ihom: The blessing of throats on St. Blaise's Day

ihom: The blessing of throats on St. Blaise's Day

Prayer of thanksgiving for a happy death

A Prayer for a Lately Deceased Person

Absolve, we beseech Thee, O Lord,
the soul of Thy servant George,
from every bond of sin,
that being raised in the glory of the resurrection,
he may be refreshed among the Saints and Elect.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

St. Paul Miki (feastday 6th February) pray for the repose of the soul of George - husband, father, grand-father, great-grandfather, uncle who lived a life of pure kindness.

A prayer for my uncle's family:

Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, do not reject my petition, but graciously hear and grant my prayer.
Amen.

Prayer for the souls in Purgatory.
"Eternal Father, I offer thee the most precious blood of thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory. -Amen"

Link to prayers said for uncle George -> at Mary's Prayer Garden

My uncle will be buried on Thursday, 11th February, the Feastday of Our Lady of Lourdes (I'm sure this will give comfort to my auntie (his wife of 50+ years) who used to live next to Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Ireland all those years ago).

All our prayers go to the family and friends in Canada from family and friends in Ireland, the UK and Germany. Louis, his grand-nephew will be representing us all at the services on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.


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Fr Samuel Medley - Love and Responsibility - Session 3 tonight

3rd talk in the series, Love and Responsibility should be streaming live at around midnight tonight GMT

Must have the timing wrong! Maybe it's 1am?

Hey! it started at around 1.10am GMT! I think they had some hiccups at the beginning

The next one will be in a week's time, Session 4,
maybe they'll get session 3 back up again but in the meantime here's the first talk:

The Verb "to use"





buy the book at amazon here

I must admit, I didn't listen to Karol Wojtyla when he was Pope - if I had I might have avoided a lot of pain and might have been able to stay in a challenging marriage. In my own defence, I did not know of this book until I accidentally came across Fr Medley's Ustream site about a week ago...

Catholic Education Service and Bishops of England and Wales when are you going to provide this sort of moral guidance to catholic schoolchildren in UK schools?



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Welcome - after 472 years!

http://www.praemonstratensis.co.uk/default.html

Bring back St Blaise!

Why don't priests bless throats anymore on St Blaise's feast day 3rd February?

Want to know what your rights are as a catholic?

If you live in the UK, you may not have realised this - so I suggest you fly over to Catholic and Loving It! and they'll put you straight - I hope you're a priest who's started to realise you're either for the Pope or you recognise yourself for what you are - an apostate. There's no in-between!

Daniel O'Connell fought for Catholic Emancipation a while back only for it all to be thrown away by so-called catholics like the Bliars (Tone oversaw the death of millions of British babies via abortion supported by the likes of Clare Short, as well as the millions in Iraq etc.), so-called catholic organisations like the 'Catholic Education Service', and bishops who took away centuries-old practices for instance honouring feast days on the day, not least Candlemas of Tuesday, 2nd February 2010.

If you're a catholic you might like to know there are many Anglo Catholic churches dotted around the country which may soon with the help of God re-attach themselves to Rome, where there is a truly faithful enactment of the Holy Mass (like the one I found last night at Holy Trinity Winchester)





Holy Trinity icon

Pass it on

Stand up and be counted!

If you believe in life, liberty and love in truth

Sign the petition

Don't always agree with Damian Thompson but he's spot on here imo

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100024633/has-the-pope-declared-war-on-labour/

Interesting to randomly note that one commenter on DT's blog says this:

I have an archive of WW2 newspapers, there was not a single negative article about the Catholic Church or the Pope until the 1960 play the deputy. Albert Einstein in his interview with Time Magazine in 1940 had this to say:

“Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks….
.
“Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.
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- Albert Einstein, Time magazine, 23rd December, 1940 p. 38

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765103,00.html

From Fr Ray Blake: Church in Bed with Government

Eric Hester quotes this from the Catholic Education Services of England and Wales in an article in the Catholic Herald:

This Government consists of people of great integrity, is pro-life, pro-family and so it is good news that it is putting before Parliament a scheme of compulsory sex education which will apply to every child in a maintained school in England, which includes all Catholic schools except independent schools.

Integrity, pro-life, pro-family, tend not to be words generally associated with this government

read more

In the plate at the second collection at Mass yesterday I put a note "contribute to the "catholic" education service? You must be joking!"

In the newsletter praise was being heaped on local catholic schools for all they do. The priests do a fantastic amount of work as encouraged by the Holy Father today but they are being let down big-time by bishops who are basically "in bed with the government".

Catholic schools are no different from any others in letting the likes of CONNEXIONS into schools with their devious ways of witholding information from parents of under 16 year old girls getting contraception and abortions.

Benedict to us today

Extracts from Pope Benedict to Bishops of E & W today:

encourage the Catholics of England and Wales in their devotion...

ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended...

Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed.

