Brian Lilley – July 5th, 2012
PM Stephen Harper dropped by Dave Rutherford’s radio program today on QR 77 Calgary and CHED Edmonton. Dave is a frequent contributor to Byline and will be on the show tonight to talk about this and the attempt by everyone across the country to change Alberta.
Visit site -
Dave Rutherford’s interview with Prime Minister Stephen Harper
- in Calgary –
In Alberta, few things are 100 years old. After all, the province is just 107. But the Calgary Stampede, which begins tomorrow, is celebrating its centennial in 2012, so the 10 days of cowboy hats and pancake breakfasts will be especially festive this year.
Every town wants an annual fair, no matter how contrived. As young Calgarians, we would look northward and down our noses at the Stampede’s ugly stepsister, Edmonton’s Klondike Days. That fabricated festival — the Klondike gold rush took place hundreds of miles from Edmonton — re-named itself the Capital EX a few years back, signifying perfectly that it was an ersatz festival about nothing at all. It was a bust, and Edmonton’s best and brightest had exhausted their imaginations about how to brand their fair. They are currently holding a contest in which the general public will vote on a new name.
Branding has never been a problem for the Stampede. The Stampede ranch has a brand for its own livestock. The marketing fellows at Stampede HQ use the same brand the real cowboys on the actual ranch do — and come July, the Stampede brand is plastered all over town, not just on the animals.
A sensible annual fair should tell you something about a place and its history. My favourite example is Morgan City, La., where I visited the site of the annual Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival. Just from the name, you know how Morgan City came to be, and came to prosper.
So too with the Stampede. Long before the Leduc No. 1 well gushed forth in 1947 — leading to the explosion of both Alberta’s economy and population — southern Alberta was ranching country. It still is, despite the oil wells one finds scattered about. The Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, which has its roots as just that, an agricultural exhibition that continues to this day, is both a festival and a history lesson.
Southern Alberta was settled by the aboriginal people and early pioneers, or as most people remember it, cowboys and Indians. The centenary parade tomorrow will be led by Alberta’s most famous real cowboy, Ian Tyson, and the seven chiefs of the Treaty 7 First Nations. The parade route follows the dull enumerated names of Calgary’s downtown streets and avenues, but the city’s main thoroughfares pay tribute to its aboriginal heritage — Deerfoot Trail, Crowchild Trail, Blackfoot Trail, Sarcee Trail, Stoney Trail, Shaganappi Trail.
There is a degree of artifice about all such festivals, but the Stampede less than most. The carnival midway is the same as can be found in a thousand desultory parking lots, but the marquee events highlight cowboys and Indians and their animals. For city dwellers who think primarily of animals as pets, the Stampede is a reminder of the working animal, from whom a return is expected — food, clothing or athletic excellence. In the infield, the animals are as important as the cowboys; and in the riding events, bovine and equine performance is given equal weight to that of the cowboys.
The Stampede has been unjustly attacked in recent years by activist busybodies who think they advocate for animals better than the cowboys who raise them, care for them, ride them and race them. Actual ranchers spend most of their days tending to the welfare of their livestock, as do those who race chuckwagons or ride bucking horses.
Accidents of course do happen. I was present on July 10, 1986, when the worst accident in Stampede history occurred: The pile-up on the chuckwagon backstretch that resulted in the death of six horses. It was horrible to witness, and a reminder that work and recreation in the frontier West was not a genteel affair. A province that boasts of an archaeological site known as “Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump” ought to know that, but with most Albertans living in cities and hiking on weekends on Rocky Mountain trails, reminders are necessary. No one was more horrified at the 1986 accident than the drivers themselves, and the Stampede has put in place numerous measures to enhance animal safety.
The Stampede’s chief veterinarian supervises the “Fitness to Compete” program, which follows each animal involved in the chuckwagon races, including implanting a microchip in each horse’s neck. The microchip ensures that each horse has the proper vet checks, drug tests and rest days. The typical horse at the Stampede has far more health supervision than the fat man strolling the midway under the hot sun, fueled by beer and corn dogs. But he too is welcome, for amid the carnival games and amusement park rides, there is a story to be told, and a history to be learned.
A Chuckwagon rider tests the track at the Calgary Stampede.
