Coo-ees from the Cloister

The Cloister retreats on Fridays...

2012-01-27T00:00:00.001+11:00

"For let not the mouth only fast, but also the eye, and ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, by being pure from rapine and avarice. Let the feet fast, but ceasing from running to the unlawful spectacles. Let the eyes fast, being taught never to fix themselves rudely upon handsome countenances, or to busy themselves with strange beauties. For looking is the food of the eyes, but if this be such as is unlawful or forbidden, it mars the fast; and upsets the whole safety of the soul; but if it be lawful and safe, it adorns fasting. For it would be among things the most absurd to abstain from lawful food because of the fast, but with the eyes to touch even what is forbidden. Dost thou not eat flesh? Feed not upon lasciviousness by means of the eyes. Let the ear fast also. The fasting of the ear consists in refusing to receive evil speakings and calumnies. "Thou shalt not receive a false report," it says.

St. John Chrysostom - III Homilies on the Statues.

Oremus pro invicem!

Lost in Liturgical Space

2012-01-19T17:50:00.003+11:00

New font for the Sistine Chapel baptisms.

Madness.

Doppelgänger

2012-01-17T05:59:00.003+11:00

Because Everybody loves +Denis

Religion and Reality for the ABC in 2012... A Dynamic Duo?

2012-01-16T06:32:00.031+11:00

That bastion of liberal aCatholicism, Geraldine's Compass is back in 2012 but at a new time that will present a tough choice on Sunday evenings... 6pm Mass, or Compass?

In 2012 it will be predictable programs featuring young nuns and the challenges facing the Catholic Church in Australia on the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council... And of course we will rehash past stories on the lives of women from Longreach, Melbourne and Sydney’s west who featured in the pathetic Compass Women’s Dinner series.

But then there's...

Imagine leaving your family and taking the place of another young person in a home that’s incredibly different from your own. You have grown up in a strong faith tradition and family culture, but now swap places with someone from a completely different religious background.

Check it out... or register!

Holy apocalyptic agnosticisms Batman!!

“Carved on the palm of His hand.”

2012-01-15T07:25:00.000+11:00

Two little pearls from that community in self imposed exile...

Don’t Forget The Kids At St Mary’s.

We want to make it attractive and inclusive for children to come to St Marys.One way is to haveSpecial Children’s Name Badges. As a starting point, we are inviting our children to try their hand at designing a name badge especially for children. This could be a school holiday project, so we are asking for ideas to be submitted to Bob Aldred by Sunday 5 February. We will be asking the children to pick the best one, which we will then make for the children.

Cause a 'special' name badge is why every kid goes to church...

TLC- WHAT’S IN AN INITIAL!
When the St Mary’s Community relocated to the TLC Building the initials were referred to as Totally Lapsed Catholics, which was possibly referencing the Catholic Churches perception of the St Mary’s community! More recently it has been reconsidered -Tender Loving Care being an obvious choice, or Tender Loving Community as has been suggested. What is your take on the initials TLC?
Irrespective of these initials, please extend a warm welcome to anyone who you feel may be interested in joining with the St Mary’s Community.

Might we suggest Too Little Catholicism...

Do you see what I see?

2012-01-12T08:51:00.003+11:00

..... a couple of nice examples of scagliola!

"It's a bit like Michelangelo"

2012-01-07T11:00:00.004+11:00

Here is a new window for St Therese's Church, New Lambton (Maitland-Newcastle Diocese). It represents the Nativity of Our Lord.

The result of a collaboration between Sr Dorothy Woodward RSJ "with a background in religious education" and Lee Howes, "P[hysical] E[ducation] teacher turned glass artist", the window interprets the "grand vision" of Fr Barry Tunks, the Parish Priest, to present the Messiah - Jesus - for people of our age in glass, just as Handel presented the Messiah in music.

In this window, according to the diocesan magazine Aurora, "the baby curled in the womb is encircled by the world, which is itself encircled by angels wings."

The glass artist, Lee, says "I love doing these projects with Dorothy and I quite enjoy learning the stories behind them because I haven't had a lot to do with them."

According to Fr Tunks, the project is "a bit like Michelangelo and the Pope; it will be finished when its finished."

Eventually there will be 48 stained glass windows installed in the church as a golden jubilee project.

So, pilgrims, do Handel and Michelangelo spring to mind as appropriate comparisons when you look at this window?

Read the whole story in Aurora here.

Caption Competition... It's intended to be a Riot!

2012-01-05T19:27:00.007+11:00

As we turn our minds to the arrival of the Magi, herewith a little gift from us! Its not gold or frankincense but it will cause more than a little 'myrrh'th! Not to mention its epiphany value for some...

That 'Large Body of Opinion' the Archbishop of Sydney seems well poised
to shine a light on any number of issues in 2012...

Chrissie at the 'straliaDome

2011-12-29T09:16:00.008+11:00

We don't think the Italian staff have quite wrapped their minds around the idea that Christmas is in the SUMMER in the Southern Hemisphere.

Here's a photo of the first-ever Christmas tree at the 'straliaDome in Rome.

