I MIGHT SING THIS IF YOU POINTED A GUN AT MY HEAD, BUT FOR MONEY, NO!

 

As a long-time loather of Beethoven's 9th symphony, a piece of barbarous vulgarity, I submit Schiller's "Ode to Joy" as a terrifying example of sentimental, universalist paganism.

I should add that I very much dislike most of Wordsworth's verse too.

The translation is hardly poetic, but fairly close to the repulsive original, with its deification (I wanted to write defecation) of an abstraction: joy. Never trust an abstraction. Millions have been murdered for an abstraction.

Schiller's 'Ode to Joy'
in its original, 1785 version

An die Freude	To Joy
1 Freude, schoener Goetterfunken,	1 Joy, beautiful spark of Gods,
2 Tochter aus Elysium,	2 Daughter of Elysium,
3 Wir betreten feuertrunken,	3 We enter, fire-imbibed,
4 Himmlische, dein Heiligtum.	4 Heavenly, thy sanctuary.
5 Deine Zauber binden wieder	5 Thy magic powers re-unite
6 Was der Mode Schwert geteilt	6 What custom's sword has divided
7 Bettler werden Fuerstenbrueder	7 Beggars become Princes' brothers
8 Wo dein sanfter Fluegel weilt.	8 Where thy gentle wing abides.
Chor	Chorus
9 Seid umschlungen, Millionen!	9 Be embraced, millions!
10 Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!	10 This kiss to the entire world!
11 Brueder - ueber'm Sternenzelt	11 Brothers - above the starry canopy
12 Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.	12 A loving father must dwell.
13 Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen,	13 Whoever has had the great fortune,
14 Eines Freundes Freund zu sein,	14 To be a friend's friend,
15 Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,	15 Whoever has won the love of a devoted wife,
16 Mische seinen Jubel ein!	16 Add his to our jubilation!
17 Ja - wer auch nur eine Seele	17 Indeed, whoever can call even one soul
18 Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!	18 His own on this earth!
19 Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle	19 And whoever was never able to must creep
20 Weinend sich aus diesem Bund	20 Tearfully away from this circle.
Chor	Chorus
21 Was den grossen Ring bewohnet,	21 Those who dwell in the great circle,
22 Huldige der Sympathie!	22 Pay homage to sympathy!
23 Zu den Sternen leitet sie,	23 It leads to the stars,
24 Wo der Unbekannte thronet.	24 Where the Unknown reigns.
25 Freude trinken alle Wesen	25 Joy all creatures drink
26 An den Bruesten der Natur,	26 At nature's bosoms;
27 Alle Guten, alle Boesen,	27 All, Just and Unjust,
28 Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.	28 Follow her rose-petalled path.
29 Kuesse gab sie uns, und Reben,	29 Kisses she gave us, and Wine,
30 Einen Freund, geprueft im Tod,	30 A friend, proven in death,
31 Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,	31 Pleasure was given (even) to the worm,
32 Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.	32 And the Cherub stands before God.
Chor	Chorus
33 Ihr stuerzt nieder, Millionen?	33 You bow down, millions?
34 Ahndest du den Schoepfer, Welt?	34 Can you sense the Creator, world?
35 Such ihn ueberm Sternenzelt.	35 Seek him above the starry canopy.
36 Ueber Sternen muss er wohnen.	36 Above the stars He must dwell.
37 Freude heisst die starke Feder	37 Joy is called the strong motivation
38 In der ewigen Natur.	38 In eternal nature.
39 Freude, Freude, treibt die Raeder	39 Joy, joy moves the wheels
40 In der grossen Weltenuhr.	40 In the universal time machine.
41 Blumen lockt sie aus den Keimen,	41 Flowers it calls forth from their buds,
42 Sonnen aus dem Firmament,	42 Suns from the Firmament,
43 Sphaeren rollt sie in den Raeumen,	43 Spheres it moves far out in Space,
44 Die des Sehers Rohr nicht kennt.	44 Where our telescopes cannot reach.
Chor	Chorus
45 Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen	45 Joyful, as His suns are flying,
46 Durch des Himmels praecht'gen Plan	46 Across the Firmament's splendid design,
47 Laufet, Brueder, eure Bahn,	47 Run, brothers, run your race,
48 Freudig wie ein Held zum Siegen.	48 Joyful, as a hero going to conquest.
49 Aus der Wahrheit Feuerspiegel	49 As truth's fiery reflection