I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended. Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others – on the contrary, it serves their freedom by offering them the truth. Continue to insist upon your right to participate in national debate through respectful dialogue with other elements in society.

In doing so, you are not only maintaining long-standing British traditions of freedom of expression and honest exchange of opinion, but you are actually giving voice to the convictions of many people who lack the means to express them...

the Catholic community in your country needs to speak with a united voice...

It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church’s Magisterium that sets us free


remember that [Newman] saw himself first and foremost as a priest...

hold up to your priests his example of dedication to prayer... passion for preaching the Gospel...

You yourselves should set a similar example.

the priest plays an irreplaceable role in the life of the Church, spare no effort in encouraging priestly vocations and emphasizing to the faithful the true meaning and necessity of the priesthood

...be generous in implementing the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus...

I am convinced that, if given a warm and open-hearted welcome, such groups will be a blessing for the entire Church.
...

To all of you, and to the priests, religious and lay faithful of your country, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you Holy Father

The hermeneutic of continuity: Sacred, Beautiful, & Universal

The hermeneutic of continuity: Sacred, Beautiful, & Universal

This is a quick link to

SACRED, BEAUTIFUL, & UNIVERSAL: Colloquium XIX from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

Some have expressed an interest to know more about

Where epsilon is coming from



This is where I would like to go...

thanks for the link Cor Jesu Sacratissimum


http://www.charlesrathert.com/reflectionministries/IconGallery.html

Guardian Angel Prayer

Oh Angel of God, My Guardian Dear
to whom God's love commits me here.

Ever this day be at my side
to light and guard, to rule and guide.

Amen.

First Catholic prayer I learned to say at home as a child in 50s Ireland. Such a beautifully comforting way for a child to face the world!




Saint Gemma Galgani saw apparitions of her guardian angel
Patron saint of Students and Pharmacists
Feast Day: 11 April

The Word of God from under a low ceiling:)

I found this via a blog I accessed by clicking on 'next blog' on the top bar on Blogger which links to random other blogs!!



This priest, Fr Samuel Medley, has his own youtube channel.



On his website, to be on the street,

he has 1hr+ talks from last March including on Theology of the Body on Healing Contraception, Abortion, Divorce, and Unfaithfulness, Life and Babies, celibacy for priests

Here he is inviting us to join in on his live broadcast sessions from Hester's Cafe Corpus Christi, Texas from Friday 22nd January 2010 for 10 weeks 7-8pm CST (midnight to 1am GMT) (obviously we've missed the live bit of the first two weeks but:

Note: the charge is 'a minimum of one drink' :D




Last Friday's talk of 29th January is here (different speakers each week):
2nd talk in series:



The Ustream link is here


1st in series talk: Intro and analysis of the verb "to use"

With God all things are possible. Mark 10:27

Black Priest Shares Past, Enlightening White Town

ASH GROVE, Mo. — When he moved back home here 12 years ago, the Rev. Moses Berry wanted to settle down to small-town life with his wife and two children. He did not intend to become a one-man racial reconciliation committee.

read more...

Check this out - pass it on - it's important!

Welcome to Catholic and Loving It!

Blogged by James Preece on 29th January 2010

Regular readers can read my interview with Bishop Drainey here.

Welcome to any new visitors this weekend, especially if you found my link in the Catholic Herald. I'm a 27 year Catholic old young dad of two who goes to Mass every week because he wants to and not just because his wife drags him along, there are about six of us in the whole country - do let me know if you meet any more. I grew up in a Church designed do destroy faith in God and for most of my generation it's worked very well. Fortunately I have a rebelious streak in me and worked things out for myself, not because I'm clever but because like Gandalf, God likes to work with the most unlikely creatures imaginable.

I've been blogging on the state of the Catholic Church in England since 2002 and in that time I've written a lot of stuff. Here are some recent highlights:

On the Sex Abuse Scandals (we've learned nothing)...

* The Catholic Church: A Culture Favourable to Abuse
* How the Catholic Church Creates a Culture which is Favourable to Abuse
* The Sword of Damocles?The Culture of Abuse in the Diocese of Middlesbrough

On Criticising the Clergy (it's okay to do it)...

* Should Catholics criticise priests?
* Pope: Laypeople should shut up, keep their heads down and let the clergy get on with the job...

On Archbishop Nichols (picks on traditionalists, doesn't do his job)...

* Throwing his weight around
* Inexorably Distancing: The Movie
* Turning Their Back on the Church's Ordinary Pattern of Prayer
* A Joke...
* Nobody is going to anything about anything?

On Kieran Conry (The Bishop for Youth)...

* How to avoid the parts of Christianity you don't like: A beginners guide from Bishop Kieran Conry
*

There's lots, lots more to be found via the Tag Cloud on the left. Try my posts on Bishop Drainey or if you fancy a laugh, Middlesbrough Cathedral.

