Michael Voris - another opportunity missed

I never made it to London to hear Michael Voris speak. I am still biting my knuckles and kicking the cat (I don't actually own one but if I did I would kick it, sorry cat lovers). I like this man immensely yet he seems to attract quite a degree of criticism from fellow Catholics.

They appear not to like his 'slick performance' - would that we had a few more 'slick performers' - to me that just means someone who is able to communicate in a lively fashion. They say that the human attention span lasts for 30 seconds when being addressed (sermons included) so you need to be pretty damn slick to hold an audience for an hour or more.

They (the ubiquitous 'They') also do not like the fact that he is a layman - come on! No Bishop is going to speak out on behalf of the faith so welcome the fact that a layman does so. And why shouldn't a layman speak out? Don't Catholic bloggers sound off on every facet of the faith? All that Voris is doing is making video clips and personal appearances whereas we do the same thing (less effectively) on the blogosphere.

I am also somewhat filleted over the fact that I missed out on the pub session after the show (let alone the lunch beforehand). What an opportunity to meet Fr Ray Blake and so many of the other big bloggers. Chizzle!



Michael Voris -
"I come not to bring peace but a sword..."
Matthew 10:34



But, seriously, there is nothing wrong in having someone speak out confidently and confrontationally - Archbishop Sheen did it, St Edmund Campion did it, St Thomas More acted in such a manner and all manner of lay members of the Catholic Evidence Guild did it over many years at Speaker's Corner - so there is a precedent! It's just that Voris does it bigger and better.

Now some have stated that he (Voris) did not always present the facts in an authentic manner; by which I believe they mean that Voris got some of his theology slightly wrong. That may well be, as stated earlier, I was not there.  But, if Michael Voris did get some aspects wrong then we should judge him as a man who gets up to speak more or less ex tempore, no notes, no visual prompts; I guess that even Aquinas may have trod in the brown stuff once or twice under such circumstances - that's not an excuse for the chap, just a reason why absolute perfection might escape us all under similar circumstances.

God bless Michael Voris and may his next stop be Cardiff!

Apostasy, heresy, disobedience, war, famine, persecution...it's great to be a Catholic!

Through this arch lies redemption -

it leads to the Coliseum's arena

It was never going to be an easy ride. We never expected anything else. We know, do we not, that redemption comes from sharing the carrying of that very heavy cross? That's why we shrug off serious illness in ourselves and our loved ones, we cope with redundancy and business failure, we pray more when our children leave the faith or suffer hardships, we take casual persecution in our stride and pray even harder when it becomes physical persecution. We know that bereavement is hard to accept but all part of the process.

We do our duty in times of war but hate war nonetheless, we take a stand against abortion, euthanasia, homosexual practices, all serious sin; and when our priests fail us we pray for them and the Church; when our Bishops and Cardinals fail us we write to Rome and keep on praying....we say the Rosary...we go to Mass - nothing in this world can hurt us. God is our Father, Our Lady is our Mother; we have a Guardian Angel and the Communion of Saints behind us!

Bring on the heresy and the apostasy; give us more persecution, if there is schism in the Church we will be on the right side. If the economy of the world should fail we will survive, maybe we will become stronger and better as a result.

And when the brimstone falls from the sky we will be prepared.

You see? These are great times in which to be a member of Christ's one and only true Church.

Easy to be a Catholic when we are all well fed and nothing threatens your existence.

But when times are hard we come into our own....we are one, we are holy, we are apostolic....................we are CATHOLIC!

Are you really a Catholic?

Fr Simon Henry on Offerimus Tibi Domine posted recently and the subject was 'On actually being a Catholic'. That article has gnawed away at me as I am sure the good Father hoped it would, and prompted me to add my small contribution to the cause (less eruditely than OTD). The essence of the post is really, are you just a chattering classes Sunday Mass Catholic? (That's my paraphrased version).

Bishops, as well as laity, need to ensure
Mass is reverent!

When I look around at my fellow Catholics - and, of course, when I examine my own conscience, I am struck by the fact that, we are all rather fixed on the Sunday Mass element and rather slothful  forgetful with regard to other essential practices that will, hopefully, go some way towards ensuring our eventual progression to Heaven.

Here is a brief bullet point checklist of some of the elements that I see missing from today's Catholic society:-

• Daily Rosary
• Grace before meals, even in public (especially in public)
• Reverence for the House of God (there is an unholy chatter that emanates from the congregations both before and after Mass (not the EF Mass though)
• Morning and evening prayers
• Educate yourself regarding the Faith, read good books regularly
• Involve yourself in Catholic culture and society (Juventutum, SVP or whatever)
• Regular confession - not once every three months but once a week if possible
• Acts of charity whether that be dropping money into a beggar's hand or planned giving and actual, physical aid to those in need

We have to shake off this concept that being a Catholic is something that you turn on and off as the need arises. It is a mantle that should embrace us and those close to us throughout our lives but we need to work at it.

