Author: pilgrim
You’ll be a man my son!
I’m feeling in a poetic mood tonight although, to to be fair, it’s probably just the wine 😉
Anyway, I had previously written about my favourite poet, Kahlil Gibran, but I thought I’d share with you my favourite poem by another great poet and mustache wearer, Rudyard Kipling:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with wornout tools;
Daughters Of The King Invitations sent!
The invitations to the next Daughters Of The King event have now been emailed out. We’ve made every effort to make sure we’ve included everyone, but if we’ve missed you, please send me an email and I’ll send you the registration details.
Wise Words on Wednesday: Grandpa Sheen
“No one can pick up the Scriptures without reading a devastating criticism of social moral standards, as when the Divine Savior puts a harlot above a Pharisee, a penitent robber above a religious leader, a prodigal son above his exemplary elder brother.
“Many a tree as it stands in the forest looks fair, fine, solid and valuable, but when it is cut down and sawed for use reveals rottenness, cross grain and knots. Social conformity to low standards may give the appearance of goodness, but in the judgment of God the true character is revealed” – Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Belief Matrix
This post is one of those which has languished in my “Drafts” folder for far too long. Fortunately, a recent article by Joe at Shameless Popery reminded me of this topic and prompted me to finish what I had begun…
I had been preparing a couple of apologetics posts and, to save me some typing, I had been digging through my past correspondence with Protestant friends and acquaintances.
A while ago I mentioned an email exchange I had with a chap called Jay. I was looking through some of our early correspondence and I came across something I had written to him which I thought deserved its own blog entry.
Unanswered Questions
I had asked Jay a series of questions to which he had not responded. Rather than answer my questions about his own worldview, he wanted to jump right in and debate topics such as Mary, Purgatory and Papal Infallibility. Because every Protestant group has a different set of beliefs, I had to understand Jay’s worldview in order to meaningfully interact with it. Here’s what I wrote:
“[Jay,] please address my questions so I can understand where you’re coming from. If you want to know what I believe you can just crack open the Catechism. [This will concretely tell you what I believe and give you a good idea as to why I believe it].
[I can’t do the same for you. Your particular matrix of beliefs is your own]. I don’t have such a simple way of finding out how your theology hangs together and exactly what you believe (“Once Saved Always Saved”? Understanding of Sola Scriptura? Sola Fide? etc.)“
Best of British/Irish: Part 3
Last week I began a series of posts about comedy shows from back home. I have found that American exposure to these comedians and shows is rather limited. I’ll sometimes meet people who have seen Monty Python, Absolutely Fabulous or Benny Hill [rolls eyes], but there’s so much more on offer!
Since I usually write about subjects related to religion, today I’d like to focus on one show in particular that concerns Catholicism: the very excellent “Fr Ted”.
Fr. Ted is a priest who lives on a tiny island off the coast of Ireland with two other priests: an idiot and an angry drunk who has a fear of nuns, together with a housekeeper who has an obsessive need to serve people tea…
Despite the fact that this show deals with the subject of religion (a touchy area when it comes to comedy), it really pulls it off brilliantly because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Speaking of which, have you ever wondered what would happen if a group of priests got trapped in the lingerie section of a department store? Well, thanks to Fr Ted, wonder no more…
All that remains
A read while ago I about attempts by Major Oak Entertainment to make a movie about the bombing and rebuilding of Nagasaki. I absolutely love the soundtrack: