Saints Simon and Jude

Today is the feast day of Saints Simon and Jude, both of whom were apostles.

St Simon is called, in the lists of the apostles in the Gospel of St Luke and in Acts, Simon Zelotes. In the Gospels of St Matthew and St Mark, he is called Simon Kananaios, or Kananites. All three designations stem from the same source, the Hebrew word qana, meaning "the Zealous".

His usual attribute is a saw as tradition has it that his body was sawed to pieces. Occasionally he is pictured with a lance.

He is the patron saint of tanners.

St Jude is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus. Both Jude and Judas are translations of the same Greek variant of Judah, a name which was common among Jews at the time.

In the lists of the apostles (in the Gospel of St Luke and in Acts), St Jude is listed Jude of James. The Gospel of St John also talks of a disciple called Judas not Iscariot and this is usually taken to mean St Jude.

Interestingly, in some Latin manuscripts of Matthew, he is called Judas the Zealot but in other translations the reference is to Thaddeus.

St Jude is well known as is the patron saint of desperate cases.

Just for fun

The Slippery Slope

This is from Fr Dwight Longenecker's Standing on my Head blog. It's too good to resist reposting.

Here is how Satan spreads his lies:

1. Natural Law is ignored, undermined or made to look stupid by particular instances where it seems not apply.

2. Subsequently religious and civil authorities have their laws questioned because they are 'too strict' too 'black and white', 'unworkable' or 'lacking in compassion'.

3. Relativism is therefore introduced. An understanding gradually grows that 'there are no objective rule' that apply to all people at all times.

4. Individualism is the next step. 'I guess I have to decide what is right for me in my situation.'

5. Sentimentalism: People who live in a sinful situation demand that they not be judged. They deserve compassion and understanding. They are nice people really...but they have a problem. They're sick. They're wounded. Who are you to judge?

6. Dialogue is demanded. "You need to listen to us and to our stories. Then you will understand we are just like you."

7. Once sympathy is won, the goalposts are moved. Now they are not 'sick' or 'wounded' they're just 'different'. They expect to be accepted despite their 'differences'.

8. Equal rights are expected by those who are acting against God's law. "We are not asking you to approve us. We are simply asking you to tolerate a difference of opinion. Simply allow us to be who we are!"

9. Equal rights are demanded. Legislation and lobbying and protests are now in order. The pressure group for sin starts to get aggressive. They do so out of 'hurt' and 'woundedness.' Once they get their 'rights' (they claim) they will be happy and won't be so aggressive.

10. Tolerance being won, they will not stop. They now demand not only that you tolerate, but that you approve. They've moved from being 'sick' or 'wounded' or 'disabled' by their condition to tolerance, and now they proclaim their condition to be 'good'. As Thomas More was not allowed to remain silent on the King's 'great matter' but had to approve, so the presssure group insists on approval.

11. What was once tolerated now becomes mandatory. Society must integrate the new morality into every level--right down to schools and churches and scout groups. Everyone must adopt the new morality or suffer.

12. Persecution of those who resist.

13. Devil's real happy.

The Pope of Christian Unity

Fr Z has a post suggesting we should refer to Pope Benedict XVI as "the Pope of Christian Unity".

I like that.

Considering what the Holy Father has managed to achieve in 4 short years that couldn't be achieved by vast swathes of liberal theologians over the last 40 years, the suggestion really does make sense.

You can read all Fr Z's reasons here

More on the Anglicans

Fr Z has some more on this exciting story. Courtesy of VirtueOnline he has a fisked statement from ++ John Hepworth, Primate of the Tradional Anglican Commuion.

Statement of the Primate
of the Traditional Anglican Communion
20th October 2009

I have spent this evening speaking to bishops, priests and lay people of the Traditional Anglican Communion in England, Africa, Australia, India, Canada, the United States and South America.

We are profoundly moved by the generosity of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. He offers in this Apostolic Constitution the means for “former Anglicans to enter into the fullness of communion with the Catholic Church”. He hopes that we can “find in this canonical structure the opportunity to preserve those Anglican traditions precious to us and consistent with the Catholic faith”. He then warmly states “we are happy that these men and women bring with them their particular contributions to our common life of faith”.