Finally, the list is not exhaustive, I am sure that you will be able to add more bullet points, feel free to do so...one might be 'Spend less time blogging and more time praying'.....That's a bullet point through the foot for you!

Are you a G & T Catholic?

In the British education system today we apparently have a shorthand way of describing special needs pupils. Special needs falls into two camps, those children with learning difficulties and those who are infant prodigies, the brainy ones who are always top of the form. Paradoxically, it is the brainy ones who tend to be ignored while all the support money goes into providing for autistic, dyslexic and Down's Syndrome children. A good cause, of course, but "star" quality children, I believe, also require a similar if not equal amount of resources and support.

Now, at last, an academic type person has come up with a classification that will enable the teacher to identify "stars" (for want of a better word) so that they too may receive parity of esteem as they used to say. What is the classification? Well, it's nothing too complicated....actually its G & T. That means "Gifted and Talented".

How would that work, say, in a parish. Who would be identified as a gifted and talented Catholic? Would anyone?

Cheers!

Well, in all modesty I can lay claim to being a G& T Catholic except that, in my case it refers to Gin and Tonic!

A message to the Ordinariate.....

                    COME ON IN - CATHOLICISM'S AWFUL!

Oh dear! I hear you say. He's gone OTT again, just when all those wonderful Anglican folk are lining up to become good RCs and now he's gone and blown it.

Well, let me tell you that these are not my words but those of one time radical blue stocking journo Mary Kenny. Written by her at a time when the Church of England faced the mega issue of women priests....ancient history! The world held its breath and the Bishops of England and Wales must have had a touch of the heeby jeebies because all thought that there would be a mass exodus of vicars who would be bringing reverence and thuribles and beautiful vestments into a church that was, shall we say....going through a sort of ecclesiatical menopause?

The year? 1992. The newpaper? The Daily Telegraph. And here is an extract....Mary could have written them yesterday so appropriate are they.

"You might imagine - and some people indeed suppose - that Roman Catholics are crowing with 'triumphalism' at the prospect of a harvest of Anglicans taking the path to Rome in consequence of the present differences of opinion in the C of E.
Well au contraire as George Brown used to say. Most Catholics, it seems to me, are quaking in their shoes at the thought of these Anglicans, some of them dauntingly grand, arriving to join their ranks.
It is rather like expecting some awfully impressive relations who are coming to stay. What are they going to think of your tip of a house? How are they going to react to your badly brought-up children and ill-behaved pets? Oh dear, perhaps it would be better to put them off, for fear they might be disappointed with the scene they find.....

......The tasteless architecture of modern church buildings. The ear-splitting acoustics. The extraordinarily bad hymns or, more often, no hymns at all. And then the differences within the church, which are just as marked as within Anglicanism. The scandals of bonking Bishops and priapic priests. The feminist nuns exploring revived forms of witchcraft. The liberation theologians calling for a return to excommunication for usury. The continuing arguments about authority, birth control, divorce, married priests - you name it we've got it........(I could add Papal disobedience, Magic Circles, even, "Tradophobia").

How would devout Anglicans  - and all Protestants are more respectful in church - take the extraordinary lack of punctuality so characteristic of Catholics, as they wander in and out of Mass when it suits them (Novus Ordo, I believe)...........

Ends/................

Well, that was less than twenty years ago but it's as fresh and as relevant today as it was then. I am sure that many Catholics (the chattering classes before Mass brigade) are going to be in for a mighty shock and a jolly good thing it will be. The church in England and Wales needs a healthy injection of respect and reverence. Tacky chasubles and stoles can go in the bin......here comes some decent gear. Chuck out the china chalices, rip the Save the Children posters off the walls, dress the altars so that they look like altars and put up a sign in the porch stating: "The Blessed Sacrament is present here so, please, maintain respect and do not  talk". That's just for starters.
So I say to all Anglicans who have swum the Tiber or who are considering it:

                COME ON IN - WE NEED YOU!

The 60th Anniversary of 'The Archers......'

....and not a Catholic in sight!




An everyday story of Anglican folk....


