Alleluia! He Is Risen!

The Lord Is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Almighty God, who through Your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life; Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by Your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Source: 1979 BCP p. 222)

Egyptian Islamic Cleric Says "Heavy Metal Music is Zionist"

This would be funny if it wasn't so scary. Read the blog post from Elder of Ziyon here. The cleric, in a debate with Egyptian rock n' rollers on Egyptian TV,says that Heavy Metal music is Zionist and is part of the international Jewish conspiracy to take over the world.

The Harrowing of Hell

Painting: The Descent Into Hell by Tintorello (1568)

From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday:

"Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and son of Eve. . . . "I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead."

Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 637: "In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven's gate for the just who had gone before him."

Protestant Archbishop Slams Catholic Church

Anglican Archbiship Rowan Williams has slammed the Catholic Church over the Irish sex scandal. A Protestant leader attacking Catholicism. What else is new? (See Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Knox, Zwingli, etc . . .)

Holy Saturday

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of Your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with Him the coming of the third day, and rise with Him to newness of life; who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Source: 1979 BCP p. 221).

The Crucified Rabbi

I haven't read this book yet, but it looks very good. I thought this video was appropriate for Good Friday. Pax.

Non-Communist Pravda Tells the Truth

The non-Communist Pravda, which means "truth" in Russian, now actually tells the truth in a piece about the Catholic Church sex scandal. Read about it here in a great post from The Anglo-Catholic.

Good Friday

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this Your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Source 1979 BCP p. 221).

Maundy Thursday

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before He suffered, instituted the Sacrament of His Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ Our Lord, who in these Holy Mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Source 1979 BCP p. 221).

This Isn't Free Speech - It's Stalking!

The Federal Appeals Court is nuts. The jury and Bill O'Reilly are right. Maybe SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) will uphold the jury's verdict. Westboro Baptist Church and Rev. Phelps don't preach Christianity, they preach Insanity.

Wednesday in Holy Week

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ Your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, Amen. (Source: 1979 BCP p. 220).

Tuesday in Holy Week

O God, by the passion of Your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Source 1979 BCP p. 220)

Happy Passover!

Monday in Holy Week

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first He suffered pain, and entered not into glory before He was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ Your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Source: 1979 BCP p. 220)

Is Obama Resigned To a Nuclear Iran?

Here's a good post from RICK'S AMERICAN CAFE about whether the Obama administration is resigned to allow Iran to become a nuclear power.

And since President Obama offered Prime Minister Netanyahu the left foot of fellowship at his recent White House visit, it raises the question of who the red carpet is being rolled out for at the Obama White House. How about Louis Farrakhan and Bill Ayers. More food for thought from RICK'S AMERICAN CAFE.

Our Enemy Is Not Flesh and Blood

The above painting is of demons attacking Saint Anthony. In yet another excellent post, Father Dwight Longenecker reminds us that we are engaged in spiritual warfare and that the current attacks against the Pope and the Church are ultimately engineered by the Father of Lies. Father Dwight also points out that "tolerant" secularists are tolerant only so long as religion complies with the demands of the culture. At some point, "tolerance" will demand that religious people abandon their beliefs and principles in order to be "tolerant."

"For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12.

Quote of the Day

I plagiarized this post from THE DEACON'S BENCH. It's well worth stealing.

"To be connected with the church is to be associated with scoundrels, warmongers, fakes, child-molesters, murderers and hypocrites of every description.

It also, at the same time, identifies you with saints and the finest persons of heroic soul of every time, country, race and gender.

To be a member of the church is to carry the mantle of both the worst sin and the finest heroism of soul because the church always looks exactly as it looked at the original crucifixion, God hung among thieves."

Father Ronald Rolheiser, THE HOLY LONGING

British Government is Anti-Christian Says Former Archbishop of Canterbury

CRANMER reports on a letter sent to the Sunday Telegraph by former Anglican Archbishop George Carey and other bishops saying that the British National Health Service and the current government are anti-Christian and hostile to Christian faith.

Media Feeding Frenzy

Patrick Archbold at CREATIVE MINORITY REPORT has a good post on the current Media Witch Hunt going on against Pope Benedict.

Palm Sunday

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon Him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of His great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of His suffering, and also share in His resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Source: 1979 BCP p. 219)

Clarity in the Midst of Gloom

Father Dwight Longenecker brings us Clarity in the Midst of Gloom about the current efforts of the media and others to smear Pope Benedict. The editorial that this post links to from the London Telegraph contains excellent analysis.

Mexican Drug Gangs Active in Every U.S. State

The blog 360 Degrees reports that the Mexican Drug Cartels are active in every state in the Union. As one who is active in the criminal justice system, I would have to say that based on what I see in criminal court, I believe it.

