The Cry of an Aborted Child, from Richard Collins's Blog

 Please read this poem , written by Richard's brother, and circulate it during Lent. It needs no praise or endorsement from me.

Thank you, and God bless!

Richard Collins, on his always excellent blog "Linen on the Hedgerow" has raised the question of syncretism, and this is an extension of the comment I made there. 

My understanding is that syncretism involves commingling Catholic beliefs or dogmas with inconsistent beliefs or dogmas from other religions. For example, it is syncretic for a Catholic to believe in reincarnation, or a non-Triune God, or pantheism or, indeed, Gaia.

Inculturation, on the other hand, can be a useful missionary tool, as it involves retaining, but also adapting, non-Catholic customs or practices so that they are not at odds with Catholic teaching. Pius XII, for example, permitted Chinese ancestor-worship, explaining that it involved not idolatry, but proper respect.

I read a moving account years ago of a Mass somewhere in Africa, at which, when the Host was elevated, there was loud drumming and an Honour Guard of men dressed in leopard skins and bearing spears surrounded the Altar. Drumming and the Guard were a tribal tradition whenever the human king was in public, and are all the more appropriate when the King of Kings appears in the Flesh.

If I am mistaken in my understanding, I apologise. As to interfaith dialogue, unless it has missionary intent, it seems a waste of time. If I was an astrophysicist, I would not waste my time debating with flat-earthers unless I had some hope of changing their minds.

Linen on the Hedgerow on Guardian Angel Hymn

A beautiful hymn, beautifully sung. Richard Collins's blog is a gem.

http://linenonthehedgerow.blogspot.com/2011/07/just-for-sake-of-some-reminiscence.html

HOLY NUISANCE

I've just read, and posted a comment on, Richard Collins's powerful post "What Do We Expect of a Bishop?" http://linenonthehedgerow.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-do-we-expect-of-bishop.html.

Catholics work hard at blogging. They, we, inform, encourage, support, tweet, and sometimes criticise each other. Some are learned and informative, some are prayerful, some, like me, are just angry.

I have a few slight talents, but an immense capacity for anger when I hear or read of a 'shiten shepherd' leading astray his 'clene shepe' (I like Chaucer, too) with misleading statements on matters of Faith, or feeding obscenities to their children (see the excellent John Smeaton, passim) through immoral sex-intruction teaching materials, or putting the favour of malignant megalomaniac over-paid windbags - the "great and the good" above the call to preach the Gospel.

I know I am not alone in my anger.

So would it be worth making a bigger nuisance of ourselves to weak, cowardly, place-seeking, empire buiding, anti-Papal (the list could go on and on) members of the hierarchy, if only to smoke them out?

In a Yorkshire parish, everyone sang 'ee bah gum!' instead of 'kumbayah'. The 'hymn' was dropped.

We could refuse to sing heretical nonsense at Mass.

We could stop giving money to the C.E.S and helping to pay for Greg Pope, and the scandal of unCatholic, obscene, and immoral sex-instruction in Catholic schools.

Ditto Cafod until it toes the line on 'reproductive health'.

Ditto red-nose day.

We could keep the Ecclestone Square bureaucrats busy with heavy dumps of mail after some dubious, idiotic, or plainly heretical pronouncement by a cleric or circular magician.

And we could be a bigger nuisance to government when it promotes or enforces by legislation, anti-Catholic practices.

Fancy being a Holy Nuisance?

I do.