Now, I am not an Archers fan (for those from beyond the shores of Cambria and Albion, this is a radio soap, a story about country folk) but I have noticed that it is the 6oth Anniversary of their first production. Congratulations to the Producers and the BBC, an all time winner.
But.....where are the Catholics? To my knowledge (and please correct me if I am wrong, I know you will), There has never been a Catholic character featured in this diary of rustic life. There have been Indian Solicitors, Geordie wives with the most appalling Geordie accents (but, then, all Geordie accents are appalling), there have been drunks, cheapskates, thieves, adulterers, fraudsters, homosexuals (yes, even the odd homosexual), women vicars, lesbians...you name it and they have all put in an appearance in the last half century plus ten; but never a Papist.
So what's wrong with us Romans then? I know we can't be king, queen or prime minister in Great Britain, or married to same, but surely there's room in Anglican Borsetshire for an odd RC or so?
Apparently not.
Never fear...I have a cunning plan. I am going to draft a new character(s) specification for the producer.....Beeb style. That way they could not possibly refuse to incorporate a Catholic element along with the harvesting, pig slaughtering and general serial flirtations that normally take place.

Here it is:-

New Character Profile:
From Producer to Casting Director:

"We need a Catholic presence, not overwhelmingly so, just a faint breath of Romish air filtering through the sileage fumes. I suggest the following.
Main character to be female, middle aged and of county stock. Dress style to be large voluminous blouses, flowing Laura Ashley skirts and straw boater. The sort of person I am looking for is an Auntie sort of figure, someone that the whole of Ambridge can relate to and confide in. She needs to be forthright and outspoken but firmly set in the chintzy, olde worlde English mode.
Maybe even referred to as "Auntie" possibly "Auntie Flo" or something a shade more upmarket; "Auntie Bee" has better connotations (bee in the bonnet type, get it?).
Auntie Bee needs to speak in a cosy, twee fashion, maybe leaving out the primary part of her sentences so she might say:
"To Borchester today to purchase provender for hubbie, snow flakes on the carriage windows minded me of icing the Christmas cake..... (more of the same). Sang carols to self throughout journey.....loved town decorations of neon reindeers errant over a luminescent Santa Claus..."
She needs to temper her Catholicism with a love for the C of E, especially gets on well with female vicar and they organise 'knit ins' together to provide native children in Zambia with woolly hats. Lots of ecumaniacal activity indulged in. Possibly should be a dog breeder, maybe pugs? Should speak in loud, strident tones, a bit like Mrs Antrobus on speed!
Husband to Auntie Bee needs to have a lesser profile, maybe a retired Army Major type...pipe smoker...still hankers after the military life. Often to be seen (heard) in The Bull holding forth. Tends to pause mid sentence, gaze into the distance and murmur..."When they come they'll advance up main street and storm the vicarage". (Has a hang up about Fundamentalist Muslims and how to deal with full frontal attacks). Still not sure how we stitch Ambridge into this scenario but it's topical."

Ah me, when will we ever see a Catholic influence in this series? Is it just too fanciful to let one's mind wander (maybe, in my case, rather too much!).
Trouble is, it just ain't that important - we can get along fine without any form of mandatory representation...but it would be rather  fine to have an Auntie Bee and, maybe an occasional cameo appearance of a Catholic Bishop - that would certainly be mind boggling!

Not original but well worth a second viewing

My apologies to whoever it was first wrote this piece, it may well have been Father Z,  I don't know; I copied it at the time, adapted it slightly and then filed it away never ever believing that I might enter the scene as a blogger at a later date.
So I am not claiming authorship and, sorry yet again that I cannot link back to the original.

50 Reasons to be Catholic

                         1. We are not emergent, we are eternal

                         2. We have Cardinal Zen

                         3. And Cardinal Sin

                         4. We are not liberal, we love our neighbour

                         5. We do not use the words ‘clown’ and ‘eucharist’ in
                             the same sentence

                          6. We are not conservative, we look to God alone

                          7. Bells….bells….and more bells

                           8. We have a cloistered nun as the patron saint of
                               missionaries (St Therese de Lisieux)

                           9. Announcements of our faith halt the conversation
                               at dinner parties

                     10. The only religion responsible for the smallest
                           nation state

                     11. We have confession – much cheaper than
                            a psychologist

                     12. We have the Swiss Guards and their uniforms

                     13. Catholic morality gives politicians headaches

                     14. Ash Wednesday can’t be exploited by McDonalds
                           or the greetings card industry

                     15. Our liturgy gives Freemasons indigestion

                     16. St Jerome is the patron saint of anger – hope for us all

                     17. Because when you have tacky statues etc you
                           know you must be in the one true Church

                      18. We know what cherubim and seraphim are

                      19. Palestrina

                      20. St Lawrence (while being burnt to death –
                           “turn me over;   I’m done on this side”)

                      21. Incense smells better than cigar smoke

                      22. The litany of saints has the best names for
                            your children

                      23. People do not tour Europe looking at great Protestant

                            Cathedrals do they?

