June 30, 2008
The Dutch have banned smoking. Well, sort of…
” Patrons of cannabis cafes will still be allowed to smoke marijuana as long as it is not mixed with tobacco.”
I’m used to this attitude in Oregon, but it still perplexes me. Why is it ok to put Ol’ Mary Jane in my pipe but no ol’ Dunhill? Truly, if anyone can explain, I welcome it!
June 30, 2008
When joining the Church more than four years ago I was shocked to silence at how many Cradle Papists I would encounter who hated the Catholic Church for, well, acting like the Catholic Church. It made no sense to me as a Protestant-turned-Agnostic why someone would remain as a Catholic while demanding that the Catholic Church cease in its Catholicity and begin to resemble the local Unitarian Community. When asked what they wanted to Catholicism to be, the response was nearly always, “A Church that appeals to more people,” to which Carl Olson in his latest post, correctly pointed was a way of saying, “In a way that appeals to me.” The fact remains that many Westerners still want a personal God who will not be so personal.
The Church may lose some appeal to the masses, but that is something that the Church is quite used to. I am more than sure that St. Ignatius was caring little about popular opinion as he was being dragged to Rome to be consumed by lions, and I know that many martyrs were little stricken by their unpopularity in the Colosseum. The modern mindset sees the measure of a good religion by how many attendants it attracts and how good it makes the attendants feel. Numbers, however, have nothing to do with the measure of any faith, any less do they have anything to do with ideas. The only thing that matters is if it is true, and on this measure we weigh the entire universe of thought. My true statement to a child that he will burn his hand on the hot stove takes in no consideration the child’s sincere desire to touch the stove but the truth of the matter. I may, as an adult, allow the child the will to touch the stove and feel the pain, but again the truth is set regardless of any emotions in the situation. Perhaps, if I ascribed to the Oprah doctrine, I would not coddle the young one and assure him that his positive thinking will overcome the heat from the stove, but then I am in falsehood, no matter how well intentioned the falsehood.
June 30, 2008
On Saturday Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople opened the Year of St Paul with these fine words at the Cathedral of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome.
“The radical conversion and apostolic kerygma of Saul of Tarsus literally shook history in its entirety and shaped the very identity of Christianity. This great man profoundly influenced such classical Church Fathers as St. John Chrysostom in the East and St. Augustine of Hippo in the West.”
By his pen and by his preaching the Apostle Paul had shapped the world he lived in and gave the Church her first sight of the joining of faith and reason. This year is one of great reflection for a convert like myself who recalls many intimate readings as a Protestant and the perplexing words of guidance as an agnostic. Not to mention the Apostle’s words when I was tempted by paganism occasionally. I pray that this Pauline year is a blessing for the Church, East and West, and that this humble blogger will post a bit more this year now that he has his computer back. 
June 29, 2008
(HT to the The Blue Boar).
June 1, 2008
Well, it appears that I am to be taken far less seriously as it has taken me this long to realize that my most used category, “Modern Madness” was misspelled up to this time. I have always maintained that spelling is a virtue of universal value and to not strive for this virtue is too make one privy to much mockery and laughter. With that I beg forgiveness from this blogosphere.
