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Post by Tomas on Jan 24, 2018 19:35:00 GMT
I've never had an experience of anyone in Ireland saying grace until I started doing it myself. I only encountered it in America when I went there (I was moving in very Catholic circles). I always do it now, even if I'm alone-- I say the grace (in Irish) silently, but I bless myself. For me it´s the other way around. Learned it first at my grandfather´s home (he was a vicar and also a conservative) and nowadays I always do it alone but rarely in public. About the only argument for the latter is that it feels a bit embarasing to pray so especially if you are in a restaurant where literally none of the other guests would ever have done it themselves! Usually I say an extremely short prayer and do the Sing of the Cross the days when I take lunch at work but there it´s less "strange" since the small amount of colleagues eating there are used to seeing it by now anyway. When it comes to restaurants I guess the better thing would be to apply Chesterton´s advice on things worth doing being worth doing badly, but not as yet here...
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Post by Séamus on Jan 24, 2018 23:27:52 GMT
I've never had an experience of anyone in Ireland saying grace until I started doing it myself. I only encountered it in America when I went there (I was moving in very Catholic circles). I always do it now, even if I'm alone-- I say the grace (in Irish) silently, but I bless myself. Communal Grace always reminds me of the Waltons. It's probably a more Irish thing to make the Sign of the Cross while passing a church. In Australia, I've been in cars with very religious people, with conservative Catholics, with priests and even conservative,religious priests - and I'm the only person in the car who would do it. A New Zealand -born priest, some years ago remarked on it "I should do that"... I think I may have seen one or two Europeans and/or middle Eastern people doing it here, but not many.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Jan 24, 2018 23:46:42 GMT
I've never had an experience of anyone in Ireland saying grace until I started doing it myself. I only encountered it in America when I went there (I was moving in very Catholic circles). I always do it now, even if I'm alone-- I say the grace (in Irish) silently, but I bless myself. Communal Grace always reminds me of the Waltons. It's probably a more Irish thing to make the Sign of the Cross while passing a church. In Australia, I've been in cars with very religious people, with conservative Catholics, with priests and even conservative,religious priests - and I'm the only person in the car who would do it. A New Zealand -born priest, some years ago remarked on it "I should do that"... I think I may have seen one or two Europeans and/or middle Eastern people doing it here, but not many. It's a thing I've never done myself, perhaps because it seems like a mere reflex rather than anything meaningful. But, when I come to think of it, that's no real reason to hold it against it.
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Post by Tomas on Jan 25, 2018 14:42:02 GMT
I know one Syrian family and they do some such things like "a mere reflex" in this! But indeed - no reason against these prayers :-)
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Post by Séamus on Feb 9, 2018 1:55:49 GMT
I've just read that the Isle of Guernsey has issued a (st) Valentine's day stamp which has words inscribed in English and Auregnais. I'm not sure if this is normal ( I'd never realised Guernsey issued stamps-I know Jersey has turned philately into an industry),apparently the language itself officially became extinct in 1960
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Post by Séamus on Sept 22, 2018 7:50:38 GMT
A columnist today was thinking back a few months to the World Cup and thinking of Croatia in particular, writing an emotive piece(the entire thing is quite long) "everyone's eyes were on tiny Croatia this year as it's footballers challenged the best from around the globe and made it to the final of the World Cup. A relatively new nation of only four million people battled the might of France's billion-dollar team of stars in a controversy plagued match where hearts everywhere were with the underdog.... The aftermath to the final was full of symbolism as Russia, which once dominated the former Yugoslavian state that shrouded Croatia's identity, hosted the dying moments of the World Cup. There was the President of Croatia,a nation no longer under the yoke of communism, standing sodden in the rain joyfully embracing the players of both teams while next to her Russia's despotic leader had an umbrella imperiously held over his head..." (photo was attached to editorial) As most of the article was cultural-historical I haven't written this under SPORT; the following trivia that he mentioned may be of interest: "according to (West Australian) historian Neven Smoje, our first Croatian migrant was almost certainly Vicko Vukovic,a seafarer from an island off Dubrovnik. He arrived in 1858 and changed his name to John Vincent, marrying an Irish woman in 1867 with whom he had five children. Vukovic died at sea in 1879, when his vessel, THE ROSETTE, sank in the Dampier Archipelago" Apparently Europeans often anglicized their names up to the 1960s and beyond. I wonder how the young Irish widow fared?
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Post by Séamus on Oct 29, 2018 1:46:50 GMT
Following a (good) suggestion, I'm setting up this stickied thread for subjects which people might want to bring up, but which they don't feel require a whole thread. So that includes straightforward requests for information, or anything else which you feel might fit under "miscellaneous". An 50-year-old Irishman, resident in Australia, has just finished a charity-cycle across the continent, partly funding Cancer Care West of Ireland and partly Australian cancer charities, reported in today's newspaper. An interesting quote in the paper: "(Martin Howley's) efforts to get to Perth yesterday afternoon were almost foiled when he fell off his bike going over train tracks in the Wheatbelt on Saturday. But he said it was as though 'Jesus Christ or the universe was looking over me' because an ambulance happened to drive past minutes later and stopped to clean the wound" Nice witness, pity about the ambivalence.
