Papal Infallibility

I've just been talking about the infallibility the Church (through the Pope) to my children. It's a poorly understood concept, whereby people think that it supposed to make the Pope like God. But no, the Pope can still sin, can still make mistakes, except when teaching on faith and morals.

Taking accountability a little bit too far

Enzo Boschi is president of Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

He is facing trial for failing to predict a 2009 earthquake that killed 308 people. Italian government officials have been investigating Dr Boschi and six other unfortunate individuals for over a year apparently and they are to stand trial on September 20.

Well somebody has to take the rap when 308 people die I suppose but this one seems just a little over the top given the unpredictable nature of earthquakes.

It's all the missionary's fault

More leftist rewriting of history in a new report that lays the blame for the ghastly amount of abuse of Maori children at the feet of European missionaries.

Prior to Europeans arriving, the report says children were considered gifts from the gods and whanau shunned child abuse.

The researchers suggested abuse arose only after Maori were introduced to corporal punishment in missionary-run classrooms.

Phhht.

If that be so, I humbly ask, why not even higher rates amongst those of European descent with their even longer traditions, presumably, of beating children.

Of course it isn't so. The savagery and barbarity of pre-European Maori culture is well attested to. And while 19^th century methods of raising children seem to us overly cruel and harsh they did not lead to the phenomena of angry boyfriends taking their frustrations out upon their girlfriend's infants of another father, the usual scenario in the most frightful of cases.

Link: Research debunks Maori abuse

Do Porn (And Other Addictions) Affect Brain?

I posted a bit about this in a comment on Culture Vulture, but I thought it was fascinating enough to deserve a post of its own. I am sure there are people who won't even read the linked PDF, and will jump in and say that this is a lot of rubbish. To those people I can only - read it before passing comment.

The first part of the argument is that porn can become an addiction; I don't think there is much disagreement there. Stars like David Duchovny (from TV's The X-Files, and Californication) have gone to rehab for porn and sex addiction. The linked article (see below) argues that porn addiction is no different in the brain than any other physical addiction, such as drugs or overeating.

The second part of the argument, is that addiction can actually change and impair the brain by shrinking the frontal lobes, and that this is no different from the damage to the frontal lobes that people suffer in car accidents; and yes, there are studies to back it up.

Moscow's annual stoush

It's a strange old world.

The city authorities in Moscow don't want gay pride marches in their city because of the disorder they bring.

And the citizens of Moscow overwhelmingly agree with the city fathers on this matter. So permits are refused for the parade.

Which is like a red rag to a bull to activist communities across the globe. And off some of their most vocal members go to Moscow to parade anyway. To get assaulted by angry grannies, then arrested and to have a good old whine in the media.

And in a few hours this same sorry saga will be playing out again.

Beats me why they do it - there are plenty of cities which allow their decadent parades, why go out of your way to inflict them upon a city that doesn't want them?

I'll tell you why my friends, the real reason is that the self absorbed believe that their "rights" trump other peoples rights.

Friday night free for all

Chat time.

New York schools should be teaching kids this?

A call has gone out for schools in New York to be teaching children how to safely dump their unwanted babies.

And the depressing reality is that this initiative comes after two ghastly cases of babies being abandoned.

So the answer to the question posed in the title is possibly yes.

Boys playing netball

Four years ago I wrote a post objecting to girls playing rugby, saying that back in my day, no girl would be seen dead playing such a game. Yet my old high-school had a picture of one of the pupils on page 3 of the Dominion Post diving through the air holding a rugby ball.

With the story Andrei posted yesterday on the parents who won't reveal the sex of their newborn baby so that he/she can decide what he/she wants to be, I can see now that girls playing boy's games and boys playing girl's games is part of that same spectrum, where it's not considered important to teach boys to be boys and girls to be girls.

Today I had to send an email to my son's physical education teacher asking why the boys in his class will be taught netball by the girls. I mentioned the increasing gender confusion in society, and the concept of tearing down internal barriers so that boys and girls are indoctrinated in such a way that the confusion is encouraged.

I don't know if the email will have any effect, but thought I better do it because this man teaches them "Health", which will also include sex education. If he's encouraging boys to be girls via netball, who knows what he'll teach when it comes to sex.

Four year parliamentary term and water meters

There appears to be a push for a four year Parliamentary term. It's not from the voters, as we have soundly rejected such a ridiculous idea every time we've been asked for our opinion via referendum. So I'm guessing that the politicians will get a four year term through some other means that bypasses the electorate. Not sure how they'll do it, but it will probably be with a carrot of some supposed limit of power that will be taken away again as soon as humanly possible once the four year term is cemented in place.

This opinion piece by Andy Nicholls, of Chapman Tripp shows the thinking involved.  He is apparently expressing his own views, and starts with :

Despite a late and distinctly inauspicious start, the constitutional review set up last year may yet deliver New Zealand from the tyranny of the three-year electoral cycle.

"The tyranny of a three-year electoral cycle", that's just a bizarre way of looking at it. Who considers it a tyranny, except those so constrained? I do find it odd that these opinions are Mr Nicholls' alone, based on this one opening statement.  He does admit that

Voters are naturally wary of yielding more power to the politicians. But there is a point at which voter sovereignty has to be balanced against intelligent and effective government ...

Yes, the voters are very inconvenient to a those who want more power.  But isn't that the point?

Just recently here on the Kapiti Coast, most of our councillors voted in favour of putting in water meters, despite huge opposition from the ratepayers and despite most of them being voted into council in the first place because of their original opposition. So it seems that there is a push for the unpalatable coming from somewhere that considers what the public wants incidental to their plans.

It's very disturbing.

A new "multi faith" Cathedral for Christchurch?

A bit of angst over Christchurch's Anglican Cathedral and its need for reconstruction.

One Alan Goss, an ex Presbyterian Minister believes it should arise anew as a Multi Faith Space, rather than an Anglican Cathedral per se.

Of course if the Anglican's have the resources and insurance cover to raise their new Cathedral to its former glory there is no issue.

But when public money becomes involved, perhaps there is a case to be made for a "people's cathedral" as Mr Goss described it to be used by people of all faiths and creeds, because Anglican's today are a minority in Christchurch

I shudder at the thought though - "people's cathedral" evokes the type of edifices raised in the Soviet Union to replace the Churches.

One such was Stalin's "people's palace" planned to rise upon the rubble of Christ the Saviour Cathedral, demolished by the Soviets to make way for this grand monument to the new Soviet world.

It never happened and today Christ the Saviour Cathedral has been rebuilt where it once stood.

The Bishop of Christchurch and the Cathedral's Dean are opposed as they should be perhaps they need to be at the forefront of raising money to cover whatever shortfall exists and not be looking to the civil authorities for a handout.

Analysis of sexual abuse of children by priests has huge ramifications for society

Over the last decade or so, the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests has been big news. Many people believe that celibacy is the problem, or that there is something intrinsic in Catholicism that allows such a terrible crime against children to occur. However, an American report looking into the issue has uncovered the real problem - the sexual revolution - is what is more likely to have changed society's views on sex and therefore made it far more likely that children will be abused.

In other words, if you think the Catholic Church has a problem, it's nothing in comparison to everyone else. As Weigel says,

It would be a good thing for the entire society, however, if the defenders of the sexual revolution would take seriously the question of the relationship between their commitment to lifestyle libertinism and this plague. If the John Jay study on the “causes ands context” of clerical-sexual-abuse problems in the Catholic Church prompts a broader public reflection on the fact that the sexual revolution has not been, and is not, cost-free, and that its victims are often the vulnerable young, then the Church will have done all of American society a signal service in commissioning this study that looks into its own heart of darkness.

Related link:
Weigel about the huge ( ____ ) in the John Jay Report ~ WDTPRS

We can choose our gender, apparently, but not our parents

Here's a sad story about a baby whose parents have bought into the PC myth that "gender is a social construct" so deeply that they are raising their new baby, Storm, as a genderless child.

According to them Storm will decide his/her gender in the fullness of time and it is unfair, presumably, of them or us to impose a gender upon him/her.

What a load of hooey - the poor little tyke is having his parents idiotic views imposed upon him/her which is bound to be far more psychologically damaging than being bought up as what he/she really is ie a boy or a girl.

The clang heard around the world

as President Obama's Motorcade fails to exit the US Embassy compound in Dublin.

Meanwhile in the here and now

"The science is in,"

"Climate change is real. Man-made carbon pollution is making a difference to our planet and our climate."

Julia Gillard

More Climate Change Boilerplate from the New Zealand Herald, this time based upon a report from the Australian Federal Government's brand new Climate Change Commission. It's the usual litany of doom and gloom ever increasing natural disasters, floods, fire and famine all wrought upon our descendants as a result of our profligate ways.

It's fixable though, according to the reports authors and that is to

"set a price on carbon high enough to drive investment into renewable energy"

That is tax the productive even more.

Meanwhile in the here and now, the world didn't end last Saturday and life goes on today pretty much as it did last Tuesday.

But unlike Harold Camping whose prediction for apocalypse on Saturday remained unfulfilled, these apocalyptic preachers will be safely in their graves when their predictions fall to materialize.

My what has Google done

If you leave a comment on our blog you will notice the sign on procedure has changed a little, probably for the better.

And maybe this is related to the massive outage Blogger suffered last week.

But then I went to Youtube, I had an account with YouTube long before it became part of Google's stable and when I went to sign in, it wouldn't let me sign in with my old username, it required from me the same sign in I use for Blogger, it had linked the accounts - which is fine I guess but it leaves me wondering what else has been linked that I don't know about. Old accounts to services I no longer use.

It all feels a bit big brotherish.

Cold dead hand of the State wants our children

Labour's latest dastardly plan is to disband the Families Commission and replace it with a Ministry for Children, because as they say, children are the most vulnerable in our community. Well, yes they are, 18000 of them are murdered every year in our public hospitals before they are even born. I don't think Annette King was talking about those children, however.

The Families Commission is useless, so I won't be surprised if it gets wiped out in the future. But, I'm not sure what it's potential replace, a Ministry for Children is actually supposed to do beyond working out how to take over even more from parents. We be rest assured, however, that if Labour ever come back into power, all will be revealed in due course. Especially once such a ministry is set up.

On Kiwiblog, I said that this was a further step in the nationalisation of children, and suggested if there was a real concern for children, then maybe a Ministry of Marriage would be more appropriate.

Maybe such a ministry could do is research on marriage and advertise to encourage marriage rather than the more casual relationships that seem to be more and more the norm now. I'm thinking, advertisements such as those we currently get on TV that advertise drink driving could be slightly modified to show what goes horribly wrong if you live with a man or a woman, have children, but never get married, or get married after living together as many people do. We need an intolerance to unmarried relationships again, because children really suffer, especially those 18000 murdered unborn babies.

I would also expect a Ministry of Marriage to work out incentives for marriage. Maybe they could promote income-splitting, for example. Give a tax benefit to those who are marriage in recognition of the fact that they and their children will be less of burden upon society than the indiscriminate bed-hoppers.

I've only really just thought of this idea, and when it comes down to it, I don't think a government ministry would really do a good job because governments are so easily taken over by those of different ideological persuasions. Maybe a marriage charity would be better.

Though, even the Government trying to encourage marriage through a Ministry of Marriage would be better than a Ministry of Children. The primary focus of improving children's lives ought to be directed towards the people who should be doing the caring, not working out more and more ways to treat children as separate entities that just belong to the State. Because the State can never love, and that is what children need most of all.

Related links:
Southland Times on Ministry for Children ~ Kiwiblog
Labour proposes Children's Ministry ~ The Dominion Post

And along comes Goff

Goodness me, Phil Goff just keeps on providing really good reasons not to vote for Labour come November.

And here he goes again: Goff plans to bring farmers back into ETS

The whole ETS thing is a rort but the concept that the farts of herbivorous mammals are pollution that should be taxed is an absurdity that makes Jabberwocky seem sensible.

Back from a retreat this weekend

I was away at a retreat this weekend. It was a silent retreat where the purpose was to spend time with Our Lord, talking and listening to him and what he wants us to do next. Well, for me, I had to really understand what to do next with Confession. I've taken notes from this really cool book on frequent confession, which really goes into how to use Confession to help conquer venial sin.

This was the weekend where some guy made worldwide news with his prediction that that those that deserved it would get raptured, ie taken up to heaven while everyone else on earth would be left to the mercy of destructive forces through earthquakes. I did have the passing thought that if in the unlikely event that the world did end, then I was in the right place.

I was spending time with God and my Confession that I made on Saturday afternoon was a good one. If I was going to die, I was going to die in a state of grace. Which is really how each day should be lived, because we really don't know which day will be our last.

