venerdì, dicembre 30, 2005
lunedì, dicembre 26, 2005
Christmas Birds
From here:
"Christmas Birds"
Once there was a man. He was a
decent, upstanding citizen in his community, a devoted husband and father, and
was liked by all who knew him. By all accounts he was a success. But he did not
believe in Christmas.
Oh, he might believe in God,
more or less. He could accept the possibility that there was a single, great,
all powerful being whose mighty hand had put the universe in motion. But that
was the very essence of his argument against Christmas! If such a mighty being
existed, why would He come to Earth as a helpless baby, born in poverty in a
barn? Why not come in all His splendor and glory? Why not let people know who's
in charge?
So, as another Christmas
approached, he once again declined his wife's offer to join her and the children
in attending Christmas Eve church service. He watched them leave, then he curled
up in his easy chair with the evening paper and his favorite pipe.
Soon his family had departed,
the wind outside began to grow stronger. It buffeted the house and wailed
through the trees. As the man got up to place another log on the fire, he
suddenly heard what sounded like a snowball 'thud' against the window of his
reading room...
read the whole story here
"Christmas Birds"
Once there was a man. He was a
decent, upstanding citizen in his community, a devoted husband and father, and
was liked by all who knew him. By all accounts he was a success. But he did not
believe in Christmas.
Oh, he might believe in God,
more or less. He could accept the possibility that there was a single, great,
all powerful being whose mighty hand had put the universe in motion. But that
was the very essence of his argument against Christmas! If such a mighty being
existed, why would He come to Earth as a helpless baby, born in poverty in a
barn? Why not come in all His splendor and glory? Why not let people know who's
in charge?
So, as another Christmas
approached, he once again declined his wife's offer to join her and the children
in attending Christmas Eve church service. He watched them leave, then he curled
up in his easy chair with the evening paper and his favorite pipe.
Soon his family had departed,
the wind outside began to grow stronger. It buffeted the house and wailed
through the trees. As the man got up to place another log on the fire, he
suddenly heard what sounded like a snowball 'thud' against the window of his
reading room...
read the whole story here
anti-Catholic Microsoft
extreme Catholic just gave me another reason to keep away from Microsoft products:
"Bill Gates' foundation is perhaps the largest source of contributions to population control and abortion funding in the third world."
read the whole thing here.
"Bill Gates' foundation is perhaps the largest source of contributions to population control and abortion funding in the third world."
read the whole thing here.
giovedì, dicembre 22, 2005
mercoledì, dicembre 14, 2005
If only you were warm or cold
Fromhere:
"Thankfully the Church is preserved in its teaching, but that doesn't change the fact that its practices have often been geared toward this faulty logic--that is, pushing 10 active parishioners (and 1 vocation to the religious life) out to draw in one person who somehow never materializes, because he never actually cared about the Faith anyway."
This is SO true. The Church gains nothing by allowing dissent, rather the opposite. But the only way to make the Church realize this seems to be either that the dissenters leave (unlikely, since they won't get thrown out, and they are stupid enough to believe that the Church will change what cannot be changed), or open persecution. And I am beginning to hope for the latter. The blood of the Martyrs is what keeps the Church strong, and the Church is currently weakening.
Another good thing about martyrs (if you're considering that option) is that to be beatified you don't even need miracles - instant beatification - yay! :P
"Thankfully the Church is preserved in its teaching, but that doesn't change the fact that its practices have often been geared toward this faulty logic--that is, pushing 10 active parishioners (and 1 vocation to the religious life) out to draw in one person who somehow never materializes, because he never actually cared about the Faith anyway."
This is SO true. The Church gains nothing by allowing dissent, rather the opposite. But the only way to make the Church realize this seems to be either that the dissenters leave (unlikely, since they won't get thrown out, and they are stupid enough to believe that the Church will change what cannot be changed), or open persecution. And I am beginning to hope for the latter. The blood of the Martyrs is what keeps the Church strong, and the Church is currently weakening.
Another good thing about martyrs (if you're considering that option) is that to be beatified you don't even need miracles - instant beatification - yay! :P
martedì, dicembre 06, 2005
Surprise surprise...
 | You scored as Roman Catholic. You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you.
What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com |
lunedì, novembre 28, 2005
I'm Batman
 | You scored as Batman, the Dark Knight. As the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman is a vigilante who deals out his own brand of justice to the criminals and corrupt of the city. He follows his own code and is often misunderstood. He has few friends or allies, but finds comfort in his cause.
Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 |
martedì, novembre 22, 2005
How To Be Thankful
From here:
"Count your blessings instead of your crosses;
Count your gains instead of your losses;
Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes;
Count your smiles instead of your tears;
Count your courage instead of your fears;
Count your full years instead of your lean;
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean;
Count your health instead of your wealth;
Count on God instead of yourself."
"Count your blessings instead of your crosses;
Count your gains instead of your losses;
Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes;
Count your smiles instead of your tears;
Count your courage instead of your fears;
Count your full years instead of your lean;
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean;
Count your health instead of your wealth;
Count on God instead of yourself."
giovedì, novembre 03, 2005
Old but true
From here:
"How Old is Your Church?
If you are a member of Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith began your congregation in Costa Mesa, California in 1975.
If you are a believer at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, your denomination was started by Ken Guillickson and Keith Green in Santa Monica, California in 1974.
If you are a follower of the Church of Scientology, your group owes its origin to science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard in Washington D. C. in 1952.
If you are a worshipper at the Iglesia ni Cristo, Felix Manalo instituted your sect in the Philippines in 1914.
If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as 'Church of the Nazarene', 'Pentecostal Gospel', 'Holiness Church', 'Pilgrim Holiness Church', your denomination is one of the many thousands of new sects and religions founded by men within the past several hundred years.
If you are a Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.
If you are a Jehovah's Witness, your religion was invented by 'Pastor' Charles Taze Russell in 1874, incorporated 1881.
If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865.
If you are a Seventh Day Adventist, Mrs. Ellen Gould White inaugurated your group in the United States in 1860.
If you are LDS or 'Mormon' (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Joseph Smith Jr. started your religion in Palmyra, NY, in 1829.
If you are a Methodist, your denomination was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.
If you are a Protestant Episcopalian, your denomination was an offshoot of the Church of England founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century.
If you call yourself a Mennonite, your movement was named after Menno Simons, a Catholic priest for 12 years, who left the Church to join the conservative Anabaptist wing.
The Amish, started by Jacob Amman around 1693, are just one of many different church bodies within the Mennonite community in the U.S.
If you are of the Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder, because he originated your denomination in New York in 1628.
If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your denomination to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1605.
If you are a Congregationalist, your denomination was originated by Robert Browne in Holland in 1582.
If you are a Presbyterian, your denomination was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560.
If you belong to the Church of England, your denomination was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope could not grant him an annulment from his true and lawful wife, Catherine of Aragon, with the right to re-marry.
If you are a Lutheran, your denomination was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.
If you are Eastern Orthodox, your church was taken from the Catholic Church in 1054 when the Pope and an Eastern Patriarch excommunicated each other.
If you are a Roman Catholic, you know that your Church was founded in A.D. 33 by Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
"How Old is Your Church?
If you are a member of Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith began your congregation in Costa Mesa, California in 1975.
If you are a believer at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, your denomination was started by Ken Guillickson and Keith Green in Santa Monica, California in 1974.
If you are a follower of the Church of Scientology, your group owes its origin to science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard in Washington D. C. in 1952.
If you are a worshipper at the Iglesia ni Cristo, Felix Manalo instituted your sect in the Philippines in 1914.
If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as 'Church of the Nazarene', 'Pentecostal Gospel', 'Holiness Church', 'Pilgrim Holiness Church', your denomination is one of the many thousands of new sects and religions founded by men within the past several hundred years.
If you are a Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.
If you are a Jehovah's Witness, your religion was invented by 'Pastor' Charles Taze Russell in 1874, incorporated 1881.
If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865.
If you are a Seventh Day Adventist, Mrs. Ellen Gould White inaugurated your group in the United States in 1860.
If you are LDS or 'Mormon' (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Joseph Smith Jr. started your religion in Palmyra, NY, in 1829.
If you are a Methodist, your denomination was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.
If you are a Protestant Episcopalian, your denomination was an offshoot of the Church of England founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century.
If you call yourself a Mennonite, your movement was named after Menno Simons, a Catholic priest for 12 years, who left the Church to join the conservative Anabaptist wing.
The Amish, started by Jacob Amman around 1693, are just one of many different church bodies within the Mennonite community in the U.S.
If you are of the Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder, because he originated your denomination in New York in 1628.
If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your denomination to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1605.
If you are a Congregationalist, your denomination was originated by Robert Browne in Holland in 1582.
If you are a Presbyterian, your denomination was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560.
If you belong to the Church of England, your denomination was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope could not grant him an annulment from his true and lawful wife, Catherine of Aragon, with the right to re-marry.
If you are a Lutheran, your denomination was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.
If you are Eastern Orthodox, your church was taken from the Catholic Church in 1054 when the Pope and an Eastern Patriarch excommunicated each other.
If you are a Roman Catholic, you know that your Church was founded in A.D. 33 by Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
martedì, novembre 01, 2005
sabato, ottobre 29, 2005
I am Athanasius
You are Athanasius! You are willing to fight a
losing battle, just to make sure that the truth
is told. But don't get discouraged; sometimes
it takes more than one lifetime for truth to
triumph.
Which Saint Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
venerdì, ottobre 21, 2005
I am Anselm (almost)
You scored as Anselm. Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?'
Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com |
giovedì, ottobre 13, 2005
lunedì, ottobre 10, 2005
mercoledì, ottobre 05, 2005
Phew...
The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Very High |
| Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Moderate |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | Very Low |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | Low |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | Very Low |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | Low |
| Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) | Very Low |
| Level 7 (Violent) | Low |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | Moderate |
| Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) | Moderate |
Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test
sabato, settembre 17, 2005
The Way to heaven
From here: “Holy communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven. There are others: innocense, but that is for little children; penance, but we are afraid of it; generous endurance of the trials of life, but when they come we weep and ask to be spared. The surest, easiest, shortest way is the Eucharist.”
martedì, settembre 13, 2005
giovedì, settembre 08, 2005
lunedì, agosto 22, 2005
back from Cologne
I HAVE to get some sleep.... I'll be back when I wake up... and that could take a couple of days...
lunedì, agosto 08, 2005
domenica, agosto 07, 2005
Malta is further away than Cologne
...not only in distance from Sweden, but also by date of blog entry. I'm really stressed out about WYD, since it appears that my leaders (50-group, region and national) have been, let's say, "out of sync".
_______
Warning: "SUK-patriots" are advised not to read any further, since doing so may, for such persons, result in a strong urge to kill me, and since you all know that murder is a sin, you may consider this blog entry a temptation, into which you (hopefully daily) profess that you wish not to be lead.
SUK-patriots - you have been warned.
Others - you will probably not want to kill me, and even if you will, you won't succeed. So just read on.
_______
So I asked my leaders (for WYD in Cologne) this weekend how they had planned to solve issue A, that had caused problems both in Toronto and Rome. To which I get answers like "I'm not responsible for that", "ask [next leader in the hierarchy]", "I don't know" or "Oh - I hadn't thought about that", the later of which was followed by a
"Why didn't you say this before?"
-"I'm not a member of any preparation team and I have not been asked for any help by those that are."
"But you could have said things like that anyways".
-"I did. To which the answer was 'we'll tell you what you need to know when you need to know'".
So, for the (at least) third time in a row, the Swedish delegation to WYD will, on several points in the preparation, be prepared with a last-second solution.
This can be illustrated by the fact that we *might* give all leaders, or *maybe* just the 50-group leaders, a cap each, with the logo of the Swedish Catholic youth organization - but we don't know yet, since we (I) will have to check if the logo (that I had prepared as a sticker for my group's guitar) stays on if placed on fabric. That will happen tomorrow (and if adjustments have to be made, I'll have to have that done before late afternoon) and, the day after tomorrow, we can pick the stuff up. And, hours after we've picked it all up, then our preparation camp will start, with Mass, and will go on until same time the day after that, when the train leaves.
To do things in good time, or at least be well prepared so that you can do time-craving things without panic the days before deadline, is obviously not the way of the Swedish group.
And if any of them will read this, they'll tell me I'm wrong and unfair, and still: the same thing will happen when it's time to go to Australia for the next WYD. I'm not guessing that it will. I know it. The only thing that can prevent it from happening is a mass-revelation in which Jesus tells all the leaders and future leaders of SUK to shape it up and stay that way 'or else'.
Lack of organization and of continuity are, by the way, the two main reasons that nothing big in SUK ever seems to work. In fact, it sometimes seems as though the same is true about the entire Church in Sweden.
So - after that analysis of the hopelessness of the Church in Sweden, particularly in the youth organization, I'll try to have fun the coming two weeks in Germany. To be negative all the time helps you nowhere.
_______
Warning: "SUK-patriots" are advised not to read any further, since doing so may, for such persons, result in a strong urge to kill me, and since you all know that murder is a sin, you may consider this blog entry a temptation, into which you (hopefully daily) profess that you wish not to be lead.
SUK-patriots - you have been warned.
Others - you will probably not want to kill me, and even if you will, you won't succeed. So just read on.
_______
So I asked my leaders (for WYD in Cologne) this weekend how they had planned to solve issue A, that had caused problems both in Toronto and Rome. To which I get answers like "I'm not responsible for that", "ask [next leader in the hierarchy]", "I don't know" or "Oh - I hadn't thought about that", the later of which was followed by a
"Why didn't you say this before?"
-"I'm not a member of any preparation team and I have not been asked for any help by those that are."
"But you could have said things like that anyways".
-"I did. To which the answer was 'we'll tell you what you need to know when you need to know'".
So, for the (at least) third time in a row, the Swedish delegation to WYD will, on several points in the preparation, be prepared with a last-second solution.
This can be illustrated by the fact that we *might* give all leaders, or *maybe* just the 50-group leaders, a cap each, with the logo of the Swedish Catholic youth organization - but we don't know yet, since we (I) will have to check if the logo (that I had prepared as a sticker for my group's guitar) stays on if placed on fabric. That will happen tomorrow (and if adjustments have to be made, I'll have to have that done before late afternoon) and, the day after tomorrow, we can pick the stuff up. And, hours after we've picked it all up, then our preparation camp will start, with Mass, and will go on until same time the day after that, when the train leaves.
To do things in good time, or at least be well prepared so that you can do time-craving things without panic the days before deadline, is obviously not the way of the Swedish group.
And if any of them will read this, they'll tell me I'm wrong and unfair, and still: the same thing will happen when it's time to go to Australia for the next WYD. I'm not guessing that it will. I know it. The only thing that can prevent it from happening is a mass-revelation in which Jesus tells all the leaders and future leaders of SUK to shape it up and stay that way 'or else'.
Lack of organization and of continuity are, by the way, the two main reasons that nothing big in SUK ever seems to work. In fact, it sometimes seems as though the same is true about the entire Church in Sweden.
So - after that analysis of the hopelessness of the Church in Sweden, particularly in the youth organization, I'll try to have fun the coming two weeks in Germany. To be negative all the time helps you nowhere.
domenica, luglio 31, 2005
John Paul II mosaic
John Paul II will be present on WYD in Cologne - yes, spiritually, but also in the form of a mosaic (made up of uploaded images of those that'll go there). This is where I am on it :P
lunedì, luglio 25, 2005
sabato, luglio 16, 2005
I'm off!
Hopefully the trip will do me good. I'll see you in a week. Then't'll be time to start preparing for WYD in Cologne. ...omg... it's already here. dammit. and I haven't even done a third of what I told myself to do before...
Hopefully I'll have some good pics when I get back. Anyhow - see y'all in a week or so.
Hopefully I'll have some good pics when I get back. Anyhow - see y'all in a week or so.
lunedì, luglio 11, 2005
Life is life
... unfortunately. I've had a bad week. Luckily I'm off to Malta (the tiny country-island with as many churches as there are days in a (non-leap) year) the coming saturday.
I wish I lived in a catholic country.
If I ever get the money, I'll buy myself a house in the mountains of northern Italy, where it is never freezing, where noone is protestant, and where drinking a glass of wine to the food is part of the culture.
All I need is decent weather, a non-ugly catholic church, a thinking faithful-to-the-magisterium priest with a sense of humour, and a wife and/or close friends around me who want to become holy and help others achieve the same thing.
Am I asking too much?
I don't think so.
But will I ever get these things?
No.
How do I know?
I just know. Experience. God likes me, but unfortunately he seems to believe I'm a masochist. On the other hand - maybe I am - God is always right...
I'm just in a bad mood and/since I haven't received the sacrament of peneance in a too long time.
I wish I lived in a catholic country.
If I ever get the money, I'll buy myself a house in the mountains of northern Italy, where it is never freezing, where noone is protestant, and where drinking a glass of wine to the food is part of the culture.
All I need is decent weather, a non-ugly catholic church, a thinking faithful-to-the-magisterium priest with a sense of humour, and a wife and/or close friends around me who want to become holy and help others achieve the same thing.
Am I asking too much?
I don't think so.
But will I ever get these things?
No.
How do I know?
I just know. Experience. God likes me, but unfortunately he seems to believe I'm a masochist. On the other hand - maybe I am - God is always right...
I'm just in a bad mood and/since I haven't received the sacrament of peneance in a too long time.
giovedì, giugno 30, 2005
Why I left...
I don't think enough time has gone by to answer objectively to the question of why I left seminary. My present answer would be that I think I am called to some kind of community life. Either "community" as in "religious community", or in the sense of the "community" of a family.
The vocation of a diocesan priest is one of solitude, especially if you live in a country with few priests combined with long distances between the parishes. I'm not sure about humanity at large, but at least for myself, I can say that I am a "community creature". Not in the sense that I absolutely can't bear solitude, but I think my vocation is - just as everyone else's - to advance in holiness.
And from experience I must admit that I need (perhaps daily) help with that. So living alone in a parish with close to no contact at all with "holiness-helpers" I am assuming is not my vocation.
Still, God calls whoever he wants and takes them through things they'd never managed by themselves. So if God is of another opinion, I won't argue with Him. But He'll have to make it a lot clearer to my blind eyes if He wants me to go back.
For the moment I am assuming that marriage is the "main vocation" for me. But no "special one" has crossed my path yet, so who knows...
I guess I'll just wait the man upstairs out until he gets pissed on my faliure to understand His calling and just gives me a written note with exact instructions :P
The vocation of a diocesan priest is one of solitude, especially if you live in a country with few priests combined with long distances between the parishes. I'm not sure about humanity at large, but at least for myself, I can say that I am a "community creature". Not in the sense that I absolutely can't bear solitude, but I think my vocation is - just as everyone else's - to advance in holiness.
And from experience I must admit that I need (perhaps daily) help with that. So living alone in a parish with close to no contact at all with "holiness-helpers" I am assuming is not my vocation.
Still, God calls whoever he wants and takes them through things they'd never managed by themselves. So if God is of another opinion, I won't argue with Him. But He'll have to make it a lot clearer to my blind eyes if He wants me to go back.
For the moment I am assuming that marriage is the "main vocation" for me. But no "special one" has crossed my path yet, so who knows...
I guess I'll just wait the man upstairs out until he gets pissed on my faliure to understand His calling and just gives me a written note with exact instructions :P
martedì, giugno 28, 2005
Who am I?
Ouch! What a philosophical question! Someone just recently posed that question as a comment to one of my blog-entries. He also asked what I'm doing at the Vatican.
Ok. First things first: I'm not at the Vatican. It's not entirely false, though, since I used to be a seminarian living in Rome.
But since I am now an ex-seminarian, and Italy is not my country of origin, I am pretty much never at the Vatican anymore (unless I go there on vacation, which I don't, since I have close to no money).
Who am I?
I am a proud faithful-to-the-magisterium catholic. I am a resident of Gothenburg, Sweden. I am not as good as I pretend at philosophy and the Italian language. I am chronically incapable of finding new friends (especially of the other half of the human race), probably since I consider Church and God and stuff like that to be the most important thing in life. I am also childishly fond of telling people how illogical I find protestantism. But I try not to be to harsch.
That's pretty much me.
btw, I didn't know there were other people than myself and one or two friends that read my blog. If there are others, please let me know, and tell me wha kind of (catholicism or other-themed) posts you'd like to see!
/Simon
Ok. First things first: I'm not at the Vatican. It's not entirely false, though, since I used to be a seminarian living in Rome.
But since I am now an ex-seminarian, and Italy is not my country of origin, I am pretty much never at the Vatican anymore (unless I go there on vacation, which I don't, since I have close to no money).
Who am I?
I am a proud faithful-to-the-magisterium catholic. I am a resident of Gothenburg, Sweden. I am not as good as I pretend at philosophy and the Italian language. I am chronically incapable of finding new friends (especially of the other half of the human race), probably since I consider Church and God and stuff like that to be the most important thing in life. I am also childishly fond of telling people how illogical I find protestantism. But I try not to be to harsch.
That's pretty much me.
btw, I didn't know there were other people than myself and one or two friends that read my blog. If there are others, please let me know, and tell me wha kind of (catholicism or other-themed) posts you'd like to see!
/Simon
lunedì, giugno 27, 2005
venerdì, giugno 17, 2005
"Tack för att du inte aborterade mig"
En musikvideo i vilken sångaren frågar sin mamma på abortkliniken om han får leva. Can I live?
sabato, giugno 11, 2005
Doctrine Is Not A "Line"
(Från Roman Catholic Blog)
One of the most irritating aspects of media coverage of John Paul's death and Benedict's election was the media seeming inability to separate Church teaching from the man who wears the Fisherman's Ring. How often did we hear the talking heads holding forth about John Paul or Benedict's "stance" on abortion or "position" on same-sex marriage?
On one hand, I understand the reporter's mental processes are practically hardwired to thinking in political campaign terms. But when covering events as momentous as the passing of one Pope and the election of another, shouldn't members of the MSM take the time to educate themselves on the subject they're covering so their reporting is literate?
I was moved to post on this subject by this May article in Egypt Today, about apprehensions over how Pope Benedict XVI will continue his predecessor's interfaith efforts. It's a predictable article, right down to this section:
When will journalists, regardless of which country they are from, understand that Church doctrine is not a "line" emanating from the personal convictions of one man. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church -- the servant of the servants of God. He proselytizes Church teaching and maintains fidelity to it. He doesn't have a "line."
For some reason, too many reporters cannot understand that Church dogma is not the same thing as a political party platform, and the election of a new Pope is not like the Presidency passing from a Republican to a Democrat.
The sooner MSM reporters can grasp that concept and incorporate it into their reporting, the sooner their religious reporting will gain credibility.
One of the most irritating aspects of media coverage of John Paul's death and Benedict's election was the media seeming inability to separate Church teaching from the man who wears the Fisherman's Ring. How often did we hear the talking heads holding forth about John Paul or Benedict's "stance" on abortion or "position" on same-sex marriage?
On one hand, I understand the reporter's mental processes are practically hardwired to thinking in political campaign terms. But when covering events as momentous as the passing of one Pope and the election of another, shouldn't members of the MSM take the time to educate themselves on the subject they're covering so their reporting is literate?
