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Post by cato on Apr 7, 2018 21:20:55 GMT
I can be guilty of highlighting bad news at times but negativity does appear to be the best at grabbing the headlines. I paraphrase (badly) a good quote by somebody famous.
In partial penance I would like to start a thread on good hopeful religious news. One of the truly great Churchmen of our time is Cardinal Sarah of the Congregation of Divine Worship in Rome. He is a man of deep faith who has much to teach our troubled society and church.
I believe the future of worldwide Christianity is to be found in Africa. Sarah recently pointed out that Africa saved the life of the infant Jesus and that an African called Simon helped our Lord carry the cross.
Cardinal Tomas O Fiach once predicted (in the 1980s before the collapse of Irish Catholicism) Africans would revangelise a worn out post christian Ireland. Sarah's recent book on Silence is spiritual gold. This man is a treasure.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Apr 7, 2018 21:53:32 GMT
One of our priests in Ballymun is Nigerian and he tends to give good solid preaching. He even spoke out against same-sex marriage during the LOVE referendum.
I worry he's getting softer the longer he stays here, though.
I've noticed a slight upswing in congregations in the last year or so, I think-- at least, in the churches I attend.
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Post by cato on Apr 14, 2018 13:50:53 GMT
It may seem somewhat strange but the savage and brutal persecution of christians by enemies of the faith in our time is also a cause of hope and solace. Tertullian refered in 197 AD to the blood of the martyrs being the seed of the church.
Recently in France a catholic policeman lieutnant Colonel Arnaud Beltrane offered his life in exchange for a female hostage in a terrorist attack. A few years back Fr Jacques Hamel a venerable french priest had his throat cut during mass. It has also been announced Pierre Cleverie and his 18 Trappist companions martyred in Algeria in the 1990s will be beatified later this year.
Countless thousands suffer and witness, sometimes to the extent of death, their christian faith daily. Pray the Lord may give us some of their fortitude and joyful trust.
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Post by cato on May 9, 2018 18:23:32 GMT
One of the few good things to have come out of the current sinister Repeal campaign to strip the unborn of their sole constitutional right is the coming together of the Church of Ireland , The Presbyterian Church , the Baptist Church and various Evangelical Churches along with the Catholic Church to oppose the Repeal proposal. This is in stark contrast to 1983 when most Protestant Churches opposed the 8th Amendment as being sectarian and unneccesary.
Those so called prominent liberal catholics advocating a yes vote are now protestant than most protestants it would seem!
This unprecedented joint defence of the defenceless is probably an example of what a famous Jesuit periodical recently denounced as a right wing"ecumenism of hate".
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Good News
May 10, 2018 2:28:42 GMT
via mobile
Post by Séamus on May 10, 2018 2:28:42 GMT
One of the few good things to have come out of the current sinister Repeal campaign to strip the unborn of their sole constitutional right is the coming together of the Church of Ireland , The Presbyterian Church , the Baptist Church and various Evangelical Churches along with the Catholic Church to oppose the Repeal proposal. This is in stark contrast to 1983 when most Protestant Churches opposed the 8th Amendment as being sectarian and unneccesary. Those so called prominent liberal catholics advocating a yes vote are now protestant than most protestants it would seem! This unprecedented joint defence of the defenceless is probably an example of what a famous Jesuit periodical recently denounced as a right wing"ecumenism of hate". I have noted the statements recently made by Irish Protestant churches, often reproduced by Iona website. Irish protestant churches are probably bucking the global trend with this conservatism, compared with statements I've come across from other churches in other countries. I read a piece in today's paper about the two major Liverpool cathedrals, Church of England Christ Cathedral and the Catholic one, known as 'paddy's wigwam'(most Liverpoolian Catholics were obviously still ethnically Irish in the 60s). I hadn't realised that the gargantuan Anglican building was designed by a Catholic "Giles Gilbert Scott... won the contest to build Liverpool's Anglican cathedral at age 22, beating among others Charles Rennie MacIntosh. This despite admitting the had no existing buildings to his credit and that he was a Catholic";Sir Frederick Gibberd, designer of it's counterpart, had on the other hand, been educated at King Henry VIII School in Coventry.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on May 10, 2018 6:10:03 GMT
I love me some ecumenism of hate!
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Post by cato on May 20, 2018 19:57:55 GMT
A friend was telling me the Divine Mercy Sisters in Krakow have been praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet with arms outstretched for the protection of unborn life in Ireland over the last few weeks. The saints of early christian Ireland often prayed in that physical cross shaped position as a penitential exercise.
It is humbling to know millions of people have us in their prayers and that all those holy Irishmen and women who have gone to glory are interceding before God for the cause of protecting innocent vulnerable lives. If we reject this corrupt legislation it will be miraculous. Friday will be one of the darkest or one of the greatest days in our long often bitter story as a people.
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Good News
Jun 13, 2018 12:13:18 GMT
via mobile
Post by Séamus on Jun 13, 2018 12:13:18 GMT
I noticed that the Redemptorists in Limerick are beginning their Our Lady of Perpetual Succour novena on Friday, managing ten sessions daily. Pretty good effort these days for a moderately sized city,I should think.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Jun 13, 2018 16:29:25 GMT
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Post by Séamus on Jun 16, 2018 4:41:29 GMT
I might have missed it, (and there have been other things to think about of course) but I don't think anyone has mentioned anything about the Gardaí finding the heart of St Lorcán in April after six years. That's another "+" that can be chalked up,I think.
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Good News
Jun 16, 2018 8:43:58 GMT
via mobile
Post by cato on Jun 16, 2018 8:43:58 GMT
I might have missed it, (and there have been other things to think about of course) but I don't think anyone has mentioned anything about the Gardaí finding the heart of St Lorcán in April after six years. That's another "+" that can be chalked up,I think. I have always been surprised that the relic of St Lorcan survived the destruction of the Reformation , Cromwell and the Penal laws when so many other catholic images and emblems were burned or destroyed. I must try and research why his heart escaped destruction. The beautiful statue of our Lady of Dublin in Whitefriar St Church , now blackened by fire damage inflicted by the zealous 16th century reformers,is one of the few statues of the pre Reformation era to survive in Ireland. The altar surrounding the Madonna has praying statues of angels surrounding the Madonna of Dublin. Well worth a visit if you come to Dublin.
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Good News
Jun 16, 2018 8:58:40 GMT
via mobile
Post by Séamus on Jun 16, 2018 8:58:40 GMT
I might have missed it, (and there have been other things to think about of course) but I don't think anyone has mentioned anything about the Gardaí finding the heart of St Lorcán in April after six years. That's another "+" that can be chalked up,I think. I have always been surprised that the relic of St Lorcan survived the destruction of the Reformation , Cromwell and the Penal laws when so many other catholic images and emblems were burned or destroyed. I must try and research why his heart escaped destruction. The beautiful statue of our Lady of Dublin in Whitefriar St Church , now blackened by fire damage inflicted by the zealous 16th century reformers,is one of the few statues of the pre Reformation era to survive in Ireland. The altar surrounding the Madonna has praying statues of angels surrounding the Madonna of Dublin. Well worth a visit if you come to Dublin. I was in that one often, but somehow the statue of St Valentine and,I think, the Calvary scene are the things I remember it for.
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Post by cato on Jun 16, 2018 9:03:02 GMT
The story behind the survival of the Madonna is quite inspiring but it tends to be rather non -ecumenical and so is a tad embarassing for the forward looking Church which has no reverse gear or respect for her own tradition.
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Post by Séamus on Jul 21, 2018 8:21:04 GMT
A slightly deeper-than-usual analyses that I noted from a travel column writer- "More than 65million people a year visit London attractions... Of those 5.9 million visited the British Museum last year, while the Victoria&Albert Museum received nearly 3.5 million, slightly fewer than the Natural History Museum... The visitor number for museums are mind-boggling. They serve to reinforce one's hope for humanity in these troubled times. It is encouraging that so many want to share art and beauty for it's own sake. The word has classical origins. It's Greek form,MOUSEION, meant SEAT OF THE MUSES and described a philosophical institution or a place of contemplation" And he ends with the best reflection of all, for tourists anyway, "since 2001 there had been universal free admission"
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Post by cato on Jul 21, 2018 11:18:04 GMT
I take pride when foreigners express surprise that our museums and art galleries are free. Dublin has many fine cultural venues and most Irish county towns have local cultural centres and museums. The OPW sites are usually free I think on a few select dates each year too.
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