Also, note there is only one cross before the ABC's signature, not two or three. Since the Archbishop is primus inter pares his peers, the single cross denoting a bishop is appropriate.
No doubt your Bloviator has made these errors himself and for that, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Thank you for your attention. We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.
Also, note there is only one cross before the ABC's signature, not two or three. Since the Archbishop is primus inter pares his peers, the single cross denoting a bishop is appropriate.
No doubt your Bloviator has made these errors himself and for that, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Thank you for your attention. We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.
Pope considers return to Latin massBy NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer
Sat May 26, 4:17 PM ETIt was one of the most radical reforms to emerge from the Second Vatican Council. The Mass, root of Roman Catholic worship, would be celebrated in the local language and not in Latin.
Now, little more than a generation later, Pope Benedict XVI is poised to revive the 16th-century Tridentine Mass...
A Vatican official, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, confirmed earlier this month that Benedict would soon relax the restrictions on celebrating the Tridentine Mass because of a "new and renewed interest" in the celebration — especially among younger Catholics.
After many years of appalling "innovations," the RC Church, ironically under the guidance of of one of the oldest Popes in years, has recognized instead of attracting young people she has been repelling them with many of the post-Vatican II changes. The return to Latin worship along with ad orientem celebration, chant and other traditions has been noised about for some time now but now seems ever more likely. I think it's money in the bank as the old and beautiful forms of worship return and become more widespread, the RC Church in America will see her numbers swell, with young people who crave the visual and aural links to the past in a two-thousand year old institution as well her older lapsed members who saw no good reason for those links to be jettisoned and stopped attending Mass because they were.
Another rich potential source for new Roman worshippers may be Anglo-Catholics, who for years have longed for a church that treats them like adults and instead are treated to pandering drivel like this from their Presiding Bishop:
“We are about embracing the world and saying ‘y’all come,’ ” she added. She encouraged church members “to listen to people who are hungry.”
Evangelism means many things in words and music, observing that it is difficult to attract young people to Episcopal churches when “you speak in Victorian (sic) English.” She cited a successful youth program in one metropolitan area that attracts young people with hip-hop.
Someone ought to inform Ms. Schori that hip-hop sales are off substantially from last year, that's it's on the way out (with a rather nice parallel there), but it hardly matters. I wonder how many Anglo-Catholics, after years of watching our church's doctrine assaulted from the left, via the revisionists, and her liturgy from both left and right (i.e. those who claim "orthodoxy" yet have no problem with women "priests," "praise music," dumbed-down English and just plain noise) will view this development from Rome as the beckoning to leave behind the confusion and decay and come back into the comfortable enfold of Holy Mother Church. If the Catholic Church returns to worship that emphasizes traditional liturgy and music, increasing numbers of Anglo-Catholic conservatives will see little advantage to casting their lot with the thumb sucking graybeards that comprise much of the Episcopal Church these days, instead preferring the blessed company of all faithful people, even young ones, who act and worship God like adults.
Pope considers return to Latin massBy NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer
Sat May 26, 4:17 PM ETIt was one of the most radical reforms to emerge from the Second Vatican Council. The Mass, root of Roman Catholic worship, would be celebrated in the local language and not in Latin.
Now, little more than a generation later, Pope Benedict XVI is poised to revive the 16th-century Tridentine Mass...
A Vatican official, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, confirmed earlier this month that Benedict would soon relax the restrictions on celebrating the Tridentine Mass because of a "new and renewed interest" in the celebration — especially among younger Catholics.
After many years of appalling "innovations," the RC Church, ironically under the guidance of of one of the oldest Popes in years, has recognized instead of attracting young people she has been repelling them with many of the post-Vatican II changes. The return to Latin worship along with ad orientem celebration, chant and other traditions has been noised about for some time now but now seems ever more likely. I think it's money in the bank as the old and beautiful forms of worship return and become more widespread, the RC Church in America will see her numbers swell, with young people who crave the visual and aural links to the past in a two-thousand year old institution as well her older lapsed members who saw no good reason for those links to be jettisoned and stopped attending Mass because they were.
Another rich potential source for new Roman worshippers may be Anglo-Catholics, who for years have longed for a church that treats them like adults and instead are treated to pandering drivel like this from their Presiding Bishop:
“We are about embracing the world and saying ‘y’all come,’ ” she added. She encouraged church members “to listen to people who are hungry.”
Evangelism means many things in words and music, observing that it is difficult to attract young people to Episcopal churches when “you speak in Victorian (sic) English.” She cited a successful youth program in one metropolitan area that attracts young people with hip-hop.
Someone ought to inform Ms. Schori that hip-hop sales are off substantially from last year, that's it's on the way out (with a rather nice parallel there), but it hardly matters. I wonder how many Anglo-Catholics, after years of watching our church's doctrine assaulted from the left, via the revisionists, and her liturgy from both left and right (i.e. those who claim "orthodoxy" yet have no problem with women "priests," "praise music," dumbed-down English and just plain noise) will view this development from Rome as the beckoning to leave behind the confusion and decay and come back into the comfortable enfold of Holy Mother Church. If the Catholic Church returns to worship that emphasizes traditional liturgy and music, increasing numbers of Anglo-Catholic conservatives will see little advantage to casting their lot with the thumb sucking graybeards that comprise much of the Episcopal Church these days, instead preferring the blessed company of all faithful people, even young ones, who act and worship God like adults.
Rest eternal grant them O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
Rest eternal grant them O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
In our age it is hard to realize how seriously people took religion four hundred years ago. Catholic or Protestant, Christian belief was literally a matter of life and death to the faithful. It was not an uncommon occurrence during the reformation a simple farmer, for example, going willingly to the stake over matters many now would consider minor doctrinal issues. The missionaries in South America, who travelled and evangelized at considerable risk to themselves, also saw Christianity as a life and death issue, especially for the Indians. They sincerely believed if the indigenous heathen were not brought into the embrace of the Holy Church and their souls saved, they would be consigned to eternal damnation. The missionaries were not engaging in, to put it in lefty twaddle, imperialistic and cultural hegemony, rather they were following our Lord's injunctive to his disciples. No doubt some of them were a bit the mercenary along with missionary but the stupendous success of the Church's evangelization speaks not only to how effectively and zestfully her missionaries followed Christ's command but also to how eager their charges, the Indians, were to embrace the Good News delivered to them.
All in all, despite her many problems, the Church in Central and South America is in good repair, better than in Europe or even North America. Those courageous missionaries' efforts so many years ago are in a large way responsible. People with strong Christian beliefs are far more resistant to the enticements of paradise on earth the Marxist religion promises and that is the real reason for the lefty furor. While the Roman Catholic Church certainly has made mistakes in the past and should by all means address them whenever she can, there is no reason whatsoever for her to apologize to the so-called rights advocates whose true mission, despite all blather to the contrary, is establishing an atheistic collectivist dictatorship.
Update: Bro. James writes:
You might also want to consider the example of the North American Martyrs, whose feast is October 19. Twelve Jesuit priests from France were murdered by various Indian tribes in Quebec and upstate New York over the course of 40 years in the 17th century. Many of them were aristocrats; all had the equivalent of doctorates and some were poets of note. They competed against thousands of applicants in Europe to win the right to travel to the New World and preach to hostile savages who ended up killing 90 percent of them. The Iroquois chewed off St. Isaac Jogues' fingers so that he couldn't say Mass, then doused him with boiling water in a mockery of baptism and left him to die in the snow. He survived and was sent back to France, where he spent four years petitioning Rome for permission to return. Once he got back to Canada he went straight to the same village, where the savages tortured him for two full days. An Indian eyewitness who later converted testified that the tribesmen were so astonished at his bravery that they eviscerated him and fought one another to eat his heart after he was dead.
