHER COMMENTS. I just read through the weekly item from our dearest friend (!) the Laird and of course he is at it again. This week he attacks Catholic Blogs and those who write letters complaining about the Church of today. He quotes Vat 2 text which states that the Church today has to put mercy and understanding before severity and punishment. He goes on as before against Bishops in the States who refuse Communion to those senators etc who back abortion and euthanasia, thus putting their private views ahead of the ~Church's teaching. He claims the early Church did not place the priesthood as a high charism (in St Pauls letters) and correctly this time that the priesthood is a ministry of service to the members of the Church. However the priesthood is not a charism in itself, it is a call f rom God which needs the discernment of the local Bishop who directs his diocese with authority...to make sure the Church's teaching is upheld by its members particularly those who have seculare authority. I always regarded the Priesthood as making myself rather different from the laity, particularly in the demands of prayer etc and behaviour which mark us off from the laity. (Men of God..if you like).
Returning to last week, no one has written in to the Cath.Times to complain about Bishop Konstant being a polymath in the league of Lingard, Chesterton and I should add of course Blessed Newman.

First look at the Capsule.

2011-08-26T17:29:00.002+01:00

The Capsule. I have had a chance to look through the Madrid coverage in detail. Here are a few points from the rest.
BISHOP ROCHE said while in Madrid " I think the riots were a sympton of a no small part of a consumerist society that has lost its sense of values. In fact,(Britain) has lost its Christianity, and our country was built on Christiantiy, our laws were based on the laws of God and once you turn back on it and try to create values in a sort of humanistic contnext, all you get is total and utter confusion (speaking of the riots but more generally as well)." However as the Capsule reports, this view does not appear to be shared by Archbishop Vin. Speaking two years ago he described Britain as a profoundly religious society !
BISHOP MAGEE has returned to Ireland and apologised for his actions with great regret. He has already resigned his see.
CARDINAL VAUGHAN school is top perfoming Catholic Comprehensive school for A level results this year with 82% of students receiving grades A and B grades (this is for the whole country...state schools). This looks rather like one in the eye for Archdiocese of Westminster in it continuin row with the school over choice of governors (who determine admissions policy). Also in general there was a rise in the number of Catholic pupils taking Religious #Studies this year (now 22 thousand) 80% received grades A to C. (A caveat of course....What course of studies did they follow? there is a great deal of choice)
ROBERT MICKENS reports two slight hiccups at the Papal Visit to Spain. Only a few of those present at the main Mass were able to receive Communion partly because of the logistics of consecrating 1 million hosts and the option of using pre consecrated hosts at private Massses before hand was spoilt by a great wind destroying the tents which had been put up for the private Masses. (Was this the same wind which blew off the Papal skull cap at the previous vigil?). Also note that one of two of the other blogs suggested that the protests against the visit were on a very tiny scale..Well they were on the basis of the size of the meeting but they still totalled about 5000 or more and skuffles broke out between some of our more zealous pilgrims and some of the protestors it seems.
I will try and add to the comments tomorrow.
HUMOUR. It seems the best joke at the Edinburgh festival was as follows.
"I was asked by a security firm to select 8 characters for the security code.
I chose Snow White and the 7 dwarves."

Anonymouse Comments and Syria and Libya

2011-08-24T17:06:00.002+01:00

Anonymouse comments Yes I spell the word to indicate the mouse brain that sent me a comment yesterday which described myself and my blog with the C word. No Catholic would ever do that so I imagine he or she might have tried the same trick on other Catholic blogs. I use moderation so that his words will never see the light of day.
LYBYA I hope that the Catholics in that poor country will not be persecuted by any new government. For all his many faults President Gadfly was on good terms with the Catholic Archbishop of Tripoli. It was the same in Iraq where Catholics were not persecuted under the otherwise tyrannical Saddam.
SYRIA> In that country there are many Christian sects besides the Catholic Church, some very ancient. They have enjoyed freedom of worship. President Basher Assad belongs to a weird sect called the Alawi who apper to mix extreme Shia Moslem beliefs with a touch of Catholicism. Christopher Howse did a piece on them recently. It appears that they believe in reincarnation, and deny that women have souls at all. It seems too that they celebrate a kind of Mass with bread and wine. They keep their extreme beliefs to themselves due to much persecution in the past. This strange consecration however was in honour of Ali, son of Mohammed. Attempts in the last century to convert them fell on deaf ears as they had many feuds practiced brigandage, told lies and practiced divorce. Not very nice people to do business with !Next post Friday

Short message

2011-08-23T16:45:00.002+01:00

Short Message. I have only had 3 positive responses for anyone to join a blognic at West Grinstead on 3rd Sept. Unless I have a few more by Sunday pm I will probably cancel visit for now and hold blognic much later.
I was asked by a commenter to write something on coverage of the Papal Visit by BBC. However the interesting thing was I did not see any coverage at all from media or TV except that the Papal skull cap blew off in a storm and there were several protests about the expense of the visit and the usual nonsense from the gays. I have just been away for a few days and did not get the chance to see much TV as it happens.
I will try and put on something tomorrow if I can.

Silly Mistake plus rubbish

2011-08-19T16:54:00.003+01:00

Silly mistake I have made. The Blognic is on 3rd September, not December.
Yes it is from our good friend, again.
This week the whole article is tripe except for a small part of generalities. He starts off by exaggerating the difficulties caused in the Church today by "aSecret Police of self appointed intrusivily censorious and corrosive fundamentalists" ie he really means those who hold firm to the true faith based on a hermenetic of continuity. He goes on to recommend a work of Karl Rahner, whom he wrongly claims was made a Cardinal. This work on interpreting Vatican 2 talks about 3 watersheds in the Church, of which Vat 2 is the latest and seeks to promote a view that the Church instead of being centred around the Holy Father, should be regarded as "world centred" which he means ...a set of independant bodies forming "Church". No wonder Rahner is not a reputable theologian for the true Church ! He then rambles on about 18th and 19th century movements Gallicanism, and Cisalpinism on the left and ultramontanism on right of the Church. I agree that ultramontanism (excessive use of Papal authority as witnessed by W G Ward in the 19th century in our country was over the top. Ward wanted to see an infallible pronouncement on the table every day to accompany the "Times" as a daily read). But Gallicanism in particular was very dangerous as it led to clerics demand almost a complete split from Rome to form national churches. But the real horror is found in this little gem from our well known guru. Having quoted Lingard as a well known Catholic Intellect (19TH century writer) he speaks of "great polymath churchman in England who were at one and the same time able administrators, gifted hymn writers, and masterly theological scholars carried down into our own days with D avid Konstant. He is not a trained theologian anyway, he did not write hymns as far as I know except I am the Bread of Life,, he did not write any well known books, and to answer simply questions about his own personal faith which could have been answered by "Yes" and he was in overall charge of the Corpus Christi (short lived) which failed.

Blognic a rrangements

2011-08-18T15:58:00.002+01:00

BLOGNIC ON Blognic can be arranged now for Saturday 3rd December.
I need to know however roughly how many can come as at West Grinstead I need to arrange a definitive visit to the ancient chapel with the PP. (Main Church is always available). We would start there and have picnic there or go to pub after Mass which I could say there. Then we can go on in cars (lifts for those without cars) to Parkminster before returning. If time allows we might fit in on the way between them a brief visit to Kingsland where Belloc lived and see his favorite Windmill next door. Belloc is buried at West Grinstead by the way in the Catholic churchyard. (he like ale by the way). His surviving grandson is a monk at Downside.
Dom Philip Jebb.
As for timings I would have to fix that up with particular trains and stations to arrange meetings at. If anyone lives near me at Kingston area I can take them myself. Otherwise Horsham or Billingshurst. I imagine to aim at arriving at West Grinstead around 11.30 or 12.00. Let me know soon.

A Blognic is possible

2011-08-16T17:56:00.002+01:00

Blognic A posssible blognic has been suggested. We usually meet for these on Saturdays if a countryside location is proposed. If we were to do one such blognic I would recommend West Grinstead plus Parkminster. West Grinstead has a secret chapel in the presbytery and Parkminster is of course our only Charterhouse with monks living in the old silent style.
Presumably it would have to be in the next few weeks and Icant do Saturday 10th Sept as our choir are having a day out on the Mid Hants railway with a real ale lunch! Otherwise most dates are available even weekdays are a possibility . Please let me know what you think as soon as possible. Lunch in town is always possible but best avoid Saturdays then.
Rail travel would be to Billingshurst or Horsham with pick up and return. (Victoria Clapham Junc. East Croydon).
Sorry I cant do any more just now I have had two heavy days with large funerals to conduct and I am exhausted again.

