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Showing posts from January, 2023

Reminders of Mortality, Sin, Education & Redemption

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Mortality Half our dayes wee passe in the shadowe of the earth, and the brother of death exacteth a third part of our lives. A good part of our sleepes is peeced out with visions, and phantasticall objects wherin wee are confessedly deceaved. The day supplyeth us with truths, the night with fictions and falsehoods, which uncomfortably divide the natural account of our beings. And therefore having passed the day in sober labours and rationall enquiries of truth, wee are fayne to betake ourselves unto such a state of being, wherin the soberest heads have acted all the monstrosities of melancholy, and which unto open eyes are no better then folly and madnesse. https://thelampmagazine.com/blog/how-to-write-english-prose Sin The allegations were shocking. Jean Vanier, the son of a former governor general and a man regarded as saintly for his work with people with intellectual disabilities, was accused of sexual abuse. Now, nearly three years later, an exhaustive independent report says Vani

Good-bye C of E?

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The Church of England has synoded (yep, new word) itself while attempting to tackle the issue of marriage as only Henry Tudor's crew can . synoded [sin/odd/-dead] to act in a way that undermines credibility I really synoded myself this time. Gavin Ashenden, former chaplain to the Queen, offers his perspective at the Catholic Herald, which includes the following insight that describes the conundrum. https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-new-holy-anglican-bishops-bless-same-sex-unions/ The reason why it is impossible (for the C of E) to define the terms of what marriage is, and what role sex and erotic attraction plays in a Christian anthropology, is that there is no agreement on where authority lies.  You might think it lay in the Bible, but a whole theological and anthropological industry has emerged on how to not to read the Bible either at face value, or as the apostles, fathers and every generation until ours read it.   With no agreed theology of the Church, authority does not lie i

Quotes Worth Remembering

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By an enormous margin, regularly worshipping Catholics everywhere do not endorse the present synod findings. Neither is there much enthusiasm at senior Church levels. Continued meetings of this sort deepen divisions and a knowing few can exploit the muddle and good will. The ex-Anglicans among us are right to identify the deepening confusion, the attack on traditional morals and the insertion into the dialogue of neo-Marxist jargon about exclusion, alienation, identity, marginalisation, the voiceless, LGBTQ as well as the displacement of Christian notions of forgiveness, sin, sacrifice, healing, redemption. Why the silence on the afterlife of reward or punishment, on the four last things; death and judgement, heaven and hell? - George Cardinal Pell, two weeks before his death. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-catholic-church-must-free-itself-from-this-toxic-nightmare/ To be a member of the Church means to place Christ at the center of all things. Every work of the Church – her t

Resemblance: liturgical vitality and continuity in the Week of Christian Unity

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Resemblance resemble (v.) "be like, have likeness or similarity to," mid-14c., from Old French resembler "be like" (12c., Modern French ressemble ), from re -, here perhaps an intensive prefix, + sembler "to appear, to seem, be like," from Latin simulare "to make like, imitate, copy, represent," from stem of similis "like, resembling, of the same kind"  None were more confused or puzzled than our Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic brethren when the Latin Church decided to set aside her venerable rites in favour of a novel eucharistic liturgy. The reforms enacted after the Council, many ideas dislocated from the intentions of the Council Fathers expressed in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,  Sacrosanctum Concilium , for example, seared the sensibilities of tradition-minded Catholics. Many competent authorities have acknowledged the changes designed by the Consilium have resulted in an impoverishment of the human spirit in the L

Anglicanism Refocused

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Anglicanism Refocused - an excerpt from An Unofficial Ordinariate Primer The Oxford Movement encouraged a recovery of the beauty of (Anglican) worship in the external forms of liturgical ceremonies, vestments, and music. It led to a renewed appreciation for (Anglicanism's) catholic heritage and tradition, the importance of the apostolic ministry and the sacraments, the recovery of Anglican spiritual life, the revival of monastic life in the Anglican Communion, and appreciation for the ancient doctrines, discipline, and devotional practices of the church. If one peruses the Tracts for The Times , one will find in the Advertisement introduction to the Tracts an almost if not entirely prophetic riff that hints at where Newman knew he himself had to go, even while, during the period of the Tracts that were composed between 1833 to 1841, he was hoping for a full recovery of Anglicanism's Catholic foundation. There are zealous sons and servants of her (Anglican) English branch, who

The English Patrimony in the Ordinariate

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Adapted from An Unofficial Ordinariate Primer https://atreasuretobeshared.blogspot.com/p/alpha-and-omega-source-and-summit.html At the website of the Ordinariate (OLSC) Catholic Parish of Saints Ninian and Chad , the question 'What is the English Patrimony?' is answered as follows: The English, or Anglican, Patrimony is the sum total of the spiritual, liturgical, pastoral, cultural and social traditions that have come down to us primarily via the experience of Christian life primarily in England, but also to an extent from the whole of the British Isles. It begins with the first unknown missionaries to England, from the protomartyr Saint Alban, and continues through the Celtic Church, the Roman-Gregorian Mission of Saint Augustine of Canterbury. It includes the lives and writings of great figures like Saint Bede the Venerable, Edward the Confessor, Saint Anselm, Saint Richard of Chichester, Saint Hilda of Whitby, Margery Kemp, Walter Hilton, Richard Rolle, the Lady Julian of No

A Meditation On Intransigence and Change

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neurotic Neurotic means you're afflicted by neurosis, a word that has been in use since the 1700s to describe mental, emotional, or physical reactions that are drastic and irrational. At its root, a neurotic behavior is an automatic, unconscious effort to manage deep anxiety. A Story Larry - not his real name - gently kidded a coworker - let's call him Sam - for his accidental appropriation and use of an item belonging to another person. The following day, Sam approached Ted. "I was teased a lot as a kid, and when someone teases me I get really upset." Ted responded, "That's a long time to be holding on to such pain." "I'm seventy," replied Sam. "I won't be changing anytime soon." Was Sam saying he is too old to change? Was Sam saying he doesn't want to let go of that hurt? If the latter, what then? Ted could not have known with certainty that Sam had wounds that had festered over decades. Ted's intent was not maliciou
The opinions expressed herein are largely those of the blog author. Every effort is made to conform to Church teaching. Comments are welcome.