Thursday, 31 July 2008

Report on Chant in Australia

 

From http://thenewliturgicalmovement.blogspot.com/2008/07/report-on-chant-australia.htmlimage

4 RC Churches in Inner London

 

  imageCorpus Christi, Maiden Lane
http://www.maidenlane.org.uk/index_files/Page345.htm
   

 

 

The West End Churches

  • Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory (Warwick St W1F – Tube: Piccadilly Circus)
  • Corpus Christi  (Maiden Lane WC2E Tube: Covent Garden)
  • Notre Dame de France (French Church, Leicester Place WC2H Tube: Leicester Square) www.notredamechurch.co.uk
  • St Patrick's (Soho Square W1D Tube: Tottenham Court Road)www.stpatricksoho.org

Not bad - German advertisment about children and family

You drive us crazy,
You scream all night
You wet the bed
You start teething
and then you get the chicken pox.
First, you hate nursery school,
then school,
then, at the age of 15, us.

Yes, you drive us crazy -
with happiness.

Having you doesn't cost a thing.
Then things start getting expensive.

You need time and space.
You cost us the new shoes,
the bigger TV,
and the beach holiday.
You are no luxury -
you are priceless.

There are many good reasons not to have children,
And the best reason for it:you!

You can't speak,
but you explain the whole world to us.

You can't walk,
but you help us move forwards.

You learn so much every day,
And teach us all the more.

You show us that there was never a wrong time to have you.
Only a right one.

You have a mother and father -
but need the whole country for a happy childhood.
You are not alone: you are our most important charge.

You turn two people into a family,
the tiniest flat into an adventure playground,
and pasta with tomato sauce into a banquet fit for a king.

We need more people like you,
Because without you the present isn't fun any more.
And the future is already gone.

Crime Down During WYD Sydney

July 23 2008 > Crime down during WYD: NSW Minister
Crime down during WYD: NSW Minister


New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says that Sydney's crime rate during the World Youth Day week was the lowest it has been in a long time.


Zenit reports Mr Scipione attributed the drop to the presence of the
pilgrims and a general "sense of spirituality" in the air. He told Sky
News that extra police forces on hand seemed almost unnecessary, since the pilgrims were well-mannered and well-behaved.


Zenit also quotes Sydney Cardinal Pell as saying that the standing of the Catholic Church has been raised as a result of the success of World Youth Day. Cardinal Pell told reporters the public will be more ready to realise "that we Catholics have something to say on (life) subjects and will potentially give us a respectful hearing."


"This World Youth Day has demonstrated that the great majority of
Australians are quite open to what we have to say," he said.

The Art of Manliness

Are you looking for some understanding of manliness in this moisturizer for men and peter pan peopled world? Look no further than:


To Every Man a Manswer  -  http://gotmanswers.blogspot.com/
Run by a few christian men


and


The art of Manliness - http://artofmanliness.com/




"It isn't manly to sit on the couch and play video games all day, because men were created to find and love wives, start and provide for families, and cultivate the next generation of the faithful."


To be manly, at least as the Bible would describe it, is to accept your responsibilities as a man and live a life of God-honoring virtue. Selflessness, respectfulness, courage, charity, faithfulness, humility, repentance...traits like these are the stuff of which biblical men are made.

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

Fireproof, movie to watch out for

As recommended by Catholic Exchange

Directed by someone with the same surname as me...
Alex Kendrick, also written by Alex Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick

Monday, 28 July 2008

The Saint Song

Yes, It's nerdy.

Max Thurian, a manufacturer of the Novus Ordo

One of the manufacturers of the Novus Ordo, Max Thurian, lamented in his  dying days the loss of something of great value: "Be sure to pass on this message to your parish priest and to your bishop: 'The great problem of contemporary liturgical life (apathy towards worship, boredom, lack of vitality and participation) stems from the fact that the celebration has sometimes lost its character as mystery, which fosters the spirit of adoration.'

Max Thurian was a Protestant observer at Vatican II and expressed general satisfaction with its outcome. Thurian thought that with its adoption, the new mass would allow Catholics and Protestants to share at the same Eucharistic table. This, of course, did not happen. Thurian then became a Catholic priest.