50 Laechelt sie den Forscher an.	50 It smiles at the scientist.
51 Zu der Tugend steilem Huegel	51 To virtue's steep hill
52 Leitet sie des Dulders Bahn.	52 It leads the sufferer on.
53 Auf des Glaubens Sonnenberge	53 Atop faith's lofty summit
54 Sieht man ihre Fahnen wehn,	54 One sees its flags in the wind,
55 Durch den Riss gesprengter Saerge	55 Through the cracks of burst-open coffins,
56 Sie im Chor der Engel stehn.	56 One sees it stand in the angels' chorus.
Chor	Chorus
57 Duldet mutig, Millionen!	57 Endure courageously, millions!
58 Duldet fuer die bess're Welt!	58 Endure for the better world!
59 Droben ueber'm Sternenzelt	59 Above the starry canopy
60 Wird ein grosser Gott belohnen.	60 A great God will reward you.
61 Goettern kann man nicht vergelten,	61 Gods one cannot ever repay,
62 Schoen ist's, ihnen gleich zu sein.	62 It is beautiful, though, to be like them.
63 Gram und Armut soll sich melden,	63 Sorrow and Poverty, come forth
64 Mit den Frohen sich erfreun.	64 And rejoice with the Joyful ones.
65 Groll und Rache sei vergessen,	65 Anger and revenge be forgotten,
66 Unserm Todfeind sei verziehn,	66 Our deadly enemy be forgiven,
67 Keine Traene soll ihn pressen,	67 Not one tear shall he shed anymore,
68 Keine Reue nage ihn.	68 No feeling of remorse shall pain him.
Chor	Chorus
69 Unser Schuldbuch sei vernichtet!	69 The account of our misdeeds be destroyed!
70 Ausgesoehnt die ganze Welt!	70 Reconciled the entire world!
71 Brueder, ueber'm Sternenzelt	71 Brothers, above the starry canopy
72 Richtet Gott, wie wir gerichtet.	72 God judges as we judged.
73 Freude sprudelt in Pokalen,	73 Joy is bubbling in the glasses,
74 In der Traube goldnem Blut	74 Through the grapes' golden blood
75 Trinken Sanftmut Kannibalen,	75 Cannibals drink gentleness,
76 Die Verzweiflung Heldenmut--	76 And despair drinks courage--
77 Brueder, fliegt von euren Sitzen,	77 Brothers, fly from your seats,
78 Wenn der volle Roemer kreist,	78 When the full rummer is going around,
79 Lasst den Schaum zum Himmel* sptruetzen:	79 Let the foam gush up to heaven*:
80 Dieses Glas dem guten Geist.	80 This glass to the good spirit.
Chor	Chorus
81 Den der Sterne Wirbel loben	81 He whom star clusters adore,
82 Den des Seraphs Hymne preist,	82 He whom the Seraphs' hymn praises,
83 Dieses Glas dem guten Geist	83 This glass to him, the good spirit,
84 Ueber'm Sternenzelt dort oben!	84 Above the starry canopy!
85 Festen Mut in schwerem Leiden,	85 Resolve and courage for great suffering,
86 Huelfe, wo die Unschuld weint,	86 Help there, where innocence weeps,
87 Ewigkeit geschwornen Eiden,	87 Eternally may last all sworn Oaths,
88 Wahrheit gegen Freund und Feind,	88 Truth towards friend and enemy,
89 Maennerstolz vor Koenigsthronen--	89 Men's pride before Kings' thrones--
90 Brueder, gaelt es Gut und Blut.--	90 Brothers, even it if meant our Life and blood,
91 Dem Verdienste seine Kronen,	91 Give the crowns to those who earn them,
92 Untergang der Luegenbrut!	92 Defeat to the pack of liars!
Chor	Chorus
93 Schliesst den heilgen Zirkel dichter	93 Close the holy circle tighter,
94 Schwoert bei diesem goldnen Wein:	94 Swear by this golden wine:
95 Dem Geluebde treu zu sein,	95 To remain true to the Oath,
96 Schwoert es bei dem Sternenrichter!	96 Swear it by the Judge above the stars!
97 Rettung von Tyrannenketten,	97 Delivery from tyrants' chains,
98 Grossmut auch dem Boesewicht,	98 Generosity also towards the villain,
99 Hoffnung auf den Sterbebetten,	99 Hope on the deathbeds,
100 Gnade auf dem Hochgericht!	100 Mercy from the final judge!
101 Auch die Toten sollen leben!	101 Also the dead shall live!
102 Brueder, trinkt und stimmet ein,	102 Brothers, drink and chime in,
103 Allen Suendern soll vergeben,	103 All sinners shall be forgiven,
104 Und die Hoelle nicht mehr sein.	104 And hell shall be no more.
Chor	Chorus
105 Eine heitre Abschiedsstunde!	105 A serene hour of farewell!
106 Suessen Schlaf im Leichentuch!	106 Sweet rest in the shroud!
107 Brueder--einen sanften Spruch	107 Brothers--a mild sentence
108 Aus des Totenrichters Mund.	108 From the mouth of the final judge!