The last couple of times I've come back from Retreat, I've bought the kids a pet. Not this year!

Gene Simmons - Obama Has No ****** Idea

Gene Simmons (KISS) speaks a lot of sense about Obama's naivety re: pulling back Israel's borders to 1967; in fact, he says that Obama has "no f*cking idea what the world is like, because he doesn't have to live there".
He also takes a shot at the U.N, who he rightly calls a "paper tiger" and 'the most pathetic body on the face of the earth"

So true...

So it is written

Wisdom - attend

ΚΑΤΑ ΜΑΤΘΑΙΟΝ 24:36-44

36 Περὶ δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης καὶ ὥρας οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὐδὲ οἱ ἄγγελοι τῶν οὐρανῶν, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ μου μόνος.

37 ὥσπερ δὲ αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ Νῶε, οὕτως ἔσται καὶ ἡ παρουσία τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

38 ὥσπερ γὰρ ἦσαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταῖς πρὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ τρώγοντες καὶ πίνοντες, γαμοῦντες καὶ ἐκγαμίζοντες, ἄχρι ἧς ἡμέρας εἰσῆλθε Νῶε εἰς τὴν κιβωτόν,

39 καὶ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν ἕως ἦλθεν ὁ κατακλυσμὸς καὶ ἦρεν ἅπαντας, οὕτως ἔσται καὶ ἡ παρουσία τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

40 τότε δύο ἔσονται ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ, ὁ εἷς παραλαμβάνεται καὶ ὁ εἷς ἀφίεται·

41 δύο ἀλήθουσαι ἐν τῷ μυλῶνι, μία παραλαμβάνεται καὶ μία ἀφίεται.

42 γρηγορεῖτε οὖν, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε ποίᾳ ὥρᾳ ὁ Κύριος ὑμῶν ἔρχεται. 43 Ἐκεῖνο δὲ γινώσκετε ὅτι εἰ ᾔδει ὁ οἰκοδεσπότης ποίᾳ φυλακῇ ὁ κλέπτης ἔρχεται, ἐγρηγόρησεν ἂν καὶ οὐκ ἂν εἴασε διορυγῆναι τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ. 44 διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὑμεῖς γίνεσθε ἕτοιμοι, ὅτι ᾗ ὥρᾳ οὐ δοκεῖτε ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔρχεται.

The mockers are having a field day

Budget thoughts

Many people in NZ believe that money, or how Government money is allocated, will save us. Hence the reaction to the Budget, which really shouldn't be that exciting.

On a personal level, I suppose I'm also not overly excited as we don't qualify for Working For Families and we avoid KiwiSaver or any retirement scheme with extreme prejudice and my husband is not a public servant. Though, I am glad that new taxes haven't been introduced as we had a 20% drop in gross income last financial year due to the economic downturn. That really hurt and has meant that I'm still putting off orthodontic work for our 14 year old, not to mention urgent repairs to our house, so extra taxes would have not been fun. At least interest rates are pretty stable.

I'm thinking I have to start growing a lot more vegetables at home, so if things do get worse then at least we'll have some sort of food supply.

Oh well, time to do some maths with my 10 year old.

Pull the other one

This fellow used to be a prison guard. He was until it was discovered that he took money to smuggle contraband into the prison where he worked for the inmates.

He reckons he didn't keep the money for himself - he donated it to charity he says.

How likely do you think that is?

He did however plead guilty to corruption in the Taupo district court yesterday and will receive his sentence in July.

Leave Ronald McDonald alone

Ronald McDonald, the iconic mascot of McDonalds is under fire - from the usual suspects.

They want McDonalds to "retire" Ronald McDonald as part of their campaign to stop McDonalds marketing aimed at children. This particular campaign has been put together by a group calling itself "Corporate Accountability International".

There is no doubt eating too much McDonalds will make you obese but there is also no doubt that eating too much weetbix will also make you obese - and I'll bet that obese kids in this country, over whom much handwringing is done, eat far more weetbix than McDonalds because cheap as McDonalds is weetbix is even cheaper, much much cheaper in fact and is a staple food of very many of the poor. And it is generally the kids of the poor who are obese.

Make no mistake about it - these campaigns against McDonalds are not really about obese kids, they are attacks on a successful business operating in a free enterprise capitalist society. And it is capitalism and success under it that these people loath.

When it comes to the taxpayers teat there are no end of suckers

What a surprise - Government quangos tasked with industry training have been receiving money for non existent students. Some of whom are dead.

The number of dollars paid out runs into Millions.

An example of why it is pointless to fiddle with the drink drive limits

Drinking and driving is not good. And the vast majority of our compatriots have got the message and don't do it.

But there are a few who haven't got the message and never will. One such is Rohan Sigley Kamo who killed his mate five months ago after crashing his car into a bridge. His blood alcohol level - 166 mls per 100 millilitres of blood. Just over double the legal limit.

As he stood in court yesterday, it was revealed this was not the first time Rohan Sigley Kamo has killed on our roads. Seven years ago he killed a child after crossing the center line and colliding head on with the car she was in.

So do you think a lower Blood alcohol content (BAC) limit would make any difference in this case? Obviously not.

And the truth be known the alcohol related crashes and offenders picked up by random screening and the like generally come from certain demographics and are very often recidivist offenders - people who never get the message and probably never will.

In an attempt to be doing something about lowering the road toll Governments of all stripes fiddle with speed limits, BAC limits which impact upon the law abiding majority and have no effect of the pathologically antisocial, the ones her cause the most problems.

Not long before my late mother gave up driving she received a speed camera ticket on a motorway for being 5 kph over the hundred kph limit, the camera being sited on a steep downhill section where it it takes intense concentration on the cars speedometer to prevent it nudging over the 100kph barrier. This was a woman her never advertently sped, never drove after drinking and never had an accident - targeted for speeding in the name of bringing the road toll down. Of course we all know that the speed camera placement that took her happy holiday snap was sited not for increasing road safety but for increasing Government revenue.

Imagine there's no Heaven

"it's easy if you try"

Well Stephen Hawking has tried and he has succeeded.

You had a health scare and spent time in hospital in 2009. What, if anything, do you fear about death?

I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

Imagine that!

Well what can you say?

Bain to speak at injustice conference

The real injustice here is that his siblings never got to see:

Forrest Gump,
Toy Story,
Independence Day,
Titanic,
Saving Private Ryan,
Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace,
How the Grinch Stole Christmas,
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,
Spider-Man, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,
Shrek 2,
Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith,
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,
Spider-Man 3,
The Dark Knight,
Avatar,
Toy Story 3 or Fast Five.