I was moved to post on this subject by this May article in Egypt Today, about apprehensions over how Pope Benedict XVI will continue his predecessor's interfaith efforts. It's a predictable article, right down to this section:
The former Dean of the College of Cardinals and one of John Paul II’s closest advisers, Ratzinger, 78, was a leading candidate for pope heading into last month’s conclave. The fact that the hard-line orthodox theologian was chosen after only the fourth ballot, in one of the shortest conclaves in history, indicates that the 115 cardinals who participated in the conclave were largely in agreement that the Church need not waver from its basic stance on issues such as homosexuality, abortion, contraceptives, divorce, celibacy, women in the clergy and biotechnology.
As one of the Catholic Church’s most conservative voices, Ratzinger is not likely deviate from his predecessor’s line on any of these issues.
When will journalists, regardless of which country they are from, understand that Church doctrine is not a "line" emanating from the personal convictions of one man. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church -- the servant of the servants of God. He proselytizes Church teaching and maintains fidelity to it. He doesn't have a "line."
For some reason, too many reporters cannot understand that Church dogma is not the same thing as a political party platform, and the election of a new Pope is not like the Presidency passing from a Republican to a Democrat.
The sooner MSM reporters can grasp that concept and incorporate it into their reporting, the sooner their religious reporting will gain credibility.
giovedì, giugno 09, 2005
Catholic Kerry Watch
Catholic Kerry Watch är en site som visar hur "katolska" amerikanska politiker förhåller sig till sin kyrka i de etiska/moraliska frågorna. Fokus främst på Kerry, eftersom han var presidentkandidat.
Man kan ha olika uppfattningar om Bush. Jag har en, andra har andra. Men jag hoppas att de flesta inser att Kerry inte hade blivit en bra president, "åtminstone" beträffande etik/moral (inom citationstecken av den enkla anledningen att etik och moral är de enda fält som spelar någon större roll).
Beträffande rättfärdiga krig etc.:
Utan att veta vad presidenter och statschefer vet, visste, tror och trodde sig veta, och på vilka grunder kriget i fråga startades, och vilka effekter kriget får i det längre perspektivet jämfört med om det inte hade ägt rum
- utan denna kunskap kan man inte slå fast vare sig att kriget var rätt eller fel.
Att säga "de gjorde det för oljan" är t.ex. ett uttalande som för att kunna tas på allvar måste innebära att personen i fråga dels har information som övriga saknar, dels har uppfattningen att USA:s president är någon slags demon som offrar oskyldiga civila människor för att få olja.
Jag kan inte säga det med 100% säkerhet, men det tycks mig fullständigt befängt att en beskyddare av det ofödda livet och en bekännande kristen (och inte som Kerry av smörgårdsbordssort) skulle slakta oskyldiga människor för att få olja.
Man kan ha olika uppfattningar om Bush. Jag har en, andra har andra. Men jag hoppas att de flesta inser att Kerry inte hade blivit en bra president, "åtminstone" beträffande etik/moral (inom citationstecken av den enkla anledningen att etik och moral är de enda fält som spelar någon större roll).
Beträffande rättfärdiga krig etc.:
Utan att veta vad presidenter och statschefer vet, visste, tror och trodde sig veta, och på vilka grunder kriget i fråga startades, och vilka effekter kriget får i det längre perspektivet jämfört med om det inte hade ägt rum
- utan denna kunskap kan man inte slå fast vare sig att kriget var rätt eller fel.
Att säga "de gjorde det för oljan" är t.ex. ett uttalande som för att kunna tas på allvar måste innebära att personen i fråga dels har information som övriga saknar, dels har uppfattningen att USA:s president är någon slags demon som offrar oskyldiga civila människor för att få olja.
Jag kan inte säga det med 100% säkerhet, men det tycks mig fullständigt befängt att en beskyddare av det ofödda livet och en bekännande kristen (och inte som Kerry av smörgårdsbordssort) skulle slakta oskyldiga människor för att få olja.
mercoledì, giugno 08, 2005
Kyrkan och sängkammaren
By John Mallon
©1994, 2005 by John Mallon
Catholic Online
Some people say, objecting to Church teaching on artificial birth control, “The Church should stay out of the bedroom.” But the Church cannot stay out of birth control, because life is God’s business and God is the Church’s business. The Church cannot stay out of the bedroom because the Church is the bedroom. The marriage bed is the altar of the Domestic Church.
Man and woman united in love in marriage is the image and likeness of God. Christian marriage is the image and likeness of God the Holy Trinity endowed with the power through love to create new life. Human love in marriage is God’s instrument for continuing creation, creating new life, new persons to love—and be loved by—in the ever widening expansiveness of the realization of His love. Thus procreation—the couple is a cooperator with God, and since it is a gift, this sharing in creation, the couple has no right, as the instrument, to stifle the process out of convenience to self, or fear, or economic reasons. We are not smarter than God. We do not “know better.” Economics is not God, nor is the fear that God is going to send us a child, and then disappear, guilty of non-support, if we remain in Him and trusting in Him. God is not a delinquent Father.
As for convenience, I shudder as I hear the network news in typical media fashion, drop a sensational half truth some years ago that Pope John Paul had condemned sex for pleasure “even” within marriage—I can hear the outbursts coast to coast. The truth, as the Pope well knew and spent his life defending, is that God is a God of more not less. God seeks unity and wholeness for us in Himself. The devil seeks to divide, segregate, compartmentalize, and chop every good thing into little isolated broken pieces, be it sex, or us. Sex, thus chopped up, for convenience sake, (i.e. this time for pleasure, this time for a baby, this time to relieve tension, etc.) becomes cheapened.
The conjugal act is designed to be an act of total self-giving, and when not open to all possibilities that this implies, the whole creative, healing, life-giving function of sex (of which conception is only one possibility) is stifled, by the necessary holding back that this non-openness necessitates.