 

 

Apologia Pro Bloga Sua or Sticking up for nasty and calling it nice

This needs to be read after reading Richard Collins's post - http://linenonthehedgerow.blogspot.com/2011/06/am-i-nasty-catholic.html and my last post -
http://left-footer.blogspot.com/2011/06/in-praise-of-nasty-catholics.html

Shadowlands has described me as "sticking up for nasty and calling it nice". I apologise to her and anyone else of good will whom I have offended. Perhaps if I explain without irony what I meant, it will be seen that offence was certainly intended, but only to the 'enemy', and that what I ironically called 'nasty' is in fact very nice indeed.

To begin with the concrete and historical, Constantine, King Alfred, St Joan of Arc, Ferdinand and Isablella, Don John of Austria, King Jan Sobieski, the poet Roy Fuller, the Polish Home Army, the killers of Heydrich were all nasty in that they killed to preserve what they saw as rightfully theirs or their fellow Catholics': their religion, native land, or civilisation.

Can it be realistically argued that the world would not be a better place if Hitler, Goebbels, and Himmler had been assassinated in 1940, or if Luther had been executed before he really got going?
Saint Thomas More was definitely not 'nice' to Luther. Of course, he was not martyred for being 'nasty', but for telling the truth about the so-called 'reformation', as he had told it earlier about Luther.

Jesus himself said thet he had come to bring "not peace but a sword". The sword, or its modern equivalent is sometimes necessary for those who have something to protect.

I proposed three enemies in my post: the first dedicated, courageous, but wrong - militant Islam. A worthy enemy with whom we have much in common, if he tried to kill me, I would be obliged to try and kill him first. Very nasty.

Secondly, the 'liberal' West , morbid from the deep tumour of the Frankfurt School. Not a worthy enemy, and to be denounced, trounced, exposed whenever possible.

Thirdly, the enemy within: those "Catholics" who deny or blur the essential teachings of the Church, leading the young into unchastity, defending the indefensible: abortion, tring to accommodate our Religion to what is socially acceptable. They should be attacked as St Thomas More attacked, vigorously, reletlessly, without mincing words or  fear of giving offence.

They are the poison in the Church.

I have nothing dire to say of Charismatics. I do not think for one minute that they are the enemy.

Friends of God

A long time ago, a Jewish friend at university asked me what my first thought was on waking up.

"Coffee and a cigarette," I replied. "And yours?"

"I thank the Lord that I am a Jew."

