UN sends condoms to starving people in Myanmar

Bangkok, May. 23, 2008 (CWNews.com) - In answer to the grave humanitarian crisis among cyclone victims in Myanmar, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is sending nearly 250,000 condoms.

"We don't want regular use of contraception disrupted," a spokesman for the UNFPA told reporters. The UN agency is also providing oral and injected contraceptives.

More than 2 million people in Myanmar face an urgent need for food, clothing, medication, and shelter.
via cwnews.com

Cardinal Mahony bars dissident Australian bishop

Los Angeles, May. 20, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles has barred a controversial Australian bishop from speaking in his California archdiocese.

In a May 9 letter to Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, a retired auxiliary of the Sydney, Australia archdiocese, Cardinal Mahony invoked the Code of Canon Law to explain that he had decided to "deny you permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles."

Cardinal Mahony took action just as the Australian bishops' conference issued a public statement warning of "doctrinal difficulties" in Bishop Robinson's new book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church. The Australian bishops noted problems with Bishop Robinson's treatment of "the nature of Tradition, the inspiration of the Holy Scripture, the
infallibility of the Councils and the Pope, the authority of the Creeds, the nature of the ministerial priesthood and central elements of the Church’s moral teaching."

Bishop Robinson, who is in the US on a speaking tour to promote his book, is due to speak in Los Angeles on June 12. He is also scheduled to visit Boston, Seattle, and San Diego during his US visit. Cardinal Mahony urged the Australian bishop to cancel those appearances.

Bishop Robinson is likely to continue his speaking tour, defying the ban by Cardinal Mahony and challenging prelates in the other cities where he is scheduled to appear.

The liberal activist group Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) has issued a statement denouncing Cardinal Mahony's ban and praising Bishop Robinson for "trying to help us heal from the abuses which he saw first-hand" in Australia as head of a committee responding to the sex-abuse scandal there.

The VOTF statement acknowledges that the Australian bishops have found that Bishop' Robinson's book calls into question "the authority of the Catholic Church to teach the truth definitively." But VOTF adds: "Those who read Bishop Robinson’s book carefully may question such conclusions."

In his own response to the cautionary statement issued by the Australian bishops' conference, Bishop Robinson complained that "the bishops appear to be saying that, in seeking to respond to abuse, we may investigate all other factors contributing to abuse, but we may not ask questions concerning ways in which teachings, laws, and attitudes concerning power and sex within the church may have contributed."

Because of that attitude, he said, he had "broken with" the episcopal conference.

via CWNEWS.COM

Californian Marriage Ruling May 16 2008

From Zenit.

The marriage defense act has been overturned by the supreme court, even though, in a vote in 2000 61% of California's voted to deine marriage as the union between a man and a woman. So much for democracy.

http://decentfilms.com/

http://decentfilms.com/

Australian archbishop seeks recovery of sacred in liturgy

Canberra, May. 14, 2008 (CWNews.com) - An Australian archbishop has called for a greater sense of reverence in the liturgy, urging a frank appraisal of problems that have arisen since the Second Vatican Council.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Canberra issued a letter on the liturgy for Pentecost Sunday, as the Australian bishops began full implementation of the new General Instruction for the Roman Missal (GIRM).

As he laid out the changes required by the GIRM, Archbishop Coleridge commented that "the Church is moving into a new phase of the ongoing journey of liturgical renewal." That process is necessary, he said, in order to prune out undesirable elements that have become commonplace. He explained that since the reforms after Vatican II, "liturgical habits have taken hold, some of which have been beneficial, others detrimental to the celebration of the liturgy."

"Our worship generally has become very chatty, to the point where one of the challenges now is to allow silence to play its part in the liturgy," the archbishop said. He reported, too, that many of the faithful find "a loss of the sense of the sacred in the Mass-- a weakened sense of the presence of God and the deeper resonances of the liturgical words and actions that comes with silence."

Archbishop Coleridge said that special attention should be paid to translations of liturgical texts, noting that "the language of the liturgy was never everyday language." He added that the sense of reverence is undermined when celebrants use informal language and when they offer mundane greetings, such as beginning a liturgical ceremony by wishing the congregation a "Good morning." [The full text of the archbishop's letter is available on the web site of the Canberra archdiocese.]

Source: Zenit

Prayer of a Soldier in France

My shoulders ache beneath my pack
(Lie easier, Cross, upon His back).

I march with feet that burn and smart
(Tread, Holy Feet, upon my heart).

Men shout at me who may not speak
(They scourged Thy back and smote Thy cheek).

I may not lift a hand to clear
My eyes of salty drops that sear.

(Then shall my fickle soul forget
Thy Agony of Bloody Sweat?)

My rifle hand is stiff and numb
(From Thy pierced palm red rivers come).

Lord, Thou didst suffer more for me
Than all the hosts of land and sea.

So let me render back again
This millionth of Thy gift. Amen.

Joyce Kilmer
1918
( lifted from Ad Orientem )

Do prayers work, part II of III - Still waiting

So it's 2:30pm. Has my prayer been answered?

I had a presentation to give today, and I was remarkably calm about it. I mean a tiny bit nervous, but I was going to give this talk about a month ago, and I felt very scared.

Talk went well. Met with another developer about my current project, and it is going as well as could be expected here, ie SNAFU, but I'm working on it.

Work is going well. Nothing else to report.

Do prayers work?

So, as a man trying to be a good catholic, I believe Jesus, in the bible where he says "Ask anything in my name and you will receive it"

I have recently ( for the last few years, on and off ) been considering changing careers, working out what to do in life. I have been praying for it on and off. I decided to get a bit more serious, using a Novena. A novena is a prayer asking for something that you say for a given amount of times. eg usually you pray something for 9 days in a row, or 9 weeks in a row.

So I started 9 days ago. I have prayed the prayer every day. So today I get my answer.... right?

I am chronicling my day to see how it goes. Perhaps I am trying to see signs and signals where there are none. I look to see.

Wake up a little earlier than usual. Breakfast normal, start to walk to work.. Should I feel any different. I don't. Tired though. I get to the tube, will something happen to me? Will I decide that I hate the commute through busy London and just leave, like friends have done, like the guy in Office Space, like Douglas in Falling Down? I don't. I get off the tube, reading a newspaper. Will something in here tell me what to do? I notice a nice picture of a minor celebrity. Maybe I can draw her. I would like to draw and be artistic. Maybe that's my calling. To be a great artist. I decide to chronicle my day. Maybe I will be a great writer? I read Kreeft's work on Pascal on the tube.

I get to work. It starts normally. Will I be fired today? I have a presentation to give. My eyesight has been getting poor recently. Am I dying. Is that why I'm not excited about things to do in this life... is it nearing it's earthly completion?

So, it's 9:30 in the morning. A normal start to a normal London day. I'll report back later.

"I believe Lord, help thou my unbelief."

Prayer before Study by St Thomas Aquinas

O ineffable Creator,
Who, out of the treasure of Thy wisdom,
hast ordained three hierarchies of Angels,
and placed them in wonderful order above the heavens,
and hast most wisely distributed the parts of the world;
Thou, Who are called the true fountain of light and wisdom,
and the highest beginning,
vouchsafe to pour upon the darkness of my understanding,
in which I was born,
the double beam of Thy brightness,
removing from me all darkness of sin and ignorance.
Thou, Who makest eloquent the tongue of the dumb,
instruct my tongue,
and pour on my lips the grace of Thy blessing.
Give me quickness of understanding,
capacity of retaining,
subtlety of interpreting,
facility in learning,
and copious grace of speaking.
Guide my going in,
direct my going forward,
accomplish my going forth;
through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Where are the people?

from www.demographicwinter.com
Can demographic winter be countered by governments encouraging people to have more children?

Answer:
This is being tried in Western Europe and Russia. The Russian Federation pays families a bonus of 250,000 rubles (the equivalent of $9,200) for every child after the first – in a nation where the average monthly wage is only $330. It’s not working.

Couples decide to have children for all kinds of reasons – religious, emotional, cultural, etc. Money doesn’t seem to be one of them, although money concerns are sometimes cited as a reason for having fewer children.

Planned Parenthood, abortion provided sets $1billion profit

Planned Parenthood--
America's largest abortion business pulled in a $1.017 billion in income.



According to LifeNews.com, Planned Parenthood's web site boasted their achievement, saying it "highlights

our advancement in providing and protecting trusted health care services and medically accurate sexuality

education."


No doubt, the more than $300 million received from taxpayers helped bolster their profits and solidify their position as the number one abortion business in the world. ( from Grassfire.net )

Saudi Arabia at present bans Christian worship

Saudi Arabia at present bans Christian worship

April 1 2008 > Muslims overtake Catholics in denomination stakes

April 1 2008 > Muslims overtake Catholics in denomination stakes

Muslims overtake Catholics in denomination stakes
Published: March 31, 2008

For the first time in history, Muslims now outnumber Catholics and are now the world's biggest single religious denomination, figures published by L'Osservatore Romano reveal.

Times Online reports that in an interview with the paper Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, compilier of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican yearbook, said "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us." He said that figures for 2006 showed that Catholics accounted for 17.4 per cent of the world population while Muslims accounted for 19.2 per cent.

Asked for an explanation Monsignor Formenti observed that "While Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer". He said the figure for the Muslim global population was derived from data submitted to the United Nations by Muslim countries.

The Vatican puts the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people, while the figure for Muslims is estimated at around 1.3 billion.


However, Christians of all denominations still comprise 33 per cent of the world population.

"Latin America remains the stronghold for Catholicism, while the American continent as a whole has 49.8% of the world's total," Monsignor Formenti said.

Noting the decline in numbers of Catholic priests, Monsignor Formenti added that the number of Catholic priests was on the rebound, particularly in Asia, a Guardian report adds.

He described Africa as a grand resource for the Church, while Europe and North America were struggling. The number of nuns was undergoing a "drastic reduction".

As for the enrolment of seminarians, Guadalajara in Mexico had the largest number. France, the Netherlands and Belgium were bottom of the league, while Italy was seeing a "small, very small reprise".

