I love getting comments on this blog. I try to reply to them all, and this is hardly onerous as I don't get all that many.
However, I do get a huge amount of spam comments every single day, which I imagine is the common plight of every blogger. In the past, I filtered through these to make sure I wasn't deleting (or ignoring) any real comments. Comments which are posted anonymously are particularly at risk of this.
Recently, however, I've become so fatigued by the constant deluge of spam, and the blog itself has been so dormant (you probably can't qualify the word 'dormant', but I don't care), that I may have missed some. I found myself almost ignoring one today because I assumed it was a spam comment.
So heartfelt apologies if this happened to you. I really didn't mean it.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Saturday, September 6, 2014
My Idea for a New Website
I'm increasingly dissatisfied with this blog. Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for all the readers it's gleaned and all the opportunities it's given me to write about the things I care about, and to have people read my writing. I'm especially grateful that my poetry and stories have found an audience through it. But I really feel I'm treading water after a few years. The readership doesn't grow and I feel I'm becoming repetitive with my posting.
I was in Switzerland and France last week, for my niece's wedding, and while I was there I had an idea for a new website. I want to run it by my readers here to see what they think and to see whether anyone could help at all. I should say right out that I don't expect this website to make money unless it's in the long-term.
The idea came to me when I was sitting with my wife in a restaurant in Evians-les-Bains, after attending a Marc Chagall exhibition. We had just been in Switzerland to attend my niece's wedding. Myself and my wife met on Catholic Match, a Catholic dating website. (One of the benefits of Catholic Match is that it makes everyone answer seven questions of fidelity to Church teaching, so you can know how serious someone is about his or her Catholic faith.) It occurred to me that it would be good to have a similar website, but of a purely social nature. (I suppose romance could blossom from the social aspect, but that would not be the intention, nor would it be aimed at man-woman friendships in particular.) My initial idea was that it would be good to have a website where Catholics could private message each other, and maybe-- if they lived near each other-- meet for either social purposes or for prayer groups, discussion and so forth.
More and more ideas started coming to me as I munched on a cheese and meat fondue and sipped white wine. The site could be a portal to the whole Irish internet. It could have, not only links to as many Irish Catholic blogs as I could find-- and there aren't really all that many-- but introductions to each one, and a round-up of recent blog activity.
I like the idea of it being collaborative, of using contributions from readers. For instance, there would be an oral history section where people, old and young, could post their memories of Catholic education, first Communions, going to Mass, pilgrimages, and so forth. It could be an archive of the Irish Catholic experience over the generations.
I am very keen on having a sacred art section where readers could contribute poems, paintings, photographs, and other devotional works of art.
There could be a directory of places to pray-- the Mass times listings on the Irish Bishops' website is great, but it doesn't tell you when the various churches are open outside Mass times. I think building this up would be very useful.
There could be movie, TV, radio and book reviews.
There would be an online book of intentions, with (perhaps) particular intentions highlighted.
There could possibly be a forum, though I understand it's difficult to get a forum to take off and a dormant forum looks terrible.
And, of course, there would be ordinary articles and blog posts to provide a focus and a day-by-day life to it.
The thing is, I would definitely need a webmaster for this. I have no particular talent with computers. And this is the kind of site that could definitely not be done through Blogger or any similar platform.
So, if anyone out there knows anything about web design and feels like volunteering their talents, drop me a line. And I'm interested to know if anyone thinks this is a good idea in general.
My provisional title for the site is Build Each Other Up("Therefore encourage one another and build each other up", 1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Anyway, if this doesn't materialize, I will keep up with the blog, which I will probably keep up anyway. But I do feel a restlessness to do something else.
I was in Switzerland and France last week, for my niece's wedding, and while I was there I had an idea for a new website. I want to run it by my readers here to see what they think and to see whether anyone could help at all. I should say right out that I don't expect this website to make money unless it's in the long-term.
The idea came to me when I was sitting with my wife in a restaurant in Evians-les-Bains, after attending a Marc Chagall exhibition. We had just been in Switzerland to attend my niece's wedding. Myself and my wife met on Catholic Match, a Catholic dating website. (One of the benefits of Catholic Match is that it makes everyone answer seven questions of fidelity to Church teaching, so you can know how serious someone is about his or her Catholic faith.) It occurred to me that it would be good to have a similar website, but of a purely social nature. (I suppose romance could blossom from the social aspect, but that would not be the intention, nor would it be aimed at man-woman friendships in particular.) My initial idea was that it would be good to have a website where Catholics could private message each other, and maybe-- if they lived near each other-- meet for either social purposes or for prayer groups, discussion and so forth.
More and more ideas started coming to me as I munched on a cheese and meat fondue and sipped white wine. The site could be a portal to the whole Irish internet. It could have, not only links to as many Irish Catholic blogs as I could find-- and there aren't really all that many-- but introductions to each one, and a round-up of recent blog activity.