Not so long ago, when I was working in a homelessness hostel in London and trying to learn Somali, I asked a young client, a Somali lady, how to say, "What a horrible day!" in Somali. It was pouring with rain.

"We would not say that," she replied.

"Why not?"

"Because every day is a gift from Allah and we should not insult it, but thank Him."

Our ears and minds must always be ready to hear the wisdom of others. They too can be friends of God and open to the Holy Spirit.

Do we wake up, thanking God for our Faith and the day to practise it in?

I often forget.

In Praise of Nasty Catholics

As I see it, we are faced by three enemies: the first a recrudescence of Mohamedanism, aggressive, virile, and often undeniably courageous. I have to agree with them about the decadence of the West, but I greatly dread Islam's solution to our ills.

The second enemy is an effete post-Christian West, dedicated to the vain belief that liberalism will prevail and everything will be all right if we are nice enough.

The third enemy is a Catholic hierarchy which has largely forgotten the battles of Lepanto (1571), Vienna (1683), and Warsaw (1920), and, under the cloak of ecumenism, has adopted the second, liberal position, as above.

Remember the Canadian Catholic teacher corrected by a pupil when he said that Jesus was crucified so we could be nice to each other?

It was time for us, years ago, to stop being nice. We should thank God for all the "nasty" Catholics who fought for the survival of our Catholic Faith.

Our betrayal of them over the last 50 years has been shameful.

What is a "Catholic Christian"?

Well?

Ballade to Our Lady of Częstochowa - by Hilaire Belloc

Ballade to Our Lady of Częstochowa

Lady and Queen and Mystery manifold
And very Regent of the untroubled sky,
Whom in a dream St. Hilda did behold
And heard a woodland music passing by:
You shall receive me when the clouds are high
With evening and the sheep attain the fold.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.

II
Steep are the seas and savaging and cold
In broken waters terrible to try;
And vast against the winter night the wold,
And harbourless for any sail to lie.
But you shall lead me to the lights, and I
Shall hymn you in a harbour story told.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.

III
Help of the half-defeated, House of gold,
Shrine of the Sword, and Tower of Ivory;
Splendour apart, supreme and aureoled,
The Battler’s vision and the World’s reply.
You shall restore me, O my last Ally,
To vengence and the glories of the bold.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.

Envoi
Prince of the degradations, bought and sold,
These verses, written in your crumbling sty,
Proclaim the faith that I have held and hold
And publish that in which I mean to die.

- Hilaire Belloc

Borrowed (with thanks) from SanabiturAnimaMea's excellent blog - http://sanabituranima.wordpress.com

Identifying the Enemy

1: The proselytising Muslim.
I love him like a brother, and pray for his conversion to Catholicism. He would make a fine warrior for Christ. I remember the Iraqi minicab driver in London who tried to convert me on a 20 minute trip. He loved Allah and Islam and wanted to share his faith with everyone. God bless him. I briefly explained Catholicism, and suggested we have a Crusade or Jihad. He laughed, and we shook hands.


2: The passionate atheist.
A beloved, long-dead, (and good) Jesuit explained to me that atheism is an angry prayer to God for an explanation of why His Creation is so full of evil. We should pray for the angry atheist.


3: The agnostic - unmanned by doubt, like Tennyson, who believes that
"There is more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in all the creeds."
A sweet, well-meaning person, but lost. Pray for him.


4: The smart-ass know all cleverdick self-styled intellectual humanist. Inhabits bars, television sets, and treats the question of the falsity of any religion as having been settled years ago. For him, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, arguments are not true or false, but interesting, outdated, sexist, homophobic, or whatever. Let him ride his limousine of vanity and uncharity to Hell.


5: The treasonous cleric, priest, bishop, religious, or whatever who denies essential Catholic belief, but stays within the Church, like a pestilential maggot in an apple. The most loathsome, and most worthy of the attentions of Torquemada.


6: The teacher in an IBVM Catholic girls' school who makes her pupils roll condoms on to hockey sticks, and reassures them that "They don't spoil sex at all." Slut.

Faith-Stealers of the Week/Month/Year - Nominations Please!

In the 1950s, the Daily Mirror ran a column called "Rat of the Week", and readers were invited to nominate people they regarded as nasty, evil, or antisocial.

I invite comment-box nominations: self-styled Catholic people or organisations, Bishops, Clergy, pontificating laity, charities, or whatever, who are trying to weaken the Faith of other Catholics for whatever reason.

Please give the name of the nominee, and a reason for nomination. Avoid libellous comments, please, as I shall have to delete them.

Let us pray for them.

He's Coming! Look Busy!

I don't remember when or where I heard this, but I love it. It seems a very moral joke to me. It's best told with a Beano-style Italian accent.

The Pope is sitting reading in the Vatican when a Cardinal rushes in.

"Holiness!" he cries, "Eet's-a-happened! He's-a-coming!"

Pope: "Who's-a-coming?"

Cardinal: "He is. He's a-riding a donkey and He's here - in Roma! The Second Coming! Whadda we do? Whadda we do?"

Pope:  (shuffling documents) "Look-a busy!"

Trevor Phillips - Who?

The insolence of this man, who is boss of the UK equalities commission, and has stated that "an old time religion incompatible with 'modern society' is driving the revival of the Catholic Church", is staggering.

I seem to remember that he disagreed with K. Livingstone over 'multiculturalism', claiming that all British people should adhere to the 'core' values of British society. I, in my innocence, thought that the core was the inedible part of the apple which one throws away.

For the full story, please go to:
http://protectthepope.com/?p=3226

The obvious riposte is "Round objects to modern society - and Mr Trevor Phillips."

"And who is Mr Round, pray, and why does he object?" I hear someone ask.

Don't Make Trouble - Just Die Quietly and Politely

I remember when I was young, reading in the Daily Telegraph Peter Simple column that John Foster Dulles (or maybe another famous American) had taken part in a riot in Paris in protest against the insulting words used by a Sorbonne professor when speaking about St Joan of Arc. If the story was true, I am delighted. I hope I would have rioted too.

What surprises me is that the liberal agenda of child-sexualisation, abortion, promotion of "alernative life-style choices", contraception, euthanasia, and marginalisation of religion has met with only the most muted opposition from Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and any other of those groups being marginalised. The English Catholic Hierarchy seems quite content to go with the flow.

What are the Bishops, Rabbis, Imams, and others doing, apart from going along with the torrent of public opinion makers? Do they hope it will turn out all right? Have they learned nothing from the experience of the Jews, Poles, Gipsies under Germany in the last war?

Or are they, like the Aesopian frogs, scared of exchanging King Log for King Stork ? Will they, following A.A. Milne's advice:

"Always keep a hold of nurse
For fear of finding something worse."?

A horrible, but very moral joke I heard years ago, about two British soldiers standing in front of a German firing squad. They are asked if they have anything to say before they are shot.

"Yes," replies one of them.
"Jim, don't make trouble!" hisses the other.

LIFESPAN CHOICES

In case you missed it, do please follow the link at the end of this post to The Catholic Herald.

I have never read anything written by Pratchett, and see no reason to do so. Fantasy is not my glass of Jack Daniels.

I am even less interested in his views on the morality of suicide. If he wants to kill himself, so be it. However there now seems to be a BBC/Dimbleby-backed voluntary euthanasia movement, which if successful, will be followed by a Lifespan Choices curriculum in schools, followed by pressure to die when ones life is no longer deemed useful to the Big Society.

BEWARE!

I fear liberal, compassionate legislation. We know it by its stench: the abortion act, the legislation designed to promote homosexualism, the filthy sex-instuction programme in schools.

Its supporters would have sent Blessed John Paul II to the death chamber long before his natural and holy passing.

 Timeo et odi Onanos et dona ferentes.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2011/06/14/the-bbc-is-drip-feeding-assisted-dying-propaganda-into-our-living-rooms/

Tolerance

Tolerance is nothing more than cowardice resulting from lack of certainty of one's own convictions.

Sonnet: To An Unknown Muslim

I guess you'd kill me if you got the chance
As I would you, yet love you like a brother.
You're more my kin than that benighted other,
The limp Liberal, with his icy tolerance.
Over the centuries, a deadly dance
We've stepped, Crescent and Cross, and for a while
In Spain you conquered, stayed -  Cordoban glazed tile
Speaks of your conquest, which stopped short of France.

You slew for Allah, as we for our Lord.
You bomb still to impose submission
To Islam, and your bloody mission
Is to end filthy decadence with the sword.
If we had your conviction, will of steel,
We'd change the world. We lack only the zeal.

An Angry Sonnet To A Liberal

You spare the guillotine, the rope, the gun:
You are too busy killing innocent
Babies to punish the cruel unrepent-
Ant criminal. To be liberal is more fun.
To worship Gaia and God knows what more,
To shed your inhibitions, morals, soul,
Easier for you than the uneasy role
Of judge who settles the unsettled score.

You bleat compassion and inclusivness.
Only the weak and innocent you exclude,
Only in punishment you play the prude,
Undeserved mercy is your cruel excess.
You rant about the scourge of priestly abuse
While unborn kids die, choking, in the sluice.

Recycled - An Earlier Morality: not nice, not nice at all

When the Anglo-Saxons caught a Dane robbing a Church, they would skin him alive and nail his skin to the Church door, as at Copford in Essex, U.K.

In Viking Skaldic Poetry (or verse) carving the 'blood-eagle' on a defeated opponent was a cruel and hideous form of execution.

In Graham Greene's novel "Our Man in Havana", Captain Segura, of the Cuban police, has a leather-covered cigarette case on which he carefully taps his cigarettes before smoking. The leather covering is, in fact, the skin of the man who tortured and killed Segura's mother and father.

Captain Segura, "mon semblable, mon frere"! I'd happily buy him a drink or two and discuss Catholic morality with him.

Such behaviour is now seen as 'unacceptable', to use the cant phrase of modern would-be moralists, who bat not an eyelid when similar is done to 'the products of conception'.

My Grandmother had and used, during the last war, a chamber pot with a portrait of Hitler glazed into the bottom. Better than nothing I suppose.

I would need at least half a dozen. And whose portraits? That would be telling, but I have a little list..

And you? Have you a little list?

COMMENTS - A CONDITIONAL APOLOGY

As I have already remarked, the volume of traffic to my blog has increased to about six times the normal, I guess because of some Google malfunction. The evidence is that the volume is far lower.

I usually average about three comments a week from about 180 visits, about one in 60.

If you have commented and nothing has appeared, my apologies - it may be because of the same malfunction. I do not moderate comments, and delete only those which may cause legal problems.

There are about five blogs on which I cannot comment, because, although already signed in, I am asked to sign in again. The effect when I do so is to sign myself out.

It's very annoying. Is anyone else having a similar problem?

Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover

Long ago someone told me of a 'popular' edition of Dickens's "Oliver Twist" which he had seen somewhere. The cover bore a picture of a cowering girl in a torn dress. Standing over her was a muscular young man, his face distorted with lust.

The caption was, "More! More! The boy was insatiable!"

I (only) once went to a well-known pub catering for homosexuals, not from choice, but because it was the boss's birthday party, and the pub was his local. There were plenty of non-homosexuals at the party.

One guest, hugely muscled, dressed in a sleeveless t-shirt and very baggy trousers, was asked, "So which gay clubs do you go to, then?"

"I don't," he replied. "I'm not gay. I'm married with children."

"So who do you go around looking like a f*****g queen?" spat the angry questioner.

In Which Your Pedantic Blogger Poses Divers Questions And Makes Some Observations

Thanks to Carol McKinley, of the Tenth Crusade - http://throwthebumsoutin2010.blogspot.com/ for this:


"The Rainbow Ministry of Saint Cecilia Parish invites all friends and supporters of the LGBT community to a Mass in celebration of Boston’s Pride Month. The liturgy will take place on Sunday evening, June 19, at six o’clock, with a reception following. The theme of the liturgy, “All Are Welcome,” honors Christ’s message of hope and salvation to all people. We will also celebrate the diverse community that finds its home at Saint Cecilia and ac­knowledge, in a special way, the generous and warm welcome extended to the members of the Jesuit Urban Center in 2007. The Mass will be celebrated by Father John Unni and concel­ebrated by several of the priests who faithfully ministered at the Jesuit Urban Center for so many years. Please plan to attend this special liturgy and support the diversity that makes Saint Cecilia such a special place."

I make no comment on this beyond the expressions printed (by me) in bold:

Rainbow: does this signify in some way the end of a flood? If so, can someone enlighten us as to how and why?

Community: an interesting word, often used to create what does not exist. Do all heterosexuals belong to the heterosexexual community? Do beer-drinkers belong to the beer-drinking community? What about an elderly men community, or a red-headed community, or a community for the bad-tempered?

Celebration: Is there not something paradoxical in celebrating an inclination which the Church has pronounced disordered?

Pride: A deadly sin, I thought.

Diverse, diversity: very funny words. In my last job in London, a visiting charity big gun congratulated me on my 'diversity'. I don't think it was because I was heterosexual, red-haired, or a Catholic, but because I was at least 20 years older than any other employee, a 'diversity' I could have done without.

In a special way: a curious phrase often used to refer to the Real Presence, or Transubstantiation.

Such a special place: because of its diversity, and nothing to do with its being a Catholic Church?

I have no further comment to make.

Revenge: Perhaps Unworthy, But Delightful

When the Anglo-Saxons caught a Dane robbing a Church, they would skin him alive and nail his skin to the Church door, as at Copford in Essex, U.K.

In Viking Skaldic Poetry (or verse) carving the 'blood-eagle' on a defeated opponent was a hideous way ro dispatch an enemy.

In Graham Greene's novel "Our Man in Havana", Captain Segura, of the Cuban police, has a leather-covered cigarette case on which he carefully taps his cigarettes before smoking. The leather covering is, in fact, the skin of the man who tortured and killed Segura's mother and father.

Captain Segura, "mon semblable, mon frere"! I'd happily buy him a drink or two and discuss Catholic morality with him.

Such behaviour is now seen as 'unacceptable', to use the cant phrase of modern would-be moralists, who bat not an eyelid when similar is done to 'the products of conception'. 

My Grandmother had and used, during the last war, a chamber pot with a portrait of Hitler glazed into the bottom. Better than nothing I suppose.

I would need at least half a dozen. And whose portraits? That would be telling, but I have a little list..

And you?

What's Going On?

For the past year, I have averaged about 33 visitors daily. The last two days I have averaged 260, and nothing special posted. Am I under surveillance?.

WHAT'S GOING ON?

A Useful Glossary for Thinking Catholics

A glossary for thinking, liberal Catholics:


Bigot: someone who believes that there is only one truth. Wears cheap suits, has harsh, grating voice, unattractive to women, probably has halitosis - at least we hope so


Catholics, traditional: bigoted backwoodsmen, taliban, Father Z, nuff said

Catholic Voices: a powerful force for sanity in the church. Content with the way things are. Busy harvesting the Fruits of Vatican II


Dance, Liturgical: a beautiful, dignified expression of Joy and Faith. Great because it allows women to express themselves freely and annoys traddie bores

 
Faithful, the: Catholic Voices

Form, Extraordinary: aptly named, a hopefully short-lived sop to Latin-groupies and incense-freaks


Magic Circle: neither magical or circular, but Just Us


S.P.U.C. an unpleasant and very un-urbane pressure group, obsessed with sex, which bangs on about abortion and sex-education. 


Taliban Catholic: one who follows what (s)he believes to be the teaching of the church to its logical conclusion. An empowered bigot

Ultamontane: believing that the Pope is more than just another bishop

Z, Father: a Catholic Taliban leader, or ayatollah

With its circulation of around 24,000 copies, who is funding the Tablet?

