2010 September archive at Being Frank

Archive for September, 2010

Sep

Stop hating on the Popes

By Filia Day 42 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

You know, I wish people would stop hating on the Popes. On Tuesday morning I wandered along to mass, still quite tired and a bit exhausted. I was certainly woken up when the priest in question begun his homily. He mentioned that he had started reading a book on Pope Pius XII during those years leading up to and during the Second World War. By this point my ears pricked up, I’m an avid reader of histories and I’m always inclined to search out something new on this era in particular. However, I was utterly shocked by the next few sentences. He basically said that Pope Pius was a coward for not instigating any formal condemnation of the Nazi regime AND that a new book has basically explained Pius position in terms of his own personal hunger for power. I mean, come on already. Been there, done that. We’ve all read Hitler’s Pope and been rather unimpressed by it use of selective historical sources. It forgets to mention that anytime anyone in authority stood up to the regime (via decrees and announcements) the Nazi’s took revenge – they deported more supposedly “biologically deficient” Jews and committed mass atrocities. Hello!!!!! If Pope Pius had’ve overtly spoken out against the Regime, Hitler would have had a fit!!!! It’s always bad when dictators have fits.

Anyways, seems like NZ priests aren’t the only ones hating on the Popes (n,o I’m not going to get into what has happened in Britain recently – although I did really appreciate this article in the Telegraph).

Getting back to the Pope Pius topic, I found a recent article in Zenit which depicts a recent misquoting of Pope Pius, to make it seem like he was calling the Jews the enemies of the Church.

Sep

Mortality and Carpe Diem

By Inkling 1 Comment

Categories: Being Frank...

Benjamin Franklin said that ‘in this world, nothing can be said to be certain except for death and taxes’. Our mortality is the one inescapable fact of human existence – and regardless of race, culture or creed, knowing that death must come is an enormous factor in how one lives life. The need to use each day to its full potential is a maxim commonly agreed upon and encouraged. As indeed it should be – but this can be understood in different ways.

‘Carpe Diem’, catchphrase of the nineties (or so I am told) is, on the face of it, inspiring, but has a certain recklessness inherent in its meaning. ’Enjoy yourself. It’s later than you think’ says the Chinese proverb. To live each day as if it was your last is encouragement to live well, but there is the danger – the temptation – to take it as license to be rash and reckless, to indulge, enjoy life’s pleasures, and live without regard for consequence.

But we must seize each day in the sense that today is a gift- and today is the only day we can do anything about (I’m sure that’s a quote – I cannot remember who said it). All the small moments, seconds, minutes, hours is what life is composed of, and it is undeniable and surely universally agreed that to live life well, each moment we have must be lived well.

“I’m less interested in why we’re here. I’m wholly devoted to while we’re here” writes Erika Harris from ‘lifeblazing.com’. But surely the ‘why we’re here’ of life is the key difference in how we use our time ‘while we’re here’.

The book of Ecclesiastes has to contain one of the greatest pieces of wisdom on this matter – asking what is life for? What is the best way of spending one’s time here on earth?

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PKV.HTM

The more I write and think about this topic, the more I see there is to say and discuss, and the more I realise that there is no way I can do justice to this topic here! Saints like St Francis de Sales and St Therese of Lisieux emphasise the importance of all the small moments in life. In the end, to view each day as a gift from God entails living each day as well as we can; not with a view to gathering pleasures, but with a view to living a life that will make us worthy of eternal life – our belief in what happens after death is surely a major factor in influencing how we will live our life.

Sep

Qu’ran honoured at California Cathedral

By Marty Rethul 157 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

I found the following article on the Catholic Culture website. This scheduled ‘honouring’ was to take place on September 11, the anniversary of the twin towers episode. You can find the full article with responses here. I have also reproduced it below:

Representatives of different religions, including members of the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, and Druid communities, took part in an interfaith “blessing” of the Qu’ran at Sacramento’s Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on September 11. During the ceremony, Father Michael Kiernan, rector of the cathedral, read from the Beatitudes.

“The majority of people don’t want other people’s holy objects to be desecrated,” said Father Anthony Garibaldi. “As a Christian, we don’t wanna do anything that we ourselves wouldn’t want,” a local televsion station quoted him as saying.

Oh look, why not?