Another Great Post By Father Dwight

Here's another great post from Father Dwight Longenecker about what's really wrong with the Church and what should be done about it. And the short answer is HOLINESS. And getting HOLY ain't easy.

I Alone Have Escaped To Tell You

I just finished reading the memoirs of the late Professor Ralph McInerny (1929-2010). From the mid-1950s to his retirement in the 21st century, Professor McInerny taught philosophy at Notre Dame. He also found time to write an incredible number of novels. This book, published in 2006 by the University of Notre Dame Press, is called I ALONE HAVE ESCAPED TO TELL YOU: MY LIFE AND PASTIMES.

The Bad Catholic found this to be a very enjoyable read, as well as a profound one. Professor McInerny surveyed the highlights of his life, which include the death of his first born child at age three to the writing of the highly popular Father Dowling mysteries.

Professor McInerny also spoke at great length about the Church and Catholic education and the poor state that both have fallen into. He talks about his early years in the junior and senior seminaries and his higher education after he left the seminary. Even going to graduate school in the late 40's and early 50's, McInerny felt that there was much that was wrong with "modern philosophy." McInerny says "To doubt everything is impossible. . . . No wonder philosophy over the last century has seemed to real from one form of self-assertive subjectivity to another, with its last state being skepticism that there is anything beyond our construals to know anyway. Truth along with objectivity goes out the window."

Professor McInerny felt that the Zeitgeist of the 20th century was very destructive and that the smoke of Satan had definitely entered the Church through "the Spirit of Vatican II." In his chapter on his various extended stays in Europe, McInerny says this: "Of course Europe has changed since our first visit, and not for the better. It is not simply that lovely national currencies have given way to the euro. There is something post-Christian about the continent, England seems neo-pagan to me, and even holy Ireland is taking on the worst traits of modernity. Cardinal Schonborn has said that our cathedrals have become museums and our museums have become churches. That does not begin to capture the change that has occurred."

Professor McInerny attacks the idea that in order to be a first class university, that a school must be totally secular and abandon its religious affiliations in the classroom. "I have portrayed the conflict as one between believer and nonbeliever . . . In Catholic departments of philosophy, one now has tenured colleagues whose training disposes them to take seriously positions which, however implicitly, are in conflict with the faith. And of course, students in our colleges and universities are likely to be taught by professors, whose views, if true, would undermine the student's faith. That is why those of us who have spent long careers in traditional Catholic institutions are involved in a long twilight struggle within the walls. Positions dubiously compatible with the faith are maintained and taught all around us. A young colleague of mine announced in a departmental meeting that, since he regarded Catholicism as false, he had a moral obligation to disabuse his students of their faith. That is where we have come." This is underscored by the recent commencement address controversy at Notre Dame. Professor McInerny loved Notre Dame passionately and was deeply saddened by the forces of secularism and evil at Our Lady's University.

In discussing the decline of the Church, Professor McInerny says that the post-conciliar problem was primarily Catholic intellectuals and left-leaning bishops who fostered changes on the Church which were not intended by the Council. The hot button issue was sexual ethics. According to McInerny, this one issue is the primary fire bringing Pope Paul's "smoke of Satan" into the windows of the Church. Professor McInerny opines that the open rebellion against the teachings of the Church in this one area has opened the door and led to the collapse of moral theology.

This quote is worth reproducing in full:

". . . many of the priests who are currently costing the Church millions upon millions of dollars in court-ordered payments were already priests before the collapse of moral theology. Their training surely would have enabled them to see that adulterous and homosexual activities were morally wrong. How can one explain this? I will provide an anecdote.

Priests of that age, though not only they, were regularly sent to programs allegedly designed to familiarize them with the brave new post-conciliar world. There was such a program at Notre Dame. A St. Paul priest I had known years before, who had been engaged in dedicated and effective pastoral work, came to Notre Dame to be renewed. We had lunch one day in the University Club. After pleasant reminiscing, it became clear that he wanted to talk about what he was undergoing. He leaned across the table and said to me in a whisper, "They told us to forget everything we had been taught in the seminary." Perhaps the one speaking to those priests was indulging in hyperbole, a little rhetorical excess to gain attention. Perhaps. The effect on my old friend was obvious. He was not, I can say, a fast-ball pitcher in the seminary, but he was a good priest. He had walked in the vocation to which he had been called. Now he was being told to forget everything that had defined his life. How could he not feel vertigo? He finished the course and went home and a few years later left the priesthood, under a cloud of accusations of sexual irregularity."

It is no doubt that Ralph McInerny was a remarkable man and led a very rewarding life as a husband, father, teacher, and author. The chapter in the book on writing fiction and detailing how McInerny broke into the publishing business and came to write mystery novels is worth the price of the book by itself.

Professor McInerny does not close his memoirs on a sour note. "Have I become a Cassandra, in despair of the Church and the modern world? Not at all. With William Faulkner in his Nobel Prize address, I am confident that man will prevail, and as for the Church, the gates of hell will not prevail against her. But one would have to be a mindless Pollyanna not to admit that we live in strange and antinomian times."

I ALONE HAVE ESCAPED TO TELL YOU is highly recommended. I have previously reviewed Professor McInerny's book SOME CATHOLIC WRITERS and his novel THE PRIEST.

Virtual Tour of the Sistine Chapel

Take a wonderful virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel on the Vatican's wesite.

Pray for the Holy Father

We must all pray for the Holy Father and Our Church, which it seems, like Our Lord during his earthly life, is constantly under attack from within and without.



Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Father Groeschel Says Don't Get Too Excited About Health Care Law

My old philosophy professor, Dr. Deal Hudson, has a good article at Inside Catholic about Father Benedict Groeschel's thoughts on the health care law.

Good Post on the Health Care Law

Here's a good post about the new Health Care Law.

The Annunciation of the Lord

Pour Your grace into our hearts, O Lord, that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by His cross and passion be brought to the glory of His resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Another Sign of the End of the Age

Apparently, North American honey bees, which polinate most of our food producing plants, are dying off at alarming numbers. Remember that Jesus said that there would be signs of the end of the age.

Episcopalians Welcome Witches

Father Dwight Longenecker has a new post about the Episcopal Cathedral in Asheville, North Carolina allowing their buildings to be used be a group of "Wiccans" for their religious rites. The Episcopal Church just needs to go ahead and admit that it is no longer a Christian Church.

C of E

As everyone who reads this blog knows, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Church of England and the Anglican communion. Here's an interesting blog post about the Church of England.

Analysis of Health Care Law

David Brooke's column in the New York Times gives an analysis of the Health Care Bill. It's really not too bad.

Is the IRS the new American Secret Police?

Here's a good article from Red State.Com.

The Real Problem in the Church

Once again, Father Dwight Longenecker has hit the nail on the head. Here is Father Dwight's article about the real problem plaguing the Church. Be sure and read the underlying editorial in the British Daily Telegraph by Gerald Warner which Father Dwight references. It is awesome as well.

Canadian Anglicans Line Up to Become Catholic

Apparently, Canadian Anglo-Catholics have had enough of "Your OK, I'm OK, God's OK," liberal Anglican theology and have come out in force to come home to Rome. Full story here.

Back in the U.S.S.R.

Good Morning Comrades! We are so lucky to live here in the worker's paradise of the Soviet Union (U.S.S.A. - United Soviet Socialist States of America).

Here in Soviet Union the rich, that is those who actually have a job that pays money, happily pay 75% of our income in taxes. We no longer need money since we now have affordable health care unlike under evil Capitalism. We no longer need bourgeois ideas like disposable income!

Here in Soviet Union, artists and writers do not have to get a real job, so long as the art they produce is acceptable to Comrade Pelosi and the immoral majority of San Francisco!

And we have new jobs to stimulate economy! Comrade Obama will hire 16,000 new KGB, I mean IRS, agents to enforce the People's Health Care Law against bourgeois capitalist resistance! Any who oppose the will of the people will be sent to the Gulag!

Although the bourgeois capitalist media reports that the majority of Soviet citizens are against the law, our leaders know that all these people are stupid and have been mislead! They must be re-educated!

Of course, Comrades, this is just a joke. Or is it?

The Light Invisible

Robert Hugh Benson said that THE LIGHT INVISIBLE (1903) was the least favorite of his books. In CONFESSIONS OF A CONVERT Benson says that when he wrote THE LIGHT INVISIBLE, he was trying too hard to show the truths of religion and that the book was too sentimental and relied too much on mystical intuition rather than divine authority. Benson said that he thought his book RICHARD ROLLE SOLITARY was a much better book. Benson further comments that THE LIGHT INVISIBLE is more popular among Anglicans than among Catholics. However, I must agree with Hugh's brother Arthur who wrote that "The Light Invisible always seemed to me a beautiful book."

Published just before Benson's conversion to the Roman Catholic Church, THE LIGHT INVISIBLE consists of a series of related short stories. The story arch which links stories together concerns the visit of an un-named narrator to the country home of an elderly retired Anglo-Catholic priest. The priest has what is called in Eastern mysticism a "third eye." Throughout his life he has been able to see past the material world to the spiritual reality behind it. The old priest relates to his young visitor his experiences beginning in childhood. The stories continue throughout the priest's life. The last story narrates the priest's death.

