A Note on the Catholic Synod

Yes, I am aware that the Roman Catholics are having a big meeting in Rome. Yes, I realize it is controversial. No, I am not ignoring it. Thus far nothing substantive has occurred. There is a great deal of hyperventilating going on both in Rome and on the blogosphere. Lots of rumors and speculation and good old fashioned gossip. But nothing official has come out of the Synod... yet.

Once something actually happens, I will post it and maybe comment.

Argentina’s Ruling Party Eyes Bigger Banknotes amid Soaring Prices

For the first time in years, lawmakers from Argentina’s ruling Front for Victory coalition have proposed upping the size of the country’s largest denomination banknote to AR$200.

Congressman Carlos Kunkel, author of the initiative, claims the measure has nothing to do with inflation, which runs at 25-35 percent annually, according to private estimates.

Instead, the larger bill — US$12.50 at the black-market rate — would “reduce the cost of printing and circulating money,” Kunkel told a local radio station on October 8. “It will be more convenient for the people.”

Read the rest here.

Methodist, Episcopalian Clergy ‘Bless’ Cleveland Abortion Clinic in Prayer Service

CLEVELAND, OH, October 12, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) -- More than a dozen religious leaders from a variety of denominations gathered last week to support abortion and "bless" a Cleveland abortion facility.

The "blessing" of the Preterm facility was initiated and coordinated by Rev. Laura Young, a Methodist priestess and the executive director of The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice's (RCRC) Ohio chapter. 

"Bless this building," prayed Rev. Tracey Lind, Dean of Cleveland's Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, at the abortion facility. "May its walls stand strong against the onslaught of shame thrown at it. May it be a beacon of hope for those who need its services."

Read the rest here.

Anathema!

Cubs win NL Division Series beat Cardinals 6-4 in Game 4

Their first ever post season series win at Wrigley Field. Could this be their year?

Details



The 2015 Cubs win the World Series from Back to the Future II (an otherwise highly forgettable film).

Chase Utley and Ruben Tejada

That wasn’t a slide into a 2nd base (unless Utley mistakenly thought 2nd base was somewhere in the outfield). It was a missile aimed at Tejada with the objective of taking him out by any means necessary. Mission accomplished with the added benefit of a broken leg. Even worse was the way the play was called. Utley never touched the damn base before or after the slide. He never came close to it. It was the worst blown call I’ve seen since the umpire robbed Armando Gallaraga of a perfect game back in 2010.

Gabriel Sanchez takes on Trad Catholics and Orthodoxy

Four Uncontroversial Paragraphs for Saturday

I have haven't always agreed with Gabriel's commentary on the Orthodox Church, but this one seems pretty fair and balanced (apologies to Faux News).

HT: Bill Tighe

RIP: Jerry Parr - Bodyguard who helped save Reagan

Jerry S. Parr, the Secret Service agent credited with saving President Ronald Reagan’s life during an assassination attempt in 1981, died Friday at a hospice near his home in Washington. He was 85.

The death was confirmed by Mr. Parr’s wife, Carolyn, who said he died of congestive heart failure.

Mr. Parr was just feet away from Mr. Reagan when John W. Hinckley Jr. opened fire on the president outside the Washington Hilton hotel on March 30, 1981.

“When he was about probably six or seven feet from the car, I heard these shots,” Mr. Parr said in a 2013 interview promoting the memoir he wrote with his wife. “I sort of knew what they were, and I’d been waiting for them all of my career, in a way. That’s what every agent waits for, is that.”

Read the rest here.

Memory eternal!

Nigel Farage Blasts European Union While Angela Merkel Watches

Quote of the day...

"The goal of human freedom is not in freedom itself, nor it is in man, but in God. By giving man freedom, God has yielded to man a piece of His Divine authority, but with the intention that man himself would voluntarily bring it as a sacrifice to God, a most perfect offering. "

- St. Theophan the Recluse

SS United States in Imminent Danger of Scrapping

Marilyn Monroe, JFK and the Mona Lisa all enjoyed the luxurious Atlantic crossing provided by the Titanic-sized SS United States.

But the famed liner, which still holds the record for a crossing between the US and Britain by a passenger ship, now faces its final journey - to the scrapyard.