The ‘blessing’ occurred in response to Florida pastor Terry Jones’ intention to burn the same book on the anniversary of ’9/11′. Apparently, the plan was to read seven passages of the Qu’ran which show peace and love and things like that – to show there are peaceful passages in this book. There was also one reading each from the Old and New Testaments – Isaiah 2 (swords into ploughshares!) and Matthew 5 (the Beatitudes).

I wrote a three-volume novel once, brimming with more than usually revolting sentimentality. Perhaps something could be read out from that some time?

Sep

Powerfully pointless protesting

By James the Least 72 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Best protest sign ever? One I saw when looking into the current visit of the Pope to the UK: “Down with this sort of thing“. Nice work. :) Pithy. Specific. Really a very well-crafted piece of protest prose.

Here’s the thing about all these protesters – and I say “all these” as a rather generous description of the very few who actually have a clue when protesting against the pope and the Church – what are they actually rallying against? Have they listened to anything that the pope has said….ever? And I don’t just mean picking through speeches looking for quotes to prove that he’s still not tough enough when it comes to dealing with sex abuse by the clergy, because I read the same quotes and see a pontiff and leader who is hurt, shocked and reviled at the unspeakable evil actions of a very few sick people and who is doing all he can to remedy and avoid the mistakes of the past in the future.

With all the hollerin’ and a shoutin’ over the travesty that is a publicly funded trip for a Head of State (like the countless others before him), have the protesters and those that don’t like the pope listened to what he has actually said? What don’t they like about a man who is calling people to reject greed, sin and evil, and instead (to quote from his address at the beatification of Blessed Cardinal Newman) adopt a “single-minded love of God and neighbour”?

I just wonder whether their time could be spent better than just treating Pope Benedict as a scapegoat for all the unpopular teachings of the Church – a kind of metaphorical piñata that they can just hit as hard as possible as a way for venting their anger at the actions of others – and coming up with intellectually stimulating protest signs? I’m happy to give lessons on alternatives if they want to learn? ;)

Pope Benedict XVI is just a man. But he is a man who has a message – one that I think deserves to be listened to: love of God, love of each other, peace and goodwill. Up with that sort of thing I say! :)

Sep

Get real

By Joan of Arc Closed

Categories: Being Frank...

I see that the C.S Lewis classic, The Screwtape Letters, has now become a hit on Broadway. I think it’s great to be getting that sort of stuff out there. It wasn’t until last year that I discovered this book and I’m so thankful I did. Hopefully it’s opening the minds of all those who see the stage show as much as it did for me.

For those who don’t know about The Screwtape Letters, the book consists of thirty-one letters written by a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew, a junior ‘tempter’ named Wormwood. The letters contain advice on how to turn the human, who Wormwood has been appointed to tempt, toward the one they call ‘Our Father Below’, and away from God (who they simply call ‘The Enemy’).

Re-reading the first of Screwtape’s letters the other day actually made me think of Being Frank. He writes (keeping in mind that they speak of God as the enemy): “The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy’s own ground. He can argue too; whereas in really practical propoganda of the kind I am suggesting He has been shown for centuries to be greatly inferior…By the very act of arguing you awake the patient’s reason…Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favour, you will find that you have been strengthening in your patient the fatal habit of attending to universal issues and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences”.

So Screwtape moves onto talking about fooling humans into not understanding what real life is about. His advice to Wormwood: “Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. Teach him to call it ‘real life’ and don’t let him ask what he means by ‘real’”. This point is so true in my own life. Sometimes when I am on retreat or in church or spending time in prayer I tend to think of it as a bubble and that when I am finished in that situation I go back to ‘real life’. This is a dangerous way to think, because, for Christians, our real life is our relationship with Christ. When St Paul writes to the Galatians he says: “True, I am living, here and now, this mortal life; but my real life is the faith I have in the Son of God”.

It can be so easy to get distracted by little things along the way, our immediate sense experiences. I am not meaning that we should stop caring about the things going on in the world, or about the ordinary parts of our lives, but as a Christian I need to keep reminding myself to keep my eyes on the bigger picture and not let ordinary life distract me from God. Screwtape gives an example of reminding a man who is starting to think about the bigger questions in life, that he is hungry and should go to lunch rather that continue his train of thought.

Things to think about.

If you haven’t read the book, I definitely recommend it!

Sep

The Pope speaks and Britain listens…

By Voice in the wilderness 7 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

To continue the thread of papal pilgrimage posts…

I have been fascinated with the visit of B16 to the British Isles, more so than his visits to other countries. Perhaps it is because of the strong ties between the UK and NZ, colonially, historically, politically and demographically.