The white stuff is fake snow.

Wonder what they'd make of "Six White Boomers"?

Occupy Christmas They Call It...

2011-12-19T09:44:00.000+11:00

While I'm struggling with the whole taking Jesus busking thing... it nevertheless has that shall we say "je ne sais quoi"!

This is indeed a troubling feature among some who have embraced the 'new evangelisation'... when in doubt they haul Jesus out!!

Perhaps some good comes of it...

May the Recipe Translate Well...

2011-12-17T21:59:00.000+11:00

The Bishop, the lesbians, and the poor little child.

2011-12-15T11:53:00.006+11:00

The flip-flop, at the insistence of Bishop Manning, of the decision to not enroll the child of a lesbian “couple” in Sacred Heart School in Broken Hill is troubling, and this Cloistered writer thinks the initial decision by, presumably, the principal and Parish Priest NOT to enrol the child was probably the right one.

Picture: +Manning is farewelled from the Parramatta Diocese
Catholic Education Office in February 2010.

What would Jesus do? I think he’d bless the child and tell the lesbians to enrol her/him in the local state school.

Enrollment of a child in a Catholic school is about more than reading, writing and arithmetic, because the child and the child’s family are becoming involved in a whole Catholic community and environment.

Is it really fair on a child to enrol them in a school and milieu where they will, when they reach a suitable age, be quite properly exposed to the startling information that there is something truly, madly, deeply, flawed and unnatural about home, Mum and Mum?

I think Mum and Mum were being very unfair to their child by attempting to enroll in a Catholic school. The school and parish community has a duty to promote a healthy Catholic understanding of human sexuality and the parent/child relationship. It would be devastating for the child to be settled in to a school and build up relationships of respect with teachers and so on only to be placed in a really conflicted situation when they get a little older.

The cry has been “how dare the Catholic school discriminate against the child because of the sexuality of the parents!” But in fact it would seem wrong to enroll a child into a situation that is quite foreseeably going to cause confliction in the child and where the “parents” are in fact a living reproach to what the school actually stands for.

Most unfortunately, even Bishop Manning has been running that line, telling the ABC “"There's no way in the world one can penalise a child for what his or her parents do. And in this case, to penalise a five-year-old child because her parents are living in a homosexual relationship is just quite wrong."

The child was not being penalised for what his or her parents “do”, the child was probably being protected from an intolerable situation...and certainly other children and families in the school were being protected from having to turn a blind eye to a real problem.

The decision of the “parents” to adopt a lesbian relationship, presumably knowing that the Church considers this to be inherently wrong, and then to present a child for enrolment in a Catholic school is at best intellectually and morally inconsistent.

The Church teaches these days that one should not discriminate against people simply on the basis of sexual orientation. But a parish school is, or should be, able to protect its community from compromising its beliefs, and in so doing also protect the lesbians’ child from a too-soon disturbance of happiness.

Bishop Manning’s stance appears to be of the simple-minded tomfoolery that so many of his generation of clergy have indulged in. They seem to think that if you ignore the elephant in the room everyone will be happy and blissful, undisturbed, and feeling warm about everything. What happens instead, we have learned, is that the room starts to stink, and the ability of the Church to speak the truth in love is incrementally smothered.

And let’s hope Bishop Manning is eased back into retirement soon, and that his younger brethren are wise enough to guide us through these increasingly confused times.

Bishop Elect Trivia - Armidale #1

2011-12-08T07:17:00.002+11:00

"A wounded world is in need of great healing and the greatest healing comes from God himself. This book, ‘The Gift of Confession’ has been endorsed by such well known people as Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth, Bishop Luc Matthys of Armidale, Fr Michael Kennedy Parish Priest of Leeton in the Diocese of Wagga Wagga, Bishop Peter Connors of Ballarat and Dr Tracey Rowland who is Dean of the JPII Institute in Melbourne."

Connor Court Publishers

"We often hear that the Sacrament of reconciliation is in crisis today. But every crisis is a ‘growing pain’. Indeed, many people today are discovering that this wonderful sacrament does far more than alleviate guilt; it brings the penitent into the loving embrace of the Father. I pray that this gem of a book brings more and more people to this realisation."

Rev Fr Michael Kennedy P.P., S.T.L.

A Bishop elect who favours old style confession... How very interesting!!

But Will He Have a Website?

2011-12-07T22:41:00.018+11:00

From the Vatican:

Il Santo Padre ha nominato il Rev.do Michael Robert Kennedy, Vescovo della diocesi di Armidale in Australia.

Il Rev.do Michael R. Kennedy è nato il 13 maggio 1968 a Wagga Wagga. Diplomato in pedagogia, ha conseguito la Licenza in Sacra Teologia presso la Pontificia Università Urbaniana nel 1999 e il Diploma in Mariologia presso la Pontificia Facoltà Teologica "Marianum".