Tags: National Post
Original article:
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 5, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – After overriding a Democratic governor’s veto in New Hampshire to enact a partial birth ban, Republicans in North Carolina moved against another Democrat who vetoed attempts to defund Planned Parenthood. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood has tried to block pro-life measures in states around the nation.
North Carolina
North Carolina legislators overrode Democratic Governor Bev Perdue’s veto of a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood statewide on Monday night. The bill does not explicitly mention the abortion provider, a legal sticking point that stymied similar efforts last year. One of the state’s two affiliates, Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, told media sources the move will cost it $200,000.
Iowa
Pro-life legislators in Iowa are asking the state Department of Health to rewrite regulations that allow Medicaid to fund abortions. The state currently funds abortion in the case or rape or incest, to save the life of the mother, or if the child suffers from defects a doctor asserts would cause the child to die shortly after birth. The president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Jill June, said the bill “would revictimize” women.
Alaska
Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services has proposed new rules to guard against fraud when the state funds abortion – and the state’s abortion providers have pointedly objected. The new language would require abortionists to file a written certificate that women who hope to receive state funding for their procedure obtained the abortion because it resulted from rape, incest, or threatened the mother’s health. Clover Simon of Planned Parenthood called the anti-fraud measure “an added step, another burden to [abortion] providers.” State Representative Wes Keller, R-Wasilla, said if the bill is adopted, “I think less abortions would be paid for by the state, and that is the issue.”
Virginia
NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Executive Director Tarina Keene fought the Virginia bill requiring women to have an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion. Now, she’s crying foul over a new state website that lists locations where women can receive such ultrasounds – composed entirely of crisis pregnancy centers. Keene worries CPCs may withhold the resulting images from abortion providers. The one-page list may restrict itself to centers dedicated to saying babies because it lists only “no-cost ultrasound services.”
(Click “like” if you want to end abortion!
Ohio
Ohio voters will not be able to vote on a Personhood measure this November, since the motion’s supporters failed to gather the necessary 385,000 signatures necessary to put the issue on the ballot. The leaders of Personhood Ohio plan to gather shortly to plan how to move forward in that bellwether state.
Washington
The people of Washington state will weigh in on one – but only one – ballot initiative on the issue of marriage this fall. While citizens will vote on the controversial same-sex “marriage” bill signed by Governor Christine Gregoire, a second measure reaffirming the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman fell short of the needed signatures to appear on the same ballot.
Jump to original:
North Carolina defunds Planned Parenthood over veto, Alaska asks for accountability, and more
Jul 5th, 2012 by deaconmike
It is Indy weekend here in Toronto and that means I will be taking a few days off.
Car racing is a strange spectator spot indeed. Here are a few of the ‘attractions’:
So why go you might ask?
I shared with you last year that I started going 21 years ago when my son was about 10 years of age. Now he is all grown up, We don’t get to see each other that much as he is busy with work and life.
Indy weekend is a chance to spend some time together. So when you add that to all the benefits I listed above who wouldn’t jump at a chance to cheer on the guys and gals in the funny fast cars.
Go Daddy and see you Monday!
Link:
Recalling the April 28 LifeSiteNews gala still brings to mind many fond memories from that amazing ‘family’ event. It revealed a lot about who we are and the passion and love of life and family that we share with each other, many leaders, and our supporters. Today, the first day of our summer campaign, I want to tell you more about that wonderful day and evening.
LSN staff and our US and Canadian boards of directors are spread around internationally. One benefit of the gala was that it gave a rare opportunity for most of us to meet each other in person, many for the first time. We are mostly a virtual organization, with staff usually hired over the phone and by email, board members and staff usually meeting only by conference calls or on Skype, and some of us never having actually met in person. Most of us work from our homes.
We were therefore thrilled to actually be together at a joint board/staff luncheon and a meeting during the afternoon before the gala. The meeting was serious and productive business, but it was also a special occasion of joy for the LifeSiteNews team.
Part of the meeting involved discussions with Jean-Yves Cote, our lead defense lawyer in the Gravel lawsuit against LifeSiteNews, and Peter Breen, Executive Director of the US Thomas More Society. They both came to the meeting and gala from Montreal, Quebec and Chicago, Illinois respectively.
The first evening event was the pre-dinner VIP reception at which Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli gave a punchy, unabashedly pro-life, pro-family talk. He was introduced by LSN US board of director Dan McConchie, VP of Government affairs for Americans United for Life.