In the scheme of things missing a movie, no matter how good is a trivial loss - there are a great many things of much greater importance they never lived long enough to enjoy.

Buffoons

I really don't really get these clowns, they're a mystery to me.

On a cold Sunday they make themselves messy with oil and wade into the freezing ocean to try and convince us that drilling for oil is a bad thing. And to try convince the world we don't want it happening in our country.

What these fools, and make no mistake about it they are fools, don't comprehend is that money doesn't grow on trees. And that oil is liquid gold, it literally fires our civilization, keeps it running. So if there is oil to be had off our coasts it is a jolly good thing. It will provide real and meaningful jobs for many extracting and perhaps refining it.

And the extra income for the country will help keep Gender and Queer studies Professors in the style to which they have become accustomed.

Nanny knows best - when it comes to killing babies

One of the things most sacred to the secular left is abortion.

Anything that might reduce the number of them being carried out is rigorously opposed. Things like the mandate that the woman be shown an ultrasound of her baby before making her final decision on whether to kill it or not.

Anyway here's today's horror - school Councillors arranging abortions for underage children without their parents knowledge.

Do you really think that government apparatchiks know what is best for our children? Or like me do you think that in most cases the parents know best?

Since the under the law it is perfectly legal for a school councilor to procure an abortion for an underage girl the Government obviously thinks I'm wrong in that - and that school councilors are in a better position to make life changing decisions for our children than we are.

May 13, Anniversary of the previous Pope's attempted assassination, and much more

Miracles happen all the time, we just don't know about them, or forget about them once they are over.

If Vladimir has trouble starting it what hope for the rest of us

A marketing moment gone awry.

The Pope and Western Civilisation

Back after a large Blogger outage UPDATE

Looks like we are are back after a large Blogger outage related to maintenance that had gone horribly wrong. As far as I can tell, we are missing Andrei's latest post of a couple of days ago. I presume it will reappear at some point.

In the meantime, normal sporadic posting will resume soon. I'm working on something relatively involved, so not sure when I'll finish it.

UPDATE: Andrei's post has reappeared.

The thought police strike again

Have you ever heard of Peter Vidmar?

He was an American Olympian who won two Gold medals in Gymnastics at the 1984 games

Anyway since then he has done what many successful sportsmen have done after their prime sports days are over and that is to promote sport. Last week he was named chef de mission for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team and by all accounts a worthy choice

But a few days later he resigned, controversy had broken out over his selection and rather than damage the Olympic effort in unnecessary controversy he stepped down.

Can you guess what his crime was that the thought police thought it necessary to scupper his Olympic role? Its not hard.

He opposes Gay Marriage and campaigned against it in California

This is chilling, if you involve yourself in public debate, the very life blood of democracy and take a stance that goes against Liberal Left beleifs, they will undertake to ruin your future chances in any endevour you may undertake. The same thing happened to a Miss California and potential Miss America a year or two back you'll recall.

But then again the Liberal Left are the heirs to Stalin and not the intellectual heirs of George Washington, and certainly his intellectual equal. Mostly of them only attain intellectual equality with of a dead mice, they are a mob, with a mob mentality.

Unfortuanately their insanity has gained some ascendancy in recent years, as this story illustrates.

21 Accents

I thought this was cool. What was her name again? Amy Walker, I think.

Tattoos should be covered

An Auckland caterer asked one of his employees to cover her tattooed arm while at a function last year. She complied with the request but now has the guy in court on charges of discrimination. Apparently, since the tattoo is "culturally sensitive", she was discriminated against for being asked to cover it.

The problem is, in Western society, tattoos are seen as crass. So we have cultural clash going on here. What if the tattoo had been on her butt? Would she still have been discriminated against if she'd been asked to cover it? The mind boggles.

Tattoos should be covered, especially in a formal catering situation. To feel discriminated against because you are asked to cover a tattoo is being culturally insensitive to the guests of the function. Unless they themselves are heavily tattooed, and I suppose then you would get away with it.

But to get that upset that you she takes her former employer to the Human Rights court and sues for emotional harm shows the woman to be a little unhinged, in my opinion.

Related link: Former boss to argue Moko discrimination case today ~ TVNZ

Head Hypocrisy

Another disembodied head is coming home and will be accorded due all honor and ceremony, honor and ceremony the erstwhile owner was not accorded in life.

Who was he? Well maybe the boffins at Te Papa will be able to ascertain that, probably not.

Was he an important man whose head was taken as a trophy by some neighboring tribe? Or was he some unfortunate slave tattooed then killed so his head could be traded for whiskey, blankets and muskets?

Whatever the truth - even if discovered, the true blackness of the world that the head's owner inhabited will not be discussed nor the truth that it was Europeans for all their sins that put an end to the horrors of that were an everyday reality of that unfortunate man's existance.

More on the removal of Bishop Morris in Toowoomba

Observations on the Toowoomba Tumult. Fr. Z rants.

It seems that Australia is the ground zero right now for discussions about ecclesiology, that is, the make up of the Church, who the Church is, how the Church is governed, what the Church believes.

The removal of Bishop Morris was a long time coming, ABC Religion and Ethics

Some background on how long this removal of the bishop had been brewing ...

At a meeting between the Roman Curia and some of the senior Bishops of Australia in December 1998, a document known as the Statement of Conclusions was presented. The document was aimed at all of the Bishops of Australia and their dioceses - and was quite confronting, to say the least.

The (then) Cardinal Ratzinger had been influential in the preparation of the document, as were Sydney's Cardinal Edward Clancy and Brisbane's Bishop Michael Putney, both of whom were on the committee that produced the Statement.

snip

The bishops of Australia were mixed in their reaction to the Statement. In private (and in my own hearing) some were very unhappy at their treatment - one bishop remarking to me "we were treated like naughty schoolkids." Others were relieved and delighted that Rome had finally acted to intervene in a Church that they regarded as going off the rails in some quarters.

snip

And so now, after more than a decade since the Statement, one of its prime movers, Pope Benedict XVI, has forced the bishop of Toowoomba out of office. By joining the dots of the broader history, it is clear that Bill Morris - by all accounts a very good man and a kind pastor - has breached some of the principles laid out in the Statement of Conclusions, and so exposed himself to severe sanction.

