Follow his link in this post to

The League of Bearded Catholics

There always should have been a league...

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Gah!

- and other expressions of surprise, dismay and horror...

Unfriend - word of the year

I remember using my computer back in the pre-internet days, and then, finally, during and after the establishment of BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems for those to young to know what they were). I also remember wondering, even at that time, what this sort of connectivity was going to do to the world, and how things would change as a result. Remember, this is pre-internet. And now it's far, far too late to stuff the genie back into the bottle...

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Antiquities

as 'political weapons'...

A Case in Antiquities for ‘Finders Keepers’

Alas, in many cases, given the instability of the areas that these things were discovered, many of them would no longer exist if they hadn't been removed from the countries in which they were discovered...

Determining ownership is fraught with difficulties.

"Dr. Hawass may consider the Rosetta Stone to be the property of his government agency, but the modern state of Egypt didn’t even exist when it was discovered in 1799 (much less when it was inscribed in 196 B.C., during the Hellenistic era). The land was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, and the local historians were most interested in studying their Islamic heritage. "

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I'll fix their text for them.

don't be a responsible parent and try to instill a moral and ethical system in your children that has existed for 2,000+ years based on the teachings of someone you (and many millions of others) believe to be the Son of God and fulfillment of centuries of prophecy because it might just be in the favour of a small group of non-believers to have you not do that. There. I fixed it for them...

Atheists turn to billboard sites

"The group behind a controversial atheist bus-poster campaign is urging parents not to label their children with their own religious faith."

Professor Dawkins is in the news again...

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I like this phrase

British prayer effort invokes St. Monica on behalf of inactive Catholics

"...to pray for those who are removed from parish life."

Instead of 'inactive Catholic', or 'non-practicing Catholic', or any of a number or things used to refer to those one no longer sees in the pews or at parish related events, isn't that a nice way to refer to people? I like that.

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There is so much

written about the crusades, that, like the Inquisition, requires a careful and sober analysis to find the truth.

Islam and the Crusades

"One might point out Christianity’s historical shortcomings in order to avoid demonizing Islam alone. But, we should also avoid demonizing Christianity and be prepared to point out Islam’s shortcomings."

There's no question that awful things were done in the name of God in the past by the Church. It's difficult when people start interpreting things in the light of current moral and ethical beliefs. Also, one has to be honest in the determination of facts. Alas, the current prejudice is against the Catholic Church and so demonizing the Church is considered fair play...

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Well...

A Real Vampire

Whether you believe the author of this article and his 'expert' or don't, and you believe what the individuals say about themselves, or don't, it still leaves you with the impression that if vampires were to be real they would be the Bram Stoker type of vampire and not the 'Twilight' sort of vampire. They would be truly evil...

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The value

of history...


JFK's Last Autograph Sold for Big Bucks

"Late President Signed Newspaper Hours Before His Assassination"

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A beautiful exhibit


Virtual Tours: Sacred Spain

From the website:

"The first exhibition to examine the religious visual culture of 17th-century Spain and Latin America, Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World, brings to life the challenges faced by visual artists such as El Greco, Francisco Zurbarán, Alonso Cano, Francisco Ribalta, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Juan de Valdes Leal, Juan Correa, Cristobal Villalpando and others, who were charged with the creative task of making religious imagery that was useful, truthful and moving. The exhibition features 70 works—including paintings, polychrome sculpture, metalwork and books, many of which have never before been seen in the United States—that not only illustrate religious iconography and allegory, but also bring to light the significant role of the artist in 17th-century Spain."

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Another article

about the archives in St. Augustine, Florida...


‘Pocketful of miracles’ details history of St. Augustine

"Lost and found: Documents as much as 415 years old"

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Bad taste? Yes.

Humour? No.


Huffington Post: Catholic Church 'Inexplicably Evil Organization'

She could have at least acknowledged that the Catholic Church has provided these services for years, under no obligation to do so other than charity. I guess she's just choosing to engage in her rightful freedom to engage in the last acceptable prejudice. At least she's not choosing to take on a Muslim or Jewish group. That's not allowed!

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Science and God


The Evolution of the God Gene

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The sentencing is done


Evangelist Tony Alamo Sentenced to 175 Years for Taking Girls Across State Lines for Sex

"Evangelist Tony Alamo was sentenced Friday to 175 years in prison for taking little girls as young as 9 across state lines to have sex with them."

