So the date has been set, Tuesday 12th March. Out of this conclave will emerge the new pope. Perhaps it is a hopeful sign that the 12th is also the feast of St Gregory the Great, a pope who began the process of bringing Christendom out of the pagan darkness after the collapse of the empire ( the coincidence should not be lost on anyone).
Up to this point what has made for interesting viewing is the cardinals of certain geographical regions and their relationship with the media. A slap on the wrist from the secretariat was needed to stop tv interviews but still some are tweeting and blogging their little hearts out. Apparently some of their eminences did not listen to the pope emeritus when he spoke of the " virtual council and the true council", yes that old mantra that has been trotted out for 50 years ( c'mon kids let's all say it together : documents of the council, gooood; media spin of teachings, baaaaad!) Some of the cardinals seem very cosy with sections of the press, keeping them informed, discussing what they think the needs of the Church are, with the very groups who want to destroy the Church!!!
The general congregations are winding up and now the cardinals will split into little lobby groups each touting their candidate. Hopefully they will have perceived and prayed about the needs of the Church in the coming years and will begin to come to a common consensus as to who is the best candidate.
The new pope has a daunting task.
The faithful are beseiged on all sides and even from within. From a secular culture that preaches the direct antithesis of Christianity, consumer/capitalism and cultural Marxism are destroying families and nations. Christendom is being wiped off the map. Islam and Evangelical Protestantism are making huge inroads, tempting away swathes of souls with their seeming certainty of their proclaimations while the Church seems ambiguous and undecided. People yearning for something rather than the vacuous and empty promises of a failed post modern wasteland look for "other", for the divine. Tragically many of these souls, when they turned to the Church, discovered more of the same, no difference between what was on the street and what was in the pews.
Pope Benedict began to address this, to commence the process by which the intellect of man, for years placated by the soothing promises of a glorious humanist endeavour, perceives the true nature of reality and man's place in that reality. He attempted to reintroduce the transcendent to man and to the faithful, through his writings, his speeches and the liturgy.
The next pope will have to continue this progress, even accelerate it. Strong leadership is required to keep the barque in midstream, to jettison those who seek to steer it towards the secular shore and to counter what will be an increasingly violent spiritual ( and perhaps physical) persecution of the faithful.
Many prayers are needed in the days to come.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
What next?
Well! That old Chinese saying comes to mind "May you live in interesting times" ( can't remember if it was a curse or not).
So let's recap, we've had a papal resignation, on the same day lightning striking the cupola of St Peter's, then portents in the skies over Russia and earth tremors in Rome. Then if that wasn't enough we have a purported dossier doing the rounds in the Curia, threatening to name and shame the "lavender mafia" with two Italian media outlets stating that the cardinal electors will be furnished with the report before the conclave. A final deadline for the Society of St Pius X that turns out wasn't a final deadline, Mueller (CDF) did this of his own bat and got slapped over the wrist for it( not to mention Bertone also getting the boot into our Teutonic friend over the Peruvian university). Add to that the German episcopal conference coming out and saying that the "morning after pill" is not that bad after all!!! Give me a moment to catch my breath, while the words rats and sinking ship spring to my mind.
Did Benedict jump or was he pushed? My gut feeling is the former, he's been around the Vatican for 30 years, so he knows how the game is played. I believe that JPII is in his mind and he doesn't want a repeat of that sad and slow decline when there was no one at the rudder of the barque ( other than Ratzinger) and all sorts of shennanigans went on. It also goes to show that he doesn't really trust those around him to assist him faithfully in his final years.
Benedict, I believe, has attempted to put the pieces in place to continue the work that he felt he was unable to finish. It is one hell of a gamble.
All the recent rumblings from Rome and various national conferences are the first moves on both sides before the cardinals gather. Both sides are jockeying for position, pressure of all forms is being exerted on the cardinals.
Who will the successor be? Your guess is as good as mine. I would love Ranjith or Burke, but they are only pipe dreams. It all depends on what the cardinals think is the movement of the Holy Spirit. How much is the inspiration of divine grace, or what they read in the newspapers from the "voices in the church" remains to be seen?
