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Friday 26 July 2013

Photos of TLM at WYD; Thanks to Rorate

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/07/juventutem-images-of-pontifical-mass-in.html

British Catholics, WAKE UP!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10192578/Religion-told-to-halt-weddings-over-gay-rights.html

The Lord of the Prism

Prism Ring

I am working on a short story-called The Lord of the Prism.

It starts out like this. "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."


However I am bogged down with some problems. The main character finds a ring, which is really a prism, when he is in a dead zone in Surrey, so his GPS is not working.

He manages to get away, after many adventures, including an interview with his bishop, who does not believe in the NSAgul who are chasing some of the main character's friends around Middle Earth. But, the GPS kicks in at one time and there is a narrow escape which needs angelic intervention-angels on horses may not work....studying Joshua and Maccabees for backup and see some very handsome, well-armoured angels in those books.

The NSAgul are in thrall of the magic prism the main character has found. NSAgul need the prism to rule Middle Earth and Middle Euro-Earth. They also want to rule the Western Lands beyond the sea. 

Of course, the story includes bishops, cardinals, and fools for Christ.

Sadly, one bishop goes bad, and so the main character has to find another one. He is Orthodox and his name sounds like the stuff whales eat-krill. But, he is strong, and good, and wears white. This excellent bishop also has a ring of power. But, the ring's power is confined to the Northern Kingdom at this point in the story.

The worst part is that these main characters are rather simple, worldly, and very short. The NSAguls are large, tall, strong, and other worldly, (one follows the prism in Ireland, also called the land of the horse-racing).  The NSAgul even have a witch-king. Hmm, I have to work on that character as too many names and non-faces come to my mind when I am trying to develop him. 


NSAgul King with encoded passwords

Well, the main character's heir has to destroy the prism with the help of his cousins twice removed. To make things worse, their passports have been revoked by someone unknown in a large tower with tons of secret servers. I am thinking of putting this secret server place in Greenland.

The NSAguls, however, are hot on their trail. I think this is going to be more than a short story.

To be continued...

Pray for Protectors


Some of my married women friends tell me that their husbands do not want to hear of anything which is controversial. This may be true for some wives as well, although I am not discussing such things with married men, of course.

These ladies tell me that their husbands do not want to talk about the upcoming persecutions, the problems of other "religions" which hate us and the state of America and Europe.

These good men only want to hear nice things, and do not discuss anything which involves suffering.

Some priests are like this. One priest I know well refuses to deal with the question of contraception because he says it will upset his congregation.

He does not want to deal with upset people although he is their pastor.

There are some bishops like this, who do not want to listen to difficulties in their dioceses, as they do not like confrontation.

Confrontation must be part of the Church Militant. We shall lose most if not all of our rights as lay people in the public sphere if leaders in the Church do not stand up for religion in the market place.

Pray for these men. The societies and cultures of the world are turning against basic Christian morals. This is clear.

Without leadership in the home, the parish and the diocese. many of us are left without protectors.

Pray for those who should be protectors, please.

St. Anne, Protect Us As You Protected Mary


Eye Candy and Meditations from the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius-St. Anne's in Krakow

http://www.canons-regular.org/go/our-patron-reflections/

“St. John Cantius lived in times of enormous tension and rather complex change, that was felt in almost all aspects of life in the West,…”

Commentaries on Deus Caritas Est to be read in chronological order, not this order


12 Feb 2013
Deus Caritas Est. Posted by Supertradmum. I have another series from last year on this fantastic encyclical. But, as it is the week of Valentine's Day, I want to emphasize real love. We have seen that God's eros for man is also ...
06 May 2012
Continuing the discussion on Deus Caritas Est, I am reminded that just in the past few days, the Pope asked for a review of Caritas, the umbrella Catholic charity, as some of the things being supported are not in keeping with ...
07 May 2012
The encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, moves one's thoughts from eros, to agape, to caritas. Now before I continue, I would like to emphasize that all of this movement is one of the heart. The conversion of a heart to Christ changes ...
04 May 2012
I am re-reading and re-studying Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, in order to build up a case for the restructuring of a society which cares for its young, old, sick, poor, which the socialists say they do and ...

