Recently in the Catholic Herald we have a prolifer of 40 years campaining experience complaining that the movement is losing ground. One of his many issues is the fact that he can not see any young blood taking up the challenge and becoming leaders of the movement.
Some time back the rag that is the Irish Times ran a poll and 65% of 21-35 year olds thought that abortion should be legislated for in Ireland. This is the generation that went through our schools with the "Children of God" series as their basis for catechesis.
My point is that the prolife movement is perhaps the most visible expression of Catholicism in modern society, it intrudes into the mainstream media (always portrayed negatively). So why are 65% in opposition to the Church and its teachings?
Catechism, or lack thereof. If school children in Catholic schools were properly catechised then we would not have 2 in every 3 young Irish people happy with murder. They would have been properly instructed as to the intrinsically evil nature of this act and how it can not be justified by appealing to some emotive story. Morality, its dimensions, its divine origins would have been explained to them. So if any of the Irish bishops complain about a society that does not promote life then they should look no further than themselves for the cause. They (the bishops) promoted the catechetical revolution that began in the 1970's, "Children of God" and "Alive-O" were approved by the bishops (but not sent to Rome for approval), they hired catechtical "experts" who wrote these manuals for religious instruction, the results are there to be seen. The attendance at Mass, fallen; the number of cohabiting young Catholics, risen; the list goes on and on.
I am one of the lost generation who was catechised in the modern method, I can not tell you even one, not one solitary memory of religion class in primary school, secondary school I have one memory, a passage of scripture read out loud in the class and then discussed, but with no outcome, just dialogued about!!
But then that is what the so called religious educators want, dialogue. Talked about, nice words, warm feelings , no substance. I remember attending one conference where one of the leading lights of religious education in Ireland addressed the gathering. This eminent cleric stated that his vision of "catholic" education was to have the children exposed to all the worlds' religions for years and then they would be truly "catholic" when they came out on the other side!!!!
This guy is still employed by the bishops, him and his ilk, write the books, work on the commitees, speak at the conferences and most importantly have positions in the teacher training colleges where generations of teachers who will teach in Catholic schools are indoctrinated into this new age/secular/humanist hodge podge that passes for religious instruction these days.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Monday, December 13, 2010
Brass Tacks (rant #2)
So let's recap; where were we? Oh yes! Wizard of Oz, New Springtime, alien shaking its' three heads, struck match.
Now read on!
I can recall a discussion where an acquantaince was telling me of his past involvement with a parish youth group. He attended every week, sang songs (accompanied by obligatory guitar), listened to and reflected upon passages of scripture, discussed with his peer group his experience of God and how it impacted on his life. A priest "facilitated" this youth group, the recollections of this person did not seem to allude to the reverend father actually saying much or guiding the young people in their exploration of the Faith. To cut a long story short this lad then went to work in London and when he saw the multitude of people, of different cultures and different faiths, he lost his. He reasoned thus; how could he be so sure of his faith when everyone else seemed so sure about their beliefs?
Perhaps the most telling comment was that his initial enthusiasm stemmed from the fact that this was the first time he had encountered his Faith. In other words he had gone through 14 years of "Catholic Education" and only when he had finished this, only when he stumbled across this youth group did he encounter a semblance of the Catholic religion. Too little, too late.
This is not an isolated example, this same story is repeated over and over ad infinitum. In every parish you will find maybe a handful of young people who will live their faith, "here , look here, new springtime" is the cry as the priest and the parish council gesture towards them. Yes but never a mention of the hundreds of others wandering in the desolation. The Church is accused of a lot of things, but perhaps the greatest crime perpetrated is the apparent willingness to condemn so many souls to damnation.
The betrayal starts on the first day of school.
Now read on!
I can recall a discussion where an acquantaince was telling me of his past involvement with a parish youth group. He attended every week, sang songs (accompanied by obligatory guitar), listened to and reflected upon passages of scripture, discussed with his peer group his experience of God and how it impacted on his life. A priest "facilitated" this youth group, the recollections of this person did not seem to allude to the reverend father actually saying much or guiding the young people in their exploration of the Faith. To cut a long story short this lad then went to work in London and when he saw the multitude of people, of different cultures and different faiths, he lost his. He reasoned thus; how could he be so sure of his faith when everyone else seemed so sure about their beliefs?
Perhaps the most telling comment was that his initial enthusiasm stemmed from the fact that this was the first time he had encountered his Faith. In other words he had gone through 14 years of "Catholic Education" and only when he had finished this, only when he stumbled across this youth group did he encounter a semblance of the Catholic religion. Too little, too late.
This is not an isolated example, this same story is repeated over and over ad infinitum. In every parish you will find maybe a handful of young people who will live their faith, "here , look here, new springtime" is the cry as the priest and the parish council gesture towards them. Yes but never a mention of the hundreds of others wandering in the desolation. The Church is accused of a lot of things, but perhaps the greatest crime perpetrated is the apparent willingness to condemn so many souls to damnation.