God willing it will be a strong European pope ( a Thomist would be good) , who can clean house, clear out the disease that infects Holy Mother Church and go somewhat towards the cure of the patient. European, since the most pressing issue is FAITH. The western hemisphere is a wilderness, shorn of all religious or spiritual forms, left to the depredations of moral relativism and soon to tear itself apart in its death throes. Unfortunately through socio-political means it influences the rest of the world. Does the developing world have problems? Of course it does, but by attempting to redress the balance in the west this will have a knock on effect in the rest of the world. Forget for the moment about social justice, the disconnect of the laity etc ( the list of whinges is exhausting), the Church is in the salvation business, lose sight of that in the conclave and things will definitely get a lot worse.
Sede vacante in a few days. Interesting times indeed!
So let's recap, we've had a papal resignation, on the same day lightning striking the cupola of St Peter's, then portents in the skies over Russia and earth tremors in Rome. Then if that wasn't enough we have a purported dossier doing the rounds in the Curia, threatening to name and shame the "lavender mafia" with two Italian media outlets stating that the cardinal electors will be furnished with the report before the conclave. A final deadline for the Society of St Pius X that turns out wasn't a final deadline, Mueller (CDF) did this of his own bat and got slapped over the wrist for it( not to mention Bertone also getting the boot into our Teutonic friend over the Peruvian university). Add to that the German episcopal conference coming out and saying that the "morning after pill" is not that bad after all!!! Give me a moment to catch my breath, while the words rats and sinking ship spring to my mind.
Did Benedict jump or was he pushed? My gut feeling is the former, he's been around the Vatican for 30 years, so he knows how the game is played. I believe that JPII is in his mind and he doesn't want a repeat of that sad and slow decline when there was no one at the rudder of the barque ( other than Ratzinger) and all sorts of shennanigans went on. It also goes to show that he doesn't really trust those around him to assist him faithfully in his final years.
Benedict, I believe, has attempted to put the pieces in place to continue the work that he felt he was unable to finish. It is one hell of a gamble.
All the recent rumblings from Rome and various national conferences are the first moves on both sides before the cardinals gather. Both sides are jockeying for position, pressure of all forms is being exerted on the cardinals.
Who will the successor be? Your guess is as good as mine. I would love Ranjith or Burke, but they are only pipe dreams. It all depends on what the cardinals think is the movement of the Holy Spirit. How much is the inspiration of divine grace, or what they read in the newspapers from the "voices in the church" remains to be seen?
God willing it will be a strong European pope ( a Thomist would be good) , who can clean house, clear out the disease that infects Holy Mother Church and go somewhat towards the cure of the patient. European, since the most pressing issue is FAITH. The western hemisphere is a wilderness, shorn of all religious or spiritual forms, left to the depredations of moral relativism and soon to tear itself apart in its death throes. Unfortunately through socio-political means it influences the rest of the world. Does the developing world have problems? Of course it does, but by attempting to redress the balance in the west this will have a knock on effect in the rest of the world. Forget for the moment about social justice, the disconnect of the laity etc ( the list of whinges is exhausting), the Church is in the salvation business, lose sight of that in the conclave and things will definitely get a lot worse.
Sede vacante in a few days. Interesting times indeed!
Monday, February 11, 2013
The First Commandment
Let's take a moment and think. About God the Father. First person of the Blessed Trinity.
Probably the greatest mistake that many Catholics make ( again from deliberately misleading catechism) is to have a false picture of what God is, what God wills and how God acts.
The popular notion is that God is an absentee landlord, yeh He did a great job of creating us and the world, and the stars and the flowers etc. but now it is up to us to look after things, do what we do and God can glance down from his big fluffy cloud once in a while and gave a paternalistic smile as we scurry about being busy. Then when our time has come we will float up to heaven on a soft miasma of light where everything will basically be like earth only nicer and without nasty smells.