The sex act, as a sacramental action with divine involvement is therefore a case where the total equals more than the sum of its parts. When God is “cut out of the party” as it were, by the participants placing limitations on what the results of the act may be, they are cheating themselves out of unthinkable blessings, not to mention pleasures and delights on levels we can perhaps not comprehend. Sex where the participants are not open to God’s surprises and input (He, being after all, the true Source of Life) not only becomes limited, but by the act of shutting out God’s positive will and plans for the union, becomes, by that very act, sin.
That God gives life through sex and a possible child is only a part of this picture. God gives life to the couple through sex in the form of communion, renewal, refreshment, joy, rest, pleasure, and countless other unimaginable ways, not the least of which is the overcoming of our fundamental problem: alienation and loneliness. Cut God out of the process by limiting Him in one area (conception) and through this sin we risk being cut off from receiving these other gifts.
Once God is cut out of the picture, (the only One in whom our alienation can be overcome) and the couple begins to place the demands created by this need on one another, a strain is placed on the marriage because a spouse alone cannot meet the need. A need that God was meeting through the spouse. When God, who once took these demands onto Himself, leaving the couple free for joy, has been cut out, resentment sets in as a result of the alienation. Where the couple once looked out for each other’s needs they now look out for their own. Sex thus becomes exploitation. A lifeless, self-focused, needs-meeting machine that doesn’t work. “Apart from Me you can do nothing,” says the Lord. (John. l5:15) Therefore, sex is a three way street—anything less is a deception. Marital love is also a foreshadowing of our ultimate destiny when Christ returns for His bride, the Church, to sweep us off to that everlasting honeymoon in consummation.
So, in reality, Pope John Paul II (and the Catholic Church) is the best friend sex has in the modern world. He condemned neither sex nor pleasure in sex, but rather sex for pleasure alone, because, that, in its very exploitative selfishness, leads to just that: pleasure alone. It is not long before the pleasure disappears and we are simply alone—with all our empty promises. God desires us to have pleasure with our spouse (and Him) in union, but pleasure is only a by-product, a gift received only in its fullness when we focus on the Giver in selfless love, not the gift in selfishness.
Procreation is a much abused and misunderstood term; it does not mean that sex is not allowed except for the purpose of having children. It does mean giving God free creative reign in our marriages in a spirit of openness to anything it may please Him to give. And when the two are united in one flesh and then God comes down and makes love to the two made one (Church) there is no limit to the new life that that marriage may produce. The blessing of a child (that He will not abandon) is only one possibility. These fruits of true intimacy, love, pleasure, communication, family, and homeness, are the things the world is starving for, available only from God.
The John Paul II was also a friend of pleasure. Reports of his singing and dancing and funlovingness abound, but he also knows that pleasure sought for its own sake leads to no pleasure at all, and ultimately, death. We are being exhorted not to settle for just one fruit when we have been offered the whole vineyard—the whole garden and the Vinedresser besides.
If God meant sex only for producing children, He would have made us like the animals—without all the other benefits. Compare the number of times in a lifetime a couple has relations with the number of children they have. God is a giver of many gifts, but we tie His hands by saying no to one of them. We are the vehicle, not the origin of life. A child is an eternal, spectacular gift and blessing—compare the importance and lasting gift of a child to one sex act! And how our culture has elevated sex above children. One holy, healthy, and pleasure increasing method of birth control (and the only licit one) is the one God gave us—periodic abstinence according to the woman’s cycle through Natural Family Planning (NFP) which is 98% effective. (NFP by the way, is not the rhythm method.)
Abstinence has become a dirty word in our gotta-have-it-now-culture, but it can be a time of refreshment and refilling and self rediscovery where we may find new things to bring back to our spouse in a growth-producing, ever renewing and delightful way. We need time to ourselves; and in God’s plan (who knows and meets all our needs—if we let Him) we can mutually agree on this in love and respect without the insecurity and resentment that so often results when the individuals are more dependent on one another than on God, because He has been shut out—rather than the couple being interdependent with each other and dependent on God alone as one flesh.
Freedom lies in giving God free reign, remembering always that life is His responsibility and we dare not take it out of His hands. Limiting God is the way of bondage. Who wants to live under limitations? Better God’s limitations that ours. His limitations are freedom—ours are bondage. We are called to trust. If for no other reason than that we know that we don’t have a better idea. We don’t know better than God. The beauty of Catholic doctrine, no matter how it looks on the surface, or how mistaught, mistated, or misunderstood it is, is that it always supports love. Love that bears fruit in life, freedom, joy, and even pleasure in all things in Him.
__________________
Mallon is Contributing Editor to Inside the Vatican magazine
This article originally appeared in the August 28, 1994 issue of The Sooner Catholic, The newspaper for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. It appears in the unpublished collection by John Mallon, "For the Real World.")
©1994, 2005 by John Mallon
Catholic Online
Some people say, objecting to Church teaching on artificial birth control, “The Church should stay out of the bedroom.” But the Church cannot stay out of birth control, because life is God’s business and God is the Church’s business. The Church cannot stay out of the bedroom because the Church is the bedroom. The marriage bed is the altar of the Domestic Church.
Man and woman united in love in marriage is the image and likeness of God. Christian marriage is the image and likeness of God the Holy Trinity endowed with the power through love to create new life. Human love in marriage is God’s instrument for continuing creation, creating new life, new persons to love—and be loved by—in the ever widening expansiveness of the realization of His love. Thus procreation—the couple is a cooperator with God, and since it is a gift, this sharing in creation, the couple has no right, as the instrument, to stifle the process out of convenience to self, or fear, or economic reasons. We are not smarter than God. We do not “know better.” Economics is not God, nor is the fear that God is going to send us a child, and then disappear, guilty of non-support, if we remain in Him and trusting in Him. God is not a delinquent Father.
As for convenience, I shudder as I hear the network news in typical media fashion, drop a sensational half truth some years ago that Pope John Paul had condemned sex for pleasure “even” within marriage—I can hear the outbursts coast to coast. The truth, as the Pope well knew and spent his life defending, is that God is a God of more not less. God seeks unity and wholeness for us in Himself. The devil seeks to divide, segregate, compartmentalize, and chop every good thing into little isolated broken pieces, be it sex, or us. Sex, thus chopped up, for convenience sake, (i.e. this time for pleasure, this time for a baby, this time to relieve tension, etc.) becomes cheapened.