È stato ordinato sacerdote il 14 agosto 1999 per la diocesi di Wagga Wagga. Dopo l’ordinazione sacerdotale ha ricoperto varie mansioni parrocchiali:

Vice-Parroco, Cappellano dei Giovani, Amministratore parrocchiale, Parroco e Vicario Foraneo. È stato membro della Commissione delle Scuole diocesane e del Consiglio Presbiterale. Oltre ad essere Parroco a Leeton, al momento è Membro dell’équipe diocesana per la promozione delle vocazioni, docente di Teologia Morale e Mariologia presso il Seminario diocesano e Membro del gruppo dei direttori spirituali presso lo stesso Seminario. È stato anche Presidente della Confraternita del Clero Cattolico.

Which is all very informative, but will he give Armidale Diocese a website?

'Come As You Are' Bunch Really Just Sad Unholy Bigots...

2011-12-07T14:35:00.003+11:00

THREE young men Roland Agrisola, 27, Shelwin Fernandez, 25, and James Foster, 29, will each be ordained priests for the Lismore Diocese tonight, the first time since 1967 three men have been ordained for the diocese on the same day.

However the usual suspects have some misgivings over the Spirit's gift of these three young men...

Well where do I start?

First of all, the age of this fella would make him younger by decades than many in the parish he will be sent to. What makes him think that these adults need to be lead to God after years of attending Mass and living a Christian life?

Secondly, is this the clericalism being taught these days in seminaries?

Thirdly, no wonder adult Catholics are looking for other ways of experiencing their spiritual life other than relying on being told by 'father' what to think and do.

2 of them are definitely not Australians were taken by the Bishop to gain priests for his diocese because he can't get his parisioners to study for the priesthood. By the time they return to their own country they will be aliens to their former people and will not fit into their former life.

We need to look at getting back the over 100,000 priests who have already left the prieshood rather than "stealing priests" from 3rd world countries. I have been to some of these coutries and have seen what happens in these cases.

It is not good for the locals or for these men who are forced into our version of the priesthood,

Here in the Cloister we receive the news a little differently... Praise God for the gift of his holy priests. God bless you Roland, Shelwin and James. And may God continue to bless you and to bless us with young men just like you!!!

Look Mum, Both Hands!

2011-12-06T15:16:00.003+11:00

We are all indebted to a person named Emmy Silvius writing on the acatholic "Catholica" website for letting us know about Inclusive Catholics, led by "former incardinated priest, Greg Reynolds"

"Greg firmly believes in blurring the distinction between clergy and laity. He is convinced this separation is exaggerated by the use of clerical collars, elaborate vestments, compulsory celibacy and restricting certain tasks to the ordained."

Emmy notes that according to Greg,

" As God has been called Father for the past two centuries, it is now imperative that we call God Mother for the next two centuries; in order to bring back some balance."

Loving the antic gestures with the eucharistic elements, Greg! Nothing exaggerated there.

A good example of why bishops should wear cassocks.

2011-11-29T16:01:00.004+11:00

Discordant Bigotry

2011-11-28T10:30:00.006+11:00

The Second Vatican Council decreed (giving voice to what is usually described by Mr Brian Coyne of Acatholic as "the ideals discerned by the majority of the world's bishops at the Second Vatican Council") that, with regard to music, Bishops' Conferences should set up Liturgical Commissions assisted by "experts" in sacred music. (Sacrosanctum Concilium 44).

The National Liturgical Music Board, against which Mr Coyne rants, is the group of experts assisting the Australian Bishops, in accordance with "the ideals discerned by the majority of the world's bishops at the Second Vatican Council."

Mr Coyne seems troubled by the fact that the Australian bishops support the idea that music at Mass should be judged according to the criteria "discerned by the majority of the world's bishops at the Second Vatican Council", i.e. sacred music is to be considered the more holy in proportion as it is more closely connected with the liturgical action, whether it adds delight to prayer, fosters unity of minds, or confers greater solemnity upon the sacred rites. But the Church approves of all forms of true art having the needed qualities, and admits them into divine worship. (Sacrosanctum Concilium 112), in contrast to the criteria discerned by Brian Coyne and Milly McKenna, whatever they may be.

OK, so we were already aware that Brian Coyne neither knows nor understands what Vatican II "discerned". He has made up his own version of Vatican II based on his own dreams.

What is most objectionable, however, in Coyne's recent diatribe (and it is a theme that recurs repulsively often in comments made by others on the Acatholic website's "Forum") is his dislike of "converts" to the Catholic faith. Coyne seems to think that, for instance, David Schutz and Fr. Peter Williams are not entitled to make any contribution to the life of the Catholic Church because they don't share Brian Coyne's experience of having been Catholic before and during and after Vatican II. This anti-convert bigotry is vile, as well as stupid.