Cuccinelli, who will be running for Virginia governor in 2013, gave a live witness that it is possible to be a very competent elected official and be thoroughly, openly, pro-life and pro-family.
Gala attendees told me they were moved by having personally met and talked to so many leaders that they have been reading about on LifeSiteNews. It was difficult getting everyone into the dinner room later on because of all the excited interaction going on in the halls.
LSN US board member and dinner emcee, Brad Mattes, did an outstanding job during the night. Brad, Executive Director of Life Issues Institute and the host of the award-winning Facing Life Head On weekly television series, helped to make it a classy yet warm evening for all.
Famed Canadian novelist and artist Michael O’Brien gave the opening invocation, as well as some revealing comments about the LifeSiteNews team and the depth of our mission. He was an especially big hit with dinner guests who are fans of his novels. Keynote speaker Abby Johnson said she “had the best night tonight getting to sit by Michael O’Brien and chat it up” and that “it was the highlight of my year.”
Patrick Novecosky, Editor-in-Chief of Legatus magazine, gave the introduction to Abby, stating, “Abby represents everything we hope and pray for those who work in the abortion industry.”
Abby’s spirited talk was a natural fit for the night. Being pregnant at the time and having some complications related to the pregnancy, Abby had to cancel other speaking engagements. We were very grateful, therefore, that she was still able to make that long trip from her Texas home to be our keynote speaker.
The former abortion center manager said, “I really believe in pro-life media and what LifeSiteNews is doing.” She told about her new ministry, And Then There Were None, that reaches out to abortion clinic workers. In only its first four months, Abby revealed, they had “17 abortion clinic workers leave and convert on the issue of abortion.”
Facts, “not emotions, not yelling, not telling them they are a bad person,” are the key item that gets those workers’ attention Abby stressed. She related, “I kinda have a bank of articles that I use from LifeSiteNews that I can send to women and men who are considering leaving that abortion industry. Those facts, those articles, that is part of their conversion.”
After Abby’s talk there were lots of introductions – the LifeSiteNews US and Canadian boards, many leaders present and the LSN staff. This is our ‘family,’ and it seemed that by the end of the evening all felt that kinship and the joy that goes with it. John-Henry and I made a point of emphasizing that the people in that room are our heroes and that we see our role as one of being of service to all of them and their personal or organizational efforts.
We were very privileged to have in attendance Julia Holcomb, her very supportive husband and one of her sons who had all flown in from Texas for the Gala. Julia, who is now active with Silent No More Awareness, had donated two paintings for auction at the gala that were more awesome to see in person than any photos of them that we could have posted. The paintings were successfully auctioned off and many supporters had the opportunity to meet and chat with this gracious lady.
Then we premiered our 15-year anniversary video which blew away the audience. We will be unveiling that on LifeSiteNews soon!
That was followed by Deal Hudson, former adviser to the Bush administration, who expressed his strong admiration for the work of LifeSiteNews. His task was to encourage donations from the dinner guests. We were humbled by his glowing endorsement and conviction in supporting LSN. He said, “I’m in”, and at the podium put his check for $200 in an envelope and then asked, “how many of you are also in? Put your hands up.” We were amazed at how many did.
At the end my son John, our assistant editor and invaluable jack-of-all-trades, was moved to spontaneously approach the podium and thank John-Henry and myself for all that we had done in starting and leading LifeSiteNews. John especially wanted everyone to realize that we strongly encourage all staff to maintain a solid prayer life while doing this difficult work.
The program ended at about 10 p.m., but a proof of the success of the night was that many guests lingered for over an hour longer, wanting to chat about what went on and socialize further with the exceptional people who were there that evening. New relationships were struck that night.
There is much more that could be written about April 28. I think this report gives you a good idea of the spirit and significance of the day and evening, and hopefully a better sense of the importance of LifeSiteNews’ mission and the many influential persons who work closely with us.
To continue that mission we rely almost entirely on financial support from our readers. There is no large benefactor behind this organization, as some readers assume from time to time. It would be really helpful, but I can assure you that is presently not the case. We just get by from quarter to quarter with the generous donations that you, our readers, are able to send us at those times.
And of course, we are blessed by those key supporters who make recurring donations each month to keep us going as campaign funds are used up. These recurring donations are vital to our operation.
