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Showing posts from December, 2021

Frivolity of Sorts

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Hilarity, or Hymnody S.J. Forrest (by way of Project Canterbury) Our church is mighty spikey with smells and bells and chants, And Palestrina masses that vex the Protestants. O happy ones and holy who fall upon their knees For solemn Benediction And mid-week Rosaries. Though with a scornful wonder men see our clergy, dressed In rich brocaded vestments as slowly they process; Yet saints their watch are keeping lest souls be set alight Not by the Holy Ghost, but by incense taking flight. Now we on earth have union with Lambeth, not with Rome, Although the wags and cynics may question our true home; But folk masses and bingo can't possibly depose The works of Byrd and Tallis, or Cranmer's stately prose. ( Here shall the organist modulate ) So let the organ thunder, sound fanfares "en chamade;" Rejoice! For we are treading where many saints have trod; Let peals ring from the spire, sing descants to high C, Just don't let your elation Disrupt the liturgy.

The Gift of Journalistic Integrity

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Christie Blatchford 1951 - 2020 | Journalist par excellence Do not leap to conclusions. Feelings are not facts. Do not confuse the two. Develop your own moral intelligence and judge actions objectively. Weigh facts according to rigorous standards. Primary sources are required. Avoid filtering facts through a biased mindset or framework, e.g., a political orientation. Do not trust nor support the court of public opinion because mainstream media editors who fuel public discourse, largely to maintain or increase market share and profit, compress and distill information to the point that nuance is lost; and because they lack the necessary intellectual formation to comprehend and analyze a subject. They cannot and do not represent issues in a fair, accurate, constructive and thorough manner. Thus, the "news" is too often nothing more than a jumble of juxtapositions and speculation amounting to coffeeshop gossip. There are reliable journalists. Most reliable journalists work for al

Awake versus Woke: A Spiritual Vaccine

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Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. - Saint Matthew 5:5 Awake Mortality, meditation on the human condition, present to the human condition, responsive to the needs of others. Woke Push all talk of mortality and the sacredness of human life aside. Kill the human spirit with character assassination. Awake Suffering is ennobling when grafted to the wounds of Christ. Woke Victim status. Awake Hope-filled. Woke Despairing. Awake Selfless love. Woke Narcissism.   Inoculate yourself against the tyranny of wokery. Meekness is not cowardice, human respect, or timidness. It does not oppose zeal, fortitude, or any other virtue; rather, it strengthens them. True meekness is part of the virtue of temperance, and it opposes the vice of anger. It is defined by Father John Hardon in this way: “The virtue that moderates anger and its disorderly effects. It is a form of temperance that controls every inordinate movement of resentment at another person’s character or behavior.” - Bro

Counter Terrorism (An Apocalypse) and Mere Discipleship

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Cancel Culture, Cancerous Culture The various national and regional responses to the Coronavirus scourge have exposed a latent insanity. If panic buying and the many incidents of violent confrontations between customers is any indication, such as that observed in the wake of recent flooding in British Columbia (...which left grocery store shelves bare, gas stations empty of fuel, and led to fuel rationing...), people are behaving like animals, existing primarily on instinct. Because they lack virtue and psychological resilience that provides balance and understanding, they readily commit to panic, character assassination, etc. They have been robbed, by willful disobedience or capitulation or ignorance, of the former wisdom that has guided the world for centuries. That is, Judeo-Christian wisdom. Societal institutions are rife with an abuse of process, entitlement, and the weaponization of baseless grievances. On the last count, the weaponization of grievances, young people have become

Bling: Guild of Saint Stephen Enrollment

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I offer myself to God Almighty, and to Blessed Mary, our Mother and to our Holy Patron, Saint Stephen, and I promise to do my best to serve regularly, with reverence and understanding, for the glory of God, the service of His Church and my own eternal salvation.  - The Guild Promise Quum Rev. Lee Kenyon Rector Sodalitatis sub titulo Sancti Stephani Diaconi et Protomartyris pro alteri inservientibus die XXIII mensis Aprilis anno in ecclesia S. Ioannes Henrici Newman apud Victoria dioecesis Ordinariatus Petri in Cathedra Sancti permissu Ordinarii canonice erectae, aggregationem hujusmodi et communicationem indulgentiarum a Nobis enixe postulaverit, NOS, Archisodalitatis sub eodem titulo aggregandi ejusdem nominis sodalitates in omnibus provinciis Imperii Britannici eisque omnes et singulis eidem tributas Indulgentias communicandi, Sodalitatem suprascriptam Archisodalitatis adjungimus et aggregamus gratiasque spirituales seu Indulgentias Archisodalitati Nostrae Litteris Pontificiis nomina

The Immaculate Conception

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CCC492 The "splendor of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son". The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" and chose her "in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love".

Five Fares For A Friday

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An Outline of Ascetical Theology According to the English Pastoral Tradition  (London: S.P.C.K., 1963), xiv. Martin Thornton Preface At the heart of Anglicanism is the insistence on historical continuity; if our claims are true then our spirituality, that is our total expression of Christian life, as well as our theology, liturgy, and polity, must be retraceable through the medieval and patristic ages to the Bible. I have tried, therefore, to portray the English School as a living tradition, drawing its inspiration and character from all ages, while set within the glorious diversity of Catholic Christendom. Rather than preoccupation with the past, I believe that it is this comprehensive view which can inspire creative insights into the spiritual needs of the twentieth century: a good tree, especially an ancient one, bears new fruit only when attention is paid to its roots. Not the Pleasantly Social, but the Truth Anthony Esolen To search for truth, to guard and study it when it is foun
The opinions expressed herein are largely those of the blog author. Every effort is made to conform to Church teaching. Comments are welcome.