Maybe it should be no surprise that the pre-conversion faith-life of, Mr Schutz or Fr Williams is accounted as irrelevent by Coyne, because Coyne is obviously ignorant of what the majority of the world's bishops discerend at the Second Vatican Council, namely:

The Church recognizes that in many ways she is linked with those who, being baptized, are honored with the name of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter. (14*) For there are many who honor Sacred Scripture, taking it as a norm of belief and a pattern of life, and who show a sincere zeal. They lovingly believe in God the Father Almighty and in Christ, the Son of God and Saviour. They are consecrated by baptism, in which they are united with Christ. They also recognize and accept other sacraments within their own Churches or ecclesiastical communities. Many of them rejoice in the episcopate, celebrate the Holy Eucharist and cultivate devotion toward the Virgin Mother of God.They also share with us in prayer and other spiritual benefits. Likewise we can say that in some real way they are joined with us in the Holy Spirit, for to them too He gives His gifts and graces whereby He is operative among them with His sanctifying power. Some indeed He has strengthened to the extent of the shedding of their blood. In all of Christ's disciples the Spirit arouses the desire to be peacefully united, in the manner determined by Christ, as one flock under one shepherd, and He prompts them to pursue this end. Mother Church never ceases to pray, hope and work that this may come about. She exhorts her children to purification and renewal so that the sign of Christ may shine more brightly over the face of the earth. (Lumen Gentium 15)

Ignorance of the Council. Bigotry. Suspicion. Conspiracy theories. Inconsistency. Narrow-mindedness. Shallowness of thought. Jealousy.

Members of the Australian Pastoral Musician's Network must be recoiling in horror at the rantings of their self-appointed champion.

Deaf and Dumb...

2011-11-27T22:16:00.001+11:00

Brian Coyne has been concerned for some time that our curious corridors have yielded little in the way of activity in recent months and frequently cites this as evidence of our decline. Far from decline Brian the Cloistered have just been busy in the vineyard getting things done while you and yours have reminisced and ranted.

That said, we couldn't help noticing that our brother Schütz seems to have sent the whirling dervish of the aCatholic Sect into a huge spin this weekend - congrats David! "Who actually holds the keys to the kingdom" asks Brian before encapsulating his rant thus:

The essential question we are placing on the agenda is one directed to the bishops of Australia collectively as to how much oversight is given to a matter of this importance in terms of the overall health of the liturgical and worship life of the Church across this continent?

Isn't it odd gentle pilgrim. For all their claims of an inclusive church aCatholics like Brian appear incapable of discerning a truly inclusive response to a contemporary challenge aimed at intervening in the overall health of the liturgical and worship life of the Church across the continent. The return to promoting plain chant, and the move away from Hill Song like offerings to rediscover the rich tradition which is truly sacred and 'liturgical' is neither rubrical nor a reflection of the Tridentine influence.

Rather it is an act of inclusion. It is a recognition that the first instrument available to the talented and less talented is indeed the voice and that to ensure our musical choices empower all whom comprise the mystical body to participate in song and not just the performers is very Spirit of Vatican II! It is an attempt to remedy an error!

Brian in our experience your sense of things generally sucks, after all you have been sensing all sorts of things about these curious corridors for the past five years and are yet to come anywhere close to the reality. If you seriously sense or Heaven forbid believe the textually and theologically weak and musically banal noise parishes have been subjected to for the past forty years could in any lexicon be referred to as "taste"... might we suggest you clean your cursed ears out!!

Quite the Collection...

2011-11-24T17:01:00.002+11:00

With Bishop Jarrett’s appointment as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Brisbane this brings the number of Australian dioceses under Apostolic Administration to three: Brisbane, Toowoomba, Wilcannia-Forbes. If we consider too that Sandhurst has a Diocesan Administrator, this brings the number of vacant sees in Australia at this time to four, with a number more departures pending...

When we consider that three of these string of vacancies result from resignation (+Toohey), retirement (+Bathersby) and removal (Morris), the unfortunate passing of Bishop Grech (RIP) does seem to have provided the full range of reasons for vacancy.

Don't Cry Wolf, Simply Seek and Ye Shall Find...

2011-11-23T12:11:00.002+11:00

Returning from sabbatical it was difficult not to fire up the computer in response to Andrew Hamilton’s recent Eureka Street article - a fine example of those in the Church who dedicate themselves to crying wolf when indeed there are none.

Hamilton comments on the unusual but just appointment of Bishop Jarrett as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, thus: “Any breach of normal process, particularly through the appointment of someone from outside the local church, heightens anxiety and arouses suspicion that the local church is not trusted.”

But let us be clear: the situation in Brisbane, dire as it may be for the next Archbishop, requires a bishop who can be available now during this time of vacancy. Bishop Finnegan is in Toowoomba on janitor’s duties, and Bishop Oudeman isn’t without responsibility himself. The Archdiocese can ill afford to be down another bishop for very long, and so Bishop Jarrett, geographically closest to Brisbane, has been brought in.

What is seemingly beyond Hamilton is that Brisbane needs bishops during this vacancy, not the pointing out of problems where there are none. It’s a guilty conscience your generation has on its hands, Andrew, don't attempt to represent it as a mistrust on the part of the Holy See. You do yourself and the Church a disservice.

"...around the crystal See"

2011-11-20T16:33:00.008+11:00

News that the Diocese of Orange, California is going to swap from this:

to this:

has us in the Cloister wondering what could be done along similar lines here in Australia.