The figures were released as both the Vatican and Muslim leaders sought to pursue a recently initiated Muslim-Catholic dialogue despite tensions over Pope Benedict XVI's high profile baptism at Easter of Magdi Allam, a converted Italian Muslim journalist of Egyptian origin.

Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, said the opinions of Mr Allam, an outspoken critic of Islam as inherently violent and repressive, were not in any way "the official expression of the positions of the Pope or the Holy See".

Rome has Europe's largest mosque, opened in 1995 and paid for by Muslim countries, mainly by Saudi Arabia, which at present bans Christian worship but is reported to be considering allowing the construction of a church on Saudi soil as part of negotiations for the establishment of diplomatic relations.

In a provocative short story entitled "The Last Christmas" (L'Ultimo Natale) the popular Italian writer Valerio Massimo Manfredi imagines a future in which Islam has become the dominant religion in Italy, with the Pope obliged to leave St Peter's and make way for an Imam.

SOURCE

Islam overtakes Catholicism as world's largest religion (Times Online, 31/3/08)


Muslims displace Catholics at the top (The Guardian, 31/3/08)


OTHER STORIES

Vatican: convert who slammed Islam doesn't express pope's views (International Herald Tribune, 31/3/08)
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=6435

500 Words on a Holy (Maundy) Thursday in 2008, London

500 Words on a Holy (Maundy) Thursday in 2008.

It's all about the priests.

You walk in the church, it's quiet, it's like a funeral, something seems a bit out of place. You take a leaflet, you sit down. You kneel and pray. You are in Lewisham. You are participating at the service. Lovely latin hymns strike your ears. Maundy Thursday, so named from the latin Maundy meaning mandatum, and I'm not sure if it relates to

... the instruction given to the apostles to Do This In Memory of me. The institution of the Eucharist, and the command to re-present the sacrifice of the eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

...or...

if it relates to the instruction to wash one another's feet, and more generally to be of service to others.

In any case, we certainly have a washing of the feet ceremony in the church. Also on this day,
- the ringing of bells ceases,
- procession to the altar of repose and
- the stripping of the altars

It's a very moving ceremony. And I'm looking forward to it.

It's all about God and it's all about you, because the priests are your way to God.

So the easter break is upon us from work, and the easter services begin. I never really know what to do on Good Friday. I go to the service, usually at 3pm til 5pm, but I'm not sure what to do at the other times. It's possibly the saddest day of the year, liturgically speaking, so going out and doing something fun seems innappropriate, added to which, as a day of fast ( and penance? ) I wouldn't have much energy, nor be able to eat or drink, which is what most social customs resolve around. I guess I could
- watch The Passion of the Christ and other religious drama.
- Read a little from a religious book
- Tidy/Clean the house so that it is spruced up for Easter.
- Pray a rosary

There are mving and beautiful reproaches sung on Good Friday ...

O My people, what have I done unto thee, or wherein have I wearied thee? Answer Me.

Because I brought thee forth from the land of Egypt: thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Saviour

Because I led thee through the desert forty years, and fed thee with manna, and brought thee into a land exceeding good: thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Saviour.

What more could I have done unto thee that I have not done? I indeed did plant thee, O My vineyard, with exceeding fair fruit: and thou art become very bitter unto Me: for vinegar, mingled with gall, thou gavest Me when thirsty: and hast pierced with a spear the side of thy Saviour.

I did scourge Egypt with her first-born for thy sake: and thou hast scourged Me and delivered Me up.

I led thee forth out of Egypt, drowning Pharaoh in the Red Sea: and thou hast delivered Me up unto the chief priests

I did open the sea before thee: and thou hast opened My side with a spear.

I did feed thee with manna in the desert: and thou hast stricken Me with blows and scourges.

: I did give thee to drink the water of life from the Rock: and thou hast given Me to drink but gall and vinegar.

...

I did raise thee on high with great power: and thou hast hanged Me upon the gibbet of the Cross.

O My people, what have I done unto thee, or wherein have I wearied thee? Answer Me.



The service on Good friday is also actually quite a hopeful one ( which is nice, after realising what we have done in the reproaches ), the church in it's liturgy instructs us to regard the wood of the cross for veneration, upon whom hund the saviour and hope of the world.

Faithful Cross, above all other, one and only noble Tree: none in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit thy peer may be. Sweetest wood, and sweetest iron, sweetest weight is hung on thee.

Pax Christi.

Peter Kreeft- Recommended reading

So, after reading Peter Kreeft, and trying to understand philosophy, he has recommended that I read Aristotle for Everyone, Difficult thought Made Easy, by Mortimer Adler, and it is the easiest introduction I can think of to Aristotle and thereafter, Aquinas.

My next read however will not be Aquinas, or even Kreeft on Aquinas, but Pascals Pensees, another recommendation from Kreeft though.

At the end of lent, I exhort myself to remain strong, and to drink no alcohol in this holy week of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pax Christum.

Skip the Snip, Vasectomies and Dementia

Research at Northwestern University, Illinois found 40% of men who had vasectomies later developed dementia, compared to just 1% of a control group

Skip the Snip - from Men's Health UK edition, March 2008, page 15