Watching the footage and reading the articles a few things become apparent to me:

The Pope is worth listening to
The Pope’s visit is needed, especially for the faithful in the UK

A quip many of you may have heard rings true for this visit: people came to see Pope John Paul II, but they come to listen to Pope Benedict XVI. While he may not have the charisma that JP2 had earlier in his pontificate, he is certainly worth listening to. Many Catholic bloggers have surmised that some of the speeches B16 makes on this trip will be the most important of his pontificate.

The Church in Britain (and in the rest of the world) is embattled, fought against from the inside and out, and the Popes words are an encouragement and a support.

I encourage you to perhaps pick an address that interests you and read it, or better, watch it. Information can be found on the official site, or on Whispers In the Loggia, a great Catholic blog.

The one I chose to watch in full was his address to Parliament and British Society… Check out the video…

Here is an excerpt…

I recall the figure of Saint Thomas More, the great English scholar and statesman, who is admired by believers and non-believers alike for the integrity with which he followed his conscience, even at the cost of displeasing the sovereign whose “good servant” he was, because he chose to serve God first. The dilemma which faced More in those difficult times, the perennial question of the relationship between what is owed to Caesar and what is owed to God, allows me the opportunity to reflect with you briefly on the proper place of religious belief within the political process.

…

the fundamental questions at stake in Thomas More’s trial continue to present themselves in ever-changing terms as new social conditions emerge. Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: what are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved? These questions take us directly to the ethical foundations of civil discourse. If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident – herein lies the real challenge for democracy.

The pope is speaking, let’s listen!

St Benedict, Pray for us!

Sep

“Now, the kilt was only for day-to-day wear. In battle, we donned a full-length ball gown covered in sequins. The idea was to blind your opponent with luxury.”

By Methuselah's Beard Closed

Categories: Being Frank...

Well there’s already a healthy discussion on the need for the Pope in Britain so I’ll skip writing about that today. I must say the BBC’s coverage of the Pope’s visit has been pretty good. It started at around 9am this morning (well when I started watching it at work anyway) with Shepherd 1 landing at Edinburgh airport. I was a bit disappointed in the decision to name the Papal plane Shepherd 1. Couldn’t they think of a better name? (Insert better name here _____ as I can’t think of one either). It then followed the Pope and his entourage through the streets of Edinburgh before meeting the Queen at Holyrood. At the moment, the Pope is saying Mass somewhere in Glasgow which is being beamed live along with commentary. Quite good coverage and the Pope makes me smile when he speaks in his german accented english (teehee). Unfortunately I missed the sermon but apparently it was about evangelisation and practicing your faith in a world that’s less than willing to play along. Oh and SuBo sang. I can’t believe I missed SuBo!

It wouldn’t be a Papal visit without a Papal aide making some controversial comment. In this case, Cardinal Kasper made the comment that landing in Heathrow was like landing in a ‘third world country’. And he said all this without seeing the departure lounge at Terminal 3. Kasper said “England today is a secularised, pluralistic country. When you land at Heathrow Airport, you sometimes think you’d landed in a Third World country.” Who knows what he meant. He’s been mothballed with gout sent from heaven. Oh and the Pope’s comparison of Nazism to today’s atheist extremism’ hasn’t gone down very well with the atheists (obviously). You can read about it and other part’s of the Pope’s first day here.

There has been some opposition to the Pope’s visit and protests about the costs of the visit (hey if you didn’t want the Pope to come, don’t invite him) and of course the child abuse scandal. It’ll be interesting to what is said about this and apparently the Pope may meet some of those who suffered abuse at the hands of priests.

The Pope is also here to beatify John Henry Newman (he’s not a Saint yet Chris) who apparently had a good career as an Anglican pastor before switching to the Catholic side. Sort of like Sonny Bill Williams’ move from league to union but more successful, hence Newman’s beatification.

Well Mass is at an end now and the Pope is about to reenter the Popemobile (presumably) which is looking like quite an upgrade over PJP2′s. He’s looking quite resplendent in gold as he processes out (waving) to strains of some words attached to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. There’s some baby blessing going on, people cheering, flags waving, the sun is out, and people are happy. How un-Glaswegian.

Well I’m glad I caught that all on TV and tis’ good to see the Pope out and about. No signs of protests but naturally the TV footage is unlikely to show that. Just lots of happy Catholics and Christians. Unfortunately PBXI is only here for 4 days so expect no innane commentary from me next week.