Most of the stories illustrate some point of Christian theology. However, there is one story, The Traveler, which is a straight up ghost story. In the beginning, Benson's florid Edwardian style of writing can be somewhat off-putting, however, once you get used to it and become engrossed in the stories this no longer makes a difference. There is a reason why Benson was a very popular author in the early twentieth century. THE LIGHT INVISIBLE is very good fiction which is well worthy of our time.

Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary

"Remember us, Saint Jospeh, and plead for us to your foster child. Ask your most holy bride, the Virgin Mary, to look kindly upon us, since she is the mother of him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns eternally."
Saint Bernadine of Sienna

The Episcopal Church Throws Out Orthodox Anglicans and Sells Church To Muslims

Father Dwight Longenecker reports that the Episcopal Church in New York State threw a congregation of orthodox Anglicans out of their church building and then sold the building to Muslims for use as a mosque.

The Gospel According to Jack Chick

Father Dwight Longenecker has written a very good essay on the ministry of our friend, Brother Jack Chick. The BAD CATHOLIC has given his two cents worth on Brother Chick in a previous post which can be found here. Enjoy!

Reaping the Whirl Wind

Here's a good article from THE ECONOMIST about female babies being aborted in Asia and India for cultural reasons and how this is creating a situation where there will be millions more young men than young women. The entire human race has given in to the lies of the Devil on the goodness of abortion on demand. And we are reaping the whirlwind.

A Few Thoughts on "Jihad Jane"

It strikes me that as our country becomes less Christian, the more we are going to have of people whose families used to be Christian looking for something solid to anchor themselves to.

Our hedonistic secular culture is, ultimately, spiritually bankrupt. People are looking for something greater than themselves to dedicate their lives to. Of course, we who know Christ know the truth and the power of the words, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no man comes to Father except through me." Christ is the way. However, the former witnesses of Christ, including some parts of the Holy Catholic Church, have been taken over by the "smoke of Satan" which has brought with it all the evils of the secular culture.

As author Thomas C. Reeves wrote in his 1996 book The Empty Church: The Suicide of Liberal Protestantism: "And so the mainline churches wane - disheartened, aging, increasingly irrelevant, all too often satisfied to serve as a sort of sanctimonious echo of National Public Radio or the left wing of the Democratic Party. For a variety of reasons, many liberal Protestants, especially church leaders, have endorsed a view of reality and a way of life that have helped produce a society that is breaking up. And they have become part of the problem."

The same thing can be said of liberal Catholicism.

We must face facts. As Southern Baptist Convention President R. Albert Mohler has said of liberal protestantism, "As the boundaries between liberal Protestantism and the secular culture vanish, there is little reason for anyone to join one of these churches." Read that quote again and replace the words "liberal Protestantism" with "liberal Catholicism." Same result.

As Christianity becomes more irrelevant and both religious and secular culture become more decadent, more and more people will be foundering for direction in their lives. Unfortunately, I can see how fundamentalist Islam can be attractive. It has a simple theology that even a child can grasp: "There is One God, Allah is His Name, and Mohamed is His Prophet." It has clearly defined rules. And it has enough religious truth in it to be dangerous.

All the great heresies have taken real religious truth and distorted it to one degree or another. Hillare Belloc was right when he wrote that Islam is really a Christian heresy. Jesus is declared to be a great prophet but not God incarnate. Our Lady is declared to be a pure vessel who gave birth to the prophet Jesus while a virgin. For someone lost in the dark pit of our evil culture, and who does not have the Christian gospel preached to them in a way to make them want to take up their cross and follow the Master who leads to the only way to heaven that there is, Islam may seem very attractive. We must never forget that John Walker Lynd, the American arrested fighting for the Taliban, was raised in a family which was nominally Catholic, but was a broken home where his parents had divorced and the father had abandoned the mother for his gay lover. As our culture deteriorates further, brothers and sisters, I fear that we can expect more "boys and girls next door" to become jihadists.

Saint Perpetua and Saint Felicity

Today the Church commemorates the martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicity who suffered martyrdom at Carthage in the year 203. A most accurate account of their death still exists, derived partly from their own testimonies and partly from a writer of the period.

Perpetua was a young Roman noblewoman and Felicity was her servant girl. When Perpetua was arrested for being a Christian she was pregnant and her execution was delayed until after she gave birth.