In an update to the article, the writer has added what Bishop Morris told him was in his final letter from Pope Benedict, where infallibility was applied to the inability of the Church to ordain women:

... Bishop Morris said that, in the letter, Pope Benedict asserted "that Pope John Paul II had said irrevocably and infallibly that women cannot be ordained."

This is the first time the word "infallible" has been used formally by a pope in regard to the ordination of women. This may now mean there is a fourth infallible definition from the pope on record - namely, that women cannot be ordained.

Very interesting stuff. It's going to be too hard to predict how quickly this will reverberate through the rest of the Church ...

A new breed of Catholics - young men and the Church

Michael Voris talks about the young men he's come into contact with that see the problems in the Catholic Church, and are ready and rearing to go to try and be part of the solution.

Redefining evil - it's just a lack of empathy

Today's Dom Post has published on Page A22 an article titled "Evil no more than absence of empathy, says professor". It's advertised on the front page of the newspaper as well, so I presume the editors think such a potentially controversial article will help them sell papers.  I do find it interesting that a picture of the devil is in the middle of the article.

Baron-Cohen, who is also director of the Autism Research Center at Cambridge, has just written a book in which he calls for a kind of rebranding of evil to offer a more scientific explanation for why people kill and torture, or have such great difficulty understanding the feelings of others.

His proposal is that evil be understood as a lack of empathy -- a condition he argues can be measured and monitored and is susceptible to education and treatment.

Baron-Cohen defines empathy in two parts -- as the drive to identify another person's thoughts and feelings, and the drive to respond appropriately to those thoughts and feelings.

Redefining evil as lack of empathy may not be as controversial now as it used to be.  There are already many with strange beliefs as to why evil-doers commit crimes which has nothing to do with a free choice to commit an evil act.  Therefore the leap to believing that such a person acts in that way because they don't really understand how their victim feels maybe not be such a large one.   You could say that Baron-Cohen's theory is going to fall on fertile ground.

Contrast this with the Pope Benedict, who has said recently that many in the world today are insensitive to evil because we are primarily insensitive to God.   The Holy Father explains in the context of the night before Jesus suffered and died, when He went up to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, taking His disciples with Him.

Jesus said to his own: Stay here and watch; and this call to vigilance refers in a precise way to this moment of anguish, of menace, in which the betrayer arrives, but it concerns the whole history of the Church. It is a permanent message for all times, because the somnolence of the disciples was not only the problem of that moment, but is the problem of the whole of history.

The question is what this somnolence consists of, and what is the vigilance to which the Lord invites us. I would say that the disciples' somnolence in the course of history is a certain insensitivity of soul to the power of evil, an insensitivity to all the evil of the world. We do not want to let ourselves be too disturbed by these things, we want to forget them: We think that perhaps it is not so grave, and we forget.

And it is not only insensitivity to evil; instead, we should be watching to do good, to struggle for the force of good. It is insensitivity to God – this is our real somnolence: this insensitivity to the presence of God that makes us insensitive also to evil. We do not listen to God – it would bother us – and so we do not listen, of course, to the force of evil either, and we stay on the path of our comfort.

So those who are going to be attracted to the idea that evil is just lack of empathy, are probably those that will be the most insensitive to God.  An inability to even call evil what it is, something that we do freely because we want to, not because we don't know how the other person feels, is a huge lie that many will want to believe.  Just as they want to believe that God doesn't exist, or that they get reincarnated or absorbed into the oneness when they die, or even that they cease to be when they draw their last breath.  It's all a lie that leads to torment for eternity if people don't turn towards God.  Which is really the end that we were made for. God made us for Himself, to spend eternity in Heaven with Him.  He just wants us to want to be there. Redefining evil is just another way of thwarting that, and thwarting God.


Related links: Scientist seeks to banish evil, boost empathy ~ Yahoo News

The Pope's "Dies Irae." And the Mystery of Evil ~ Chiesa

So much for honoring the dead at the Dawn Parade

Let's get this straight.

Valerie Morse who burnt a New Zealand Flag at an Anzac Day dawn service is not guilty of Disorderly Behaviour.

Originally she had been found guilty of this charge, the original district court judge ruling that such actions were offensive in the context of the Anzac Dawn Parade.

But the Supreme Court begs to differ. They ruled the District Court Judge had misunderstood the meaning of Offensive behaviour. The majority believing it had to be capable of "wounding feelings or arousing real anger, resentment disgust or outrage". Her actions didn't do that? You could have fooled me, but what would I know.

"Because unanimously of the view that the trial in the District Court proceeded on a wrong basis in law through failure to assess impact on public order, the Supreme Court has set aside the conviction," the judges said in a written statement to the media.

What does "failure to assess impact on public order" mean? Does that mean that if the old diggers had rioted as a result of her actions she would have been guilty? And is the corollary that moonbat citizens can stick it to the socially responsible because they will only be guilty of disorderly behaviour if everyday citizens are provoked into reacting in an unsocial way?

You tell me.

Friday night free for all

Back to busy Friday evenings once more, as swimming is on again for my oldest son.

I now do dinner duty, and ever since I told the fish and chip shop that they were undercharging me a few weeks back (the girl had typed in $2.80 into the eftpos machine, not $20.80), they've been giving us extra fish. It's terakihi, so it tastes good reheated the next day, and the cat likes it as well if we're stuffed.

I'm not sure how my week has gone. I've taken it easy on the younger son, leaving the new Maths curriculum until next week and giving him lots of English and Handwriting which he's beginning to enjoy! You wouldn't believe how big a breakthrough enjoying Handwriting is!

My older son has to be involved in a haka. So far I haven't been able to get a translation for what they are actually saying (or singing). But the whole idea seems wrong, getting a whole lot of kids of different religious backgrounds and cultures doing a primitive Maori dance. For what? Absorption into the culture? It seems that way. Not quite sure what to do about it yet.

The lowest common denominator

The Broadcasting Standards Authority has told MPs that Broadcasters drive to liberalize standards is an attempt to drive up ratings by showing more raunch.

No kidding, you think the makers of TV shows might lack the imagination to produce programs that will engage their audiences so they choose to titillate them instead.

Figures.

Vatican Conference for Bloggers

In the evening following the Beatification of Blessed Pope John Paul II on Sunday, the Vatican hosted their first ever conference for bloggers. SEVEN HUNDRED and fifty registered but there was room for only 150 to attend. Obviously the Vatican organisers weren't expecting that many Catholic bloggers.  Heck, I would have gone if I known about it in advance and had the money to go.  So many stars in the Catholic blogosphere were there...