The conjugal act is designed to be an act of total self-giving, and when not open to all possibilities that this implies, the whole creative, healing, life-giving function of sex (of which conception is only one possibility) is stifled, by the necessary holding back that this non-openness necessitates.
The sex act, as a sacramental action with divine involvement is therefore a case where the total equals more than the sum of its parts. When God is “cut out of the party” as it were, by the participants placing limitations on what the results of the act may be, they are cheating themselves out of unthinkable blessings, not to mention pleasures and delights on levels we can perhaps not comprehend. Sex where the participants are not open to God’s surprises and input (He, being after all, the true Source of Life) not only becomes limited, but by the act of shutting out God’s positive will and plans for the union, becomes, by that very act, sin.
That God gives life through sex and a possible child is only a part of this picture. God gives life to the couple through sex in the form of communion, renewal, refreshment, joy, rest, pleasure, and countless other unimaginable ways, not the least of which is the overcoming of our fundamental problem: alienation and loneliness. Cut God out of the process by limiting Him in one area (conception) and through this sin we risk being cut off from receiving these other gifts.
Once God is cut out of the picture, (the only One in whom our alienation can be overcome) and the couple begins to place the demands created by this need on one another, a strain is placed on the marriage because a spouse alone cannot meet the need. A need that God was meeting through the spouse. When God, who once took these demands onto Himself, leaving the couple free for joy, has been cut out, resentment sets in as a result of the alienation. Where the couple once looked out for each other’s needs they now look out for their own. Sex thus becomes exploitation. A lifeless, self-focused, needs-meeting machine that doesn’t work. “Apart from Me you can do nothing,” says the Lord. (John. l5:15) Therefore, sex is a three way street—anything less is a deception. Marital love is also a foreshadowing of our ultimate destiny when Christ returns for His bride, the Church, to sweep us off to that everlasting honeymoon in consummation.
So, in reality, Pope John Paul II (and the Catholic Church) is the best friend sex has in the modern world. He condemned neither sex nor pleasure in sex, but rather sex for pleasure alone, because, that, in its very exploitative selfishness, leads to just that: pleasure alone. It is not long before the pleasure disappears and we are simply alone—with all our empty promises. God desires us to have pleasure with our spouse (and Him) in union, but pleasure is only a by-product, a gift received only in its fullness when we focus on the Giver in selfless love, not the gift in selfishness.
Procreation is a much abused and misunderstood term; it does not mean that sex is not allowed except for the purpose of having children. It does mean giving God free creative reign in our marriages in a spirit of openness to anything it may please Him to give. And when the two are united in one flesh and then God comes down and makes love to the two made one (Church) there is no limit to the new life that that marriage may produce. The blessing of a child (that He will not abandon) is only one possibility. These fruits of true intimacy, love, pleasure, communication, family, and homeness, are the things the world is starving for, available only from God.
The John Paul II was also a friend of pleasure. Reports of his singing and dancing and funlovingness abound, but he also knows that pleasure sought for its own sake leads to no pleasure at all, and ultimately, death. We are being exhorted not to settle for just one fruit when we have been offered the whole vineyard—the whole garden and the Vinedresser besides.
If God meant sex only for producing children, He would have made us like the animals—without all the other benefits. Compare the number of times in a lifetime a couple has relations with the number of children they have. God is a giver of many gifts, but we tie His hands by saying no to one of them. We are the vehicle, not the origin of life. A child is an eternal, spectacular gift and blessing—compare the importance and lasting gift of a child to one sex act! And how our culture has elevated sex above children. One holy, healthy, and pleasure increasing method of birth control (and the only licit one) is the one God gave us—periodic abstinence according to the woman’s cycle through Natural Family Planning (NFP) which is 98% effective. (NFP by the way, is not the rhythm method.)
Abstinence has become a dirty word in our gotta-have-it-now-culture, but it can be a time of refreshment and refilling and self rediscovery where we may find new things to bring back to our spouse in a growth-producing, ever renewing and delightful way. We need time to ourselves; and in God’s plan (who knows and meets all our needs—if we let Him) we can mutually agree on this in love and respect without the insecurity and resentment that so often results when the individuals are more dependent on one another than on God, because He has been shut out—rather than the couple being interdependent with each other and dependent on God alone as one flesh.
Freedom lies in giving God free reign, remembering always that life is His responsibility and we dare not take it out of His hands. Limiting God is the way of bondage. Who wants to live under limitations? Better God’s limitations that ours. His limitations are freedom—ours are bondage. We are called to trust. If for no other reason than that we know that we don’t have a better idea. We don’t know better than God. The beauty of Catholic doctrine, no matter how it looks on the surface, or how mistaught, mistated, or misunderstood it is, is that it always supports love. Love that bears fruit in life, freedom, joy, and even pleasure in all things in Him.
__________________
Mallon is Contributing Editor to Inside the Vatican magazine
This article originally appeared in the August 28, 1994 issue of The Sooner Catholic, The newspaper for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. It appears in the unpublished collection by John Mallon, "For the Real World.")
Påvlig ofelbarhet
Från bloggen "What Is Truth?": Pope Can't Sin?
I just read one of those anti-Catholic web pages and the ignorance shown would be laughable, if it wasn't so serious. Apparently they think 'infallible' means 'not able to sin'. They think the teaching that the Pope is infallible when he teaches Ex Cathedra on an issue of faith or morals means he can't sin. What it means is that what he says must be accepted as truth by those in the Church, not that he can't sin. An example of this is that the Pope may say Ex Cathedra that lying is a sin. This must be accepted. Then later he may tell a lie (let's hope not) . That does not mean that his pronouncement saying lying is a sin was wrong. It means that he (as a private indivdual) is wrong (because he sinned by lying). The pronouncement is ever just, not the person.