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Post by Stephen on Oct 31, 2018 15:00:42 GMT
Mal,I like your new profile picture 😀
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Oct 31, 2018 15:03:09 GMT
Thanks! Hanging with the kids!
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Post by Stephen on Oct 31, 2018 20:03:04 GMT
Thanks! Hanging with the kids! I always new you were a fly daddieo
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Post by Séamus on Feb 24, 2019 7:11:41 GMT
Vale: Stanley Donen and Peter Tork, both of which left their mark on entertainment. I suppose it's 'clinging at straws' to suggest that dying within days of each other was appropriate, seeing that Tork was a Monkee and Donen is mostly remembered for his work on Singing In The Rain which includes the Monkey To the Chimp Honeymoon Song?
Somebody (obviously in Ireland for St Valentine's Eve) gave me a 13th-dated Irish Independent late last week. Nice to note the shrine in Whitefriar Street plugged twice, firstly by pro-Catholic Sarah McDonald, then by a more secular columnist, the latter a bit caustic but still not afraid to recommend a visit. Even a third piece by a gay man who alleges that the feast always traumatised him included the 'st' suffix, something generally dropped in Australia. Actually I hardly noticed the day this year aside from (extraordinary form) Mass- the large Asian population in Perth means that Chinese New Year is more financially profitable and is beginning to eclipse Valentine's altogether.
The same edition noted the funeral details of anti-divorce and abortion campaigner (and unelected National Party politician and founding member) Nora Bennis @78 in Limerick. RIP...and may she keep campaigning.
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Post by Séamus on May 16, 2019 2:20:13 GMT
I hope the funeral went well Mr Maolsheachlann, continue to remember you all. Noted also is the death of L'Arche founder Jean Vanier last week, who undoubtedly did an invaluable amount of good, particularly highlighting the dignity to the disabled, which is an argument for life's sanctity. Surprising that he held a watered-down stand on assisted suicide towards the end. L'Arche is often categorised as a 'new movement', these are usually criticised for being too right-wing in moral theology. Is Vanier the only founder who dissented in any way? I didn't think Doris Day worth mentioning, as there was little to interest a conservative banner, but it is of interest that she reportedly refused the lead role of The Graduate, saying that it overstepped her line of morality. She probably shouldn't be thought too harshly of by her having had four husbands- the marriages seem to have all been pretty disastrous from the start. Perhaps the genesis of her alternative obsessive love of her animals. Alabama and Georgia now the latest US states to try tightening abortion laws. I actually don't know why I'm a bit disappointed at Bette Midler giving outspoken support to the women's no-sex protest,she's far from a moral figure. Somehow,though,you did expect certain celebrities to be decent enough not to cross the abortion line. As for the protest, it may achieve what right-wing activists never could- a stop to abortion, at least for a time. Australian election on Saturday. I wonder if there was ever a campaign so based on left-right ideology, particularly (amount of) response to climate change? It's got to the point where prime Minister Morrison was photographed at his Pentecostal church and later asked whether he believed that gays go to hell, His raised-hand prayer gesture later likened by one lobby group to a nazi-salute.
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Post by Séamus on Jun 23, 2019 11:59:29 GMT
I know someone who has,in recent years, taken interest in being Latvian(born but not raised),as has his family(I was asked to do the semi-interesting job of cleaning his traditional belt once)- they apparently,like much of Europe, consider June 24 as a major day on their calendar as St John's day,but connecting ancient pre-Christian solstice traditions also,like wearing green garlands. Their community club here is small,most members are nominally Lutheran,but the leftover garland-ferns from an early-held St John's celebration ended up with the RC at Infant of Prague and St Joseph statues. Impressive images of a traditionally dressed mass-choir that assembles within Latvia itself on occasions turn up in various media now and then. Early July this year seems to be another such occasion there. Happy Nativity of St John the Baptist tomorrow
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Post by Séamus on Nov 15, 2019 5:51:00 GMT
Scottish columnist Alan Cochrane wrote last week of a short stay in St-Valery en Caux,Normandy,where 8000 of his countrymen served during the Second World War. A recently restored obelisk bears a Scot-Gaelic inscription: La bhlair is math na cairdean(it is good to have friends in battle). I wonder how proficient proFrance Ms Sturgeon is?
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Post by Stephen on Feb 19, 2020 9:26:41 GMT
Dear friends, Please see the below invitation to attend a Solemn High Mass, supper and ceili this St Patrick's Day in the new home of the Institute of Christ the King in Down and Connor. I hope many of you will consider attending. It promises to be a very enjoyable evening and a great occasion to meet other like-minded young Catholics to enjoy the Sacred Liturgy and the festival of our Patron Saint together. In Christ and St Patrick, Attachments:
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