The See in most obvious need of a new cathedral would be Broken Bay, which, has already gone from bad:

to worse:

Perhaps there is a building somewhere within the Broken Bay boundaries that has become redundant, or whose owners are bankrupt, for which an offer could be made.

Any suggestions?

Toowoomba, Brisbane, Hobart, Armidale, Perth

2011-11-15T08:52:00.004+11:00

On an ecumenical note

2011-11-05T12:45:00.003+11:00

It seems that the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, seen here in his residence, is a bit of a DIY buff, as seen in the quality of tiling behind him.

Farewell, Bishop Bill Morris

2011-11-04T16:43:00.003+11:00

"One picture tells more than one thousand words." - old Coo-ees proverb

Queen

2011-10-27T13:46:00.002+11:00

Happy Queen seen here:

Bitter queens seen here:

Good Lord, Hobart's Even Got a NEW One!

2011-10-10T07:20:00.000+11:00

It seems the outgoing Archbishop of Hobart, Adrian Doyle, has as a parting gesture commissioned a new website...

Still nothing from our good friend the Lord Armidale however!!

Although it is worth noting the Lord Lismore's website is just spiffy and he isn't slated to go anywhere!

Episcopal 'To Be or Not To Be'...

2011-10-09T18:14:00.002+11:00

Three reasons why this bishop is unlikely to be the next Archbishop of Brisbane:

1. This is not a chasuble...

2. This is not distinctive clerical dress...

3. This is not a smile...

There endeth the lesson!

Lord, that I may see.

2011-10-05T11:08:00.005+11:00

The Sisters of the Good Samaritan, founded way-back-when by Archbishop John Polding of Sydney, have had a Chapter and have "discerned a new vision statement". Rather makes it seem as if the "vision statement" was always there in some unrecognised form, and all they had to do was stare slightly out-of-focus for long enough for it to suddenly leap into view, like one of the stereogram puzzles they used to print in the Sunday newspapers.
As with most vision statements, its a load of twaddle: “As Sisters of the Good Samaritan we seek God who impels us to be neighbour. Therefore we commit ourselves to: the Work of God, partnership, creation.”

Sisters, God doesn't himself impel you to "be neighbour": you are neigbours to those around you just by virtue of not being dead yet. Question is, are you behaving as neighbours should? It is a bit rude to plagiarise from the Daughters of Charity motto: "The love of Christ impels us"

And as to committing yourselves to "creation", please let us know when you manage to create something out of nothing.

Something Truly 'Crook'ed About Wymyn Bishops...

2011-09-26T09:07:00.008+10:00

Coo-ee pilgrims... Mother Mirabilis here again!

Miss Patricia Fresen, a 70-year-old former Dominican nun, says she is a Catholic woman bishop, properly ordained by a male bishop in the sacrament passed down by laying on hands from the first apostles.

In Australia to speak to an aCatholic constituency, Miss Fresen claims her error is no worse than Catholics using artificial contraception, or who remarry outside the church or who are sexually active homosexuals. She claims to have been ordained a priest in 2003, a bishop in 2005 and excommunicated in 2007. That's a long period of denial!

The WomenPriests movement was launched in 2002 and now boasts 200 women priests in North America and Europe. Miss Fresen suspects they may soon be joined by some Australian women saying the group constitutes those "on the fringes of the church, who want to be Catholic but are very critical of some aspects."

The Cafeteria may be open to you now Miss Fresnan but happy hour will soon finish when as all 'Catholic' bishops must, you offer the Holy See your resignation in 5 short years time! Or is this another aspect of the institutional church that you feel discriminates against you?

"For future reference, I usually prefer briefs for their security and peace of mind." (Maxwell Smart)

2011-09-24T07:00:00.000+10:00

The Wollongong Diocese it seems is hosting a liturgy festival in October according to 99.

The keynote topic is "Liturgical Theology - Eucharistic Spirituality." Rev Brian Nicholls and Cathy Murrowood will present input and facilitate the discussion. Nicholls, a member of the National Liturgical Council, is Administrator of the Hobart Cathedral while Murrowood, a consultant to the National Liturgical Council, is Coordinator of the Hobart Liturgy Office.

The festival includes stalls featuring liturgical art, music and other resources. Workshops are provided for Cantors, Singers, Musicians, Readers, Extraordinary Ministers of Communion, Acolytes, Servers, Sacristans, Children‟s Liturgy teams, Youth liturgy teams, Parish liturgy teams, Hospitality teams, and those who facilitate the use of projector presentation technologies during liturgy... or Hymies!

The Sydney and Melbourne Liturgy Offices must be thinking... Missed it by that much!

Greens Want to Value Difference and Diversity by Imposing Sameness... Tasmanian House Passes a Stone!

2011-09-22T07:02:00.002+10:00

"We should value difference and diversity, and devalue discrimination" according to Tasmanian Greens leader Nick McKim's in his most recent advocacy stunt for redefining Marriage from that which is between a man and a woman.

