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!

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?

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!
    
      

This is the end, beautiful friend ...

Yep folks, the writing is on the wall for the Ireland that many of us once knew. Recent events are accelerating that process and a critical mass is about to be reached. The future looks decidedly grim for those of us still trying to live as we should.
 Yeh I know the inevitable chorus will start braying! Stick in the mud, reactionary, blah blah blah. Before this starts let me ask the question.  Was the old Ireland perfect? Hell no! There were loads that was wrong, it was the land of twitching curtains, of parish gossip, of a clerical caste that could do wrong and arrogantly and stupidly believed in power. Cultural Catholicism prevailed,  behaviour was governed by peer pressure and  alas, in the vast majority of cases not built on any moral or spiritual foundation.
  What was the result? Well at the first chance they threw off the perceived shackles and became uber-sophisticated modern world citizens as fast as they could. Of course if you want to prove your credentials then you will be as vehement and as spiteful as possible about what came before, the church boo hiss! You will, in a muted tone of embarassment reject your past behaviour, assert that you were always a rebel and never really believed, then prove your worth by calling for the banning of religion and lay the blame for the state of the country firmly at the feet of the Church.
    When you have demonstrated your bona fide loyalty to the modern  world, proven that you are an individual, then you can safely do exactly what the elites tell you to do, secure in the knowledge that there are millions like you, all those individuals doing the same thing. So naturally you will vote yes to the children's referendum, since the establishment asked for it and you will emote tremendously and protest loudly for a change in the laws of the state, rather than waiting for the true picture to be revealed of a tragic situation that has befallen a young couple and their child. Why? Well because it appears that everybody else is watching you and you don't want to appear uncouth or (God forbid!) backward. You've been told how beautiful and sleek and modern the rest of the world is, and you want to be seen as beautiful don't you?
      Democracy  is highly overrated, but it still is preferable to the oligarchy that is consuming the republic,  indeed soon it will become a misnomer to describe this country as a republic.  When voters and campaigners who supported the No campaign, are described by prominent people as "extremist" and that their" views should be disqualified from any future referenda", then the end of the line has been reached. Even when victorious the oligarchy are still consumed with hatred for those who would have the temerity to disagree with their superior intellect. They know what is best for you, you pleb, they have the blueprint and you are the poor sap who will build and will pay for their flawed vision.
   The end is nigh for that which made Ireland what it used to be, but what do you care?  You're too busy trying to be beautiful!
  
    

The Blind Leading the Blind (off a cliff)!!!

I have returned, apologies for my absence only I've been incredibly busy. Ok that excuse was not good enough, I was washing my hair....no? Ok i admit it I'm a lazy blogger, there I have faced my problem and admitted it. Truth be told I have been really busy, and by night the thoughts of pounding on a keyboard doesn't really appeal. Secondly I'm not the type to splatter the screen with every random thought that sluggishly meanders through my cranium, I never intended to post every single day on every single topic.

 But here's my thought for today.
 Everyone who loves their Faith knows about the problem (understatement) that is the RE congress in the LA archdiocese. This annual heresy fest has long been a very public source of great shame to the Church not only in the States but throughout the world. Not much noticed here in the Emerald Isle was the steady stream of catechetical "experts" and high ranking Irish clerics  from these shores who visited and indeed spoke at this apostasy.
    Not merely content with contributing, these eminently qualified people decided that what could be better than having an Irish version of the congress. Yours truly attended the first one, which was held in Dublin, several years ago and it was everything I hoped (and feared) it would be. From St. Patrick's Breastplate being used for stretching exercises (I kid you not) to a workshop on dreams hosted by a Jesuit ( who else) which expounded the idea that the Baptism at the Jordan was Our Lord dreaming and then he went in to the desert for forty days to work out this dream!! Another workshop euphemistically called women in scripture which wasn't about the bible, but rather a one woman (nun) rant on discrimination, women priests and the evils of men all coming from an invitee from Canada. The list goes on from a self appointed congress poet (with terrible iambic pentameter)  to a call for a pre-Christ christology???
  I came away from the congress chuckling but with a sense of foreboding. The one silver lining was that all the delusional souls present were getting on in years and the place stank of desperation. But these were the "experts" who devised and published the "Children of God" and "Alive -O" series for Catholic schools, these cretins are responsible for forty years of devastation and countless lost souls.
  But you have to give them credit the next congress they had a youth day planned so as to get more youth in their ranks. I doubt this will work, young people tend to drift to the neo-catholic/new springtime group rather than the lost generation of the council.
   Now  the next congress hoves into view hosted in the autumn in the diocese of Kerry, the shepherd of which is the head of the catechetical office of the Irish episcopal conference. Need I say more. Perhaps most significantly, the keynote speaker is one Thomas Groome, professor of theology  and religious education.
Here are a few snippets of his writings:

" One possible solution (which for this author has seemed successful with younger children) is to interchange the terms 'father' 'mother' and 'loving parent' for God. Then, when teaching a traditional prayer like the 'Our Father' , teachers can take care to explain in the catechesis which follows that Jesus intends us to approach God as a trustworthty, forgiving and loving parent."

" As for all human beings, Jesus has to be one gender or the other, and the Gospels give no indication of any particular significance in his being male. Better, then, to treat this as one aspect of the 'scandal of particularity' that was his life: as a person, Jesus was a man, a Jew, a carpenter, from Nazareth etc. It is through his divinity and hunamity, not particularly his maleness, that Jesus is our Saviour and Liberator."

 Note the words stretched to breaking point, all to make Groome's argument for inclusive language in the classroom when teaching religion. I particularly enjoy his own definition of his educational theory.

"A participative and dialogical pedagogy in which people reflect critically on their own historical agency in time and place and on their socio-cultural reality, have access together to Christian Story/Vision, and personally appropriate in their community with the creative intent of renewed praxis in Christian faith towards God's reign for all creation."

There simple, why even a five year old could understand that! Quick get me a five year old I can't make head nor tail of it!! 

Faith and Society.

"It would be a strange fatality if the great revolution by which Western man has subdued nature to his purposes should end in the loss of his own spiritual freedom, but this might well happen if an increasing technical control of the state over life and thought of its members should coincide with a qualitative decline in the standards of our culture. An ideology in the modern sense of the word is very different from a faith, although it is intended to fulfil the same sociological functions. It is the work of man, an instrument by which the conscious political will attempts to mould the social tradition to its purpose. But faith looks beyond the world of man and his works; it introduces man to a higher and more universal range of reality than the finite and temporal world to which the state and economic order belong. And thereby it introduces into human life an element of spiritual freedom which may have a creative and transforming influence on man's social culture and historical destiny as well as on his inner personal experience."
                                                                                      Christopher Dawson 1949.

Incensing the Altar at the Offertory

Dirigatur, Domine, oratio mea, sicut incensum in conspectu tuo: elevatio manuum mearum sacrificium vespertinum .
Pone, Domine, custodiam ori meo, et ostium circumstantiae labiis meis.
Ut non declinet cor meum in verbo malitiae, ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis.

Let my prayer, O Lord, be directed as incense in Thy sight: the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.
Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door round about my lips.
Incline not my heart to evil words: to make excuses in sin.