In our age it is hard to realize how seriously people took religion four hundred years ago. Catholic or Protestant, Christian belief was literally a matter of life and death to the faithful. It was not an uncommon occurrence during the reformation a simple farmer, for example, going willingly to the stake over matters many now would consider minor doctrinal issues. The missionaries in South America, who travelled and evangelized at considerable risk to themselves, also saw Christianity as a life and death issue, especially for the Indians. They sincerely believed if the indigenous heathen were not brought into the embrace of the Holy Church and their souls saved, they would be consigned to eternal damnation. The missionaries were not engaging in, to put it in lefty twaddle, imperialistic and cultural hegemony, rather they were following our Lord's injunctive to his disciples. No doubt some of them were a bit the mercenary along with missionary but the stupendous success of the Church's evangelization speaks not only to how effectively and zestfully her missionaries followed Christ's command but also to how eager their charges, the Indians, were to embrace the Good News delivered to them.
All in all, despite her many problems, the Church in Central and South America is in good repair, better than in Europe or even North America. Those courageous missionaries' efforts so many years ago are in a large way responsible. People with strong Christian beliefs are far more resistant to the enticements of paradise on earth the Marxist religion promises and that is the real reason for the lefty furor. While the Roman Catholic Church certainly has made mistakes in the past and should by all means address them whenever she can, there is no reason whatsoever for her to apologize to the so-called rights advocates whose true mission, despite all blather to the contrary, is establishing an atheistic collectivist dictatorship.
Update: Bro. James writes:
You might also want to consider the example of the North American Martyrs, whose feast is October 19. Twelve Jesuit priests from France were murdered by various Indian tribes in Quebec and upstate New York over the course of 40 years in the 17th century. Many of them were aristocrats; all had the equivalent of doctorates and some were poets of note. They competed against thousands of applicants in Europe to win the right to travel to the New World and preach to hostile savages who ended up killing 90 percent of them. The Iroquois chewed off St. Isaac Jogues' fingers so that he couldn't say Mass, then doused him with boiling water in a mockery of baptism and left him to die in the snow. He survived and was sent back to France, where he spent four years petitioning Rome for permission to return. Once he got back to Canada he went straight to the same village, where the savages tortured him for two full days. An Indian eyewitness who later converted testified that the tribesmen were so astonished at his bravery that they eviscerated him and fought one another to eat his heart after he was dead.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders are urging President George W. Bush and Congress to take action against global warming, declaring that the changing climate is a "moral and spiritual issue."
Why do I suspect it wouldn't be a "moral and spiritual" issue if it didn't require the capitalist United States paying a heavy penalty for her crime of economic success?
(Snip)
"We are mobilizing a religious force that will persuade our legislators to take immediate action to curb greenhouse gases," it says.
Ever notice how the left loves to use "military speak," i.e. "mobilize" and "force?" It's got to be their repressed envy of real army men--which brings to mind this Tom Lehrer ditty.
(Snip)
Top officials from several mainline Christian denominations, including . . .
Hold it, hold it. See if you can guess which denominations--c'mon try! No? Need a hint? Okay, just one: they're all hemorrhaging membership. There you go! They are
the Episcopal Church, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, African Methodist Episcopal Church and Alliance of Baptists also signed the letter, along with leaders of regional organizations and individual churches.
You would think these church "leaders," as they survey the emptying pews, might ask themselves whether their notion of "moral and spiritual issues" was at one with their fleeing parishioners but you would be wrong. Millennium Development Goals, anyone?
(Thanks to Bro. Rob)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders are urging President George W. Bush and Congress to take action against global warming, declaring that the changing climate is a "moral and spiritual issue."
Why do I suspect it wouldn't be a "moral and spiritual" issue if it didn't require the capitalist United States paying a heavy penalty for her crime of economic success?
(Snip)
"We are mobilizing a religious force that will persuade our legislators to take immediate action to curb greenhouse gases," it says.
Ever notice how the left loves to use "military speak," i.e. "mobilize" and "force?" It's got to be their repressed envy of real army men--which brings to mind this Tom Lehrer ditty.
(Snip)
Top officials from several mainline Christian denominations, including . . .