It is now time for our Summer Campaign. As Deal Hudson asked our guests at the Gala, “Are you in?”
During our Summer Campaign,
will you donate to this mission for truth?
(Click Here to Donate)
Our annual operating expenses now add up to about $600,000. For this campaign we have set a not-unreasonable goal of $100,000.
You can play a crucial role as a member of the LifeSiteNews family by sending a gift for our much-needed work TODAY!
Please send us your gift today – for life, for truth.
Steve Jalsevac
Co-Founder
LifeSiteNews.com
P.S. Abby Johnson ended her keynote address by saying, “When you are asked tonight to make a contribution to LifeSiteNews, I hope that you will remember the lives of the children and grandchildren and kids in your life who you love. Because I want to tell you, we have to sacrifice. As much as you can.” We hope you take her words as seriously as we do.
This article -
Published: Thursday, July 5, 2012, 5:04 pm | Author: Paul Tuns
The American Spectator’s Daniel Allott notes that Georgetown Magazine, Georgetown University’s alumni magazine, reports former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, a Georgetown grad chair of the university’s borad of directors, has given $5 million for a variety of programs. Georgetown Magazine reports:
The Tagliabues’ $5 million gift will be divided equally among five areas: need-based undergraduate scholarships, scholarships for student-athletes in both men’s and women’s sports programs, programmatic support for the campus LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning) Resource Center and funding for strategic initiatives.
Interesting that there is as much money (a cool million dollars) for the LGBTQ initiative as there is for need-based scholarships. The $1 million for LGBTQ will establish the Tagliabue Initiative for LGBTQ Life: Fostering Formation and Transformation. I’m not sure what exactly a LGBTQ formation initiative is, especially if, as we are told, sexual orientation is natural (that is something we are born with). Sounds like a recruiting tool.
But Georgetown is ostensibly a Catholic university. The Tagliabues said in a statement: ”The Center is inspired by Catholic and Jesuit principles of respect for the dignity of all and education of the whole person, and we are very pleased to support its services that provide a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for LGBTQ students and promote their acceptance in the entire campus community.” And Georgetown University president John J. DeGioia, said that the Tagliabues’ donation is “further evidence of their belief in and support for what Georgetown is and aspires to become.”
Really, Georgetown aspires to promoting LGBTQ? Allott says: “It’s also further evidence that GU is leading the way in the continuing surrender of Catholic higher education to the secular culture.” Catholic universities could aspire to the loving Catholic teaching on homosexuality. John-Henry Westen described in 2010 that Catholic leadership has avoided addressing sexual sin out of a misguided concern for “human respect” rather than truth and genuine love.
Somehow it seems that something gigantic and momentous has taken place in the world of Catholic music. After so many years, when enthusiasts, scholars, and dedicated musicians have worked to push the rock uphill, against all odds, there’s a new momentum out there, much to everyone’s surprise and relief. The rock is now rolling downhill. It is an energy that is broad, diffuse, and unquestionably authentic. The sacred music movement is set to define the future of Catholic music.
It probably doesn’t seem that way in your parish, not yet. But the times are changing. The ground has shifted. Scholas are starting everywhere today, parish by parish. They are using music that is both free online and sold in beautiful editions. These editions are most published just in the last two or three years. They are mostly published by institutions that have virtually no funding at all, and have either few employees or none. But the power of the idea (sing the liturgy) and the beauty of the liturgical song they embody is making converts by the day.
All these thoughts are prompted by spending a week at the Sacred Music Colloquium in Salt Lake City. This is where you will find the Cathedral of the Madeleine, which, to everyone’s shock, turns out to be the home to the best Catholic choir in America. Salt Lake City is probably the last place you would expect to find such a thing but such is the way the reform is turning out: there are delightful surprises around every corner.
When the conference director (Arlene Oost-Zinner) of the Church Music Association of America suggested shifting the annual event from the East Coast to the West, one could detect some degree of skepticism. Nothing like this had ever been tried before. It was a highly risky step for an organizing that is always one small step away from bankruptcy. But look what happened: the conference filled up to capacity (270) weeks ahead and we ended up having to turn people away.
And this was certainly the happiest group of campers I’ve ever seen at the Colloquium. They came from all regions. All ages were represented. There was a nice balance of new singers and professional musicians. They practically floated through the week. The faculty was varied and massive, as never before. More priests were in attendance than ever. The liturgical program was more spectacular than ever.