Perpetua, along with other Christians of Carthage, went bravely to her death while admonishing other Christians, "Stand firm in faith, love one another and do not be tempted to do anything wrong because of our sufferings."

Not being killed outright by the beasts, Saint Perpetua guided the sword of a frightened gladiator assigned to kill her to her own throat. The ancient account of her death says "Such a woman - one before whom the unclean spirit trembled - could not perhaps have been killed, had she herself not willed it."

Several years ago, I read an excellent scholarly book about the persecution of Christians under the Emperor Septimus Severus and the martyrdom of Saint Perpetua and the martyrs of Carthage. The book is called Perpetua's Passion.

PRAYER: FATHER, YOUR LOVE GAVE THE SAINTS PERPETUA AND FELICITY COURAGE TO SUFFER A CRUEL MARTYRDOM. BY THEIR PRAYERS, HELP US TO GROW IN LOVE OF YOU. WE ASK THIS THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, ONE GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN.

England Should Be A Catholic Country

Here's an amusing article from The London Telegraph about a debate where it was decided that England should still be a Catholic country. Enjoy! (I find the guy describing himself as a "Protestant Atheist" particularly interesting).

The Gargoyle Code

FROM: Fliptizzle, Senior Temptor
TO: Serpentbreath, Demon First Class

Dear Serpentbreath:

I couldn't help but notice that this morning after his digusting little habit called "Morning Prayer" (gag), which you fortunately have caused him to miss saying a lot lately, your patient finished reading that lying book The Gargoyle Code which that dirty goody two shoes priest Father Dwight Longenecker has written as a marvelous homage to C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters.

This is totally unacceptable Serpentbreath. You were doing a great job at the beginning of Lent when, instead of praying more and making an effort to do more spiritual reading, your patient was sitting around slothfully watching Star Trek episodes and reading trashy Science Fiction. But now your patient has his mind back on the enemy! This is not good at all Serpentbreath. Unless you want to be the guest of honor at a special state dinner for His Lowliness, I suggest you shape up.

Yours Damnably,
Fliptizzle

More Food For Thought From the Orthodox

Here's more food for thought for Lent from the Orthodox. This was apparently filmed in the 1990s and is about hermit monks and nuns in Romania. Enjoy!

Orthodox Spirituality

I think that we all have something to learn from the spirituality of our Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters. Here is a link to a very interesting blog post.

Confessions of a Convert

I recently finished reading Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson's CONFESSIONS OF A CONVERT. Benson was the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury and his conversion to Rome caused great scandal in the Church of England in the early 20th century.

According to Joseph Pearce, "Besides Chesterton and Belloc, the writer most responsible for carrying the mantle of the Catholic literary revival in the early years of the twentieth century was Robert Hugh Benson. In some respects, Benson's life paralleled that of Newman. His conversion to Catholicism in 1903 and his subsequent ordination caused a sensation on a scale similar to that which greeted Newman's reception into the Church almost sixty years earlier. In Benson's case the sensation was linked to the fact that he was the son of E.W. Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1882 until 1896. Like Newman, Benson followed a literary as well as a priestly vocation, and before his untimely death in 1914 at the age of forty three, he had published fifteen highly successful novels. The other obvious parallel with Newman was Benson's writing of a lucid and candid autobiographical apologia describing the circumstances leading up to his conversion. Benson's Confessions of a Convert warrants a position alongside Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua as one of the great expositions of the spiritual and psychological background to religious conversion."

Confessions of a Convert is not very long, but one finishes the book feeling as if you have known Benson for years. Benson's description of his upbringing is fascinating. On Sunday afternoons, it was the habit of Benson's father to take the children for a walk and read from some spiritual book while walking. Benson recounts that one Sunday, his father read the account of the martyrdom of Saint Perpetua in Latin and flawlessly translated the Latin into English while walking.

Archbishop Benson was a "broad churchman," in other words, he was one that straddled the middle between the extreme Anglo-Catholic party and the extreme Evangelical party. After becoming an Anglican priest, Benson became a devout adherent of the Anglo-Catholic or High Church party in the Church of England.

Benson recounts the usual Anglo-Catholic vs. Evangelical turmoil in the Anglican Church. Benson recounts how after making a trip to the middle east, he realized how insignificant the Church of England really was. Benson comments, "A national church seemed a poor affair abroad." Benson quips that the Anglican Church is something that the English carry with them abroad "carried about (like an India rubber bath), for the sake of personal comfort and the sense of familiarity."

After returning to England, Benson joined an Anglican religious order and for a while this satisfied his Catholic longings. Ultimately, Benson resolved that the Church of England was not truly a part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and was received into the Catholic Church.