God, Creator of the universe is reduced to a doting and over indulgent father who loves his kids no matter what they do. Think about that. Many of us can recall instances, where we have been in a restaurant or on a plane, cinema, out shopping etc and watched unruly kids, creating noise, making a mess, giving cheek or creating a nuisance of themselves. In these cases we look around for their parent and if we should happen to see a male figure smiling benevolently at his little darlings creating havoc, our first thought is not "isn't he a good father." No our first thought is, "why doesn't he do something?" and if the torture persists we may come to the conclusion that something is lacking in his parenting skills, in other words he is not a good father.
Why do we think this? Why? Perhaps it is that inherent in us is a template of what constitutes a good father. The traditional characteristics of a father are those of someone who loves their children, teaches them by example the benefits of work, responsibility, commitment, courage and the need for order and boundaries. The father should be the one to point out errors or mistakes, reward good behaviour and censure ( sometimes punish) bad behaviour, to teach his children right from wrong. That is what we expect from a good father. Why then are the rules different for God the Father? Surely Almighty God, from whom fatherhood has its being, should be the ultimate template of love, mercy, respect and justice?
Does God the Father love us? Of course he does. His love for his creatures surpasses words, it is immeasurable, showing itself forth in the willing sacrifice of His only Son, the second person of the Trinity. The offering of his Son was the ultimate expression of his mercy for us, the death and resurrection of Christ redeeming our fallen nature.
Does God the Father give us rules and boundaries? Yes , the ten commandments, the prophets, His Son, the Church. All of these are signposts, mapping out the journey of service, of commitment , of courage we must undertake to reach our goal, God.
Will God judge us? Yes , be in no doubt that each of us will have to answerable to the Father for all that we have done. Time and time again in scripture we have the theme of the God of justice, Our Lord constantly refers to judgement for those called to follow God,the sifting of the wheat and the chaff, the dividing of the sheep and the goats. Just as the child stands in front of their father when they have done wrong, so will it be when we stand before the Father and are held to account.
How many Catholics are fooled into imagining a fictitious reality? They put God at arms length, they attempt to expel Him ( a ridiculous notion!) out into space/ another dimension. Having done that they then seek to diminish the divinity of His Son, one who walked amongst us.
The First Commandment states:
" I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image...."
So when we think of God whom do we think of? Is it the true God, first person of the Blessed Trinity or our own personnal diety tailored to our lifestyle? Our own graven image?
Probably the greatest mistake that many Catholics make ( again from deliberately misleading catechism) is to have a false picture of what God is, what God wills and how God acts.
The popular notion is that God is an absentee landlord, yeh He did a great job of creating us and the world, and the stars and the flowers etc. but now it is up to us to look after things, do what we do and God can glance down from his big fluffy cloud once in a while and gave a paternalistic smile as we scurry about being busy. Then when our time has come we will float up to heaven on a soft miasma of light where everything will basically be like earth only nicer and without nasty smells.
God, Creator of the universe is reduced to a doting and over indulgent father who loves his kids no matter what they do. Think about that. Many of us can recall instances, where we have been in a restaurant or on a plane, cinema, out shopping etc and watched unruly kids, creating noise, making a mess, giving cheek or creating a nuisance of themselves. In these cases we look around for their parent and if we should happen to see a male figure smiling benevolently at his little darlings creating havoc, our first thought is not "isn't he a good father." No our first thought is, "why doesn't he do something?" and if the torture persists we may come to the conclusion that something is lacking in his parenting skills, in other words he is not a good father.
Why do we think this? Why? Perhaps it is that inherent in us is a template of what constitutes a good father. The traditional characteristics of a father are those of someone who loves their children, teaches them by example the benefits of work, responsibility, commitment, courage and the need for order and boundaries. The father should be the one to point out errors or mistakes, reward good behaviour and censure ( sometimes punish) bad behaviour, to teach his children right from wrong. That is what we expect from a good father. Why then are the rules different for God the Father? Surely Almighty God, from whom fatherhood has its being, should be the ultimate template of love, mercy, respect and justice?
Does God the Father love us? Of course he does. His love for his creatures surpasses words, it is immeasurable, showing itself forth in the willing sacrifice of His only Son, the second person of the Trinity. The offering of his Son was the ultimate expression of his mercy for us, the death and resurrection of Christ redeeming our fallen nature.