The betrayal starts on the first day of school.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Brass Tacks (rant #1)
"Close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. Think to yourself, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...." - Wizard of Oz.
The New Springtime. I've been hearing that tedious mantra from the neo-con/charismatic wing of the Church for years, but it is always tinged with a smidgen of optimistic desperation. If you say it enough times it must come true!! New Springtime, beautiful thought, nice notion, cut adrift from reality.
The argument goes that the first buds are appearing after the nuclear winter that followed Vatican II, young people strong in faith are taking up the gauntlet thrown down by JPII hence more lay faith groups, more vocations to new orthodox religious groups, eg the Legion of Christ (ahem! let's not go there) etc etc etc .
It seems as though any meeting of young people under a canopy in a field (with obligatory guitar and clapping) is a sure sign of the New Springtime. Yet if some visitor from a far distant galaxy landed in this field and watched the proceedings and then went to another field close by where there was an evangelical protestant revival , apart from the Blessed Sacrament, it would be hard pressed to find the difference (in fact it would probably teleport away shaking it's three heads at the expense of two tents rather than one, wasteful bipedal carbon lifeforms!!!). It seems that the New Springtime consists of any public display of religious feeling,as long as it is vaguely Christian and doesn't necessarily have to be Catholic.
The phrases used by these serious people are along the lines of "How I came to know God" ,"God changed my life" ," I feel a happiness that I never knew before" (for this see the evangelical utterance "I invited Jesus into my heart and now I'm saved"). The common theme is the feel-good factor, experiential, individual and subjective, and mostly based on FEELING!!. The problem with this is that our feelings and emotions are fickle, we are human therefore we are subject to change. What was it that Our Lord said about the seeds scattered among the rocks? (Matt 13:5-6) So it is with some of these enthusiastic adherents, life gets in the way, concerns, responsibilites etc. and their faith wanes. It is similar to a match being struck, flares brightly, then steadies to a small flame and eventually splutters into darkenss. But why does this happen? What is going on?
Find out in the next exciting installment of Brass Tacks!!!
The New Springtime. I've been hearing that tedious mantra from the neo-con/charismatic wing of the Church for years, but it is always tinged with a smidgen of optimistic desperation. If you say it enough times it must come true!! New Springtime, beautiful thought, nice notion, cut adrift from reality.
The argument goes that the first buds are appearing after the nuclear winter that followed Vatican II, young people strong in faith are taking up the gauntlet thrown down by JPII hence more lay faith groups, more vocations to new orthodox religious groups, eg the Legion of Christ (ahem! let's not go there) etc etc etc .
It seems as though any meeting of young people under a canopy in a field (with obligatory guitar and clapping) is a sure sign of the New Springtime. Yet if some visitor from a far distant galaxy landed in this field and watched the proceedings and then went to another field close by where there was an evangelical protestant revival , apart from the Blessed Sacrament, it would be hard pressed to find the difference (in fact it would probably teleport away shaking it's three heads at the expense of two tents rather than one, wasteful bipedal carbon lifeforms!!!). It seems that the New Springtime consists of any public display of religious feeling,as long as it is vaguely Christian and doesn't necessarily have to be Catholic.
The phrases used by these serious people are along the lines of "How I came to know God" ,"God changed my life" ," I feel a happiness that I never knew before" (for this see the evangelical utterance "I invited Jesus into my heart and now I'm saved"). The common theme is the feel-good factor, experiential, individual and subjective, and mostly based on FEELING!!. The problem with this is that our feelings and emotions are fickle, we are human therefore we are subject to change. What was it that Our Lord said about the seeds scattered among the rocks? (Matt 13:5-6) So it is with some of these enthusiastic adherents, life gets in the way, concerns, responsibilites etc. and their faith wanes. It is similar to a match being struck, flares brightly, then steadies to a small flame and eventually splutters into darkenss. But why does this happen? What is going on?
Find out in the next exciting installment of Brass Tacks!!!
Of Having a Humble Opinion of Oneself
From "The Imitation of Christ."
" It is natural that man should desire knowledge; but what doth knowledge avail him without the fear of God? An humble rustic that serveth God is better than a proud philosopher who, neglecting the good life, contemplateth the courses of the stars. He that knoweth himself well groweth ever more conscious of his own sinfulness, and findeth no delight in the praises of man. Were I endowed with all the knowledge in the world, and lacked love, what would that avail me in the sight of God, who will judge me according to my deeds?" Thomas a Kempis
" It is natural that man should desire knowledge; but what doth knowledge avail him without the fear of God? An humble rustic that serveth God is better than a proud philosopher who, neglecting the good life, contemplateth the courses of the stars. He that knoweth himself well groweth ever more conscious of his own sinfulness, and findeth no delight in the praises of man. Were I endowed with all the knowledge in the world, and lacked love, what would that avail me in the sight of God, who will judge me according to my deeds?" Thomas a Kempis
Friday, November 12, 2010
Farewell to Dear Old Ireland
Yes I know I know, these pages are supposed to be filled with the incoherent ramblings of a Catholic trying to make sense of his Faith!! But...