I just read one of those anti-Catholic web pages and the ignorance shown would be laughable, if it wasn't so serious. Apparently they think 'infallible' means 'not able to sin'. They think the teaching that the Pope is infallible when he teaches Ex Cathedra on an issue of faith or morals means he can't sin. What it means is that what he says must be accepted as truth by those in the Church, not that he can't sin. An example of this is that the Pope may say Ex Cathedra that lying is a sin. This must be accepted. Then later he may tell a lie (let's hope not) . That does not mean that his pronouncement saying lying is a sin was wrong. It means that he (as a private indivdual) is wrong (because he sinned by lying). The pronouncement is ever just, not the person.
lunedì, giugno 06, 2005
Lille Skutt
Ivan. Hade det inte varit för kameran han har i handen så hade det kunnat vara en reklam för något lyckopiller eller nåt... 
mercoledì, giugno 01, 2005
Vart episkopalkyrkan i USA är på väg
"Clownmässa" i windows media-format.
Ytterligare kommentarer onödiga.
Ytterligare kommentarer onödiga.
mercoledì, maggio 25, 2005
venerdì, maggio 20, 2005
Idag/igår har jag städat lite
...och imorgon ska jag se Star Wars episod III. Som jag naturligtvis redan läst i serieform och därmed spolierat min egen filmupplevelse...
Bilden ovan är tagen med min ytterst högupplösta nya telefon som jag fick på min fö(rö)delsedag då knappt ens jag själv kom ihåg att jag fyllde år. Första födelsedagen i GBG på tre år, f.ö.
Ja tiden går fort. även om man inte har roligt. Man ska inte låta gubbig, men man börjar nästan känna sig gammal. Eller rättare sagt inser man hur patetiskt det var att tro om sig att man var vuxen vid 18 års ålder. eller för den sakens skull 16... geez.
Man känner sig ung i meningen att man inser att ju äldre man blir desto bättre förstår man hur liten man egentligen var när man trodde sig vara gammal/vuxen. Samtidigt känner man sig paradoxalt nog gammal av samma anledning.
Att man plötsligt är ännu ett år närmare punkten efter vilken "allt går utför" gör ju inte saken bättre. Vad har jag uppnått på de två år som gått sedan jag fyllde tjugo? Jag har skaffat en massa i världens ögon "värdelöst vetande". Jag har bränt två CSN-år. Jag är tillbaka på ruta 1 på sätt och vis. Det sociala livet har varit begränsat och jag kan inte lägga många nya meriter till listan. På ett sätt är det som att ha slutat gymnasiet igen. Förutom det att minnet av den tiden försämrats.
Nu låter jag kanske negativ. Kanske rentav deprimerad. Men det är jag inte. Det är mitt sätt att vara. Jag analyserar torrt att verkligheten är som den är. Felet från min sida är inte hur jag ser verkligheten. Felet ligger i hur jag bemöter verkligheten.
Bilden ovan är tagen med min ytterst högupplösta nya telefon som jag fick på min fö(rö)delsedag då knappt ens jag själv kom ihåg att jag fyllde år. Första födelsedagen i GBG på tre år, f.ö.
Ja tiden går fort. även om man inte har roligt. Man ska inte låta gubbig, men man börjar nästan känna sig gammal. Eller rättare sagt inser man hur patetiskt det var att tro om sig att man var vuxen vid 18 års ålder. eller för den sakens skull 16... geez.
Man känner sig ung i meningen att man inser att ju äldre man blir desto bättre förstår man hur liten man egentligen var när man trodde sig vara gammal/vuxen. Samtidigt känner man sig paradoxalt nog gammal av samma anledning.
Att man plötsligt är ännu ett år närmare punkten efter vilken "allt går utför" gör ju inte saken bättre. Vad har jag uppnått på de två år som gått sedan jag fyllde tjugo? Jag har skaffat en massa i världens ögon "värdelöst vetande". Jag har bränt två CSN-år. Jag är tillbaka på ruta 1 på sätt och vis. Det sociala livet har varit begränsat och jag kan inte lägga många nya meriter till listan. På ett sätt är det som att ha slutat gymnasiet igen. Förutom det att minnet av den tiden försämrats.
Nu låter jag kanske negativ. Kanske rentav deprimerad. Men det är jag inte. Det är mitt sätt att vara. Jag analyserar torrt att verkligheten är som den är. Felet från min sida är inte hur jag ser verkligheten. Felet ligger i hur jag bemöter verkligheten.
giovedì, maggio 12, 2005
Här kommer en bra länk: Är abort en rättighet?
Jag tror jag skall använda denna blogg för att samla bra länkar, helt enkelt...
Jag tror jag skall använda denna blogg för att samla bra länkar, helt enkelt...
lunedì, maggio 09, 2005
RM avverkat
gött. liberalerna fick så de teg. Sista kristna utposten i politiken måste bevaras sådan.
martedì, maggio 03, 2005
10.4
...vill ha!...
bara jag slipper betala så. Annars känner jag på mig att jag kommer ångra att jag inte väntade... Nåja. Inget jobb än. Har väl inte direkt ansträngt mig att få något heller. DS imorgon, RM börjar 5:e. Kanske kan denna sida bli början till Det Stora Projektet(*)?
*DSP= att börja bli organiserad och ha koll på tider och undvika dubbelbokningar och låta bli att missa tider etc. Och naturligtvis att upptäcka att jag har mycket mer tid över än jag trodde (wishful thinking....)
bara jag slipper betala så. Annars känner jag på mig att jag kommer ångra att jag inte väntade... Nåja. Inget jobb än. Har väl inte direkt ansträngt mig att få något heller. DS imorgon, RM börjar 5:e. Kanske kan denna sida bli början till Det Stora Projektet(*)?
*DSP= att börja bli organiserad och ha koll på tider och undvika dubbelbokningar och låta bli att missa tider etc. Och naturligtvis att upptäcka att jag har mycket mer tid över än jag trodde (wishful thinking....)
lunedì, maggio 02, 2005
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