Although it may be Victorian sentimentalism, there is much beautiful writing in Confessions of a Convert. Having come to Rome from the Episcopal Church myself, I am very sympathetic to what Benson says about his experience as an Anglican: "It was not that she (the Church of England) had become unlovable. I love her even now as one may love an unsatisfactory human friend. She had a hundred virtues, a delicate speech, a romantic mind; a pleasant aroma hung about her; she was infinitely pathetic and appealing; she had the advantage of dwelling in the shadowed twilight of her own vagueness, in glorious houses, even though not of her building; she had certain gracious ways, pretty modes of expression; her music and her language still seem to me extraordinarily beautiful; and above all, she is the nursing mother of many of my best friends, and for over thirty years educated and nursed me, too, with indulgent kindness. Indeed I was not ungrateful for all this, but it had become entirely impossible for me ever to reverence her again as the divine mistress of my soul."

Father Benson says that in searching the scriptures he found 29 passages of scripture in the New Testament which support the Petrine office. In Benson's words about Holy Mother Church written 100 years ago, I could not help but think how true his words are today, when the Church is rocked by the scandal of pedophile priests, liturgical turmoil, and the cancer of extreme liberal theology.

"She (the Church), too, was betrayed and crucified; 'dying daily,' like her great Lord; denied, mocked, and despised; a child of sorrows and acquainted with grief; misrepresented, agonizing; stripped of her garments, yet, like the King's daughter that she is, 'all glorious within'; dead even, it seemed at times, yet, like her natural Prototype, still united to the Godhead; laid in the sepulchre, fenced in by secular powers, yet ever rising again on Easter Days, spiritual and transcendent; passing through doors that men thought closed for ever, spreading her mystical banquets in upper rooms and by sea shores; and, above all, ascending for ever beyond the skies and dwelling in heavenly places with Him who is her Bridegroom and her God."

Amen.

Transfiguration Sunday

From DIVINE INTIMACY BY Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.:

"Today's Gospel brings out the close connection between the Transfiguration and the Passion of Jesus. Moses and Elias appeared on Thabor on either side of the Savior. They conversed with Him, and as St. Luke explains, talked specifically about His coming Passion: "They spoke of His decease, that He should accomplish in Jerusalem." (Luke 9:31).

The Divine Master wished to teach His disciples in this way that it was impossible - for Him as well as for them - to reach the glory of the Transfiguration without passing through suffering. It was the same lesson that He would give later to the two disciples at Emmaus: "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and so to enter into His glory?" (Luke 24:26). What has been disfigured by sin cannot regain its original supernatural beauty except by way of purifying suffering."

Big Brother Is Watching

This is very, very scary.

A REALLY Bad Catholic

The British reporter, who claims to be a Catholic, who didn't know what the ashes were on Vice President Biden's head is a REALLY Bad Catholic! Here's the story from the Bristish Daily Mail.

Why Switzerland Has the World's Lowest Crime Rate

Food for thought:

Our Lady of Lourdes

On February 11, the Church celebrates the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the peasant girl Bernadette in Lourdes, France.

Saint Scholastica

Today the Church honors Saint Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedict. Saint Scholastica was born in Nursia in Italy about the year 480. She vowed herself to God and followed her brother to Monte Cassino. She died there around the year 547.

Most of what we know about Saint Scholastica comes from the writings of Pope Saint Gregory the Great. There is a famous story that 3 days before she died, Saint Benedict came to see his sister, when night fell, although his sister begged him to stay, Saint Benedict said that he must return to his monastery.

According to Gregory: "When she heard her brother refuse her request, the holy woman joined her hands on the table, laid her head on them and began to pray. As she raised her head from the table, there were such brilliant flashes of lightning, such great peals of thunder and such a heavy downpour of rain that neither Benedict nor his brethren could stir across the threshold of the place where they had been seated. Sadly he began to complain: "May God forgive you, sister. What have you done? "Well," she answered, "I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery." Reluctant as he was to stay of his own will, he remained against his will. So it came about that they stayed awake the whole night, engrossed in their conversation about the spiritual life."

PRAYER: Lord, as we recall the memory of Saint Scholastica, we ask that by her example we may serve you with love and obtain pefect joy. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

School Girls in Saudi Arabia Riot After Having Cell Phones Confiscated

The Arab News reports that a group of African and mixed nationality school girls in Saudi Arabia rioted after having their cell phones confiscated.

Marginal Catholics

At the monastery I finished reading MARGINAL CATHOLICS by Ivan Clutterbuck. Published in Britain in 1993, Father Clutterbuck states in his introduction that his book was written in response to W.S.F. Pickering's book ANGLO-CATHOLICISM: A STUDY IN RELIGIOUS AMBIGUITY, which has previously been reviewed on this blog.