This week in Ireland we were greeted by the sight of the elected officials of this state, lining up to prostrate themselves before an unelected EU official, and to be told, TO BE TOLD, how to run this country. I don't claim to know much about Olli Rehn, he might be a nice guy, but I do know he is from Finland, why then does my country's future rest in the hands of someone ( and other eurocrats) who never received my vote and are not citizens of this country?
Occasionally one hears the utterly stupid notion expressed "sure let the EU run the economy, they couldn't do as bad a job as the government!" What drivel? Talk about burying your head in the sand!! Once you let any big external organisation into the vital organs of a state, you will need a crow bar to prise them off again. Ask any of the African countries who let the IMF in!! Allied to this is the moronic perception that somehow that paragon of virtue, which is the EU, can supplant the cronyism and corruption of the Irish elite that caused the mess. The answer to this is just take a look at the budget for the EU in the last 5 years, the wastage, the funds diverted and unaccounted for, the salaries of the MEPs etc. They make the dodgy dealings of the Irish look like trivialities.
The truth of the matter is that we have been lied to for 15 years. We should never have joined the single currency (the euro), it was more suited to the sedate and settled economies of France and Germany with huge savings base and high interest rates; not a young, small and open economy that was seeking to grow. Now we find ourselves in the nice pickle of trying to pay back the German banks for the gamble that they took on the Celtic Tiger. If I was a betting man (which I'm not) it is the equivalent of me walking into a bookies and saying "Look I bet 20 on that horse which collapsed and died half way down the course, but you Mr Bookie have to redeem my wager!!!"
Loss of economic sovreignty means loss of national sovreignty (the lies of Lisbon revealed), for if you hold the purse strings you determine how people live. Think about that for a moment, do Irish people want the EU running every aspect of the country? The EU is anti-family, anti-life, anti-faith. This is all too clear in its dealings with its bette noir, the Catholic Church.
So what to do? Well firstly lets create a political party that is not in awe of the EU, there is presently not one political party in this land that is not hypnotised by the EU, they cannot see the wood for the trees. Secondly do not rely on the media to offer any support, the so called intelligentsia love the liberal, unethical posturings of the European parliament. After all many of the journalists get paid junkets (first class flights, top hotels, freebies all covered) to Brussels and Strasbourg to hear seminars on how good the EU is and what a good job they do; anecdotally they also receive bonuses for writing positive articles in their papers.
So a new political movement that can successfully combat the negative headlines of a biased media, then what? Tell our creditors, tough, you took a risk and it didn't work, swallow the bad medicine and move on!! Then pull out of the euro, no media outlet has dared to think never mind suggest this course. But why not? After all our two biggest trading partners are the UK and the USA. Iceland, Denmark etc never joined the euro and they are in far better shape than ourselves. Will withdrawing from the currency be painful? Of course it will be, but I would suggest that the pain will be less drawn out and over quicker than the present suicidal policy. Lets face it if you have a plaster on your skin what do you prefer to do, rip it off quickly in one sharp pull, or slowly prise it off taking more skin and hair, prolonging the pain.
If something is not done quickly then the Irish state which has been in existence for less 100 years will simply become a grubby little rocky outpost on the fringes of the euro empire.
This week in Ireland we were greeted by the sight of the elected officials of this state, lining up to prostrate themselves before an unelected EU official, and to be told, TO BE TOLD, how to run this country. I don't claim to know much about Olli Rehn, he might be a nice guy, but I do know he is from Finland, why then does my country's future rest in the hands of someone ( and other eurocrats) who never received my vote and are not citizens of this country?
Occasionally one hears the utterly stupid notion expressed "sure let the EU run the economy, they couldn't do as bad a job as the government!" What drivel? Talk about burying your head in the sand!! Once you let any big external organisation into the vital organs of a state, you will need a crow bar to prise them off again. Ask any of the African countries who let the IMF in!! Allied to this is the moronic perception that somehow that paragon of virtue, which is the EU, can supplant the cronyism and corruption of the Irish elite that caused the mess. The answer to this is just take a look at the budget for the EU in the last 5 years, the wastage, the funds diverted and unaccounted for, the salaries of the MEPs etc. They make the dodgy dealings of the Irish look like trivialities.