And the breakouts were amazing. We had sessions on English chant, hymnody, sight singing, vocal production, organ repertoire, chant typesetting, parish administration, and so much more. People left each session with high praise for the teacher and the learning environment. Also, the book that we brought all sold, with an English psalm book (again by Oost-Zinner) and a book for chant for kids (Words with Wings) topping the bestseller charts. Also, of course, all the official music books of the Roman Rite sold well.
We tried a new method for dividing up the chant choirs. We used to do beginning, intermediate, and advanced, but this approach didn’t quite achieve the goal. This year we had two beginning classes, two refresher classes, and two performance scholas that prepared nearly all the music for Mass. In addition, we had two master classes that delved very deeply into the scholarship of the oldest manuscripts, all in an effort to bring more sophistication to chant performance.
I gave a four-part lecture series on the history of sacred music in the United States, based on all my reading and research over the years. I set out to debunk two main myths that are in the air: 1) that all our problems began after the close of Vatican II, and 2) all the problems we face are due to liberal hippies who hate the classics. Once dispensing with those two ideas, we can begin to confront the complex realities of how we ended up in the awful state that we’ve seen for decades, and then, as a result, see that there is a way out of the mess.
The pathway forward is not as foggy as it once was. We finally have liturgical books that we can sing from, primarily the third edition of the Roman Missal, plus books of chanted propers that have recently become available. We are finally seeing hymnals come to print that are actually related to the liturgy itself and not just providing pop music that is external to the rite. Each year the number of people who are interested in making a change grows, and they are learning from other people who have traveled the same path.
In my sessions and many others, there was frank talk about the difficulties of making the transition at the parish level. There are few singers. There is no money. Pastors are afraid of change. Every change inspires some level of resistance from a small pocket of people. We spoke about all of these problems, and offers solutions from our own experiences. Also, this kind of exchange and learning continues daily at the musicasacra.com forums, where members offer each other helpful advise and guidance.
There are too many people who were involved in making this event a great success to name them all. But certainly the Cathedral staff and Gregory Glenn deserve high mention here. What they have done in this city is just spectacular, and they supported the Colloquium in every way. There is a movie soon to come out about their efforts. It’s called “The Choir.” We saw an early screening of it. It was so excellent that it will surely inspired the creation of other choir schools around the country.
I should also mention the contribution of Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, who has provided so much guidance, the brilliant leadership of William Mahrt, and the inspiration provided by Fr. Guy Nicholls of the Birmingham Oratory. Again, it’s dangerous to name names because so many people were involved, not the least of whom were the many attendees who scrimped and saved to raise the money to attend.
So here we have it, a movement with energy, enthusiasm, deep knowledge, true love for the beautiful, and all rooted in a genuine desire to do what the Church intends. There is just nothing else like it out there. This is truly the future, and that future could arrive much sooner than you think.
See the article here:
Anthony Esolen has a good moan here about some of the hymns he has to endure at Mass. Anthony is an English professor and noted translator of Dante. So he knows something about poetry. Why oh why are such awful hymns allowed in the Catholic Church?
I’ve mused on the bad music myself in this post, but one of the reasons music at Mass is so bad is because Catholics are ignorant of the great tradition of decent hymns. Before Vatican II they didn’t sing hymns “That’s Protestant!” very much, then after Vatican II everybody went crazy for the folk Mass and most of the faithful wandered about singing (or not) what was dished up for them. Priests weren’t trained in the traditions of sacred music, so they were largely ignorant of what was good, and the pressure was on them anyway from the people–some of whom felt good when they sang songs like, “I was walking on the beach when I felt the good Lord reach….for my hand.” It was easier to go along with those who actually had an opinion or preference, and so reigned the dictatorship of sentimentality. Sentimentality is often an artificial kind of manufactured emotion–sort of like artificial flavoring in candy. Go here for further thoughts.
The mantra of “full participation” had a part to play as well. Everybody had to be involved and everybody’s taste and opinion was just as good as the next person’s. Here’s a post about the destructiveness of this sort of shallow egalitarianism. It brought in a superficial equality which was really a form of relativism–no one dared to suggest that one kind of hymn might actually better than another and nobody had any idea why one hymn could actually be better than another. There was no understanding of poetry, sacred music and the idea that one form of music could be superior would –shock horror–be perceived as snobbishness.