In what has been hailed in the media as an unprecedented move, the Tasmanian House of Assembly, passed a motion (13-9) to give in-principle support to marriage equality. In doing so, the last state to decriminalise homosexuality, is now being heralded as the first, at least in part, to endorse full relationship equality for same-sex couples.

But the reality is that the House of Assembly engaged in a shallow publicity stunt and for want of Green representation in the State's Upper House that's where it ends. While Labor's minority government might have voted contrary to Party policy in support of the Greens in the House of Assembly they are not volunteering to take it into the upper house on their defacto's behalf!

Instead, we have a shameless beat-up by the media of a no-momentum motion, passed by a Greens-heavy lower house in a State which nobody really cares about anyway. Even the Holy See has yet to make up its mind which Melbourne Auxiliary it is going to exile there!

One for the History Books...

2011-09-21T22:48:00.000+10:00

Coo-ee pilgrims... Mother Mirabilis here again!

Benedict XVI imposed the pallium on Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, Italy, on the 20th anniversary of the cardinal's ordination to the episcopate. In a ceremony that took place today at the pontifical residence of Castel Gandolfo, the Pope made an exception to the traditional practice of imposing the pallium on all new archbishops on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

A pope bestowing the pallium on an Eminent Archbishop-elect on the 20^th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of the latter.

So it is Written. So let it be Done!

2011-09-20T06:37:00.001+10:00

With all the installations due to come in our part of the world in the next year, the Cloistered recommend to their future Graces the manner of taking possession by Cardinal Scola as Archbishop of Milan.

Here the Consultors have read to them and are shown the Pope’s letter of appointment, which means Scola is now the Archbishop of Milan. This means the Mass Cardinal Scola will soon celebrate is merely his official entry into the Archdiocese.

May the days of the coronation installations be gone!

So let it be written. So let it be done!

For He Cannot Deny Himself...

2011-09-19T18:26:00.000+10:00

Paul tells us that we fight “not against flesh and blood but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness” (Eph 6:12).

Leo XIII was so convinced of Satan's efforts in the world and against Christ's church that he penned the Saint Michael prayer. Paul VI called it “The Smoke of Satan”. Even Rome's principal exorcist, who revealed earlier this year that invoking the intercession of Blessed Pope John Paul II proved particularly powerful against Satan, is convinced of the evil one's existence.

But those learned souls over at aCatholica... they remain in denial!

Matthew 23 says Helen... 2 Timothy springs to the mind of the discerning who are not easily taken in by Satan's greatest deception nor collaborators in it!

It Is Rumoured...

2011-09-17T17:41:00.000+10:00

...that several of the people in this picture will have a new job in the very near future.

Xenophobia as the Amazing Mr X Furthers his Attacks on Religion...

2011-09-14T06:54:00.004+10:00

Coo-ee pilgrims... Mother Mirabilis here again!

Xenophobia they say can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear or suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence. It can even manifest itself in a crusader like the Australian Senate's own Amazing Mr X!

X (Senator Nick Xenophon), has publicly taken up the plight of the now Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Archbishop John Hepworth and last night named the priest allegedly involved in the abuse of Hepworth when the Adelaide church refused to stand him down from his duties by the vigilante's deadline. Though Hepworth states he doesn't require the assistance, Xenophon claims he had no choice but to name the priest.

It is not unusal for Australian bishops to stand priests aside or request that they stand aside while allegations are investigated, and Adelaide has certainly employed the option in such cases as the spurious allegations against Fr John Fleming. But is it really the stuff of parliamentary privilege and indeed threats?

This is a parliament still reeling from the allegations arising out of the Craig Thompson fraud and prostitute scandal and the Prime Minister's own circus of failures and deceit. A matter which the dutiful X has by comparison remained rather tame in his remarks.

Indeed, Xenophon's passion has an edge to it which is apparent in his calling on the Federal Government to reconsider its appointment of Monsignor David Cappo as the chairman of its new Mental Health Commission, claiming he failed to properly investigate the sexual abuse allegations.

Apparent in July this year when Xenophon had the secrecy of the Catholic confessional in his sights, calling for mandatory reporting on child abuse to include that disclosed to priests. And apparent in June last year when he was on another crusade with his Public Benefit Test Proposal,investigating the tax exempt status of charities and religions.

Archbishop Wilson may well have invited interest in the Hepworth situation through his inconsistent applications of the established norms and principles in dealing with such cases but far from the public interest, Xenophon's treatment of parliamentary privilege is base and self serving!

In his eyes the threat of terror; in his hands the power to destroy and all in the public interest... or not!!

The Signs of the Times

2011-09-13T08:39:00.004+10:00

The wise can read "the signs of the times", but where to find those signs?

In the Cloister we think the job advertisments which accompany the daily CATHNEWS bulletin give an interesting sign of the state of the Church in Australia at this moment, especially regarding the congregations of Religious.

Here's yesterday's offering:

BUSINESS MANAGER for the Presentation Sisters (Wagga congregation) at Berala in Sydney - works with the "Leadership Team" on property and finance;

COORDINATOR OF HEALTH AND WELLBEING for the Sisters of the Good Samaritan nationally "to work collaboratively with the Congregation to nurture coordinate and plan the health and well being of the Sisters" .

COORDINATOR for the Dominican Sisters in New South Wales to "co-ordinate the care of a community of elderly religious sisters"

YOUTH MEMBERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR for the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Queensland.

PARISH SUPPORT MANAGER for the Archdiocese of Brisbane,"seeking a full time enthusiastic and committed outside-sales oriented Parish Support Manager to assist Parishes in offertory giving programs,capital campaigns and bequest marketing."

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SCHOOLS for the Diocese of Bathurst.

From this we can discern that the "established" congregations of Sisters are no longer able to maintain themsleves; Likewise the St Vincent de Paul Society; Likewise many parishes. But there is at last some life in Bathurst.

Caption Competition

2011-09-05T08:38:00.001+10:00

This new seminarian for Perth just received tonsure.

Caption Competition...

2011-08-31T07:21:00.000+10:00

As word filters back from those who braved Madrid with their young pilgrims, it seems the fond memories of Sydney were arrested fairly quickly by certain Spanish truths...

Upon the head of this Bishop and champion of Thine, O Lord,

we place the helmet of defense and salvation;

that, head thus adorned and crowned with the horns of both Testaments,

he may appear fiercesome to the enemies of truth.

Pontificale Romanum, 1962

Our thanks to the pilgrim who shared this pearl!

Christchurch Cathedral

2011-08-30T06:10:00.000+10:00

Coo-ee pilgrims... Mother Mirabilis here again!

Japan based practice Shigeru Ban Architects has unveiled their proposal for a temporary 'cardboard cathedral' to replace the Christ Church Cathedral in New Zealand ravaged by this February's earthquake.

The design consists of an A-frame quickly erected with cardboard tubes and polycarbonate which will rest upon foundations fabricated from twenty foot long shipping containers. The monumental triangular entry facade will be composed of a series of smaller triangles filled with stained glass window panes sourced from local artists.

The cathedral will reach a height of around 80 feet, accommodating 700 people, and cost only $3.5 million to build. It could be ready to receive it's first worshippers by February 2012. Ban, who is working on the project pro bono says the structure is very simple and easy to build and believes to build the project should be about building a future Christchurch and not simply restoring the previous one.

While our beloved Warden, a fan of the Romanesque, Gothic or Neo Gothic disciplines, would ordinarily be very suspicious of an unconventional design for a sacred building (even an Anglican one) it seems the idea has captured his interest remarking it looks just like an upturned boat... as it should! I couldn't help overhearing him this morning just outside the laundry singing the virtues of the noble simplicity of Mr Ban's proposal and suggesting some Australian Catholic Bishops might learn from his example.

Apparantly too, volunteers may assist with the rebuilding process as the structural connections of the eight centimeter diameter tubes require minimal construction experience. The Warden feels this brings new meaning to the age old tradition of a community coming together to build their cathedral.

Was Toowoomba's Dismissal a Valid Matter!

2011-08-29T07:27:00.000+10:00

A thanksgiving Mass was held last Sunday to farewell Bill Morris, former Bishop of Toowoomba at St Patrick’s Cathedral.

While the congregation was significant, reports are unclear whether those who attended were mostly fans, relieved Catholics or students of history - for at 67, Morris might have expected to give his notice at age 75 and rather received his notice quite a bit sooner than that!

The liturgy hit near enough to the mark in most areas, though some couldn't help but notice that 'Jumbo Jesus' looked more like a giant waffle than any sort of valid matter.

Still banging on about what he considered to be his unjust treatment, Morris thanked his supporters noting:

“...a small group have found my leadership and the direction of the diocese not to their liking"

While here in The Cloister we are indeed a small group, we understand that the group who found Bus Driver Bill's leadership wanting was far from small.

Let's not forget Morris publicly grieved over the fact that he couldn't ordain women priests and so in the majority opinion, weighing all his other innovations, was deserving of the grief he received. That said, and returning to last Sunday's liturgy, you could be forgiven for believing the departing Morris was eager to make a parting point...

Ode to the Franciscan Friars of Firenze... Its a Rap!

2011-08-25T07:14:00.001+10:00

Coo-ee pilgrims... Mother Mirabilis here again!

I was in the laundry today turning my talents to something new and one of our visitors told me it was fully sick! Given the subject matter I admit to being a little confused whether it was a critique or a compliment so you be the judge...

Franciscan friars from Florence are flying to the First One for favours, following the fleecing of the fraternity’s bibles from the friary’s fold.

The friars aren't folding without a fight: their flights to the Father have them flinging the fiend to the facilities with an unfortunate feeling of “flow through” for him in the future.

Facing the facts, Firenze's friars must be familiar enough with “flow through” as soon as a few friars fell into fatuity.

Cosgrove Declares Coup as Craven Clutches to Power...

2011-08-24T08:52:00.003+10:00

Regulars to these curious corridors will recall, that in May last year upon the appointment of General Peter Cosgrove as Australian Catholic University Chancellor, we posed the question of Coup d'état?