Popular U.S. bloggers included Rocco Palmo of Whispers in the Loggia, Elizabeth Scalia of The Anchoress and Thomas Peters of the American Papist. Naturally, Scalia, managing editor of the Catholic portal at Patheos.com, posted her remarks on her blog.

Need I say, I go to confession a lot more frequently since I have been blogging. Bless me father, for I have sinned... it's that damned editor at Commonweal, again.... And so it is a true gift, and a very wise thing for our hosts today to act on the urgings of the Holy Father in developing a relationship with bloggers.

Yep,  I've lost track of the number of times that I had to included something I've said online in my Confessions.  Blogging can bring out the worst in me very easily.


Michael Voris of Catholic TV talked  at the alternative conference that was quickly formed for the rejected bloggers who couldn't get into the official Vatican event.  It was basically about why he does what he does, and what really struck me, is how we should use the gifts and the knowledge we have to win souls for Christ through our online activities.  Easier said than done, though!



Related links: Vatican invites bloggers to first-ever summit ~ Bloomberg Business Week

Vatican: Go forth and blog! ~ Faith and Reason
When in Rome do as the bloggers do ~ Being Frank
Vatican honors Catholic bloggers ~ The Catholic Knight

Driving home after Mass is now a crime

For the under twenties that is.

They have reduced the alcohol tolerance for young drivers to zero for under 20s, which if you are being literal about it means they cannot legally drive because there is always some alcohol in the blood regardless of whether you drink or not.

And they have raised the driving age to sixteen.

In truth we read of young people being killed on a regular basis, they are more often than not well over the adult levels of blood alcohol usually unlicensed or disqualified drivers and basically anti-social people for whom laws tough or lenient matter not a whit, they break them all.

My two oldest are driving in Australia these days that being a place where they have a better future after the all depredations of recent Governments, the current price of gasoline precludes my boy from driving except on rare occasions to shift a plethora of musical instruments to were they need to be Or to bring them back to where they belong (When am I getting my Bass back Nik?)

Which leaves little Tanya, 15 now but showing no inclination to get behind the wheel of a car.
She better hurry she has until August to get her learners permit, after that she will have to wait another year.

Intervention not needed

Do you remember Peter Joseph Holdem?

He is a habitual sex offender against small children. In 1986, just after being released from prison for abducting a 10 year old girl, he kidnapped 6 year old Louisa Damodran, murdered her and threw her tiny body into the Waimakariri River.

He is currently before the parole board

Holdem's lawyer - whose name was withheld by the board - said he was concerned there were no "appropriate" programmes or interventions available.

His lawyer is suggesting castration may make him fit for society again.

Hurrumph - gelded or no this man should never again walk the streets of New Zealand.

There are crimes most terrible and his are of that class, the very worst of the worst. Let him rot in prison until he faces the final judgement.

That is the only "appropriate" programme.

Hone Harawira and idiotic statements

MP and Mana Party leader Hone Harawira has accused new ACT leader Don Brash of aiming to destroy Maori in a testy television debate.

Harawira again compared Brash to Hitler, echoing comments he first made six years ago.

"The politics you talk about are very much like Hitler's, Don. You target Maori very much like Hitler targetted the Jews. You are aiming to destroy us the same way that others haved done.”

[...]

Harawira first compared Brash in 2005 to Hitler, saying: "Hitler had plans for the Jews. Pauline Hanson had similar plans for the Aboriginal people of Australia. Don Brash wants Maori to be subsumed within the larger culture of this country and to become one people."

Harawira is an idiot. Wanting Maori to become one people with the rest of New Zealand is nothing at all like what Hitler had planned for the Jews, which involved slave labour if they were lucky and/or death. That's not destruction.

And this guy wants people to keep voting for him?

More fool the idiots that do.

Related link: Don Brash accused of 'trying to destroy Maori' ~ Stuff

 

Update: Ive undated Lucia Maria's post to include Mr Harawira's latest moronic statements about the Death of Osama bin Laden

People should acknowledge the positive aspects of Osama bin Laden's life rather than celebrating his death, independent MP Hone Harawira says.

(snip)

''Despite what the media said his family, his tribe, his people are mourning, they mourn for a man who fought for the rights, the land and the freedom of his people,'' Harawira told TVNZ's Te Karere on Monday.

Andrei

Royal Bounce

Republican ardour has been reduced substantially by the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton, now Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge.

The question on ditching the Monarchy was last asked in 2002 when 60% of respondents supported the Monarchy.

A survey taken since the wedding has seen this support rise to a whopping 72%.

It is my opinion that Prince Charles will not be crowned King, his marriage to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall presents an obstacle, in that she is divorced and has a living Husband. Edward VIII, Prince Charles' Great Uncle insisted upon marrying an American Divorcée after after his accession to the throne but before the Coronation. The Church of England was appalled, they did not at that time marry Divorces in Church I believe.

The Government was appalled and Parliament under Stanely Balwin threatened to resign. Other Commonwealth Leaders also expressed their view that this was not an acceptable Marriage for the Monarch and the Wedding if it did take place could not be Solemnized in the Anglican Church because marriage of Divorcée at that time it could not. (Has this changed in the intervening 75 years? I know they have divorced and remarried Priests including a Bishop whose remarriage was to another man. Are these secular marriages or has the Anglican Church softened its stance in the intervening years, Hopefully some commentator will be able fill us in.)

But the Monarch is the The Supreme Governor of the Church of England, nominally appoints the Bishops and needs publicly, at least, to be seen living within the canons of the Church.

This is pure hypothesis on my part but I suspect that the by passing of Charles is already a done deal behind closed doors and that William and Catherine are being groomed to fulfill the role of the next King and Queen of England and they will model themselves upon the Queen and Prince Phillip along with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. I hope they do, this would provide a beautiful role model for us the Kings Subjects.

I really hope this is what happens, Prince Charles for whom we should feel pity is old, out of touch and doesn't inspire the intense loyalty of his subjects.

On the other hand Prince William is young .and would have many years to strengthen and preserve the House of Windsor.

Another dead Osama photo

Looks more real. Click here for it.

The merits of hanging our enemies in chains

It is inevitable that conspiracy theories would spring up around the demise of the late Osama bin Laden. I actually thought he had died years ago until news of his passing hit the aether.