There are some standards for good hymns, and they’re not actually too difficult to figure out. Some time ago I wrote a four part series on what makes a good hymn. Here’s the first part. Here’s part two, here’s the third and here’s the fourth.
See more here:
I notice a pattern: “He said ‘you don’t have a right to be here!’” Stadig related, “and I said ‘I do have a right to be here, this is a Colorado Petition Drive’.
Original link:
Blog ArchiveJuly (46)June (111)May (85)April (71)March (88)February (52)January (68)December (63)November (64)October (38)September (30)August (40)July (56)June (70)May (63)April (63)March (81)February (89)January (105)December (83)November (89)October (124)September (73)August (90)July (55)June (54)May (55)April (66)March (53)February (79)January (91)December (54)November (56)October (80)September (86)August (62)July (47)June (71)May (76)April (74)March (69)February (68)January (96)December (69)November (63)October (71)September (101)August (68)July (48)June (25)May (66)April (79)March (56)February (43)January (65)December (32)November (71)October (91)September (113)August (139)July (88)June (103)May (131)April (83)March (96)February (104)January (93)December (82)November (111)October (92)September (93)August (123)July (96)June (67)May (58)April (43)March (32)
Read this article:
ProLife Stephanie Gray discusses pro-choice violence on SunNews
-
As you may remember I made a Latin version of the Say The Black Do The Red
mugs… several Latin versions as a matter of fact. HERE. I also make a new
versi...
9 minutes ago
Nick Clegg's Tommy Cooper imitation
-
Nick Clegg has shifted the goalposts on same sex "marriage" - *Just like
that!*
In an interview for yesterday's Evening Standard (We should allow gay
we...
7 hours ago
-
One of the organizations I belong to that has to do with heraldry and
exists for heraldic enthusiasts is the Fellowship of the White Shield. This
is a pri...
18 hours ago
-
Before an overflow crowd in the nation's largest church -- Washington's
3,500-seat Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception --
here, fu...
2 days ago
-
I'm reading this great book called, "Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure".
In January, 1953, Harry Truman went home to Missouri after 8 years as
President....
1 month ago
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
► ;
Follow this link:
Mary Jane Ballou’s thoughtful consideration of ways to integrate the Colloquium experience into daily life.
Source:
Yesterday the universal church celebrated Elizabeth of Portugal known in her home country as Saint Queen Elizabeth.
Elizabeth born in Zaragoza, Spain in 1271, she was the daughter of Peter III of Aragon and was married off to King Denis of Portugal in 1282. From the beginning Elizabeth showed a great compassion to the poor.
Legend says she would leave the palace disguised, in order to take food to the poor. She was very devoted to God and also passed great part of her time in prayer.
One of the miracles attributed to her is the “miracle of the roses”. After the king had discovered she was leaving the palace to take food to the poor he forbade her to do it. He threatened to lock her up and confine her to the palace. She never gave up and every day she was still leaving behind the king’s back. One day in the winter time she was carrying pieces of bread hidden in her dress. The King saw her going out and stopped her asking, “What you are carrying?” She answered, “Roses, my lord.” He didn’t believe because it was winter. He asked her to show him the roses. Obediently she unfolded the dress and there were roses instead of bread.
This is the most famous miracle attributed to her. She was always an example of devotion to God and to those in need. When her husband died in 1325, she entered in a convent of Poor Claires in Coimbra where she spent the rest of her days.
She left the convent one time in the summer of 1336 to try to stop a war between her son, Alphonse IV of Portugal, and her grandson, Alphonse XI of Spain. In spite of being sick she walked to the middle of the battle field and did not leave until the two men came to a resolution peacefully. The battle was averted, but Elizabeth died shortly after.
Pope Urban VIII canonized her in 1625 and choose the date of her death, July 4, as her feast day.
The destruction of most of the libraries, music and art of England was not a religious breakthrough but a cultural calamity
For John Foxe, Queen Elizabeth was her country’s saviour, and the Reformation the climax of an age-old struggle between God, represented by the monarch, and the devil, represented by the Pope
6:30PM BST 23 Jun 2012
For five centuries England has been in denial about the role of Roman Catholicism in shaping it. The coin in your pocket declares the monarch to be Defender of the Faith. Since 1558 that has meant the Protestant faith, but Henry VIII actually got the title from the Pope for defending Catholicism against Luther. Henry eventually broke with Rome because the Pope refused him a divorce, and along with the papacy went saints, pilgrimage, the monastic life, eventually even the Mass itself – the pillars of medieval Christianity.