The SS United States Conservancy organisation can no longer afford the $60,000 a month it costs to dock the ship on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, where it rests, empty and rusting.

he group had planned to turn the ship, which is nicknamed the Big U, into a real estate development for New York's waterfront, which was once the ship's home, but no investors have yet come forward.

Unless that changes by the end of this month, the group said, “we will have no choice but to negotiate the sale of the ship to a responsible recycler”.

Susan Gibbs, executive director of SS United States Conservancy, told the New York Times that the decision to seek bids from scrapyards was "excruciating".

Read the rest here.

$3 trillion corporate credit crunch looms as debtors face day of reckoning, says IMF

Governments and central banks risk tipping the world into a fresh financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund has warned, as it called time on a corporate debt binge in the developing world.

Emerging market companies have "over-borrowed" by $3 trillion in the last decade, reflecting a quadrupling of private sector debt between 2004 and 2014, found the IMF's Global Financial Stability Report.

This dangerous over-leveraging now threatens to unleash a wave of defaults that will imperil an already weak global economy, said stark findings from the IMF's twice yearly report.

The Fund warned there was no margin for error for policymakers navigating these hazardous risks.

The slightest miscalculation, they said, could collapse into a "failed normalisation" of interest rates and market conditions, wiping 3pc from the world's economic output over the next two years. 

Read the rest here.

Britain's New Labour Leader Snubs The Queen (link fixed)

Jeremy Corbyn has snubbed the Queen by refusing to be sworn into the Privy Council on Thursday, as it emerged he could use a loophole to join the advisory body without ever meeting Her Majesty.

The Labour leader, a lifelong republican, is known to have reservations about kneeling in front of the Queen and kissing her hand as he swears an oath of allegiance to her, which is the normal process when a new Privy Councillor is sworn in.

And having refused to sing the National Anthem at a Battle of Britain 75th anniversary service last month, Mr Corbyn tried to dodge the issue by sayingio he could not attend tomorrow’s meeting due to unspecified “prr engagements”. 

Read the rest here.

Statement by the Russian Orthodox Church on the mass murder of Christians in Oregon

The Russian Orthodox Church is deeply grieved to learn about the terrible terrorist action in a college in the state of Oregon in the United States, in which peaceful people were killed. What makes the tragedy even graver is that the killer consciously chose to victimize young people who confess Christianity. This glaring inhuman act confirms once again that Christianity has become the most persecuted religion in the world. Extremists in various parts of the world increasingly seek to provoke hatred and enmity among religions and nations, for which they are ready to commit the most inhuman evil deeds.

The Moscow Patriarchate again and again calls the world community to pay attention to the importance of protecting Christians against terror. We keep reminding the powers that be and religious and public leaders of the responsibility lying on their shoulders for the peaceful co-existence between people of different religions, ethnoses and cultures. At the same time, we believe that the terrorist actions committed in the recent time in various countries of the world were provoked by the political and social chaos created by external forces in a number of countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa.

The Russian Orthodox Church is grieving together with the American people for those who were killed and praying for the recovery of the injured and for the consolation of the families and friends of the victims of the terrorist action. We hope that the authorities of the United States of America will take measures to prevent such tragedies and ensure a peaceful and safe life for Christians and people of other traditional religions.

Source

Fr. Rosica (Papal spokesman) from Vatican Press Briefing on the Extraordinary Synod

'There must be an end to exclusionary language and a strong emphasis on embracing reality as it is. We should not be afraid of new and complex situations.'

These were words of Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, the Vatican's English speaking language spokesperson, this afternoon who was speaking at the briefing of the Synod's second day in the Vatican press office, with its director, Father Federico Lombardi, Italian Archbishop Claudio Celli, and Canadian Cardinal Paul-Andre Durocher...

... Aiming to summarize the some 70 interventions given mostly in Italian, English and French as well as in Spanish, German and Portuguese, Fr. Rosica said the issues of migration, poverty, employment, war, and the major refugee problem and how to best react these challenges were greatly considered. Other issues brought up, he noted, included domestic violence, violence in the Church, and sexual abuse.