I like the idea of it being collaborative, of using contributions from readers. For instance, there would be an oral history section where people, old and young, could post their memories of Catholic education, first Communions, going to Mass, pilgrimages, and so forth. It could be an archive of the Irish Catholic experience over the generations.
I am very keen on having a sacred art section where readers could contribute poems, paintings, photographs, and other devotional works of art.
There could be a directory of places to pray-- the Mass times listings on the Irish Bishops' website is great, but it doesn't tell you when the various churches are open outside Mass times. I think building this up would be very useful.
There could be movie, TV, radio and book reviews.
There would be an online book of intentions, with (perhaps) particular intentions highlighted.
There could possibly be a forum, though I understand it's difficult to get a forum to take off and a dormant forum looks terrible.
And, of course, there would be ordinary articles and blog posts to provide a focus and a day-by-day life to it.
The thing is, I would definitely need a webmaster for this. I have no particular talent with computers. And this is the kind of site that could definitely not be done through Blogger or any similar platform.
So, if anyone out there knows anything about web design and feels like volunteering their talents, drop me a line. And I'm interested to know if anyone thinks this is a good idea in general.
My provisional title for the site is Build Each Other Up("Therefore encourage one another and build each other up", 1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Anyway, if this doesn't materialize, I will keep up with the blog, which I will probably keep up anyway. But I do feel a restlessness to do something else.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Jesus Was Not a Hippie (Part One)
Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ came to Earth to spread a simple message of love, forgiveness and inclusiveness. Unfortunately, that message has been hijacked by organised religion, and by the Catholic Church in particular, who took his simple message and twisted it into a system of dogma, exclusion and prohibitions.
That's complete balderdash, of course. But it's balderdash I hear (and read) all the time. So often, in fact, that I've decided to go through the Gospels and pick out all the (many, many) sayings of Jesus which are glaringly at odds with the 'I'm OK-- You're OK', live-and-let-live philosophy which is so often attributed to him. So far I've only got half-way through the Gospel of Matthew.
It's true, of course, that all of Our Lord's words have to be understood in context. His teachings are a seamless garment. Nevertheless, I think this exercise in selective quotation is legitimate as a corrective.
Of course, it's still open to the advocates of a hippie Jesus to argue that all the following quotations are simply interpellations of the Catholic Church, or the Emperor Constantine, or some other sinister corrupter of Jesus's Simple Message of Love. But, of course, once we start disqualifying Scripture passages we don't like-- what we might call the Martin Luther gambit-- or discounting Scripture altogether, it's hard to see what we're left with besides the 'Jesus' we see when we look in the mirror.
The Bible translation used here is the New American Bible.
Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.*
Matthew 5:20: "I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 5:22: "Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna."
Mattrew 5:25-26: "Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."
Matthew 5:28: "Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Matthew 5:29-30: "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna."
Matthew 5:31-32: “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
Matthew 5:48: "Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Matthew 5:14-15: "If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."
Matthew 7:11: "If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him."
Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few."
Matthew 7:19: "Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,* but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."
Matthew 8:11-12: "I say to you,* many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
Matthew 10:14-15: "Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town."
Matthew 10:28: "And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."
Matthew 10:32:33: "Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father."
Matthew 10:34: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword."
Matthew 10:35-36: "For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’"
Matthew 10:38: "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me."
Matthew 11:21-24: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
Matthew 12:31-32: "Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."
Matthew 12:34: "You brood of vipers, how can you say good things when you are evil? For from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks."
Matthew 12:36: "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will render an account for every careless word they speak."
Matthew 13:12: "To anyone who has, more will be given* and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away."
Matthew 13:19-22: "The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit."
Matthew 13:40-42: "Just as weeds are collected and burned [up] with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."
Matthew 13:47-50: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."
That's complete balderdash, of course. But it's balderdash I hear (and read) all the time. So often, in fact, that I've decided to go through the Gospels and pick out all the (many, many) sayings of Jesus which are glaringly at odds with the 'I'm OK-- You're OK', live-and-let-live philosophy which is so often attributed to him. So far I've only got half-way through the Gospel of Matthew.
It's true, of course, that all of Our Lord's words have to be understood in context. His teachings are a seamless garment. Nevertheless, I think this exercise in selective quotation is legitimate as a corrective.
Of course, it's still open to the advocates of a hippie Jesus to argue that all the following quotations are simply interpellations of the Catholic Church, or the Emperor Constantine, or some other sinister corrupter of Jesus's Simple Message of Love. But, of course, once we start disqualifying Scripture passages we don't like-- what we might call the Martin Luther gambit-- or discounting Scripture altogether, it's hard to see what we're left with besides the 'Jesus' we see when we look in the mirror.
The Bible translation used here is the New American Bible.
Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.*
Matthew 5:20: "I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 5:22: "Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna."
Mattrew 5:25-26: "Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."
Matthew 5:28: "Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Matthew 5:29-30: "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna."
Matthew 5:31-32: “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
Matthew 5:48: "Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Matthew 5:14-15: "If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."
Matthew 7:11: "If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him."
Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few."
Matthew 7:19: "Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,* but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."
Matthew 8:11-12: "I say to you,* many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
Matthew 10:14-15: "Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town."
Matthew 10:28: "And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."
Matthew 10:32:33: "Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father."
Matthew 10:34: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword."
Matthew 10:35-36: "For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’"
Matthew 10:38: "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me."
Matthew 11:21-24: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
Matthew 12:31-32: "Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."
Matthew 12:34: "You brood of vipers, how can you say good things when you are evil? For from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks."
Matthew 12:36: "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will render an account for every careless word they speak."
Matthew 13:12: "To anyone who has, more will be given* and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away."
Matthew 13:19-22: "The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit."
Matthew 13:40-42: "Just as weeds are collected and burned [up] with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."
Matthew 13:47-50: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."
Saturday, August 23, 2014
The Spark Has Gone Out Of Our Blog Life
Reader, I appreciate you trying, but I think we have to admit it's in the doldrums. It's like we don't have anything to say to each other anymore. I can't believe I'm saying this but....maybe you should read other blogs. Only for a little while! I just need to get into a better place mentally, and creatively, and existentially, and mythopoetically. It's not you, it's me. I think I might have seasonal affective disorder.
So I'm off on a late summer holiday. Talk to you some time in the Autumn! Unless I have something burning to say in the interim. I'm sure I'll come back with all the voluminous verbiage, pompous pontificating, soaring speculation, winsome witticisms, versatile versifying, and oblique observations that we both seem to enjoy. Ciao!!
So I'm off on a late summer holiday. Talk to you some time in the Autumn! Unless I have something burning to say in the interim. I'm sure I'll come back with all the voluminous verbiage, pompous pontificating, soaring speculation, winsome witticisms, versatile versifying, and oblique observations that we both seem to enjoy. Ciao!!
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Spam, spam, spam
Every single day I get copious amounts of it. For some reason, it tends to concentrate itself upon certain posts. Spam messages, also for some unguessable reason, seem to have an obsession with the word 'fastidious', which they use in the least appropriate contexts.
I can't help being amused by some of the messages, which often run something like this:
Wonderful blog post. You how an appreciation of the arguments that is rare in the blogosphere. The depth of research you did for this article must have been fastidious. Keep up the good work!
See my site, Russian sex webcam.
I can't help finding this kind of abrupt change of subject a little jarring, no matter how often I read it.
Anyway, it's surprisingy wearing, over a long period of time.
I can't help being amused by some of the messages, which often run something like this:
Wonderful blog post. You how an appreciation of the arguments that is rare in the blogosphere. The depth of research you did for this article must have been fastidious. Keep up the good work!
See my site, Russian sex webcam.
I can't help finding this kind of abrupt change of subject a little jarring, no matter how often I read it.
Anyway, it's surprisingy wearing, over a long period of time.
Jeff Culbreath on Reverence and Irreverence
"It is impossible to be irreverent when the world no longer believes in reverence. It is impossible to tell an “edgy” joke when the edge has moved before you finish telling it. It is impossible push the envelope when there are no boundaries that envelop. Our entertainment and humor is degenerating fast because there is no stable context for it. In fact, today’s humor is often forced to establish a context – usually a caricature consisting of a “repressed”, conservative, religious milieu that most people have never experienced – for some protagonist to violate. Increasingly, however, Political Correctness has taken the place of Christianity, and some of the new comedians apply their irreverence to PC dogma, although it changes so fast it’s hard to keep up with, forcing the violators to anticipate the next move and push the envelope still further. An obvious problem with this is that PC is itself a caricature of its host, Christian morality, and it is not uncommon for the two to overlap in places. What offends against PC, often enough, offends even more egregiously against its predecessor."
More here, in this blog post from 2008.
More here, in this blog post from 2008.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
A Query
I found myself wondering today if many readers of this blog read my articles in The Catholic Voice newspaper? A couple of people mentioned that they do, in comments, but I do wonder what cross-over there might be.
It's such a strange sensation, to send your thoughts out like a message in a bottle, and to have such a foggy idea of where they might end up. But I suppose all writing is like that, even writing graffiti on walls. (I never wrote on a wall in my life, but I'm utterly fascinated by graffiti.)
It's such a strange sensation, to send your thoughts out like a message in a bottle, and to have such a foggy idea of where they might end up. But I suppose all writing is like that, even writing graffiti on walls. (I never wrote on a wall in my life, but I'm utterly fascinated by graffiti.)
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