The best way to keep up to date with the latest goings on is to subscribe to the free email updates or if you are a bit technical, try the RSS Feed

Commitment

A time for every purpose under Heaven

St Genesius, patron saint of actors / performers



I came across these randomly over the last 24 hours
most recent first:

http://www.stgenesius.com/

http://www.thesestonewalls.com/gordon-macrae/postcards-from-the-edges/

http://vox-nova.com/2010/01/27/soldiers-on-facebook-and-the-worship-of-death/

http://scepticalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/catholic-clerical-abuse-at-ealing-abbey.html

When I read of the Ealing scandal I was incensed - so much that seeing the video of a soldier's idea of fun didn't seem as bad as 'men of the cloth' appearing to brazen out any culpability for covering up actions by their peers.

Then today I read about all the fabrication and lies which have put some priests and others unjustly behind bars for decades with the active support of the church hierarchy.

We must support those in the media especially cinema and theatre who can draw attention to the truth.

Nothing is really random. All I learn from this is that we must pray - pray for the children, pray for the guilty, pray for the liars, pray for the killers, pray for ourselves, that we may turn weapons into ploughshears, harsh words into kindnesses, guilty secrets into honest confessions.

The Fraternity of St Genesius

The Fraternity of St Genesius was founded on 19th January 2007 in Drogheda, Ireland, and was formally approved as a Catholic Private Association of The Faithful on 27 August of the same year. The Fraternity was founded in response to the calls of the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for the renewal of culture, and as a means of supporting the men and women of the theatrical and cinematic arts through spiritual accompaniment...

The Fraternity... Recognising the challenges and at times difficulties experienced by those who work in the theatrical and cinematic arts, she first of all offers to them the prayers and spiritual support of her members so they may recognise the light which God has entrusted to them for the sake of Christ, the Gospel and the joy of humanity.

While we all know the famous, most of those who work in these areas are unknown and far from wealthy; much of their time is spent looking for work and for many the reality of a career in acting or production may not be realised. Those who are famous have other problems to face...

read more

The fraternity's home page:
The Fraternity of St Genesius

Time for the monks at Buckfast to review their practices and go on a reparative mission to Strathclyde?

'By their fruits ye shall know them' Matthew 7:16























When I visited this **Benedictine** Abbey in the summer the priest in a very arrogant fashion refused to give Communion on the tongue (though he was quite happy to encourage us to shake hands at Mass), the only literature in the guesthouse was of the tabletista variety, and "The Shack" had pride of place in their bookshop!

I'm not surprised to hear that Buckfast is being accused of fuelling the 5000

Strathclyde Police said the figures suggested there was an association between the 'tonic' wine and violence... [but] The monks of Buckfast Abbey turned down a request to respond to the issues.

link to the drink - We all know that the "Wreck the Hoose Juice" isn't the only cause of alcohol problems in the realm of Bonnie Prince Charlie. The monks, however, have a wonderful opportunity to work for the common good by going up there and employing the "neds" as wine tasters in their bid to re-create a socially responsible alcoholic beverage without the violence-inducing caffeine.

Today's Rule (for 24 January 2010) might make it a bit difficult for them but surely there's some way to get over this hurdle:)


Before they go though, they need to relearn the basic tenets of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Some relevant sections:

1926 The dignity of the human person requires the pursuit of the common good. Everyone should be concerned to create and support institutions that improve the conditions of human life.

and the following:



III. HUMAN SOLIDARITY

1939 The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of "friendship" or "social charity," is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood.45
An error, "today abundantly widespread, is disregard for the law of human solidarity and charity, dictated and imposed both by our common origin and by the equality in rational nature of all men, whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the Cross to his heavenly Father, on behalf of sinful humanity."46
1940 Solidarity… also presupposes the effort for a more just social order where tensions are better able to be reduced and conflicts more readily settled by negotiation.
1941 Socio-economic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of solidarity: solidarity of the poor among themselves, between rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among nations and peoples. International solidarity is a requirement of the moral order; world peace depends in part upon this.
1942 The virtue of solidarity goes beyond material goods. In spreading the spiritual goods of the faith…

For two thousand years this sentiment has lived and endured in the soul of the Church, impelling souls then and now to the heroic charity of monastic farmers, liberators of slaves, healers of the sick, and messengers of faith, civilization, and science to all generations and all peoples for the sake of creating the social conditions capable of offering to everyone possible a life worthy of man and of a Christian.48

E F pastor emeritus: All the Irish Bishops to have meeting with Pope about the sex abuse scandal before papal letter is published

E F pastor emeritus: All the Irish Bishops to have meeting with Pope about the sex abuse scandal before papal letter is published

What is it?

What is MI?

Link to MI, Militia of the Immaculata

Many thanks to The Dreamer's Day for this - not just a web link but a true link to the web of prayer I need so much.

Update: Today, Sunday 8th February, I am on day 6 ("Mary Leads Us to Obey Christ, the Head of the Church") of the MI novena, in preparation for joining the Militia of the Immaculata on 11th February

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