Hold it, hold it. See if you can guess which denominations--c'mon try! No? Need a hint? Okay, just one: they're all hemorrhaging membership. There you go! They are
the Episcopal Church, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, African Methodist Episcopal Church and Alliance of Baptists also signed the letter, along with leaders of regional organizations and individual churches.
You would think these church "leaders," as they survey the emptying pews, might ask themselves whether their notion of "moral and spiritual issues" was at one with their fleeing parishioners but you would be wrong. Millennium Development Goals, anyone?
(Thanks to Bro. Rob)
MYTH: These ordinations as women priests are not recognized or valid.
TRUTH: The group "RC Womenpriests" receives its authority from Roman Catholic bishops who stand in full Apostolic Succession. These bishops bestowed sacramentally valid ordinations on the women listed above. All the documents pertaining to these ordinations have been attested and notarized. All minutes of the ordinations, including data about persons, Apostolic Succession, and rituals, together with films and photos are deposited with a Notary Public.
May God have mercy on the souls of the bishops but never mind, friends: a genuine Notary Public has placed those precious documents in his safe, one with both a combination AND key lock. If that don't make them dames priests, well, there's always the Episcopal Church.
(Thanks to Diogenes)
MYTH: These ordinations as women priests are not recognized or valid.
TRUTH: The group "RC Womenpriests" receives its authority from Roman Catholic bishops who stand in full Apostolic Succession. These bishops bestowed sacramentally valid ordinations on the women listed above. All the documents pertaining to these ordinations have been attested and notarized. All minutes of the ordinations, including data about persons, Apostolic Succession, and rituals, together with films and photos are deposited with a Notary Public.
May God have mercy on the souls of the bishops but never mind, friends: a genuine Notary Public has placed those precious documents in his safe, one with both a combination AND key lock. If that don't make them dames priests, well, there's always the Episcopal Church.
(Thanks to Diogenes)
Update: Fr. Cantrell writes, "Check my blog for the statement, we're not taking on water..." (Glad to hear it, Father!) On it he has posted a press release from the Diocese of Fort Worth announcing the Diocese's plans for the future. It doesn't read nearly so dramatically as Ms. Gledhill's posting, rather it lists the various possibilities the diocese will consider. Nevertheless, it does seem as if Fort Worth and ECUSA will be parting company sooner or later. Also, I didn't mean to suggest the sound Diocese of Fort Worth was taking on water, it was ECUSA's seaworthiness I was questioning, given that Captain Ahab seems to be at her helm.
Ruth Gledhill, religion correspondent of the London Times, writes the Anglo-Catholic diocese of Fort Worth will be seeking alternative primal oversight from an African primate with the Diocese of Quincy (Illinois) and at least three other dioceses to follow.
And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. (Mk 15:38)
Update: Fr. Cantrell writes, "Check my blog for the statement, we're not taking on water..." (Glad to hear it, Father!) On it he has posted a press release from the Diocese of Fort Worth announcing the Diocese's plans for the future. It doesn't read nearly so dramatically as Ms. Gledhill's posting, rather it lists the various possibilities the diocese will consider. Nevertheless, it does seem as if Fort Worth and ECUSA will be parting company sooner or later. Also, I didn't mean to suggest the sound Diocese of Fort Worth was taking on water, it was ECUSA's seaworthiness I was questioning, given that Captain Ahab seems to be at her helm.
Ruth Gledhill, religion correspondent of the London Times, writes the Anglo-Catholic diocese of Fort Worth will be seeking alternative primal oversight from an African primate with the Diocese of Quincy (Illinois) and at least three other dioceses to follow.
And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. (Mk 15:38)
House Dems repudiate Pope’s abortion remarksA group of House Democrats yesterday publicly repudiated the Pope’s recent suggestion that politicians who support abortion rights should be excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
(snip)
The Democratic lawmakers said that the suggested penalty “offend[s] the very nature of the American experiment and do[es] a great disservice to the centuries of good work the church has done.”