The truth of the matter is that we have been lied to for 15 years. We should never have joined the single currency (the euro), it was more suited to the sedate and settled economies of France and Germany with huge savings base and high interest rates; not a young, small and open economy that was seeking to grow. Now we find ourselves in the nice pickle of trying to pay back the German banks for the gamble that they took on the Celtic Tiger. If I was a betting man (which I'm not) it is the equivalent of me walking into a bookies and saying "Look I bet 20 on that horse which collapsed and died half way down the course, but you Mr Bookie have to redeem my wager!!!"
Loss of economic sovreignty means loss of national sovreignty (the lies of Lisbon revealed), for if you hold the purse strings you determine how people live. Think about that for a moment, do Irish people want the EU running every aspect of the country? The EU is anti-family, anti-life, anti-faith. This is all too clear in its dealings with its bette noir, the Catholic Church.
So what to do? Well firstly lets create a political party that is not in awe of the EU, there is presently not one political party in this land that is not hypnotised by the EU, they cannot see the wood for the trees. Secondly do not rely on the media to offer any support, the so called intelligentsia love the liberal, unethical posturings of the European parliament. After all many of the journalists get paid junkets (first class flights, top hotels, freebies all covered) to Brussels and Strasbourg to hear seminars on how good the EU is and what a good job they do; anecdotally they also receive bonuses for writing positive articles in their papers.
So a new political movement that can successfully combat the negative headlines of a biased media, then what? Tell our creditors, tough, you took a risk and it didn't work, swallow the bad medicine and move on!! Then pull out of the euro, no media outlet has dared to think never mind suggest this course. But why not? After all our two biggest trading partners are the UK and the USA. Iceland, Denmark etc never joined the euro and they are in far better shape than ourselves. Will withdrawing from the currency be painful? Of course it will be, but I would suggest that the pain will be less drawn out and over quicker than the present suicidal policy. Lets face it if you have a plaster on your skin what do you prefer to do, rip it off quickly in one sharp pull, or slowly prise it off taking more skin and hair, prolonging the pain.
If something is not done quickly then the Irish state which has been in existence for less 100 years will simply become a grubby little rocky outpost on the fringes of the euro empire.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
All Souls Day
From the Preface of the Dead.
Tuis enim fidelibus, Domine, vita mutatur, non tollitur: et dissoluta terrestris hujus incolatus domo, aeterna in coelis habitatio comparatur.
For to Thy faithful people, Lord, life is changed, not taken away; and when the home of this earthly sojourn is dissolved, an eternal dwelling is made ready in heaven.
Tuis enim fidelibus, Domine, vita mutatur, non tollitur: et dissoluta terrestris hujus incolatus domo, aeterna in coelis habitatio comparatur.
For to Thy faithful people, Lord, life is changed, not taken away; and when the home of this earthly sojourn is dissolved, an eternal dwelling is made ready in heaven.
Friday, October 29, 2010
For Today
Matthew 7:15-27
" Be on your guard against false prophets, men who come to you in sheep's clothing but are ravenous wolves within. You will know them by the fruit they yield. Can grapes be plucked from briers, or figs from thistles? So, indeed, any sound tree will bear good fruit, while any tree that is withered will bear fruit that is worthless; that worthless fruit should come from a sound tree, or good fruit from a withered tree, is impossible. Any tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire. I say therefore, it is by their fruit that you will know them. The kingdom of heaven will not give entrance to every man who calls me Master, Master; only to the man that does the will of my Father who is in heaven. There are many who will say to me, when that day comes, Master, Master, was it not in thy name we prophesied? Was it not in thy name that we performed many miracles? Whereupon I will tell them openly, You were never friends of mine; depart from me, you that traffic in wrong-doing.
Whoever, then, hears these commandments of mine and carries them out, is like a wise man who built his house upon rock; and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, it was founded upon rock. But whoever hears these commandments of mine and does not carry them out is like a fool, who built his house upon sand; and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it."
" Be on your guard against false prophets, men who come to you in sheep's clothing but are ravenous wolves within. You will know them by the fruit they yield. Can grapes be plucked from briers, or figs from thistles? So, indeed, any sound tree will bear good fruit, while any tree that is withered will bear fruit that is worthless; that worthless fruit should come from a sound tree, or good fruit from a withered tree, is impossible. Any tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire. I say therefore, it is by their fruit that you will know them. The kingdom of heaven will not give entrance to every man who calls me Master, Master; only to the man that does the will of my Father who is in heaven. There are many who will say to me, when that day comes, Master, Master, was it not in thy name we prophesied? Was it not in thy name that we performed many miracles? Whereupon I will tell them openly, You were never friends of mine; depart from me, you that traffic in wrong-doing.
Whoever, then, hears these commandments of mine and carries them out, is like a wise man who built his house upon rock; and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, it was founded upon rock. But whoever hears these commandments of mine and does not carry them out is like a fool, who built his house upon sand; and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it."
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