Regarding the idea of divorced remarried Catholics being able to receive communion, he noted how some assert it would be more difficult to come up with a universal response, but instead makes sense to come up with a regional treatment. He said it may make sense to examine and perhaps treat the situation on a more local, regional, even continental level.

Certain other issues, he shared, may also make sense to consider locally, such as polygamy. [Holy crap! A/O]

The importance of changing language used to address certain difficult situations, Fr. Rosica said, was highlighted. "The language must be renewed," he said, noting how this is especially appropriate and linked to the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy which Pope Francis has declared, Dec. 8, 2015 - Nov. 20, 2015. "The Jubilee of Mercy requires a language of mercy," he stated. Father Rosica underscored how language ought to always be inclusive, rather than exclusive, particularly for homosexuals.

"In particular, when speaking about homosexuals or gay persons," he said, "we recognize them for who they are: They are our sons, our daughters, and brothers, sisters, neighbors and colleagues."

Read the rest here.
HT: Vox Cantoris

Archbishop Gatineau calls for women deacons

Qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum illuc, unde negant redire quemquam.

Pat Buchanan Slams Mid-East War Hawks

Having established a base on the Syrian coast, Vladimir Putin last week began air strikes on ISIS and other rebel forces seeking to overthrow Bashar Assad.

A longtime ally of Syria, Russia wants to preserve its toehold on the Mediterranean, help Assad repel the threat, and keep the Islamic terrorists out of Damascus.

Russia is also fearful that the fall of Assad would free up the Chechen terrorists in Syria to return to Russia.

In intervening to save Assad, Putin is doing exactly what we are doing to save our imperiled allies in Baghdad and Kabul.
Yet Putin’s intervention has ignited an almost berserk reaction...

Read the rest here.

British Home Secretary: Mass immigration makes 'cohesive society' impossible

Mass immigration is forcing thousands of British people out of jobs and is making it “impossible” to build a “cohesive society”, Theresa May will say.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, the Home Secretary will say that there is “is no case in the national interest for immigration of the scale we have experienced over the last decade”.

Mrs May, considered a potential successor to David Cameron as Tory leader, will warn that current levels of migration into the UK are unsustainable as she calls for a system “that allows us to control who comes to our country”. 

Read the rest here.

In Britain the Home Secretary is responsible for law enforcement and domestic security.

World's First Lesbian Bishop Calls for Church to Remove Crosses, to Install Muslim Prayer Space

The Bishop of Stockholm has proposed a church in her diocese remove all signs of the cross and put down markings showing the direction to Mecca for the benefit of Muslim worshippers.

Eva Brunne, who was made the world’s first openly lesbian bishop by the church of Sweden in 2009, and has a young son with her wife and fellow lesbian priest Gunilla Linden, made the suggestion to make those of other faiths more welcome.

The church targeted is the Seamen’s mission church in Stockholm’s eastern dockyards. The Bishop held a meeting there this year and challenged the priest to explain what he’d do if a ship’s crew came into port who weren’t Christian but wanted to pray.

Calling Muslim guests to the church “angels“, the Bishop later took to her official blog to explain that removing Christian symbols from the church and preparing the building for Muslim prayer doesn’t make a priest any less a defender of the faith. Rather, to do any less would make one “stingy towards people of other faiths”.

Read the rest here.

The Folly of Comfortable Christianity

A conversation with Bishop Pitirim of Dushanbe and Tadjikistan.

Let's Not Move to Mars

IN the early years of the 20th century, zeppelins filled with flammable and explosive hydrogen were all the rage in Germany, a reckless infatuation that ended with the eruption and crash of the Hindenburg in 1937. Sometimes, technology is a triumph of wild-eyed enthusiasm over the unpleasant facts of the real world.

Today we are witnessing a similar outburst of enthusiasm over the literally outlandish notion that in the relatively near future, some of us are going to be living, working, thriving and dying on Mars. A Dutch nonprofit venture called Mars One aspires to send four people to Mars by 2026 as the beginning of a permanent human settlement. In the United States, the nonprofit Inspiration One has plans for a two-person team to fly within 100 miles of the planet, launching from Earth in January 2018. And the entrepreneur Elon Musk, who runs a rocket company called SpaceX, has said he hopes to send the first people to Mars in 11 to 12 years.

Read the rest here.