Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Notable Round-up

The triumph of God is apparent in all things, and is often most recognisable in astonishing reversals. The conversion of Paul. The exaltation of the Cross unto a thing of Glory. And now, the transformation of a former abortion mill into a Catholic chapel, consecrated appropriately as the Chapel of the Holy Innocents. Wouldn't want to be Herod right about now, or really at all.

From the strivings of a traditional Catholic comes a breathtaking clearinghouse of prayers for you and your family, in both English and Latin, with indulgence-related notation and instructions for posture after the Dominican fashion. It's an inspiring sight/site for adults, and for younger folks like me it stands invitingly as the pleasant means to a most noble end. A man ain't a man unless he can bellow in Latin, and poorly-worded imprecations about underwear simply don't cut it anymore.

"St. George forever!" they cried as they marched off to their deaths. "Yeah, about that..." said certain Anglicans. Not to disrespect St. Alban, who was a righteous gentleman to be sure, but he didn't slay any dragons. I've heard it said by some that St. George should be made the honourary president of the St. Christopher Society for Fanciful Saints, but such complaints lack merit. What these fellows actually mean by that is that we should just ignore him as fiction. The idea that mankind is likely to ignore fiction, or even that it should, is far more fanciful and absurd than any number of extravagant, monster-slaying supermen, however, and should be dismissed as the foolishness that it is.

Whatever their mounting theological and moral problems, it's good to see that the Episcopalians can still maintain an impressive-looking Cathedral (sometimes), and even have a sense of fun about things. You're either going to love or hate this one, ladies and gentlemen; there is no middle ground. You've been warned. In any event, you can find more information about this astonishing feature here, and more about the Cathedral in general here.

Should we take it as a compliment that, as Bishop Fulton Sheen once remarked, more people attack of an elaborately-constructed caricature of the Church than actually dare to attack the Church Herself? If so, young Charlotte Church has paid our Mater Ecclesia the greatest compliment ever rendered by human effort. Huh... Church vs. Church. The secularists will be bemoaning this latest holy war, no doubt.

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