                      24. We love beauty, ritual and ceremony and
                            are proud of it

                      25. The Latin Mass is the same the world over

                      26. Candles

                      27. If you become a saint parts of your body may
                            become relics

                      28. We use phrases such as ‘supernatural existential’, 

                            ‘diochronicity’ and ‘the hermeneutic of continuity’

                      29. Mystery is more than a section in the local library

                      30. We have blessings and Masses to cope with plagues 

                            of  frogs, illnesses, heresy etc etc

                      31. We say the black and do the red

                      32. We don’t call our priests ‘Jim’ or ‘Eric’

                      33. We have a St Bobo, St Bean and St Quadragesimus

                      34. Pope Benedict XVI

                      35. St Paul who said: ‘a little wine for thy stomach’s sake’

                      36. Orange is not a liturgical colour in the Catholic Church

                      37. No other denomination buries statues
                            or prays in order to sell a house

                      38. Fish is good for you

                      39. We use a dead language and don’t give a damn!

                      40. No hand puppets, tambourines, clowns,
                            guitars or dancing allowed in the liturgy

                      41. No crèches in Church, infants stay with us for Mass

                      42. If you are shy you can be a contemplative

                      43. We believe that a state of Grace is a
                            condition of the soul, not part of the USA

                      44. Our religious orders pray during both
                            the night and the day

                      45. With Our Lady and St Michael, no demons
                            can touch us

                      46. Thuribles

                      47. Vestments that look as though they are
                            intended for the worship of God, not as if they
                            were the work of demented seamstresses
                            high on drugs

                     48. A liturgy that does not patronise

                     49. The blessing of the throats (February 3^nd)

                     50. Angels



Because it was Catholic, stupid!

The vicar and parishioners of St Cadoc's (Church of Wales) Church in Llancarfan, near Cardiff are excited about finding 'mind blowing' rare medieval frescoes beneath the white plastered walls of the church. The paintings (ironically, one depicts St George (of England) slaying the dragon (symbol of Wales) are many and varied and the church, to its credit, has taken all the required conservation steps in order to preserve them for posterity.

Believed to date from the late 15th century the paintings are now, understandably faded, but were obviously brightly coloured at one stage.
This is great news and all seem suitably surprised but why? Most pre Reformation Churches in England and Wales were lavish in their wall paintings, bright vivid colours are an accepted part of Catholic Church history. It was only after Henry VIII had his evil way with the monasteries and churches that they were first pillaged and sacked and then commandeered by the new Protestant faith for their own acts of worship.

This meant that all "Romish" imagery was destroyed and defaced and, in the case of the frescoes, lime plastered over. The puritan streak ran strongly through the early Church of England and Wales.


St George slaying the dragon



Such acts of vandalism have largely destroyed the

works of art beneath and that is why the St Cadoc

discovery is so important.

But in all the website offerings and media excitement,

there is not one mention of the dreaded "C" word - Catholic!

The King and Queen observing from the battlements

An outward sign of Grace

Archbishop Vincent Nichols, in the aftermath of Pope Benedict's visit has asked us to be more public in demonstrating our Catholic faith. Good. Few would argue with the sentiment but some might query how precisely, we bring it about.
Forget the XXL Rosary prominently displayed around the neck, the 'I am a Catholic' T shirt or the bumper sticker proclaiming: 'If you can read this you must be a Catholic.' He was not thinking of such things; what he meant (I interpret) is that he wants us to show our Faith by example so that the light of Christ emanates from our personalities. Again, helping old ladies across the road is good, any Good Samaritan deed is to be commended as being what ++ Nichols had in mind.



Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which we receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen



But there is more to it than that. We can make public displays of our Faith without ramming it down people's throats or being overly and offputtingly pious. We can abstain from meat on Fridays (as many still do); this often produces questions which give an opportunity to gently enlighten as to our beliefs.

We can also say our Grace before meals in public. My wife and I have been doing this for some years and, each time I do it I cringe internally, moral coward that I am.

However, last week in the arrivals cafe at Heathrow's Terminal 4, we observed an attractive young woman in her late twenties cross herself before tucking into a very unpenitential slice of Black Forest Gateau.

It cheered me considerably,  we were not alone and since then I have made my public Grace without the usual butterflies.

We need to do this more. Every time we eat in private or public we need to thank God, our benefactor and show the world that we are Catholic.