You would think that the White House would manage the release of his passing in a straight forward manner, one that leaves little room for doubts.

Instead they initially told us he had died in a fire fight, that he used his wife as a human shield, that she had died and so forth.

And now they are resiling from each of these details none of which are apparently true.

And each time the story changes, doubts grow - which will be grist to the mill for conspiracy theorists.

Whatever the real truth about all of this is, you would think that the Leader of the Free World and his advisors would get whatever story they want to peddle to the public sorted out before going live with it.

Now they are floundering over whether or not to release the post mortem pictures. And the administrations greatest triumph to date is becoming a reminder of that which has characterized it thus far and that is its indecisiveness..

Indeed I think he should have bought the corpse back to the USA and gibbited it, that is exposing it in a hanging cage in a prominent spot, leaving it to be pecked at by the birds and rot away in full public view.

This hasn't been done much in the Civilized West in the last hundred years, but happened in New Mexico around 1912 when six bandits were hung from Telegraph poles and there bodies left there until they rotted away while the last such event occurred in West Virginia in 1913.

This was done with El Duce after the second World War, although his body was removed, buried and and retrieved by his supporters

Nor is this un Islamic in Afghanistan Gibbiting in specially made cages was common during the 20th century, captured Russians, even some Moslem ones are known to have met this fate. And may still be in practice there.

The bodies of dead enemies have often been displayed in part to leave little doubt they are gone, Its undignified and appropriate to do this.

Instead of feeding the fishes of the Arabian Sea, the body should now be hanging in cage at ground zero, where all who want to see it can and it should remain there until it has rotted entirely away. Might seem barbaric but it would be mighty effective in ensuring the conspiracy theories containing the element of him still being alive would have no traction. And it would be cathartic for many people.

Does Osama's death signify victory?

No. As Raymond Ibrahim explains, the West is fighting a hydra.

As we ponder the significance of Osama bin Laden's death, it is well to reflect that Islamists are not the cause of hostilities; they are but symptoms of a much greater cause. Individually killing them off—which is nice—is like a doctor temporarily treating a sick patient's symptoms without eliminating the cause of sickness. Ayman al-Zawahiri, now al-Qaeda's de facto leader, once summarized this phenomenon well. Asked in an interview about the status of bin Laden and the Taliban's Mullah Omar, he confidently replied:

Jihad in the path of Allah is greater than any individual or organization. It is a struggle between Truth and Falsehood, until Allah Almighty inherits the earth and those who live in it. Mullah Muhammad Omar and Sheikh Osama bin Laden — may Allah protect them from all evil — are merely two soldiers of Islam in the journey of jihad, while the struggle between Truth [Islam] and Falsehood [non-Islam] transcends time (The Al Qaeda Reader, p.182).

Believing that the death of any individual Islamist leader—who is seen as a "martyr" living in eternal bliss—will somehow be a devastating blow to Islamists is no less erroneous than thinking the death of any individual American president will be a devastating blow to the American way of life.

[...]

The West would therefore do well to take a lesson from Hercules's legendary encounter with the multi-headed Hydra-monster. Every time the mythical strongman lopped off one of its serpentine heads, two new ones grew in its stead. To slay the beast once and for all, Hercules had to cauterize the stumps with fire, thereby preventing any more heads from sprouting out.

Using fire either means using overwhelming force, or turning to God as the Crusaders did when they first took Jerusalem.

Related link: Bin Laden and the Eternal Hydra of War ~ Raymond Ibrahim

A Bishop in Australia has been removed from his position by Rome

Looks like the time of teaching by example and gentle persuasion is over, as an Australian Catholic Bishop has been removed from his position (enforced early retirement) for teaching and supporting heresy.

THE Catholic Bishop of Toowoomba, William Morris, has been effectively sacked by Pope Benedict XVI over doctrinal disobedience for his support for ordaining women priests and other liberal reform.

Considering that a wide range of ideas has been tolerated to a certain extent in Catholicism over recent decades, leaving Bishops, Priests, Nuns and lay people to think that anything goes, Rome is far away. Except, Rome is not that far away as this ex-Bishop found out.

This should send ripples of shock throughout New Zealand Catholicism, we who consider ourselves the furthest away from Rome...


Related links:
Australian bishop removed from diocese for heterodox ideas ~ WDTPRS
Ex-Bishop William Morris is Right ~ Catholic Culture
You took the words right out of my mouth ~ Catholic Soapbox

Justice delayed

Hmmm

The lawyer of a former national figure facing indecent assault charges has told a court the charges had ''destroyed his client''.

Defence lawyer Jonathan Eaton said in his opening statement to a Nelson jury today, the sexual assault charges had come out of the blue for his client.

Th defendant in this case first appeared in court in January 2010.

As the link shows he is an ex MP. He has of course name suppression as does another ex MP currently before the court for Pokie machine fraud.

The name suppression thing we have done before - but my question is why has it taken over fourteen months from the former national figure's first appearance in court for the case to come to trial?

It's all very murky and not really a case of "Justice being seen to be done".

Disposing of Osama

It's a good thing that Osama bin Laden wont have a grave but he did get a funeral. On the Aircraft Carrier USS Carl Vinson his body was washed and prepared, wrapped in a white sheet and decorously dispatched to the depths of the ocean.

And of course there is whining about this.

A prominent imam in Egypt, Dr Ahmed El-Tayeb, said the US violated Islamic custom by not burying bin Laden on land, a move seen as a US attempt to prevent his resting place from becoming a shrine for extremist followers.

Islamist lawyer Montasser al-Zayat said bin Laden should have been buried in his native Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites.

To which most of us, I'm sure, say phooey!

What Psycho Milt said yesterday......

9/11 was nearly a decade ago, Andrei. The war against Afghanistan launched in response to it was a failure - the perpetrators escaped, ie we lost.

Turns out to have been incorrect.

Today we are hearing that the main perpetrator has been killed and that his "body will be disposed of". That is there will be no grave, no memorial to serve as a shrine.

Beatification of Pope John Paul II [UPDATE 2]

Yesterday, on the Feast of Divine Mercy put in place by Pope John Paul II, the man himself was beatified and put firmly on the path towards Sainthood.

I remember when he was elected. I was 10 years old, and I really didn't think too much of it, even though he was Polish and was the first ever Polish pope. My teacher of the time, a nun, specifically pointed this out to me in class, trying to elicit some sort of reaction, but I think my response must have been disappointing to her.