To explain that revolution, the Protestant reformers told a story. Henry had rejected not the Catholic Church, but a corrupt pseudo-Christianity which had led the world astray. John Foxe embodied this story unforgettably in his Book of Martyrs, subsidised by the Elizabethan government as propaganda against Catholicism at home and abroad. For Foxe, Queen Elizabeth was her country’s saviour, and the Reformation itself the climax of an age-old struggle between God, represented by the monarch, and the devil, represented by the Pope.
Fear of Catholic Spain, the greatest power in Europe, gave Foxe’s story urgency. That fear escalated under the Stuart kings, for all of them married Catholics, and were suspected of favouring their wives’ religion. The prospect of a persecuting Catholicism imposed by an apostate monarchy fuelled Protestant anxiety. It led to Civil War, and the execution of King Charles I. Ironically, Charles was a loyal Anglican, but both his sons, Charles II and James II, did eventually embrace Catholicism.
In 1679 fear of Catholicism triggered a last orgy of persecution. The so called Popish Plot, to murder the king and seize the throne, was a paranoid fantasy concocted by Titus Oates, but it unleashed a wave of gruesome executions, including the judicial murder of the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Oliver Plunkett.
At the height of the hysteria, Protestant mythology achieved definitive form in a book that would shape the writing of Tudor history down to our own day. In 1679 Gilbert Burnet, a Scottish cleric, published the first volume of a massive History of the Reformation, an anti-Catholic narrative given scholarly credibility by the inclusion of dozens of documents gathered from public and private archives. Burnet would be the chief propagandist for the “Glorious Revolution” which deposed James II and set the Protestant William of Orange on the throne. His history rammed home the message that Catholicism and Englishness were utterly incompatible: Catholicism was tyranny, Protestantism liberation. “They hate us,” he wrote, “because we dare to be freemen and Protestants.”
RELATED ARTICLES
A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch: review 11 Oct 2009
Sacred mysteries: Norfolk’s finest church magnified 02 Jun 2012
It was a message the nation wanted to hear: Burnet was thanked by a special vote of Parliament. His work was supplemented by John Strype, another ardent “Orange” cleric, in a stream of biographies and collections of Reformation documents, many of them gathered from Foxe’s archives. Till well into the 20th century, historians of the English Reformation would rely on Burnet and Strype for their source materials, in the process perpetuating their late-Stuart take on the Tudor age.
The creation of the Public Record Office in 1838 made accessible thousands of documents from Tudor England, but didn’t radically alter this traditional spin on the Reformation story. The greatest Victorian historian of Tudor England was James Anthony Froude, who eagerly explored the archives, but read them through inherited spectacles. A Protestant to his fingertips, he hated clergy, doctrine, religious mystery and, above all, Catholicism. He saw the break with Rome as the beginning of Britain’s rise to imperial greatness, and the Reformation as a confrontation between two incompatible civilisations. Froude knew that the Reformation had been imposed to begin with on a reluctant nation, but he rejoiced that this had happened.
A disciple of Thomas Carlyle, he thought history was not for the little people, but was made by heroes. “Up to the defeat of the Armada,” he wrote, “manhood suffrage in England would at any moment have brought back the Pope.” Happily, there was no democracy in Tudor England, and the country had been saved from itself by the tyrannical Henry VIII, and if the abbeys were unroofed, and a few hundred priests butchered in the process, that was a small price for imperial greatness and the march of progress. Shorn of its more blatant jingoistic rhetoric, Froude’s Protestant version of the Reformation would be recycled in the writing of academic history late into the 20th century.
Historians no longer take that venerable Protestant version for granted, but it is still alive and well in the wider culture. It underpins, for example, Shekhar Kapur’s biopic Elizabeth. It was reiterated recently by the journalist Simon Jenkins when he wrote that “most Britons had, by the late 15th century, come to regard the Roman church as an alien, corrupt and reactionary agent of intellectual oppression, awash in magic and superstition. They could not wait to see the back of it.”