Wednesday, 23 July 2008

Stepping out in Faith

Stepping out in Faith

Crime down during WYD: NSW Minister

July 23 2008 > Crime down during WYD: NSW Minister
Crime down during WYD: NSW Minister

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says that Sydney's crime rate during the World Youth Day week was the lowest it has been in a long time.

Zenit reports Mr Scipione attributed the drop to the presence of the pilgrims and a general "sense of spirituality" in the air. He told Sky News that extra police forces on hand seemed almost unnecessary, since the pilgrims were well-mannered and well-behaved.

Zenit also quotes Sydney Cardinal Pell as saying that the standing of the Catholic Church has been raised as a result of the success of World Youth Day.Cardinal Pell told reporters the public will be more ready to realise
"that we Catholics have something to say on (life) subjects and will potentially give us a respectful hearing."

"This World Youth Day has demonstrated that the great majority of Australians are quite open to what we have to say," he said.

If Mr Scipione had done his research, he would have known that the local crime rates have fallen during every world youth day despite an influx of hundreds of thousands of the age-group most commonly involved in crime; and he would not have sent such huge superfluous numbers of police to the events. Some joined in the spirit but many just stood around looking glum, in spite of being constantly told for the first time in their careers, "Thank you, you're doing a great job."

Tuesday, 22 July 2008

My Maxims

Do things for others first
Take time to be with family and good friends
Plan each day
Work on a side project
Think about God, Pray

Monday, 21 July 2008

Thursday, 17 July 2008

Talks for Men

Catholic Men Today
Listen to talks online or download them using the above link: Direct links below:


[Via the Catholic Men's Fellowship]

Sydney 2008, World Youth Day

The Pope was officially welcomed today as he made his way to Baragaroo ( the name is from the wife of the famous Australia Aborigine Bennelong ).

Sunday, 13 July 2008

http://www.catholicscomehome.org/

http://www.catholicscomehome.org/

What does the Pope think of Australia?

The need for God is no longer felt. 

The Pontiff mentioned Australia at the top of a list of secularized countries during an impromptu question-and-answer session with priests of the Italian Diocese of Aosta in 2005.

He said a secularized society is one that is "tired of its own culture, a world that has arrived at a moment in which the need for God is no longer felt, and much less so of Christ, and in which, consequently, it seems that man might construct himself." 


"In this climate of a rationalism shut-in on itself, which considers the model of the sciences as the only model of knowledge, everything else is subjective," Benedict XVI continued. "Naturally, Christian life also becomes a subjective option and, therefore, arbitrary. It is no longer the way of life." 


"This happens especially in Australia," he added, "also in Europe, somewhat less so in the United States."
The Pope's comment about "rationalism which considers the model of the sciences as the only model of knowledge" ties in with what I have been reading recently.  Peter Kreeft's Socrates Meets Descartes, discusses how Descartes wanted to bolster philosophic thought, advance it and remove disagreement. He so sought to do this by applying the scientific method, which had helped to make leaps and bounds in the material sciences to philosophy. More on this in my review when I finish the book.
Catholic Australia
The Central Statistical Office of the Church announced last week that Catholicism is the largest religion in Australia, with 27.56% of the total population belonging to the Church.

Nonetheless, the office noted that while the Catholic population grew by 125,260 between 2001 and 2006, it failed to grow in proportion to the country's total population.

 A national survey conducted in May 2006 revealed that the total number of people at Mass on a typical weekend was 708,600, or about 14% of the census Catholic population. That low number was already down a bit from 2001's count of 15%.
[Quotes via Zenit

Friday, 11 July 2008

Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine

Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,
There’s always laughter and good red wine.
At least I’ve always found it so.
Benedicamus Domino!
--Hilaire Belloc 

[via The Pious Solidarity of Church Ladies]

Another time, another Princess, another King



Three sure proofs that God loves us in one convenient photo: the Eucharist, the priesthood, and the existence of Grace Kelly.

[via The Shrine of the Holy Whapping]