12 Feb 2013
from Deus Caritas Est on perfection and love. Concretely, what does this path of ascent and purification entail? How might love be experienced so that it can fully realize its human and divine promise? Here we can find a first, ...
11 Feb 2012
And, here is the link to Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, Deus Caritas Est as a little valentine for all on the blog-a link and some photos of beautiful English roses. For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that ...

“by turns, clay and stars”; a brilliant essay by Archbishop Chaput, using Marcus Aurelius

http://www.truthandcharityforum.org/wisdom-christian-witness-and-the-year-of-faith/


Repeat Post on Persecution

This was on the Guild of Titus Brandsma Blog months ago, but people keep asking questions close to this topic, so here is this posting. Supertradmum

Tuesday, 26 February 2013


A Time-Machine Back to 1581: the Death of an Enlightenment Democratic Monarchy


In this day and age of relativism, camps of opinion arise like midges on a hike in Alaska. One brushes away one set of  "arguments", only to find dozens flying into one's face. The media frenzy over the events of the past three weeks is not going to subside. On the contrary, we Catholics are entering into a new era of Church-bashing which will not go away.

The days of toleration for differing religious opinions, or at least, Catholic teaching, is over.

I watched two days of the Parliament hearings of witnesses regarding the civil union or rather same-sex-marriage act. I usually do not watch television, but I was visiting a friend who wanted to watch this swarm of opinions based on sola fide, sola scriptura; each man and woman on the panel proved to be his or her own pope.

The Church of England witnesses, as they were called, had eloquent and keen questions and answers. So did Archbishop Peter Smith and his legal team. I was impressed by the firm and clear positions given by these two groups.

Not so other groups, like the Church of Wales representatives, who waffled.

What did astound me was the out and out rudeness of some of the questioners, all of them MPs, not to be named here. One can look at my blog for names. I merely want to point out the lack of respect towards those representatives of organized religion. At several places in the presentation of answers by Archbishop Peter Smith, some members laughed out loud in derision for the Catholic position on marriage, pre-marital sex, and our anti-contraception, anti-abortion positions.

What came to my mind was that I could have been in a time-machine, taken back to the interrogations of Edmund Campion, Ralph Sherwin, or Robert Southwell et al.

The entire meeting of this Parliament panel on both days was a sham. The smug hypocritical statements of the members of Parliament shone out like words of old transcripts in a history of Recusant trials.

Parliament determines moral and religious policy in Britain, not the churches.

Parliament in 2013 mirrors Parliament in 1581, or 1585 or 1681, this last the year of the martyrdom of St. Oliver Plunkett. I have seen his head in St. Peter's Church, Drogheda. His face is peaceful, but reveals pain.

We honour martyrs in the Catholic Church almost daily. We of this Guild honour Titus Brandsma, who was martyred and is a Blessed. But, do we really want martyrs in 2013? Do we feel uncomfortable watching Peter Smith being derided? Do we want our leaders to stand firm on the ancient teachings of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church?

I hope we feel proud and strengthened by the witness of Truth.

I hope we stand with our leaders.

I hope we can see clearly that the actions of Parliament will lead to the type of society created under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, where those who kept the Faith were fined, suffered financial loss, ruin, disgrace, if not martyrdom. Catholics will not be able to be registrars or superintendents of registrars. Catholics may not be able to be teachers in some schools. The Catholic priests may be in a position of disobedience to certain laws after judicial decisions.

Parliament acts just as it has since the Protestant Revolt. Parliament was given powers over the private consciences of the people of Britain and it will take those powers and use those again and again and again. Five hundred years of practice makes this pattern of oppression all too easy. There are precedences. 

We are witnessing the death of the modern Enlightenment democracy as a philosophy of governance. We are witnessing the sliding back to a time when religions were not allowed to stand in the marketplace and speak Truth.

The powers that be have not changed their philosophies. They have renewed an older pattern of intolerance which is wedded to the very power of Parliament.

The Catholic Church has not changed Her Truths, Revelation and Tradition.

We are, again, Non-Conformists, and as in the past, consequences will follow strongly held beliefs.

I hope those who belong to the Guild of the martyr Titus Brandsma know how to stand firm in the storms that will blow across Great Britain. We have an excellent example. Brandsma upheld the bishops' decisions and the clarity of teaching that Catholicism and Nazism clashed. Catholicism will always clash with falsehood.

As Catholic journalists, we of this Guild can follow our patron to whatever consequences may follow.

I, for one, will write as long as I can for Christ and His Church.