May I firstly state that this is an act of great goodness on the part of the Holy Father. He has dedicated his pontificate to the cause of unity. [This is a key point to keep in mind when considering what Pope Benedict does.] It more than matches the dreams we dared to include in our petition of two years ago. It more than matches our prayers. In those two years, we have become very conscious of the prayers of our friends in the Catholic Church. Perhaps their prayers dared to ask even more than ours. [This is very interesting. What the Holy See did exceeds their expectations.]

While we await the full text of the Apostolic Constitution, we are also moved by the pastoral nature of the Notes issued today by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. My fellow bishops have indeed signed the Catechism of the Catholic Church and made a statement about the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, reflecting the words of Pope John Paul II in his letter “Ut Unum Sint”.

Other Anglican groups have indicated to the Holy See a similar desire and a similar acceptance of Catholic faith. As Cardinal Levada has indicated, this response to Anglican petitions is to be of a global character. It will now be for these groups to forge a close cooperation, even where they transcend the existing boundaries of the Anglican Communion. [hmmm… even beyond the Anglican Communion.]

Fortunately, the Statement issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury reflects the understanding that we have gained from him that he does not stand in our way, and understands the decisions that we have reached. Both his reaction and our petition are fruits of a century of prayer for Christian unity, a cause that many times must have seemed forlorn. We now express our gratitude to Archbishop Williams, and have regularly assured him of our prayers. The See of Augustine remains a focus of our pilgrim way, as it was in ages of faith in the past.

I have made a commitment to the Traditional Anglican Communion that the response of the Holy See will be taken to each of our National Synods. They have already endorsed our pathway. Now the Holy See challenges us to seek in the specific structures that are now available the “full, visible unity, especially Eucharistic communion”, for which we have long prayed and about which we have long dreamed. That process will begin at once.

In the Anglican Office of Morning Prayer, the great Hymn of Thanksgiving, the Te Deum, is part of the daily Order. It is with heartfelt thanks to Almighty God, the Lord and Source of all peace and unity, that the hymn is on our lips today. This is a moment of grace, perhaps even a moment of history, not because the past is undone, but because the past is transformed.

Archbishop John Hepworth

Primate

See Fr Z's blog here for his original post.

Of priests and priestesses

There is a rather strange report on the "ordination" of a woman "priest on ABC.

Typically the report uses the liberal trick of reporting this as something more popular than it is ie an underground "phenomenon". The intention is of course to make normal people i.e. the majority who obey the teachings of the Church feel they are in the minority.

It's also sad that the Lutherans clearly have no problem with assisting in an act of excommunication. So much for ecumenicism!

The video can be seen here

Hat tip Catholic Culture

Big news from the Vatican

A big, big story from Damian Thompson posted at his Telegraph blog within the last few minutes.

Pope announces plans for Anglicans to convert en masse

By Damian Thompson Religion Last updated: October 20th, 2009

The Vatican has announced that Pope Benedict is setting up special provision for Anglicans, including married clergy, who want to convert to Rome together, preserving aspects of Anglican liturgy. They will be given their own pastoral supervision, according to this press release from the Vatican:

“In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.”

More on this very important story later. But this is clearly a historic gesture by Pope Benedict which will encourage thousands of disaffected Anglicans to become Roman Catholics.

The original post is here

Who are they kidding part 2

Creative Minority Report has pretty much the right take on this.

Take a look here: Creative Minority Report

Who are they kidding!

From BBC News:

US President Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Committee said he won it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".

The committee highlighted Mr Obama's efforts to support international bodies and promote nuclear disarmament.

What precisely has this snake oil salesman won the prize for?

What exactly has he actually contributed to the world - except of course an extreme record in supportng the slaughter of the most innocent of human beings, the unborn.

Sshh - don't tell anyone but here's a hot tip: Get your money on the Chosen One for Best Actor Oscar, World Footballer of the Year; and Album of the Year at the Grammys

Franciscan traditionalists

The all out assault on Catholicism continues

Catholic bashing seems to be the flavour of the month!