Pope John Paul II was the pope in the Church during the time I fell away. The beginning of my real return back (though it was to take a year and half longer to actually do it) was his funeral. I watched it on TV and could not even get up for a break. I was not so much mesmerised but not wanting to miss anything and needing to stay in that presence, though I could not comprehend what the presence was at the time.

I believe something very real happened at that time that was connected to the grace of Easter, a call to all the lost children of the Church. Maybe I was more aware of it through my Polish connection to the pope. Suffice to say, I firmly believe Pope John Paul II was a saint and that this beatification process is merely a public recognition of the fact.

Here is Sandro Magister on Pope John Paul II's beatification:

Karol Wojtyla Beatified. "They Will Look Upon Him Whom They Have Pierced"

Today almost everyone admires him. But in life he was opposed and mocked by many, even within the Church. His holiness is the same as that of the martyrs. His beatitude is the same as that of Jesus on the cross

by Sandro MagisterROME, May 1, 2011 – In Polish, he used to say of himself in his last years: "I am a biedaczek, a wretch." A poor old man, sick and worn out. He, so athletic, had become the man of sorrows. And yet it was precisely then that his holiness began to shine, inside and outside of the Church.

Before that, instead, pope Karol Wojtyla was admired more as a hero than as a saint. His holiness began to conquer the minds and hearts of many men and women from all over the world when what Jesus had prophesied for the old age of the apostle Peter happened to him: "Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go."

Now that he has been proclaimed blessed, John Paul II is unveiling to the world the truth of the saying of Jesus: "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

He did not radiate holiness in the hour of his triumphs. Much of the acclaim that he received while he was traveling the world at a breathtaking pace was too biased and selective to be sincere. The pope who knocked down the iron curtain was a blessing in the eyes of the West. But when he fought in defense of the life of every man born upon the earth, in defense of the most fragile, smallest life, the life that has just been conceived but whose name is already written in heaven, then few listened to him and many shook their heads.

The story of his pontificate was for him a matter of lights and shadows, welcome and rejection, with strong opposition. But but his dominant profile, for many years, was not that of the saint, but of the combatant. When in 1981 he had a brush with death, shot for reasons still not entirely clear, the world bowed in reverence. It observed its minute of silence, and then went right back to the same old unfriendly song.

Many in the Church also distrusted him. For many, he was "the Polish pope," representing an antiquated, antimodern, populist Christianity. They looked not at his holiness but at his devotion, which wasn't a hit with those who were dreaming of an interior and "adult" Catholicism, so obligingly immersed in the world as to become invisible and silent...

I have experienced those who believed this of him.  One parish priest of a parish I no longer attend, told the whole congregation in one of his sermons that he had wondered aloud when the old man was going to die.  He said in such a way that indicated that he would be pleased when it occurred.  It shocked me at the time, that a priest of the Church could have been so disparaging of the previous pope.  Now I understand that he is of the type that may believe in an interior and supposedly adult Catholicism.  Probably why the Church here in Wellington is imploding.

UPDATE: From the Vatican.



UPDATE 2: WDTPRS, an excerpt of Pope Benedict's Sermon for the Beatification, with commentary in red by Fr Z.

When Karol Wojtyla ascended to the throne of Peter, he brought with him a deep understanding of the difference between Marxism and Christianity, based on their respective visions of man. This was his message: man is the way of the Church, and Christ is the way of man. With this message, which is the great legacy of the Second Vatican Council [And something which the young Polish bishop helped add to the Council's Gaudium et spes in especially par. 22.] and of its “helmsman”, the Servant of God Pope Paul VI, John Paul II led the People of God across the threshold of the Third Millennium, which thanks to Christ he was able to call “the threshold of hope”. Throughout the long journey of preparation for the great Jubilee he directed Christianity once again to the future, the future of God, which transcends history while nonetheless directly affecting it. He rightly reclaimed for Christianity that impulse of hope which had in some sense faltered before Marxism and the ideology of progress. [We still have a lot to do.] He restored to Christianity its true face as a religion of hope, to be lived in history in an “Advent” spirit, in a personal and communitarian existence directed to Christ, the fullness of humanity and the fulfillment of all our longings for justice and peace.

Finally, on a more personal note, I would like to thank God for the gift of having worked for many years with Blessed Pope John Paul II. I had known him earlier and had esteemed him, but for twenty-three years, beginning in 1982 after he called me to Rome to be Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, I was at his side and came to revere him all the more. My own service was sustained by his spiritual depth and by the richness of his insights. His example of prayer continually impressed and edified me: he remained deeply united to God even amid the many demands of his ministry. Then too, there was his witness in suffering: the Lord gradually stripped him of everything, yet he remained ever a “rock”, as Christ desired. His profound humility, grounded in close union with Christ, enabled him to continue to lead the Church and to give to the world a message which became all the more eloquent as his physical strength declined. In this way he lived out in an extraordinary way the vocation of every priest and bishop to become completely one with Jesus, whom he daily receives and offers in the Eucharist.

Blessed are you, beloved Pope John Paul II, because you believed! Continue, we implore you, to sustain from heaven the faith of God’s people.

This prayer to God to sustain our faith is something that has been coming up a lot recently.  It is so easy to lose faith, even though it's more precious than all the material wonders and goods of this world.

Related link : Karol Wojtyla Beatified. "They Will Look Upon Him Whom They Have Pierced"

Really, is that so?

Anthony Hubbard in the Sunday Star Times on the New Governor General: Afghanistan torture haunts next governor-general. You think?

Afghanistan is the site of a particularly nasty war. And for better or for worse our Military are trying to bring some sort of civilization to that sad region. Of course the place was hardly the Garden of Eden before Western involvement, nor before the Soviet involvement that preceded that.

And let us not forget the reason why we are there and that is Afghanistan exported its pathology, in particular it was the origin of an attack on the United States which left nearly 3000 dead in streets of New York, Washington and the fields of Pennsylvania.

I'm against torture of course, and I am also against the death of infants through abuse. Just last week another baby died of head injuries in Starship hospital, This is not an event that took place in a far off war zone but in our own backyard. An event so common now that most of us barely noticed.

I wish John Key and Jerry Mateparae could fix things so babies in New Zealand could sleep safely in their cradles, its a hard problem - no?

But one that it is reasonable to look to them to try and resolve.

Holding them accountable for uncivilized behavior in Afghanistan by Afghanis is probably too much of a burden to lay upon their shoulders.