Another cult leader convicted because of his destructive and harmful beliefs...

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Heh.

These things have a purpose for everyone...

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Plots everywhere


Nun-Physician Who Attacked Vaccine Has Controversial Past But Raises Questions

"Not everything is a plot."

Ain't that the truth?

But why does this article seem to lean in the direction of the belief in plots?

Hmmmmmmm?

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A serious prayer need

I found the link to this article from a Christian website...


Meet the brave 'crystal girl' with rare illness that is turning her body to rock

We all have many people we need to pray for every day. Please say a prayer for little Lillie and family. It will only take a few seconds, and they needs our prayers.

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Religion and Economics


Satan, the great motivator

"The curious economic effects of religion"

Everybody seems to be talking about religion and economics lately...

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It's the week

for personal comments as well as comments on linked articles...



SWMBO took this photo on the way home from work last night. Isn't the sky outstanding? This is an unretouched photo. In the other direction the sky was an marvelous deep blue and pink. Incredible!

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Oh, yes...

I should have mentioned that I took a day off work on Monday so that I could be home for the installation of our new high efficiency furnace.

Maytag HVAC Products

Did you know that Maytag made furnaces? I didn't. Checking them on the net they get a fairly high rating as well. They also have the best warranty on the market - 12 years parts and labour. The government has incentive programs now to switch to high efficiency. They have rebates, tax credits and extremely low interest loans. We couldn't put off getting a new furnace any longer. Once a person retires it's that much harder to afford these costly replacements. We're having a bit of warmer weather right now so it's hard to tell how it's doing, but with a DC motor, and constant running, the house has an even temperature right through. Very, very nice, indeed!

(I've checked and they don't do washing and drying, though. You have to get the other appliances for that...)

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The darkness

is most often experienced by holy people and great saints. It's partly how they become great saints...


Good can come from times of darkness

And even though my greatest dream has been to become a saint, I know I could never be one. I would never be able to hold on through the darkness...

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An editorial writer,


whom I've noticed in previous articles is quite traditional in his Catholicism, really does sneer at this particular church...

Why Catholic churches are like shabby department stores

I'm sure this poor church would be happy to replace the "highly coloured cheap chasubles (also polyester)" with beautiful, expensive vestments, if only they could afford them. Perhaps a large-ish donation from a Telegraph editorial writer could help them out?

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Everyone has their opinion




Croatian Priest Says Vaccine for Destruction of Humanity Worldwide

Be sure to read the comments...

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Alas,


'Mary' fading from window

The faithful apparition watchers will, I'm sure, claim it's because it wasn't properly venerated as a miracle...

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Brilliant!

In the face of the threat of illness, ingenuity takes over...


Italian invents an anti-swine flu holy water dispenser (Best link for the photos.)

And the whole story:


The anti-swine flu holy water dispenser

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I was really blown away last night

by watching a live concert by

John Mayall and his band.

He's the one who gave a start in the Blues to Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor and John McVie, among others. With a new line-up for his band, for both recording and touring, and it being comprised of some extremely talented individuals, the evening went by quickly and was enjoyed thoroughly. It's so great to see a band setup that didn't include the stacks and stacks of speakers that rock bands always have. The sound was loud, but the sound wasn't painful and we could still hear afterward without any buzzing or ringing in our ears. It's great to hear and see professionals who really know what they're doing!

If you get a chance to hear them in concert, go for it, and if you want to hear what they're like, you might want to pick up one of his newer albums. He's recorded 56 or so, after all...

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As long as

we don't see him jumping around a stage, a la Mick Jagger. It's just not dignified!


New Vatican album: Can Pope Benedict sing?

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This is interesting


New '2012' movie is disgraceful, anti-Catholic attack

It may deliberately be such, or it may not be. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, the iconic Catholic images that the article mentions are recognized the world over. Such is not the case for most Protestant images and, in today's fearful cultural situation, showing a Muslim location being destroyed is an automatic reason for terrorist reprisal. No, if Reverend Robert Schuller's 'Crystal Cathedral' was seen smashed, most people wouldn't know what it is. If they saw the same thing happen to St. Peter's in Rome it would mean automatic recognition. The price of fame or notoriety.

Still, who knows? There's a lot of anti-Catholic sentiment out there in the world, and this may be some director's way of making a statement...

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It's effects are still being corrected


Bible looted on Kristallnacht returns to Vienna home

The return of all that belonged to those murdered by the Nazis in World War II will never end. That part of history can't be erased or reversed. The effects of total evil will be felt forever...