Despite his sorrow over the House Democrats' action, the Pope later expressed his gratitude to them for their remarks regarding the "centuries of good work the church has done," acknowledging it was "mighty white of them to say so."
(h/t The Cafeteria is Closed)
House Dems repudiate Pope’s abortion remarksA group of House Democrats yesterday publicly repudiated the Pope’s recent suggestion that politicians who support abortion rights should be excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
(snip)
The Democratic lawmakers said that the suggested penalty “offend[s] the very nature of the American experiment and do[es] a great disservice to the centuries of good work the church has done.”
Despite his sorrow over the House Democrats' action, the Pope later expressed his gratitude to them for their remarks regarding the "centuries of good work the church has done," acknowledging it was "mighty white of them to say so."
(h/t The Cafeteria is Closed)
When I was a foolish youth (is there any other kind?) I flirted with the trendy viewpoints and, for a time, supported abortion "rights." (The zeitgeist in the dreary 'seventies, the days of Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan and NOW, could easily overpower impressionable little minds like mine). As time went on and I responded slowly to Christ's bidding me back to His Church, I concomitantly divined (also slowly, I confess) life was God's greatest gift, thus the immorality and horror the depriving His gift from the innocent unborn. Many of us arrive at God's truths not via sudden epiphany rather through careful reasoning and revelation. Romney strikes me as a sincere man and I have no trouble believing that is how he arrived at the truth about abortion.
I wonder therefore why those media critics, so quick to pile on Romney, have been so strangely silent in the past when other prominent politicos have had a change of heart on abortion. Here are quotes from some of them. Can you identify the authors? The answers are below, along with the year the were made.
a) "Let me assure you that I share your belief that innocent human life must be protected, and I am committed to furthering this goal."
b) "I do not support any Constitutional Amendment pertaining to the legality of abortion."
c) "I am opposed to abortion and to government funding of abortions. We should not spend state funds on abortions because so many people believe abortion is wrong."
d) "What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of a person and what kind of a society will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually? It is that question, the question of our attitude, our value system, and our mind-set with regard to the nature and worth of life itself that is the central question confronting mankind. Failure to answer that question affirmatively may leave us with a hell right here on earth."
e) "While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized -- the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grown old."
Answers:
a) Al Gore, 1987
b) Dick Gephart, 1984
c) Bill Clinton, 1986
d) Jesse Jackson, 1977
e) Ted Kennedy, 1971 (Teddy was a Roman Catholic in those days.)
Funny, I don't recall any criticisms, any accusations of expediency, in the New York Times or Ms. when the blokes above revised their views on abortion.
(Thanks to Carolyn's Little World for the quotes.)
When I was a foolish youth (is there any other kind?) I flirted with the trendy viewpoints and, for a time, supported abortion "rights." (The zeitgeist in the dreary 'seventies, the days of Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan and NOW, could easily overpower impressionable little minds like mine). As time went on and I responded slowly to Christ's bidding me back to His Church, I concomitantly divined (also slowly, I confess) life was God's greatest gift, thus the immorality and horror the depriving His gift from the innocent unborn. Many of us arrive at God's truths not via sudden epiphany rather through careful reasoning and revelation. Romney strikes me as a sincere man and I have no trouble believing that is how he arrived at the truth about abortion.
I wonder therefore why those media critics, so quick to pile on Romney, have been so strangely silent in the past when other prominent politicos have had a change of heart on abortion. Here are quotes from some of them. Can you identify the authors? The answers are below, along with the year the were made.
a) "Let me assure you that I share your belief that innocent human life must be protected, and I am committed to furthering this goal."
b) "I do not support any Constitutional Amendment pertaining to the legality of abortion."
c) "I am opposed to abortion and to government funding of abortions. We should not spend state funds on abortions because so many people believe abortion is wrong."
d) "What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of a person and what kind of a society will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually? It is that question, the question of our attitude, our value system, and our mind-set with regard to the nature and worth of life itself that is the central question confronting mankind. Failure to answer that question affirmatively may leave us with a hell right here on earth."
e) "While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized -- the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grown old."