But in multicultural England, the inherited Protestant certainties are fading. It is time to look again at the Reformation story. There was nothing inevitable about the Reformation. The heir to the throne is uneasy about swearing to uphold the Protestant faith, and it seems less obvious than it once did that the religion which gave us the Wilton Diptych and Westminster Abbey, or the music of Tallis, Byrd and Elgar, is intrinsically un-English. The destruction of the monasteries and most of the libraries, music and art of medieval England now looks what it always was – not a religious breakthrough, but a cultural calamity. The slaughtered Popish martyrs look less like an alien fifth column than the voices of a history England was not allowed to have.
Eamon Duffy is Professor of the History of Christianity at Cambridge. His latest book, ‘Saints, Sacrilege and Sedition: religion and conflict in the Tudor Reformations’, is published by Bloomsbury
Jump to original:
2012-07-05 -
WYD
We are 365 days away from World Youth Day Rio2013. Young people from all over the world are waiting for the great moment with tremendous expectations in a real countdown. There are millions of dreams and millions of youth with stories to tell.
But who are these pilgrims?
How are they getting ready to come to Rio? What experiences are they living and what challenges are they facing to accomplish the goal of participating in a World Youth Day?
To show the world the faces of these young people, we, members of WYD Rio2013 Local Organization Committee, invite pilgrims of all ages to share their experiences as they gear up for the youth gathering in Rio.
The question we would like you to answer is: “How are you preparing for WYD Rio2013?”
Send us your testimony and a picture to the address: comunic@rio2013.com.
The picture must refer to the big countdown for the event with the Pope in Brazil in 2013.
You can send phrases like “It’s 1 year away”, “The time for WYD is coming” and “On the Road to Rio 2013″, etc.
Show Brazil and the entire world the preparation and the faces of the young people who will come to Rio next year.
The image must be a 3MB (up to 5MB) JPEG file saved in landscape format. The deadline for sending the material is July 15th, 2012.
Show with creativity and joy how you and/or your group are preparing for Rio2013.
We will show the world that WYD 2013 has already begun!
See more here:
Browse > Home / Get Involved / Women’s Retreat 2 Women’s Retreat 2July 5, 2012 by srmichela Filed under Get InvolvedWomen’s Retreat 1 is the first retreat in the series, but you could attend a Women’s Retreat 2 without having the Women’s Retreat 1. Each year the Women’s Retreat 2 will be a different retreat
Read original article:
Max Lindenman has a good post up, on how to write about sex, when one is Catholic.
Since we Catholics tend to do that a lot (one of the frankest bit of Catholic writing on sex I have ever read — and appreciated — was Elizabeth Duffy’s essay on the subject, included in Hallie Lord’s Style, Sex and Substance), I appreciated Max’s very honest take on his own evolution on the issue:
A few weeks ago, Joanne McPortland wrote a piece comparing Catholics to BDSM submissives. In sharing the post on Facebook, I noted it had followed close on the heels of a piece where I compared Catholics to the gay cowboy protagonists of Brokeback Mountain. What I was too ashamed to add, though, was that Joanne, like Heather, had an actual point . . . I on the other hand, was being cute and arch purely for the fun of being cute and arch.
[...]
Also a few weeks ago, I referred to an abortive gay encounter. Even now, it strikes me as a reasonable decision, undertaken for an honorable purpose. That purpose was to remind readers of the dangers of stereotyping: since I resembled the gay stereotype, part of me remained convinced my attraction to women was just a passing phase. The proposition obsessed me to the point where I simply had to test it. Simpleminded thinking had, in this case, encouraged me to sin, and the sooner Catholics stopped thinking in those terms, the better things would be for everyone.But even so, part of me remained aware that — now that I’m all grown up and picking my way through a brand-new plate of neuroses — being straight-but-not-narrow has become cool . . . A couple of well-meaning readers called the post brave, but really, in today’s climate it was anything but; in plain English, it was trendy.
I was particularly taken with his last few graphs, in which he recounts some powerful insights from a 60-something year-old sister who has little experience in the sexual world and yet demonstrates the fruits of chastity, which she bore beautifully: the ability to really listen, to enter into communion and community with each person, and therefore to “know” them in a way that is insightful and immediate and is as true a “knowing” as any sexual intimacy can be. This is the sort of richness which is part of the “office” of chastity, to which we are all called and yet from which we so often run.
So yeah, Max’s piece: you’ll want to read it all.
See original:
