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Manny
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Oct 20, 2016 07:34PM
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https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAjbbuT?m=en-us"
LOL, the Al Davis dinner does make for some good jokes, but personally I don't like it. It gives the suggestion that Cardinal Dolan is approving of the candidates.
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"Japan gets its first minor Basilica"
"A Catholic church in the western Japanese city of Nagasaki has become the first in the country to be designated a "minor basilica," a title granted by the pope only to specifically important places of worship.
The Oura Church in 1865 was the site where a group of “hidden Christians” revealed their faith to Father Bernard Petitjean of France.
"The church was the scene of an event that marked a transition from an age when our faith was banned to an age when it became free to follow it, the church will have to play a more central role than ever." said Archbishop Mitsuaki Takami of Nagasaki, as reported by The Asahi Shimbun."
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/...
It occurred to me today that if Japan had not outlawed Catholicism in the 17th century, Japan today would be as Catholic as the Philippines. Pray for more conversions in that great nation. After reading the novel Silence, my heart is so attached to the Japanese Catholics.
Manny wrote: "This is especially pertinent to those reading the Shusaku Endo novel, Silence in our reading club this month. "Japan gets its first minor Basilica"
"A Catholic church in the western Japanese cit..."
Thank you for posting this Manny. That is very good news.
We read Pope Francis’ “Amoris Laetitia” last spring. There were some touchy issues the Pope discussed in Chapter 8. In early September four cardinals, American Cardinal Raymond L. Burke among them sent five questions to Pope Francis to clarify issues raised in Chapter 8, and asked him to answer yes or no on questions concerning communion and moral law specifically as it relates to Catholics who divorced and remarried. They did not receive an answer and decided on an unusual step to go public with the questions this week. The full text of their concerns was published. You can read it here:http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/...
The cardinals are waiting for clarification.
I’ve been hearing about this fight with Big Brother in London for some time on European news. Big Brother is alive and well and thinks has the power over life and death in London. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...
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The Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper wrote on this subject in Leisure: The Basis Of Culture in the aftermath of WWII when he observed how Germans with immense fervor rebuilt their country embracing the materialist ideal of making productivity the ultimate virtue at the expense of being human. The book became an instant classic and is as current today as it was 70 years ago.
Romano Guardini wrote on the subject as well - though I have yet to read it Letters from Lake Como: Explorations in Technology and the Human Race. Both books are on the bookshelf.
Kerstin wrote: "In the servile state geared for maximum production and consumption man is only an interchangeable functionary. Human life no longer has any intrinsic value on its own. The case of Alfie, and so man..."Thank you for your always erudite comments. We read Father Guardini’s “Learning the Virtues: That Lead You to God” in the summer of 2016. It was a good reading and discussion. I looked over our comments and some of us agreed it was would be candidate for a second reading.
The New York cardinal embarrassed me again. He is quoted that he felt “a tad apprehensive” about participating in a fashion show ball that displayed religious themes, including his own tiara that he lent to a model to parade in at the affair. Even the NY Times called this display a “blasphemous spectacle”. We do include him in the prayers each Sunday mass. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/op...
https://www.thewrap.com/rihanna-met-b...
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"Monegasque princess removed from British line of succession for becoming Catholic"
"Princess Alexandra of Hanover, a member of the royal family of Monaco, has reportedly been removed from her distant place in the British line of succession after having become a Catholic.
The news was reported in English Sept. 27 by Royal Central, which cited Point de Vue, a French weekly.
Because the British monarch is head of the Church of England, which is the established church, British law bars Catholics from succeeding to the throne."
It goes on to say:
"Princess Alexandra, 19, was born in Austria and was baptized as a Lutheran two months after her birth. She is the daughter of Caroline, Princess of Hanover and Prince Ernst August of Hanover. Through her father she is descended from Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Alexandra is the granddaughter of Grace Kelly, who in 1956 became Princess of Monaco when she married Rainier III. So in addition to having been in the British line of succession, Alexandra is 12th in line to the Monegasque throne.
She is a figure skater, and has represented Monaco at international skating competitions."
She's a pretty young lady as well. You read the rest of the story here:
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/ne...
Manny wrote: "I thought this an interesting story. I'm moved by conversions to our faith, and when a young person chooses to become Catholic it's particularly moving, especially when that young person has someth..."This news item is of course interesting for us Catholics though it may catch more attention in the media not for the act of conversion itself but just by media’s constant fascination and coverage of all sort of newsworthy or useless items concerning the royalty. The English fears are not surprising. England was strongly anti-Catholic since the rule of Henry VIII (1509-1547) who divorced and killed his various wives. The Hanoverians sat on the English throne starting with the stubborn and obese George I (1660-1727) who never learned English and spent more time in his beloved Hanover.
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms delivered more than 20,600 petitions to governor Cuomo’s office on March 19th calling for the repeal of the Reproductive Health Act. Jason McGuire, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, charged that “Christian New Yorkers were grieved at the passage of the Reproductive Health Act and outraged that Gov. Cuomo lit One World Trade Center and other landmarks in pink to celebrate this inhumane piece of legislation.”Putnam County Legislature’s Health Committee held an emotional public debate on March 18th attended by 75 people in Carmel, NY, and approved a resolution calling on state lawmakers to repeal the Reproductive Health Act signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo in January, 2019. Legislator Ginny Nacerino called for repeal line by line. The legislation enacted is “morally and ethically abhorrent. For Governor Cuomo to codify the legislation while admittingly proclaiming himself as a Roman Catholic is a travesty. I cannot support blatant disregard for human life and believe the majority of Putnam residents stand shoulder to shoulder with me on this issue. The mere thought of the Health Reproductive Act, which repeals New York State Public Health Law requiring babies to be provided ‘immediate legal protection under the laws of New York State,’ now offers no protection to a born-alive infant, (and) thereby in essence supports infanticide.” Nocerino went on to say that New York supports and protects wildlife and endangered species, “yet we place less value on human life by offering no protection to a fetus by repealing abortion related crimes that injure or kill pre-born children as well as violent criminal acts where pregnant women who are assaulted result in miscarriage.” She charged the new legislation was “not about a woman’s right to choose, or will it make abortion safe, legal and rare. It will put women at greater risk by allowing non-physicians to perform abortions.”
Reported in The Putnam County News and Recorder, March 20, 2019 pp. 1, 4.
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Anyway, I don't know if Cuomo planned on it, but it has lit a fire in Catholics around me.
Manny wrote: "Hey, I might be one of those signatures. I know it came across my way, I just can't remember if I signed it or not. My parish has been talking about abortion ever since that law came out. We create..."It has lit a fire in Florida too.
Manny wrote: "Anyway, I don't know if Cuomo planned on it, but it has lit a fire in Catholics around me. "I think we can be fairly certain that this was not Cuomo's intent.
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I think we can be fairly certain that this was not Cuomo's intent."
Hi John. You can't always be sure about that. Sometimes the enemies you make in politics drive up one's popularity, and with his party in Liberal New York I would not be surprised if this were a net plus for him. He has been a thorn in the Catholic Church for quite a while actually and it has not hurt his popularity.
Manny wrote: "John wrote: "Manny wrote: "Anyway, I don't know if Cuomo planned on it, but it has lit a fire in Catholics around me. "I think we can be fairly certain that this was not Cuomo's intent."
Hi John..."
I don't doubt that he may have intended to stick a thumb in the eye of the Church as a way to bolster his standing among his leftist allies, but not being a believer himself, I don't see how he could have intended to "light a fire" under Catholics. It is all speculation until that day when all is known, but I would bet you a donut that he expected to take some flack from the vocal orthodox (who likely don't vote for him anyway), but not to lose a single vote from the pews.
Following the news is a difficult endeavor. We cannot avoid it however we try. Not with events that concern us Catholics such as noted here the fire of the Notre Dame cathedral followed rapidly in the headlines by the assault on Christians in Sri Lanka. I came across an article by an Australian priest Dr. Leslie Rumble, of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart on the subject of angels and devils that addresses the problem of evil in the world in a meaningful way. Belief in the devil is not popular and unbelief is widespread. Dr. Rumble quotes from “The Problem of Pain” by C. S. Lewis: “I can’t claim to know anything about his personal appearance. If anybody really wants to know him better, I’d say to that person, ‘Don’t worry. If you really want to, you will. Whether you’ll like it when you do is another question.’ "Dr. Rumble continues: “The more we study history, the more we are shaken in any idea that men alone could be responsible for all the physical and moral disasters that have come upon the human race . . . when we detect a diabolical hatred of religion, and all to do with God, we recognize the influence of demonic forces. All points to an evil power at work in the world which is not that of men, or which uses their stupidity for its own purposes.”
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The older I get the more I realize Satan does speak through to people and influence their decisions. Satan's power is the power to suggest. But his suggestions spread across a nation, indeed, nations and people lead to some culturally accepted values. I won't get into the politically charged events that occurred in Sri Lanka, but here's an example within our own culture. The value that a person has the right to abort a conceived child. That's socially acceptable and across western world is probably a majority view. Certainly Satan spent many years influencing many people for such a value to come into fruition. But it's there.
Our parish also bought tickets for the debut showing in our area of "Unplanned." Despite some obvious efforts by the media to suppress publicity, it has already set box office records. Every American, Catholic or not, should see it. Recently a California school came to light for a new textbook that compares a fetus to cancer, and every declared Democrat presidential candidate to date has come out in favor of unrestricted abortion and infanticide, making clearly demonic statements labelling abortion as a "blessing," "life-saving," etc. , while labelling pro-life as "unchristian" or "terrorists." These are definitely tactics of Satan the great deceiver, and I believe the lines are already drawn worldwide between a government of, by, and for a free people under God and Satan's culture of death. Seven years ago our parish Bible Study took on angels and demons in the Bible through Ascension Press. With every lesson the parallels were clear between spiritual warfare throughout history and in our own time.
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"Alabama Senate Outlaws Abortion, Setting up Supreme Court Roe v. Wade Challenge"...
"MONTGOMERY - The Alabama Senate approved a bill Thursday that will outlaw nearly all abortion in the state. The bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. Kay Ivey, is intended to be a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that declared unconstitutional state measures prohibiting abortion.
The Human Life Protection Act (HB314), if signed into law, will make attempting or performing an abortion a felony offense. Doctors who perform abortion would be charged with a Class A felony and could face between 10 years and life in prison.
The penalty would apply only to doctors, not to mothers, who, according to the bill’s sponsors, would not face criminal penalties for undergoing abortions."
You can read the rest here:
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/...
Crucifix in Quebec's National Assembly comes downhttps://www.nationalobserver.com/2019...
Meanwhile in France (and elsewhere):
Vincent Lambert: French coma patient dies after bitter family fight over life support
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europ...
The devil certainly seems to have the nations of the world in his grip. If we cannot be activists or commit to involvement in our home parish or diocese, we can still pray, and, as St. Paul exhorts, "pray without ceasing," or at least whenever we think to do it. And check our own diligence in putting on the armor of God. Some days we seem to be winning but more often not, I think. And I'm still puzzled that our churches chose to stop saying the prayer to St. Michael at the end of every Mass. I have it in my dailies anyway.
Cokie Roberts (1943-2019) R. I. P.Journalist with a long career in National Public Radio, ABC News, and many more passed away on September 17th. She was Catholic and openly defended her faith whenever occasion arose, as in this interview when the issue of abortion came up:
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/05/729874...
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https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news...
Oh, I wish N.T. Wright would follow him! (And if it were possible to go back in time, C.S. Lewis.)
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Distressing local eventA week ago on Saturday, first of February, I was passing by our local library North of NYC when I noticed an unusual gathering. There was first a sheriff cruiser and then at the entrance to the small library parking lot a group of people with a rainbow gay flag and all sorts of signs that were hard to read as I drove by the first time. A small space further at the exit from the library parking lot there was another group of people also holding signs that were also hard to read fast but I gathered that they were counter protesters. There was a second sheriff cruiser parked across the county road near them.
Coming back from my short visit to a store I noticed the two groups still there and hollering. I realized this time that this was a pro and anti-sodomite agenda confrontation. As I passed now in reverse direction I drove slower and read the signs of the group against the gay flag people. I saw “beep if against drag.” I beeped. As I passed the pro-gay group I showed them my thumb pointing down through the windshield. But why was all this going on in a quiet town?
I searched for the news of this in the local media but found none until a weekly newspaper covered it in the next edition. The story is that a new library director organized a “Drag Queen Story Hour” which was taking place during my drive pass the library. The saddest part of this--as the event heading suggests--is that it was directed at an audience of children! There were 70 participants inside the library, the report claims—“with a waiting list.” (Waiting for what? Another gay show?)