Answers:
a) Al Gore, 1987
b) Dick Gephart, 1984
c) Bill Clinton, 1986
d) Jesse Jackson, 1977
e) Ted Kennedy, 1971 (Teddy was a Roman Catholic in those days.)
Funny, I don't recall any criticisms, any accusations of expediency, in the New York Times or Ms. when the blokes above revised their views on abortion.
(Thanks to Carolyn's Little World for the quotes.)
Be assured the sacking of the temple is not confined to the Anglicans. Gerald Augustinus of The Cafeteria is Closed is touring Catholic churches in Europe and sending back damage reports with pics. Observe above a gorgeous Jesuit church in Austria, recently vandalized. It gets worse: cast your eyes to the right of the cofferdam-altar (which for sheer hideousness gives even this altar a run for the money) and survey the wondrous cross.
Yep, it's made of Lego blocks and sports ickle-wickle twuck. And just what does ickle-wickle twuck signify? Diogenes parodies the contempt-filled answer the poor bewildered sap may expect to receive from the perpetrators when asked, "Just what in the hell is this?"
Far from being blasphemous, the truck-cross is a recovery of one of the oldest and most venerable strands of orthodox Christian devotion. The 4th century Doctor of the Church Saint Hilary of Poitiers referred to Christ as "the vehicle of God" -- Dei currus -- since He transports fallen Mankind back to the Father through His redemptive act on the Cross. A well-known American Negro "spiritual" hymn speaks of the "sweet chariot" which is to carry the singer "home" to the bosom of the Father. Artist Liese Hochhuth used a toy truck in order to recapture the ancient image in a way meaningful to children -- and those not afraid to become as children -- in our own world of today.
Diogenes, of course, is employing the use of satire but in doing so he illustrates nicely what is really behind the impenetrable blather of progressives, both within and without the church: utter contempt for truth and beauty, notions progressives consider relics of the blinkered bourgeoisie, contrary to dialectics and a hindrance to the new order. And so it goes with them: to create the new society the old one must be destroyed and with it conventional perceptions. To get away with it, progressives insist what they are doing is noble; beautiful even, improving upon the original. Whether the masses believe it or not, as Diogenese points out, hardly matters. What does matter is the fostering of tension in the people over their old-fashioned views which will, over time and with constant repetition of the progressive platform, create such uncertainty in their minds they will no longer question, let alone express outrage over, the continuing transgressions against what they hold dear.
That, dear reader, is how the Episcopal Church in thirty short years got turned inside out as a Christian institution and will, in short order, cease to be one. The Catholic Church is similarly afflicted with progressives and they certainly have left their mark. Fortunately for Holy Mother Church, however, she has a pope: John Paul II managed to contain the damage and Benedict XVI actually seems to be reversing it. Let us pray it is so.
Let us also pray for the courage when lies are presented as truths, ugliness presented as beauty, to loudly, vigorously and vehemently protest it. That, as John Paul II showed the world so magnificently in Communist Poland, is how tyranny is eventually brought down.
Be assured the sacking of the temple is not confined to the Anglicans. Gerald Augustinus of The Cafeteria is Closed is touring Catholic churches in Europe and sending back damage reports with pics. Observe above a gorgeous Jesuit church in Austria, recently vandalized. It gets worse: cast your eyes to the right of the cofferdam-altar (which for sheer hideousness gives even this altar a run for the money) and survey the wondrous cross.
Yep, it's made of Lego blocks and sports ickle-wickle twuck. And just what does ickle-wickle twuck signify? Diogenes parodies the contempt-filled answer the poor bewildered sap may expect to receive from the perpetrators when asked, "Just what in the hell is this?"
Far from being blasphemous, the truck-cross is a recovery of one of the oldest and most venerable strands of orthodox Christian devotion. The 4th century Doctor of the Church Saint Hilary of Poitiers referred to Christ as "the vehicle of God" -- Dei currus -- since He transports fallen Mankind back to the Father through His redemptive act on the Cross. A well-known American Negro "spiritual" hymn speaks of the "sweet chariot" which is to carry the singer "home" to the bosom of the Father. Artist Liese Hochhuth used a toy truck in order to recapture the ancient image in a way meaningful to children -- and those not afraid to become as children -- in our own world of today.
Diogenes, of course, is employing the use of satire but in doing so he illustrates nicely what is really behind the impenetrable blather of progressives, both within and without the church: utter contempt for truth and beauty, notions progressives consider relics of the blinkered bourgeoisie, contrary to dialectics and a hindrance to the new order. And so it goes with them: to create the new society the old one must be destroyed and with it conventional perceptions. To get away with it, progressives insist what they are doing is noble; beautiful even, improving upon the original. Whether the masses believe it or not, as Diogenese points out, hardly matters. What does matter is the fostering of tension in the people over their old-fashioned views which will, over time and with constant repetition of the progressive platform, create such uncertainty in their minds they will no longer question, let alone express outrage over, the continuing transgressions against what they hold dear.
That, dear reader, is how the Episcopal Church in thirty short years got turned inside out as a Christian institution and will, in short order, cease to be one. The Catholic Church is similarly afflicted with progressives and they certainly have left their mark. Fortunately for Holy Mother Church, however, she has a pope: John Paul II managed to contain the damage and Benedict XVI actually seems to be reversing it. Let us pray it is so.
Let us also pray for the courage when lies are presented as truths, ugliness presented as beauty, to loudly, vigorously and vehemently protest it. That, as John Paul II showed the world so magnificently in Communist Poland, is how tyranny is eventually brought down.
BOSTON -- Something else popped at the Boston Pops' opening night concert -- a brawl broke out at Symphony Hall.
Before rocker Ben Folds appeared as a special guest Wednesday night, two men did some rockin' and rollin' in the balcony as the orchestra performed a medley from the movie "Gigi."
BOSTON -- Something else popped at the Boston Pops' opening night concert -- a brawl broke out at Symphony Hall.
Before rocker Ben Folds appeared as a special guest Wednesday night, two men did some rockin' and rollin' in the balcony as the orchestra performed a medley from the movie "Gigi."
(2007-05-10) - Rudy Giuliani this week plans to come out of the closet as the first openly pro-choice presidential candidate among leading Republicans, boldly making the case to conservatives that abortion “may be the GOP’s most effective electoral tool,” according to campaign insiders.Fresh Swiftian logic like that will certainly liven up this upcoming campaign.
“Abortion disproportionately kills off blacks, the poor and those who live in metropolitan areas that are traditional Democrat strongholds,” said an unnamed Giuliani campaign source. “While pro-life Republicans hate to see anyone chopped up and yanked from the womb, knowing that it affects mostly liberals may make Rudy’s pro-choice stand more palatable.”
(2007-05-10) - Rudy Giuliani this week plans to come out of the closet as the first openly pro-choice presidential candidate among leading Republicans, boldly making the case to conservatives that abortion “may be the GOP’s most effective electoral tool,” according to campaign insiders.Fresh Swiftian logic like that will certainly liven up this upcoming campaign.
“Abortion disproportionately kills off blacks, the poor and those who live in metropolitan areas that are traditional Democrat strongholds,” said an unnamed Giuliani campaign source. “While pro-life Republicans hate to see anyone chopped up and yanked from the womb, knowing that it affects mostly liberals may make Rudy’s pro-choice stand more palatable.”
"Former Gov. James E. McGreevey has started the process to become a priest in his newly adopted Episcopal faith and has been accepted into a three-year seminary program starting this fall . . .He . . . has been accepted into the Master of Divinity program at Manhattan's renowned General Theological Seminary, seminary spokesman Bruce Parker said in a statement this afternoon.
"He has met all of General's admissions requirements and, as with all students accepted for admission, his application was evaluated by a committee composed of faculty members and several students, along with the Director of Admissions. We look forward to welcoming him as a member of the General Seminary community," Parker said.