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Howdy, pardner...


Spaghetti Westerns and Faith

An interview with an incredibly talented and successful film score composers...

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Mass on Sunday




A very good presentation on the Church teaching regarding the obligation to attend Mass on Sunday...

Mass on Sunday: Obligation or opportunity?

As always, it seems, it's the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law...

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Why, oh why...

...do they even bother trying to make those who worship the god of this world use the word 'Christmas'? Christ and the god of this world are diametrically opposed, and making them use the word isn't promoting the real reason for the celebration anyway...


Updated: Christian Group Calls for Gap Boycott

No matter what they call the season or event, or whatever they do to avoid using the word 'Christmas', the businesses are not at all about worshiping the true God. They are all about making money, their god...

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You know,

it would be wrong to blame Christianity, but a certain segment of the Christian faith certainly had their part to play...


Did Christianity Cause the Crash?

"America’s mainstream religious denominations used to teach the faithful that they would be rewarded in the afterlife. But over the past generation, a different strain of Christian faith has proliferated—one that promises to make believers rich in the here and now. Known as the prosperity gospel, and claiming tens of millions of adherents, it fosters risk-taking and intense material optimism. It pumped air into the housing bubble. And one year into the worst downturn since the Depression, it’s still going strong."

We all played our part...

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A discussion

that SWMBO and I often have...

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Good news

for religious art...


Reconcilable differences: The church reaches out to modern arts

(But can we leave out 'Liturgical Dance'? Can we? Huh? Please?!)

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Ummmm, oops?

I suspect he's 'soon-to-be-retired Bishop Walsh' anyway...


Bishop questions ban on women priests

He can question things, anyway. That's pretty much allowed. What isn't is doing things about them...

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What a

very, very good young woman...

Young Muslim writer defends crucifixes in Italy

Alas, it's sad thing that I have to find myself hoping and praying that she's safe from the fringe fanatics...

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Cool!


Jim Caviezel finds meaning in ‘Prisoner’ remake

Patrick McGoohan starred in the original series, and it's now a classic. I like Caviezel as an actor, so I hope he does a good job of it. I'll enjoy watching it!

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And now we'll see...

...
how many of the faithful pay attention to the direction of the Church leaders...

Bishop says shrine off-limits

As I've experienced it, the 'apparitions crowd', for lack of a better term, particularly the Marian 'apparitions crowd', are a mix of all the 'leanings' in the Catholic Church, like most groups are - liberal, conservative, traditional, etc.. The traditional and conservative groups claim intense loyalty to the Magesterium, so it will be interesting to watch what happens. I only say this because those who believe and promote apparitions and apparition sites tend to be very strong in their beliefs. Well, God bless them all, anyway...

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That has to

make a person happy that they quit smoking!

Customs officers seize rabbit poo cigs

I don't think they smelled a rat. They smelled a rabbit! (Sorry.)

How did the smugglers ever think they would get away with it? People would notice the difference in smell right away...

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An exhibition review

At the Morgan, the Jane Austen Her Family Knew

But what about the new work, that takes Jane Austin's romance even further?
I'm in the middle of reading a parody of Austin's novel.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is an interesting, and at times hilarious, parody of this particular romance novel. (Sorry. This is just an aside... )

(Oh! Don't forget the next novel Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. It's written by a different author (along with Jane Austin) but I haven't read it. I'm not sure I like the direction this is going, though. A lot of good literature could be brought down to a common level by parody...)

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A review...

of a book about a philospher who I blogged about just a short while ago...

An Ethical Question: Does a Nazi Deserve a Place Among Philosophers?

Martin Heidegger is taking some serious criticism of late. 'Scholarly stakes in the heart...' indeed. This article is a review of the same book that I posted a review of about a month ago. The question posed is not so simple to answer...

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A word for today

"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions." - G. K. Chesterton

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The Coptic Christians

in Egypt have been paying a high price for being believers in the Christian faith while living in a Muslim country.

Egypt Detains Christian For "Praying Without License"

Living in a country like Canada, I always find it difficult to imagine such repression, simply for one's faith...

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Although

having an apparent wealth of down-home, common sense type wisdom, I'm not sure that there's enough here for a television program...

Twitter feed to become TV show?