Surely not Richard Dawkins?

Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions

Details here (H.T. Archbishop Terry) : http://archbishopterry.blogspot.com/2011/06/saint-charles-lwanga-and-companions.html

What will they say of them at today's Soho Mass, I wonder?

Dawkins and The Stricken World of Faith

So the dreary Dawkins circus grinds interminably on and on, and the Catholic blogosphere (or parts of it) crouches, sick with fear, quivering with vigilance, like an small army unit behind enemy lines, waiting for anihilation.

And not only in the Catholic world is there terror and trepidation. Worlwide, Protestants are apostosising; Muslims in their millions are slumped, despairing ,in front of their televisions, consoling themselves with whisky and bacon butties; Buddhists in their billions are melting down their Buddhas and buying The Great Man's books; Native Americans are becoming freethinkers; the Great Thumb is no more; shamans form long queues at the local Job-Centre. The Great Mind has weighed religion in the balance and found it wanting.

The Pope, so it is rumoured, has bought a retirement home in Florida.

'Thou hast conquered' the Pale Gallilean, O sun-tanned professor, 'and the World has grown cold at thy breath'. (Swinburne)

We have meltdown. Have I got that right? I think not. His books dealing with religion, on the contrary, have all the effect of a fart in a scent factory.

An amateur philosopher/theologian, riding a tinpot and ramshackle hobbyhorse, has struck fear into the hearts of etc. etc.? 

Indeed he has, but God knows how.

The Difference Between Religion and Superstition

I regard the Catholic Church and Orthodox Judaism as the only religions, and Orthodox Judaism as genuine, but incomplete.

The rest, insofar as they conflict with Catholic teaching, are false, and therefore superstitions.

Has anyone else any thoughts about this? I hope this will be one of those posts where all the interesting stuff will be in the comments box.

When I hear the word 'Culture' I cock my Browning.

"When I hear the word 'culture', I reach for my revolver", normally attributed to Goering, first appeared in 1933 in the play "Schlageter" by the nazi playright Hanns Johst (1890-1978), as "When I hear the word 'culture, I cock my Browning", spoken by a 'stormtrooper'.

A plague on both their houses, but I think I know the feeling.

The problem is this weasel word 'culture' which seems to mean what its bien-pensant, would-be anthropogists users want it to mean. Not so.

'Culture', for me at least, means the best that has been written, said, thought , or done. It does not mean religion, customs, sexual practices, clothing, sport, or anything someone fancies doing.

It does not include:

Cutting a goat's throat over a drain. That pertains to religion.
A Corpus Christi procession. That pertains to THE Religion.
Voodoo (see above)
Being anti or pro abortion
A sexual fascination with the lower digestive tract,
Foot-binding,
Football, bull-fighting, cycling naked through London, hair length, etc etc.

I am not a violent man, and I am not possessed of a Browning, but if someone tells me that Mick Jagger, Wiccanism, religious practices, female circumcision, cruelty, and stoning adulterers are cultural phenomena, I shall wish I had a Browning (not Robert) to cock.

And just to remove any misunderstanding, the first bullet is for Goering.

Glossolalia, or "speaking with tongues": an afterthought.

Today, after many dire visions of the future of the Church if we do not reap the full harvest of The Fruits of Vatican II, I prophesied as follows:

acco rding toso mew hoh aves tudiedt hephe nomeno nof glo ss olal ia wjsa amarinfeli citasgo odmanthesy lla blesu seda reallf oundi nthena tivel angu a geof thespea kers.....

An unpleasantly cynical acquaintance, a real spoilsport, offered to interpret the prophecy above, and produced this 'interpretation' :

according to some who have studied the phenomenon of glossolalia ( W. J. Samarin, Felicitas Goodman) , the syllables used are all found in the native language of the speakers.....

Which is not what I meant at all!

I KNOW IT IS A GIFT!

AND IT IS MINE!