"He has met all of General's admissions requirements . . ." Let's take a squint at this candidate's stellar resumé: He married a woman, sired a kid with her, then dumped her. He married another woman and sired another kid. All the while, as he thrillingly relates in his autobiography called, ironically, The Confession (but might better have been titled No Holes Barred), he was playing around with guys in romantic trysts in the finest restrooms throughout the Garden State, behavior he now confesses, with abject humility, was "a compromise." Then a teensy little problem arose: following 9/11 he procured for one of his paramours a six-figured government job as Homeland Security Advisor, a position for which his pal had zero qualifications and for which McGreevey got called out.
What to do? Bring out the heavy artillery. McGreevey fired and dumped his pal, called a press conference and with wife number 2 beside him, announced his resignation (delayed so to ensure his replacement would be a Democrat) and proclaimed to the citizenry of New Jersey he was a "gay American," i.e. a victim, and thus not to be blamed for his behavior. He then dumped wife number 2 (a nasty custody battle continues to this day) and found himself an Aussie with whom he lives for the present. Now James E. McGreevey has been accepted as a seminarian and hopes one day to administer the Body and Blood of Christ in His Holy Catholic Church.
What is terribly saddening about this sordid business is there are, astonishingly, young people of caliber and rectitude who still want to be priests in the Episcopal Church. What a slap in the face GTS's acceptance of this slimeball, this disgraced and unrepentant ex-governor of New Jersey, is to them. Poor ECUSA, she is beyond redemption. Weep for her.
"Former Gov. James E. McGreevey has started the process to become a priest in his newly adopted Episcopal faith and has been accepted into a three-year seminary program starting this fall . . .He . . . has been accepted into the Master of Divinity program at Manhattan's renowned General Theological Seminary, seminary spokesman Bruce Parker said in a statement this afternoon.
"He has met all of General's admissions requirements and, as with all students accepted for admission, his application was evaluated by a committee composed of faculty members and several students, along with the Director of Admissions. We look forward to welcoming him as a member of the General Seminary community," Parker said.
"He has met all of General's admissions requirements . . ." Let's take a squint at this candidate's stellar resumé: He married a woman, sired a kid with her, then dumped her. He married another woman and sired another kid. All the while, as he thrillingly relates in his autobiography called, ironically, The Confession (but might better have been titled No Holes Barred), he was playing around with guys in romantic trysts in the finest restrooms throughout the Garden State, behavior he now confesses, with abject humility, was "a compromise." Then a teensy little problem arose: following 9/11 he procured for one of his paramours a six-figured government job as Homeland Security Advisor, a position for which his pal had zero qualifications and for which McGreevey got called out.
What to do? Bring out the heavy artillery. McGreevey fired and dumped his pal, called a press conference and with wife number 2 beside him, announced his resignation (delayed so to ensure his replacement would be a Democrat) and proclaimed to the citizenry of New Jersey he was a "gay American," i.e. a victim, and thus not to be blamed for his behavior. He then dumped wife number 2 (a nasty custody battle continues to this day) and found himself an Aussie with whom he lives for the present. Now James E. McGreevey has been accepted as a seminarian and hopes one day to administer the Body and Blood of Christ in His Holy Catholic Church.
What is terribly saddening about this sordid business is there are, astonishingly, young people of caliber and rectitude who still want to be priests in the Episcopal Church. What a slap in the face GTS's acceptance of this slimeball, this disgraced and unrepentant ex-governor of New Jersey, is to them. Poor ECUSA, she is beyond redemption. Weep for her.
During the last 10,000 years climate has been seesawing between the North and South Atlantic Oceans. As revealed by findings presented by Quaternary scientists at Lund University, Sweden, cold periods in the north have corresponded to warmth in the south and vice verse. These results imply that Europe may face a slightly cooler future than predicted by IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
During the last 10,000 years climate has been seesawing between the North and South Atlantic Oceans. As revealed by findings presented by Quaternary scientists at Lund University, Sweden, cold periods in the north have corresponded to warmth in the south and vice verse. These results imply that Europe may face a slightly cooler future than predicted by IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