This time round it's Stephen Fry. Now I actually happen to think Stephen can be most entertaining but this really is a dreadful slur on 1) Catholics and 2) Poles.

From Gerald Warner at The Telegraph:

Fry, who joined Labour luvvies in signing an open letter protesting against the Tories’ alliance in the European Parliament with the Polish Law and Justice Party, said on Channel 4 News: “There’s been a history, let’s face it, in Poland of a right-wing Catholicism which has been deeply disturbing for those of us who know a little history and remember which side of the border Auschwitz was on”…

That is beyond outrageous. It slanderously suggests that Auschwitz was run by Polish Catholics, not by German Nazis. “A little history” is right. Just how very little history Fry knows is demonstrated by that crassly ignorant statement. Auschwitz was on Polish soil, ergo it was a Polish institution? As for which side of the border Auschwitz was on, it was actually in Upper Silesia which had been annexed to Germany in 1939. It might, of course, be argued that the Poles built Auschwitz – if slave labour counts.

The first prisoners in Auschwitz were Polish intellectuals and members of the resistance. Altogether, 150,000 Catholic Poles were murdered in Auschwitz, including Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Between two and three million Catholic Poles were killed in the Second World War. Polish pilots fought in the RAF in the Battle of Britain.

Note Fry’s insidious use of the dog-whistle term “right-wing Catholicism”: the propagandist employment of the phrase “right wing” has recently been expounded by several bloggers on this site. Catholicism is neither “right-wing” nor “left-wing”: it professes certain moral precepts that are unchanging and non-negotiable at the behest either of focus groups or pressure groups.

See the full article on Gerald Warner's blog here

What's in a name?

A meaningless but fun website

http://www.isthisyour.name

Seemingly I am:

Poorly envoweled (is that a word? If so, should it not have a double "l"?);
There are 1,342 Americans who have the same name as me;
and

So, St Malachy, who was he?

I suppose the natural place to start the blog is with a brief history of St Malachy.


Malachy born in Armagh in 1094 and was bapised Maolmhaodhog Ua Morgair, usually Anglicised as Malachy O'More. He was successively vicar-general to St Cellach, abbot of Bangor, then bishop of Connor before becoming archbishop of Armagh in1094. His primary achievement as a bishop may well have been his success at replacing the Celtic liturgy with the Roman.

In 1138, Malachy resigned as archbishop of Armagh to go on pilgrimage to Rome, meeting and staying with St Bernard at Clairveaux for a time.

Malachy attempted a second Rome pilgrimage in 1148 but only made it as far as Clairveaux where he died in the arms of St Bernard. He was formally canonised by Pope Clement III in 1190.

No doubt most people know of Malachy because of his "prophecies of the popes". These prophecies are a list of 112 short Latin phrases supposedly describing 112 popes, beginning with Celestine II (1143) and ending with Peter II, who is of course, yet to be elected. After the election of Peter II or Petrus Romanus will come the destruction of Rome and the final judgement.

The original Latin for the 112th Pope reads:

In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit.
Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus:
quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur,
et Iudex tremendus iudicabit populum suum.

An English translation I have is:

During the last persecution of the Holy Roman Church,
there shall sit Peter of Rome, who shall feed the sheep amidst many tribulations;
and when these have passed, the City of the Seven Hills will be utterly destroyed,
and the formidable Judge will judge the people.

Do I believe the prophesies?

Well I do know they writings attributed to Malachy were found around 150 years after his death.

I also know there are some strange coincidences that seemingly tie in with the popes (and a few anti-popes) since Celestine II. But then again the old fraud Nostradumus had a few coincidences as well - or at least his interpretors found a few.

If Malachy was right, and if the our present Holy Father really is "The Glory of the Olive", we are in real trouble ;)

Intro and all that

Ok, so what's the purpose of this blog? Vanity? Perhaps, but mainly a place to share things I see or like, other blogs, websites of interest and so on; especially with friends and family.

As I say at the top of the blog, who knows how often I'll post. We'll see what happens. Blogging seems to be an infinitely more sensible way of exposing yourself on the internet than Facebook and the like!