Comments various

2011-08-14T10:43:00.002+01:00

Comments Looking first at the Catholic Herald again. Thanks for the comments on that terrible letter. The author clearly when a child had not even bothered to understand the true meaning of the Holy Mass or the proper significance of the Altar Rails. He seemed to regard the celebrants as belonging to a separate faith almost. Perhaps a good dose of Tridentine Masses would do him good again with proper explanations first.
I noted that Mr Dooley has an excellent article in the Catholic Herald on Irish affairs of late. He is quite right in all he says and I particularly liked the point that now that there is a coalition in Ireland (Labour and Fine Gael) there has been an influx of atheist politicians plus those with outmoded ideas about society. He has helped me with material in the past and I thank him for this article. Read it.
The Herald also gives one piece of good news (or was it the Torygraph) that the Catholic faith has secured a victory at last in the question of help given by nurses in procuring abortions. Two nurses were required to work at a clinic administering abortion inducing drugs and when they refused were told to give general care to the girls in the clinic before the abortion.
In both instances they refused and when disciplined took their case to the court and this time a keynote ruling was given that recognised that those who objected to abortions on medical grounds were within their rights to refuse to do so and could not be disciplined for so doing.
Pity then that there are measures afoot to force all pharmacists to sell contraceptives at their shops (with risk of dismissal of course).
RECENT RIOTING. I see that most Bishops C of E and Catholic, were very late in condemning the riots. What a lily livered lot they were ! However we had a good sermon on Radio 4 this morning from the Anglican Bishop of Manchester who pointed out the underlying cause was a total lack of moral upbringing amongst not only the youth of today but also of theiri parents, motivated by personal greed and lack of concern for the property rights of others. Even MPs with expenses fiddles are not exempt from this approach.
AS IT HAPPENS I am working on a special project to show that probably a main part of the trouble goes right back to about 1967 with the publication of an education report which promoted a complete change in the way children are taught especially in morality but in other fields also.
You do not actually TEACH the Children anything but present them with different approaches and tell them to make up their own minds and express them possibly in writing...This approach may start in the later stages of primary schools. It was certainly introduced even in Catholic Education circles with ideas promultated by the Catholic Education circle culminating in inadequate catechisms which manage to combine erroneous thelogical approaches (on the Mass and original sin) with a total absence of trying to impart the basic principles of morality. This approach started with Westminster and spread to other dioceses very quickly in their Catechetical centres where teachers were told to swallow all this nonsense.

Religious Health warning.

2011-08-13T11:59:00.002+01:00

Health warning.There is a new book reviewed in the Capsule on the Council and its afterwards with essay by all most wonky theologians. Avoid such a book and any adverts you might see for it. It is a collection of various essays.
If you need to have a raised blood pressure I also "recommend" a letter in this weeks Catholic Herald by some idiot in North Somerset whose letter is both bigoted, uneducated and contains the statement about enjoying the "chalice wine" at Communion !
I hope to do a fuller blog tomorrow.

Further comments

2011-08-08T16:46:00.002+01:00

Further comments I was reminded today that last week the Laird went on about the words per omnia Saecula Saeculorum which occurr at the end of many Mass prayers (for ever and ever). The Laird claims that the ~German word here is ewikeit meaning the same..ie for ever. He claims that this word is based on an older German word which means a Yew Tree which can be very old. A friend suggested the Laird might like to be taken up to 10,000 feet and parachuted into some yew trees where he could meditate on eternity and reconsider the rubbish he writes.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. There is a lot in the Press about the removal of RE from the English Version of the Baccalaureate which will curtain the teaching of religion in those schools which adopt this scheme which is becoming more and more popular. Seems rather sad anyway
Lady Scotland (a Catholic) is in trouble with some of the child protection people for suggesting that some laity might care to befriend priests and take them out for a meal or a drink and be sociable. These busy bodies consider that might encourage the abuse of their children and meanwhile the Rota Judge at the Vatican has complained that priests who are accused and later found not guilty of abuse are often pilloried by their superiors and sometimes not allowed to continued in ac tive ministry although the accusers in these cases are often disgruntled parishioners or old boys with a grudge...and just after compensation which they do not deserve in these cases.
I SEE that the US bishops are rightly worried because under the new legislation the employers of people (in schools etc) may be compelled to pay for their employees to pay for their contraceptives !
MEANWHILE in Germany large numbers of people are leaving the Church by refusing to pay the Church tax. Last year this number rose to just over 181,000 people left the Church this way.
ALSO IN GERMANY the Protestant Bishop of Bavaria has told a local newspaper that he hopes the Holy Father on his visit coming shortly to Efurt where Luther lived as a boy for some years and where the Holy Father will conduct some ecumenical talks...he hopes the the Holy Father will "speak clearly and decide on critically reappraisal of Luther as a person, with a positive view of the Reformation. !!"
NO MORE UNTIL SATURDAY