Does God the Father give us rules and boundaries? Yes , the ten commandments, the prophets, His Son, the Church. All of these are signposts, mapping out the journey of service, of commitment , of courage we must undertake to reach our goal, God.
Will God judge us? Yes , be in no doubt that each of us will have to answerable to the Father for all that we have done. Time and time again in scripture we have the theme of the God of justice, Our Lord constantly refers to judgement for those called to follow God,the sifting of the wheat and the chaff, the dividing of the sheep and the goats. Just as the child stands in front of their father when they have done wrong, so will it be when we stand before the Father and are held to account.
How many Catholics are fooled into imagining a fictitious reality? They put God at arms length, they attempt to expel Him ( a ridiculous notion!) out into space/ another dimension. Having done that they then seek to diminish the divinity of His Son, one who walked amongst us.
The First Commandment states:
" I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image...."
So when we think of God whom do we think of? Is it the true God, first person of the Blessed Trinity or our own personnal diety tailored to our lifestyle? Our own graven image?
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Prolife: Winning a Battle but Losing the War.
The poor auld media didn't know what to make of the pro-life rally held on Saturday last in Dublin. The usual ploy of under reporting the size of the crowd present didn't really work, the photos showed it was a huge gathering. The Irish Times (God loves a trier!) had an opinion piece insinuating that the rally was too slick and too well managed, as if this was proof of the futility of their cause??
No the organisers are probably suffering from dislocated shoulders at the self congratulatory back slapping that is currently being practiced and no doubt it has given some politicains food for thought, but ultimately is this all in vain? The answer I think is yes.
Noticeable to many of the participants who braved the cold of Merrion Square was an underlying theme that is both depressing and deeply worrying for the future. God wasn't there.
Only officially pre-approved posters were allowed to be displayed. Some of the stewards were instructed by organisers to ask those who brought religious pictures and icons to put them away. Only one of the speakers ( Bernie Smith) even mentioned God. NO public form of prayer or worship was permitted to sully the proceedings. This is not new there have been rumblings before about the reluctance of the prolife committes to allow public expressions of faith. This is simply a recipe for disaster.
"The branch that does not live on in the vine can yield no fruit of itself; no more can you, if you do not live on in me. I am the vine, you are its branches; if a man lives on in me, and I in him, then he will yield abundant fruit; seperated from me, you have no power to do anything. If a man does not live on in me, he can only be like the branch that is cast off and withers away; such a branch is picked up and thrown into the fire, to burn there. As long as you live on in me, and my words live on in you, you will be able to make what request you will, and have it granted." John 15: 4-7
To lose sight of the "raison d'etre" of your mission is fatal. Abortion is an intrinsic evil. Abortion flies in the face of Natural Law. Abortion is a crime against God's creation.
Most of the people who oppose the abortion agenda do so from a sense of moral outrage which has been formed by their faith, and in Ireland this means Catholic faith. To somehow try to hide this or lessen its presence leaves many disillusioned or bitter. It does nothing to stem the the growing disconnect between private and public faith, abortion for many Catholics has become the hot button issue (wrongly, all aspects of life are Catholic) the thing that identifies them as Catholics. Remove that and what's the point?
Trying to be inclusive? Well yes there were probably a proportionately small number of people present at the rally who were not Catholic or Christian. So what? Where they going to be offended at the realisation that the vast majority were making a stand because of their faith? Perhaps it was to hoodwink the media into believing that all cross sections of Irish society are united in this crusade? Please give me a break! They know fine rightly that the Catholics are the movers and shakers behind it, so what if you are called right wing reactionary cleric ridden dupes? What's new? Don't tell me you are ashamed to be thought of as Catholic.
Lastly simply banging on about the rights of the child is fighting on the enemy's turf. Dialogue with society at this level ( again one of those lovely fruits of Vatican II), is a mugs game. Entering into any discussion that is based solely on human rights in this context is flawed. I can only surmise that the rationale is to have a logical, reasoned argument ( a la Senator Ronan Mullen) and to blind the opposition by the sheer brilliance of your intellect. Wrong! Any dog in the street knows that in this war it is the side that can shout the loudest ( the liberal media) and who can emote the most, churning out as many heart wrenching tales as possible who will emerge victorious. It degenerates into a subjective tit for tat, point scoring on the heart strings and in this the prolife side is on a hiding to nothing.