“In this day and age, who would allow adult, middle aged men dressed as women to make presentations to confused children?” asked one of the protesters quoted in the article.
A sad part of this is also that the pro protest was joined by the town supervisor (with his large dog) and also by a member of the town board. (The town board member was a teacher of our daughter in elementary school.) The town supervisor’s presence is no surprise because there is an affiliation between him and the new library director who authorized this shameful affair. (This is only local word of mouth information I cannot comment further.)
The supervisor applauded the “event” and justified his presence as a First Amendment issue and lamented that another Northern Westchester library cancelled a similar “event.” God bless them. I fear that the marketing of such happenings is more widespread and it’s reaching local sleepy areas. It’s obvious who is behind them. He’s frozen in ice at the extreme bottom but his troops have a free reign among us.
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This has nothing to do with first amendment rights and everything to do with the LGBT activists attempting to "groom" our children to make their dreadful "art form" normal and more popular, and fits in with the communist/Marxist/Alinsky agenda of sexualizing children (to victimize them, make them feel helpless--like the victims of pedophilia--and therefore easier to control.) We are in the fight for our lives, and these drag queen events are happening here in Texas--the smaller towns seem to have more success in stopping them before they happen. I think behind these events is corrupt elements having made their way into the American Library Association, which has given them their stamp of approval. Personally, remembering my own childhood, these grotesque perverts must be giving some of these children, at best, a few nightmares!
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Thank you much for your comments and information. As you can tell from my tone this was a shock to me to see this in our rather small town. I have not seen any prior announcements about it or would have been on the protest line.
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Galicius, the drag queen story hour is a movement that is spread across the country in attempt to normalize transgender. It is not an isolated case. They actually have a website that promotes this crap. You can see their list of cities and states they are active.
You can read about their objectives:
https://www.dragqueenstoryhour.org/
Even worse is the "Comprehensive Sex Education" curriculum being introduced in many schools, even in the Austin, Texas school district. It has driven many parents to homeschool. Like the drag queen depravity, it is an insidious calculated political maneuver designed to destroy Western civilization and replace it with a godless, socialist globalist dystopia. Look up UN Agenda 2030.
Thank you Manny, Madeleine, and Kerstin. I already checked these dangerous fools earlier after your first comments. We follow news from Central and Eastern Europe almost daily and are aghast at how more powerful sources in the “enlightened” Western Europe are pushing this agenda at smaller countries East particularly at children from age of four, demanding “gender” education in public schools to the little ones as early as that. I did not know to what extent this plague was present in our own country.
Happy St. Valentine's Day! I found this lovely reflection on the Laudate App and posted it on Facebook. I did not know we had a custom of choosing a particular saint for each year today, so I choose Katherine of Alexandria, patron of us nerdy girls.We Catholics are frequently accused of idol worship in "praying to Mary and saints" but a look into Church history offers some understanding of that misconception. We think of the saints as our superheroes, our role models, but unlike many of the superheroes in our pop culture, many of them are, like the rest of us, sinful and flawed people, people who experienced the same kind of life-changing experiences offered to us when we open our hearts to God's messages and the glimpses of His Kingdom that Jesus said is possible for us here if only we would, as Psalm 81 reminds us, "not harden our hearts. "
Here is a beautiful reflection to help us, just as we strive to keep Christ in Christmas, and remember that Santa Claus was originally a real Saint Nicholas, whose gifting was an early form of social justice from the heart and not from government agencies, help us to keep the Saint in Valentine's Day
Taken from "Light from the Altar" - Saint Valentine, 14 February
Of Saint Valentine few particulars are known. He was a holy priest of Rome, put to death about the year 270. One of the great Roman gates was built in his honor and called after him. It is now known as "del Popolo."
But the name of Saint Valentine has come down to us associated with the remnant of a pagan custom, that of choosing for a year some person to whom honor should be paid. The casting of lots was held on the 15th of February, and with it began the Roman festival of Lupercalia, in honor of the god Pan and the goddess Jimo. To put down so dangerous a feast-making, the Church, according to Alban Butler, instituted the custom of drawing saints to be venerated for a year on the feast of Saint Valentine, the day preceding that of the pagan lot-drawing, thus substituting heavenly for earthly love.
This old, old custom of choosing some one to love, to be looked up to, sets one thinking. So widespread a custom, lasting, too, for so long a time through the pagan era, through the Middle Ages, even to our own day, seems to point to some natural cause. And it does. We are social beings in the natural and supernatural order, conscious of weakness and insufficiency when standing alone. In the garden of Paradise the foundation of society was laid when Adam said, "a man shall leave father and mother and cleave to his wife," showing that at no period of his life need he stand alone. The supernatural order is based upon the two great laws, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." And there is such a stretching out of hands towards our fellow-creatures, such an expansion of heart at the sight of suffering or sorrow or need, that we have to be on our guard, lest it work in us merely from a natural goodness without the sacred stamp of grace.
This custom then of drawing saints to be our patrons for the year is a happy thought, bearing upon the inward yearning towards others; it is an expression of the loneliness of the human heart, its want of sympathy; it is also the bond between Heaven and earth. We are not made like the beasts with our eyes level with the ground, tending downwards. "We have a right to invade the unseen world, to choose helpers there, to count upon assistance and comfort and cheering, where there is so much consolation, help, and joy.
A certain number of patrons were chosen for us by our parents without our having a say in the matter. Others we ourselves chose at confirmation, but without any very distinct idea of what we were doing, perhaps. But our patron on Valentine's day can be one of mature deliberation, based upon a natural attraction and admiration, one whose example in the battle-field of life will be a help to us in our hour of trial. The more communion we can have with Heaven the better for us. The more our interests lie above, the less will the chains of earth rivet us to things below. And the chains of earth do bind. They bind in childhood and in youth; in middle manhood and old age. So the spirit that soars upward is the brave spirit, the safest, the happiest, and the strongest. There have been those who, in extreme old age, could show a long list of patrons whom they had honored for a year each with particular devotion, and when the allotted time was over added them to the long list of their predecessors, and invoked them still with the new Valentine of the New Year. What an array there would be of choice spirits to meet such as these when they came to their Heavenly reward.
To some of us who do not love multiplicity our own namesake may be our perpetual Valentine - the patron given to us at our baptism, or chosen at our confirmation, or at any other solemn occasion. Let these then become realities to us, living friends and helpers, substantial guardians. The Heavenly patron will never be wanting to his earthy client - of that we may be sure. Let us not be wanting to him. Saint Valentine, pray for us!
- taken from Light from the Altar, edited by Father James J McGovern, 1906
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For us things haven't changed all that much aside from not being able to travel to see family and doing our best to support our local businesses. Our sons report that working from home is harder than being at work, you don't know when to stop.
Since the weather has been nice the last few days we've spent much of it in the yard cleaning up winter debris and getting a head start yanking ever-present weeds. We welcomed a new resident into our lower meadow, a woodchuck. He comes out every evening munching on tender spring greens.
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I am grateful that my husband has been putting the last few months into building up our online business. All the trade shows have been cancelled, but online sales, though small, are up, and that has been a blessing and keeps us hopeful. I'm also downsizing my library and have someone selling my better books on eBay while we have his stamps also on consignment. We are doing Bible study on Zoom. But I really miss real people!
I am busy working at the hospital. Fortunately, things have not been too bad here yet. Praying for the health and safety of everyone!
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Hi Lisa. Good to know you're well. Where is "here"? I forget where you live.
As for me, the sickening thing today here in Staten Island, NY was the constant sirens of ambulances throughout the day. I know each one is some poor soul struggling to live. I pray they all made it through.
Manny, I’m in Kokomo, IN, about 50 miles north of Indianapolis.
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Kokomo? Didn't Beach Boys have a song about there? ;)
Thank you. Keep safe Lisa.
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Wow. This really puts it in perspective. You have constant reminders. Living out in the country as we do the difference is that it is even more quiet than usual, not as many delivery trucks kicking up the dust.
I think Aretha Franklin had a lovely, moody ballad, “The first Snow in Kokomo.” Does anyone remember if that’s right?
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I had never heard it before, but I did a search and yes it is an Aretha ballad. Very pretty.
Thank you, Manny. How like you to be so on the ball.Warmest wishes to everyone for a meaningful Palm Sunday.
Bishop Robert Barron has a powerful Palm Sunday homily:Google: You Tube Bishop Barron. Palm Sunday homily 3/20/16
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Books mentioned in this topic
Leisure: The Basis of Culture (other topics)Letters from Lake Como: Explorations in Technology and the Human Race (other topics)
