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Post by Maolsheachlann on Jun 2, 2021 17:21:37 GMT
George Bernard Shaw once said that Hilaire Belloc defended the Church because its disappearance "would take the salt out of blasphemy". I often think of this quotation. I feel something like it. It seems to me that Christianity fulfils a vital function even as an antagonist. When I see some cynic parodying Christianity, like Dermot Morgan with his Fr. Trendy, somehow I feel that even the parody is more appealing than anything purely secular. Christianity seems like a horizon that we can't get beyond. I don't want to get beyond it, but I remember being an agnostic and having a vague sense that everything grew out of religion, out of a sense of the sacred.
For instance, it really seems that progressive Ireland can't let go of Catholicism-- either as something to define itself against, or in an attempt to assimilate it to itself.
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Post by cato on Jun 3, 2021 10:13:45 GMT
George Bernard Shaw once said that Hilaire Belloc defended the Church because its disappearance "would take the salt out of blasphemy". I often think of this quotation. I feel something like it. It seems to me that Christianity fulfils a vital function even as an antagonist. When I see some cynic parodying Christianity, like Dermot Morgan with his Fr. Trendy, somehow I feel that even the parody is more appealing than anything purely secular. Christianity seems like a horizon that we can't get beyond. I don't want to get beyond it, but I remember being an agnostic and having a vague sense that everything grew out of religion, out of a sense of the sacred. For instance, it really seems that progressive Ireland can't let go of Catholicism-- either as something to define itself against, or in an attempt to assimilate it to itself. An Ireland without Catholicism is absurd even on a secular level. So much of our recorded history and culture is directly linked to the Christian experience since St Patrick walked among us. We are even dependent on Christian monks for recording every piece of literary evidence about pagan Ireland.The widespread ignorance of the vast intellectual wealth of our Christian heritage impoverishes everyone even modern Irish pagans who seek to be truly educated. And yet the church failed and continues to fail in explaining this. |
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Post by Séamus on Jun 5, 2021 9:23:47 GMT
George Bernard Shaw once said that Hilaire Belloc defended the Church because its disappearance "would take the salt out of blasphemy". I often think of this quotation. I feel something like it. It seems to me that Christianity fulfils a vital function even as an antagonist. When I see some cynic parodying Christianity, like Dermot Morgan with his Fr. Trendy, somehow I feel that even the parody is more appealing than anything purely secular. Christianity seems like a horizon that we can't get beyond. I don't want to get beyond it, but I remember being an agnostic and having a vague sense that everything grew out of religion, out of a sense of the sacred. For instance, it really seems that progressive Ireland can't let go of Catholicism-- either as something to define itself against, or in an attempt to assimilate it to itself. An Ireland without Catholicism is absurd even on a secular level. So much of our recorded history and culture is directly linked to the Christian experience since St Patrick walked among us. We are even dependent on Christian monks for recording every piece of literary evidence about pagan Ireland.The widespread ignorance of the vast intellectual wealth of our Christian heritage impoverishes everyone even modern Irish pagans who seek to be truly educated. And yet the church failed and continues to fail in explaining this. A prayer I came across for the feast of St Kevin yesterday mentioned that he was 'baptized by one Saint, taught by another and buried by a third". Scotland also got a reminder of it's Catholic past last week with the recent theft of Queen Mary's golden rosary. (It's refreshing that,in 2021,a police appeal can ask that anyone who 'saw any suspicious activity around the area of the castle please contact...'" You would imagine that such patrimony was undeniable. It came to my mind also when looking at what I could of Mr Buck's new age video,how recently I had been helping someone collect something large that they had bought through one of the eBay/gumtree-type sites from the seller's own home. The first thing I noticed was the Buddha in the front garden. When the 30s-something lady arrived after picking up her daughter from school,it was obvious that she wasn't from any country with a Buddhist heritage. There were more Buddhas inside. And dreamcatchers. And posters of fluffy 'follow your dreams' slogans. The heavily accented lady was in fact Italian-born and reared. And there wasn't a single hint of Christian culture to be seen. I know nothing of her personal story- she was perhaps only a symbolism- but at the time could only keep thinking of two millennia of Catholic tradition in the Italian peninsula. Across the road were three enormous water towers. Chesterton gave a water tower a pivotal role in Napoleon of NottingHill. For reasons I can't explain they seemed important to this experience too. Maybe because utilitarian structure embodies the realism of the present. Maybe because,in Perth, they're not seen as often in districts closer to the city,so they can embody urban expansion and,therefore,the future. Maybe because both seeing water towers close-up and entering a house belonging to Europeans which was full of trendy spirituality was so darn strange to my introversion. |
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Salt
Jun 5, 2021 15:11:02 GMT
via mobile
Séamus likes this
Post by cato on Jun 5, 2021 15:11:02 GMT
It came to my mind also when looking at what I could of Mr Buck's new age video,how recently I had been helping someone collect something large that they had bought through one of the eBay/gumtree-type sites from the seller's own home. The first thing I noticed was the Buddha in the front garden. When the 30s-something lady arrived after picking up her daughter from school,it was obvious that she wasn't from any country with a Buddhist heritage. There were more Buddhas inside. And dreamcatchers. And posters of fluffy 'follow your dreams' slogans. The heavily accented lady was in fact Italian-born and reared. And there wasn't a single hint of Christian culture to be seen.
I know nothing of her personal story- she was perhaps only a symbolism- but at the time could only keep thinking of two millennia of Catholic tradition in the Italian peninsula.
Across the road were three enormous water towers. Chesterton gave a water tower a pivotal role in Napoleon of NottingHill. For reasons I can't explain they seemed important to this experience too. Maybe because utilitarian structure embodies the realism of the present. Maybe because,in Perth, they're not seen as often in districts closer to the city,so they can embody urban expansion and,therefore,the future.
Maybe because both seeing water towers close-up and entering a house belonging to Europeans which was full of trendy spirituality was so darn strange to my introversion.
[/quote]
Striking indeed.
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Salt
Jun 10, 2021 4:04:56 GMT
via mobile
cato likes this
Post by Séamus on Jun 10, 2021 4:04:56 GMT
George Bernard Shaw once said that Hilaire Belloc defended the Church because its disappearance "would take the salt out of blasphemy". I often think of this quotation. I feel something like it. It seems to me that Christianity fulfils a vital function even as an antagonist. When I see some cynic parodying Christianity, like Dermot Morgan with his Fr. Trendy, somehow I feel that even the parody is more appealing than anything purely secular. Christianity seems like a horizon that we can't get beyond. I don't want to get beyond it, but I remember being an agnostic and having a vague sense that everything grew out of religion, out of a sense of the sacred. For instance, it really seems that progressive Ireland can't let go of Catholicism-- either as something to define itself against, or in an attempt to assimilate it to itself. An Ireland without Catholicism is absurd even on a secular level. So much of our recorded history and culture is directly linked to the Christian experience since St Patrick walked among us. We are even dependent on Christian monks for recording every piece of literary evidence about pagan Ireland.The widespread ignorance of the vast intellectual wealth of our Christian heritage impoverishes everyone even modern Irish pagans who seek to be truly educated. And yet the church failed and continues to fail in explaining this. I'm not sure how the G7's tax policy towards the world's largest companies will effect those headquartered in Ireland. I'm not even sure how G7 still holds a lion's share of world power considering the emerging markets elsewhere and the amount of clout held by the Googles,Amazons,etc. But,the summit being hosted mostly in Cornwall,it's hard not to compare the global powerbrokers with the myriad of local cultus of early Christian saints that fill the region (my own relations live in one of the several towns whose name is a corruption of the Saint who once lived there.) Legend gives several of these Irish birth (St Piran of Parranporth's cross is still used for the Cornish flag/St Ives was the Celtic-tradition nun Ia),how ironic if VIPs in 2021 turn a side glance at Ireland's low-tax economy from the place of their footsteps. The British chancellor's office has claimed that the use of much-filmed Lancaster House has helped to secure agreements. Refreshing that something built by a monarchy in the early 1800s can still claim material relevance. But "kittens, cats, sacks and wives",did any of them even consider St Ives? |
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Post by cato on Jun 10, 2021 12:08:30 GMT
The prayer book rebellion in 1549 against the new liturgy broke out in Cornwall on this date too. Put down with great brutality. Tough when you are on the wrong side of history.
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Salt
Oct 3, 2021 10:04:03 GMT
via mobile
Tomas likes this
Post by cato on Oct 3, 2021 10:04:03 GMT
Our Lord told us when salt losses its taste it is useless and needs to be thrown out.
The main Irish seminary this year attracted 4 seminarians. That's 4 for 26 dioceses.
The archbishop of Dublin recently wrote a glossy well produced booklet on the "catastrophe" of ....... climate change. Dublin has zero seminarians for probably the first time since the penal era if not ever.
Our fellow citizens are debating a new public holiday in February but most are agreed, at least on social media it should not be called St Brigids day but Brigid's day after the pagan goddess.
And we are planning a Synodal process. In German it is debating Do we need clergy? Something dark , decadent and rotten is going on.
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Post by Tomas on Oct 3, 2021 11:10:40 GMT
Our Lord told us when salt losses its taste it is useless and needs to be thrown out. The main Irish seminary this year attracted 4 seminarians. That's 4 for 26 dioceses. The archbishop of Dublin recently wrote a glossy well produced booklet on the "catastrophe" of ....... climate change. Dublin has zero seminarians for probably the first time since the penal era if not ever. Our fellow citizens are debating a new public holiday in February but most are agreed, at least on social media it should not be called St Brigids day but Brigid's day after the pagan goddess. And we are planning a Synodal process. In German it is debating Do we need clergy? Something dark , decadent and rotten is going on. This is fruits that comes from a bad tree. Masonic or Socialist or any Other, what we need now is to look forward. Let stagnation rot for itself and the dead bury their dead? Salt preserves - same for the good and the evil - but to convert drones from the present mindset of the world also some spiritual pepper might help. |
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Post by assisi on Oct 3, 2021 18:43:24 GMT
Our Lord told us when salt losses its taste it is useless and needs to be thrown out. The main Irish seminary this year attracted 4 seminarians. That's 4 for 26 dioceses. The archbishop of Dublin recently wrote a glossy well produced booklet on the "catastrophe" of ....... climate change. Dublin has zero seminarians for probably the first time since the penal era if not ever. Our fellow citizens are debating a new public holiday in February but most are agreed, at least on social media it should not be called St Brigids day but Brigid's day after the pagan goddess. And we are planning a Synodal process. In German it is debating Do we need clergy? Something dark , decadent and rotten is going on. This is fruits that comes from a bad tree. Masonic or Socialist or any Other, what we need now is to look forward. Let stagnation rot for itself and the dead bury their dead? Salt preserves - same for the good and the evil - but to convert drones from the present mindset of the world also some spiritual pepper might help. It would help if Pope Francis didn't contradict himself at every turn. The Church of 'nice' ain't gonna cut it. |
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