It is time for those leading the campaign and those churchmen brave enough to face the media to state clearly and categorically the reasons why Catholics may not support any form of abortion in Ireland, that this is a moral and faith based stand. By the way an auld decade of the rosary in the street would do no harm either!
The poor auld media didn't know what to make of the pro-life rally held on Saturday last in Dublin. The usual ploy of under reporting the size of the crowd present didn't really work, the photos showed it was a huge gathering. The Irish Times (God loves a trier!) had an opinion piece insinuating that the rally was too slick and too well managed, as if this was proof of the futility of their cause??
No the organisers are probably suffering from dislocated shoulders at the self congratulatory back slapping that is currently being practiced and no doubt it has given some politicains food for thought, but ultimately is this all in vain? The answer I think is yes.
Noticeable to many of the participants who braved the cold of Merrion Square was an underlying theme that is both depressing and deeply worrying for the future. God wasn't there.
Only officially pre-approved posters were allowed to be displayed. Some of the stewards were instructed by organisers to ask those who brought religious pictures and icons to put them away. Only one of the speakers ( Bernie Smith) even mentioned God. NO public form of prayer or worship was permitted to sully the proceedings. This is not new there have been rumblings before about the reluctance of the prolife committes to allow public expressions of faith. This is simply a recipe for disaster.
"The branch that does not live on in the vine can yield no fruit of itself; no more can you, if you do not live on in me. I am the vine, you are its branches; if a man lives on in me, and I in him, then he will yield abundant fruit; seperated from me, you have no power to do anything. If a man does not live on in me, he can only be like the branch that is cast off and withers away; such a branch is picked up and thrown into the fire, to burn there. As long as you live on in me, and my words live on in you, you will be able to make what request you will, and have it granted." John 15: 4-7
To lose sight of the "raison d'etre" of your mission is fatal. Abortion is an intrinsic evil. Abortion flies in the face of Natural Law. Abortion is a crime against God's creation.
Most of the people who oppose the abortion agenda do so from a sense of moral outrage which has been formed by their faith, and in Ireland this means Catholic faith. To somehow try to hide this or lessen its presence leaves many disillusioned or bitter. It does nothing to stem the the growing disconnect between private and public faith, abortion for many Catholics has become the hot button issue (wrongly, all aspects of life are Catholic) the thing that identifies them as Catholics. Remove that and what's the point?
Trying to be inclusive? Well yes there were probably a proportionately small number of people present at the rally who were not Catholic or Christian. So what? Where they going to be offended at the realisation that the vast majority were making a stand because of their faith? Perhaps it was to hoodwink the media into believing that all cross sections of Irish society are united in this crusade? Please give me a break! They know fine rightly that the Catholics are the movers and shakers behind it, so what if you are called right wing reactionary cleric ridden dupes? What's new? Don't tell me you are ashamed to be thought of as Catholic.
Lastly simply banging on about the rights of the child is fighting on the enemy's turf. Dialogue with society at this level ( again one of those lovely fruits of Vatican II), is a mugs game. Entering into any discussion that is based solely on human rights in this context is flawed. I can only surmise that the rationale is to have a logical, reasoned argument ( a la Senator Ronan Mullen) and to blind the opposition by the sheer brilliance of your intellect. Wrong! Any dog in the street knows that in this war it is the side that can shout the loudest ( the liberal media) and who can emote the most, churning out as many heart wrenching tales as possible who will emerge victorious. It degenerates into a subjective tit for tat, point scoring on the heart strings and in this the prolife side is on a hiding to nothing.
It is time for those leading the campaign and those churchmen brave enough to face the media to state clearly and categorically the reasons why Catholics may not support any form of abortion in Ireland, that this is a moral and faith based stand. By the way an auld decade of the rosary in the street would do no harm either!
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