Even though I personally was only a member of the Episcopal Church for about five years, I have soft spot in my heart for all things Anglican and especially the High Church Party in the Church of England. Father Clutterbuck does not begin his history of the Anglo-Catholic movement with the 19th century Oxford movement, but begins it with the Reformation, which is deemed to have mostly been a big mistake. Throughout the book, Clutterbuck takes swipes at the opponents of Catholic worship in the Church of England. The Puritans, the Methodists and the Evangelicals all get hammered to varying degrees by Father Clutterbuck's pen.

When it reaches the Oxford movement, the book really takes off. We are treated to stories of the Victorian Anglo-Catholic priests who ministered in some of the worst slums in the cities of England and then were subjected to riots organized by Protestant Anglicans to disrupt masses. Since the Church of England is an established Church, the prayer book rubrics have the force of law. Protestant Anglicans organized and had criminal charges brought against High Church priests for violating the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer. In some cases, priests were jailed for offenses such as putting candles on the altar, wearing Eucharistic vestments, and burning incense.

The autobiographical parts of the book are particularly fun. Father Clutterbuck was raised in a High Anglican parish in the 1920s. He calls his book "Marginal Catholics" because he says that when he went off to university and theological college he found out that the Anglo-Catholics were really on the margins of the Church of England. He then proceeds to tell anecdotes about how Protestant Anglican bishops sought to marginalize the Anglo-Catholics. Clutterbuck's bishop sent him off to the army chaplain corps at the beginning of World War II to "teach him some manners." The book explains how the chaplain corps in the British Army was run by the Evangelicals while the Navy chaplain corps was dominated by the Anglo-Catholics. After serving as an army chaplain during the war, Father Clutterbuck went to sea as a navy chaplain and has many entertaining stories about his experiences all over the world.

The final chapter involves the decision of the Church of England to ordain women to the priesthood and the effect that this decision will have on Anglo-Catholics. Although Father Clutterbuck rejects the obvious solution, to reunite with the Church of Rome, he does state that it will be impossible for Anglo-Catholics to remain within a church which has departed from orthodox belief and practice. I found it very interesting that Father Clutterbuck comments that women's ordination carries in its wake an entire program of liberal theology which challenges traditional belief.

The Bad Catholic's general response is that maybe its time to move from the margins and cross the Tiber!

Hail Holy Queen!

Since the 9th century, Saturdays have been specially dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Monastic Retreat

The Bad Catholic spent Monday afternoon through Thursday morning of last week on retreat at the Trappist Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. Every time I go and visit the monastery, I wish that I could just join up and leave the world behind. Talking with the monks, however, one finds out that you can't really ever leave the world and its concerns behind. If anything, I think that the monks are more attuned to the real problems of this old wicked world, while most of us are too involved with the "rat race" to take a broad view.

The retreat conferences were on the writings of Walker Percy. The retreat was led by former Georgia State University literature professor Dr. Victor Kramer. Dr. Kramer is also one of the former editors of The Merton Annual. In addition to Dr. Kramer's talks about the idea of sacrament in Percy's work, we heard from Father James Behrens and Brother Elias, both of whom knew Percy in Covington, Louisiana. Dr. Kramer had also had the opportunity of meeting and corresponding with Percy. These personal anecdotes were very enjoyable and enlightening.

The retreat was well attended by a very diverse group. Among the retreatants were a Bendictine nun, an Episcopal priest from California, a banker, a hospital administrator, a Presbyterian lawyer and his wife, and yours truly. Regretfully, on Friday I resumed a regular workday and realized that a real grasp on reality is rooted in a deep prayer life like that of the monks and that most of us really are
"Lost in the Cosmos."

Literary Giants, Literary Catholics

I know that everybody out there is dying to know what books that I read. My latest completed read is Literary Giants, Literary Catholics by Joseph Pearce. This is a collection of Pearce's essays on authors and literature. Once again, all the usual suspects are here: Chesterton, Belloc, Greene, Benson, Muggeridge, Waugh and Tolkien. There are also one or two surprises like an essay on Paul McCartney as a poet. One of Pearce's favorite subjects is the poet and convert Roy Campbell. There is also an excellent essay on the "war poet" Siegfried Sassoon. Pearce's essays on Oscar Wilde and the 19th century "decadents" is also enlightening. For those who are interested in Catholic literature and culture, like almost everything else written by Pearce, Literary Giants, Literary Catholics is a good read

King Charles the Martyr

Today in 1649, King Charles I was executed by the Puritan Parliament led by Oliver Cromwell. The High Church party in the Church of England has long regarded King Charles as a Christian martyr.

O ALMIGHTY GOD, look down, we beseech thee, upon thy Holy Catholic Church in England, in defense of which Thy blessed martyr Charles shed his blood. Mercifully deliver us from such persecutions as our forefathers in his time endured, raise up unto us wise and holy prelates to fill chairs of those for whose hierarchy he suffered; root out from among us all heresy, schism, and sacrilege; forgive our iniquities, heal our dissensions, make wise our ignorance; that we being aided by his powerful intercession, the light of the true faith may shine throughout the land, and coldness and error may be chased from our midst; through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Ralph McInerny (1929-2010)

Professor Ralph McInerny, former professor of medieval philosophy at Notre Dame and prolific author, has died. There is more about Professor McInerny's life and work at First Thoughts.

Ralph McInerny, Requiescat In Pace.

Thanks Art & Janice!

Many thanks to Art & Janice who were there for me in my hour of need.

"Friends always show their love. What are brothers for if not to share troubles?"
PROVERBS 17:17
(Good News Bible)

The Sign of Jonas

In case anybody is interested, my spiritual reading over the last few months has included Thomas Merton's journal, THE SIGN OF JONAS. Merton would keep his private journal and then edit portions for publication. THE SIGN OF JONAS is Merton's edited and polished journal which runs from Advent of 1946 just before Merton's solemn profession, through his ordination to the priesthood, and ends in July, 1952.

I was actually surprised at how much moaning and complaining that the Trappist censors allowed through to publication in 1953 when this book was first published. Merton starts off complaining about not enough solitude, complaining about writing, complaining about this and about that. There is also much beautiful writing here. There are many spiritual gems which provide much food for thought and deep prayer. The epilogue to this book, the famous "Fire Watch, July, 1952," is considered by many Merton aficionados to be some of Father Louis' best writing. (Merton's name in religion was "Father Louis").

Merton was wonderfully eccentric and wonderfully flawed. In other words, Merton is a "regular guy" that many of us can relate to. He is very approachable. Thomas Merton richly deserves the title of "Spiritual Master."

Rising Baseball Star Forgoes Big Leagues for God's Big League

A rising minor league baseball player has given up the chance to play in the major leagues to become a priest. In other words, he wants to play in the REAL MAJOR LEAGUE!

California Town Celebrates Abortion!

Santa Barbara, California is having a "Planned Parenthood Day," to celebrate Roe v. Wade. Even more evidence of the impending demise of Western Civilization.

Go To Your Cell

A great reflection from the blog Abbey Roads. "Go to your cell and your cell will teach you everything you need to know."

Israeli Field Hospital in Haiti Saves Lives

Apparently, the best equipped field hospital in Haiti has been set up by the Israeli Defense Forces. Read more from the blog Elders of Zion.

And the March Toward the Collapse of Western Civilization Continues

This is an interesting article from the Church of England's Church Times on "the latest row over homosexuality."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

When we let Freedom Ring,
when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet,
from every city and every state,
we will be able to speed up that day
when all God's children, Black men and White men,
Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics
will be able to join hands and sing that old spiritual,
Free at Last! Free at Last!
Thank God almighty, we are free at last!

Jesus Wept

"Jesus wept." John 11:35

For my friends Franklin and Angie Hayes whose daughter is missing in Haiti.

"O MERCIFUL FATHER, WHO HAS TAUGHT US IN THY HOLY WORD THAT THOU DOST NOT WILLINGLY AFFLICT OR GRIEVE THE CHILDREN OF MEN: LOOK WITH PITY UPON THE SORROWS OF THY SERVANTS FOR WHOM OUR PRAYERS ARE OFFERED. REMEMBER THEM, O LORD, IN MERCY, NOURISH THEIR SOULS WITH PATIENCE, COMFORT THEM WITH A SENSE OF THY GOODNESS, LIFT UP THY COUNTENANCE UPON THEM, AND GIVE THEM PEACE; THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN."

(Source: 1979 B.C.P., page 831).

Jury System in Danger in UK?

Apparently, a major criminal trial is going on in England in which the Courts have ruled that there is too great a danger of jury tampering for their to be a jury trial. Read the full story from the blog Gates of Vienna.

Homeland Security

This is Hilarious! Unfortunately, there is more than a grain of truth in it.

Iranian Nuclear Scientist May Have Been Murdered By His Own Government

According to an article in the Times of London, an Iranian nuclear scientist who was recently murdered may have been killed by Hezbollah assassins employed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The Iranian government has blamed Israel and the United States for the murder, when in fact he may have been killed by his own government due to his anti-government political opinions.