That they're even considering it shows just how bankrupt for ideas the producers of television programs really are. Will they make the show 140 seconds long to go along with the 140 character limit in a 'twit'? That would fit most 'twitterers' attention span, it seems...

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'A shroud of political correctness...'

The Rush to Therapy

There's nothing that political correctness for its own sake, and taken to the extreme in that truth can't be told, won't make worse...

(But that's a very politically incorrect thing to say...)

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I'm reading

'The Bishop's Man' right now...

Giller winner wrote out of desire to dig deeper

He's a very skilled and engaging writer with a terrific novel!

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He takes on

the bloviating gasbags in the media and does a good job of it...

See No Evil

Some times, political correctness be damned, the truth has to be spoken, without fear of 'offending' someone's sensibilities...

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For all you superstitious folk out there

It's

Friday the 13th!

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It shouldn't just be

Americans, but all of us...

Americans may be settling into spending less

Our major corporations, business and financial, would have to change their goal of yearly record profits, though. What are the chances that will happen?

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It's not a test

Heaven Can Wait

"...what matters is whether you live the unique and strange vocation you were given in a way that makes it possible for Christ's fingerprints to be seen on your face."

What a great sentence!

An interesting article...

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A martyr for our faith

"All of life is Advent": On the life and death of Alfred Delp, S.J.

"The author of Advent of the Heart wrote his reflections on Advent from a unique--and harrowing--perspective"

I will always be astounded by the incredible courage of martyrs in facing their deaths. Faith is obviously a certainty, something they know, and not an abstraction...

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Everything is sacred...

...except religion.

Crucifix out, warming in

"What was once venerated is now, in many ways, dismissed and even despised."

But you can't complain about your children being 'exposed' to rampant consumerism and sex on television like you can about their being 'exposed' to a crucifix. That's because that would interfere with the rights of people to make money. Serving the god of this world will never be considered wrong, only serving the one, true God.

Thanks for your 'cranky intellect', Rex. It's a great article...

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I should have been

an archivist...

Diocese of St. Augustine archive hosts oldest American documents

I love this kind of thing!

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Not gone bad.

Completely out of control and existing solely for itself and those it supports!

Registry: Bureaucracy gone bad?

While I hope they get rid of the long gun registry, and now I'm being off-topic, but I still wish some people in government would begin to seriously look at the health care system and Roy Romanow's suggestions for it. If people think that the Long Gun Registry is a good example of bad bureacracy, let them take a look at our health region. There's a terrific example of a bureacracy existing to feed itself, to the detriment of the users...

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All except me

This is one of the steps to take if you have the flu. It's from a poster that my employer has put up, from our health region. Well, it's a step most people can take.

I had a bug of some type a while ago. It wasn't H1N1, but it may have been just a seasonal thing. Not a respiratory bug, but gastro-intestinal, and very unpleasant. I took a couple of days off work. I've now been informed that, due to the fact that I have taken a few days off work due to chronic pain issues, and despite the fact that I'm contractually allowed a day and a half a month sick, and that I accumulate these days each year, I am none-the-less not allowed to take any more sick time off, apparently even if I get H1N1. I'm sure my co-workers are going to take pleasure in having me in the office, coughing and sneezing, wheezing and snorting, spreading the virus hither and yon. Before the extra exertion requires me to be hospitalized. Ah, well...

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R.I.P. - Fr. Hidalberto Henrique Guimaraes

It looks like an evil is targeting priests in Brazil...

Priest found dead in Brazil, the fourth in the last five months

Ultimately it's the same old evil, but it manifests differently.

Rest in peace, Fr. Guimaraes, and go swiftly to God...

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A bit U.S.-centric,

but true, none-the-less. It's not just Americans, though...

Pain Management in the U.S.

...but this is a great thing to see a commentator writing about. It's difficult in Canada to get proper treatment, too, and one has to be persistent, and keep trying until they find the right person. They're out there, perhaps a bit easier to find in Canada than in the U.S., but then it depends on the location. There are far too many people out there suffering from unnecessary pain, and serious pain at that!

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To touch the divine...

From Contemplative Outreach:

"Nothing is more beautiful than the uniqueness
that God has created.

… You don't have to create the beauty
- you’ve got the beauty.

… You don't have to create the freedom
- you’ve got it.

… You don't have to create the image of God in you
- you have it.

… You don't have to win over God’s love
- you have more than you know what to do with."

- Thomas Keating, 'Centering Prayer,' Heartfulness: Transformation in Christ

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