News has reached The Cloister that the ACU has extended the contract of its Vice-Chancellor, Professor Greg Craven, who will now remain at the University until March 2018.

Unable to distance himself from military analogy, the Chancellor reportedly labelled the move a "superb coup" saying that under Professor Craven’s guidance ACU had now "taken its place alongside the world's great Catholic universities".

A constitutional lawyer and regular contributor to public debate, Professor Craven has led the University through a period of tremendous growth and on his watch increased the number of faculties at the Catholic University to now include the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy - formed in 2009.

In November 2009 he wrote an opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald that attracted some controversy in predictable circles but was well received here in The Cloister for its wit, humour and ideas. Here is just a taste:

From time immemorial, this world has been troubled by plagues. From bogong moths in Canberra to frogs in biblical Egypt, unwelcome and unlovely creatures have the awkward habit of turning up in bulk.

Just now, we are facing one of our largest and least appealing infestations. Somewhat in advance of summer's blowflies, we are beset by atheists. Worse, they are not traditional atheists.

So a dip of the lid to you Professor Craven! We wish you and the General well in your 'police action' to rid the ACU completely of its former infestations...

More evidence that Sir Humphrey Appleby coaches the Australian Bishops

2011-08-23T08:41:00.006+10:00

We think the secretariat of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference have been watching re-runs of "Yes Minister" of late.

A statement about Bishop Morris lodged on the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference website last week says the bishops have received the petition by Toowoomba Catholics, but they have no jurisdiction. To help deal with the petitioners' questions, the bishops will ask the Vatican doctrine watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, about the infallibility of the church's teaching barring the ordination of women.

So reads a report in yesterday's edition of the Age .

Not a bad strategy, really. It should by now be obvious to all but the most deliberately persnicketty that the Church CANNOT ordain women to the priesthood, and the CDF is jolly well likely to answer accordingly. The folk at the ACBC surely know that you should never ask that sort of a question unless you already know the answer.

Perhaps the ageing hepcats behind the "petition" should heed the advice in this song - which seems to be in a style they might prefer for singing at Mass - be careful what you pray for!

If you make a petition, you may get an answer!

Come to think of it, doesn't that backdrop look like... the glitzy new illuminated backdrop in the Perth Cathedral?

Absence Fuels Rumours of WYD Style 'straliaDome' Opening...

2011-08-22T07:14:00.073+10:00

Sydney's St Mary’s Cathedral Choir has been invited to sing as part of the celebrations in October at the formal opening of the ‘straliaDome' - that Rome away from home for travelling Victorians who want to learn more about the history of the Church in Ballarat.

Consisting these days of a now modest 25 boys and an arguably over remunerated 12 men, it will be the cathedral choir’s first overseas tour in 20 years or more.

Tour leader, Thomas Wilson, the fellow who replaced surplice to requirements David Russell as director of music says “It’s a huge honour and an experience of a lifetime in particular for the boys.” But if the ‘straliaDome' is flying in foreign support acts it beggars the question who is their 'headliner'?

Some in our curious corridors have been quick to rule out the titular President of the National Bishops Conference in favour of that large body of opinion who the secular press recognise as head of the Australian Church.

The good money however has been fueled by strong rumours surrounding that Knight of the Order of St Gregory the Great, Danny Casey, who has until recently been in Rome for some months exerting his trademark influence which clergy all talk about.

You'll have to use your imagination as obviously we dont want to steal anyone's thunder (or lightening) but with less than a year to go before +Ballarat's 75th birthday, it could be a good thing for our rumoured 'headliner' to learn more about the history of the Church in Ballarat.

Costelloe Could Get Perth...

2011-08-17T06:48:00.001+10:00

Perth's Archbishop has revealed he regrets not having been more outspoken on social issues. Archbishop Barry Hickey, who holds a master's degree in social work, says he is optimistic about the future of the Church in Perth, despite a claimed fall in regular Sunday Mass attendance to just 15 per cent. There are "lots of young people hanging in there" he told the West Australian.

Perhaps +Hickey's optismism has been buoyed by the now very strong rumour that Melbourne's Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Costelloe is being touted as the likely contender for the See. A member of the Salesian Order, he is widely respected for his role in Catholic education with what many might consider the 'right' credentials including the ability to combine pastoral as well as academic skills.

Though not a West Australian, +Costelloe, 57, spent some time as parish priest at Victoria Park, taught theology at Notre Dame University at Fremantle and is well regarded by the present incumbent and a number of the presbyterate.

Rumour is the announcement will come just post World Youth Day but where this leaves Auxiliary Bishop of Perth, Don Sproxton, a once odds-on favourite, and the other local contender, Bunbury the Builder, is anyone's guess.

Seeing Swans at Night... Way to Put Your Neck Out Father!

2011-08-16T07:00:00.001+10:00

It's World Youth Week in Madrid and long time pilgrims to this curious place will recall our prior reflections on the young cleric charged with shepherding a small flock of the faithful, two heavily damaged lumps of wood comprising the World Youth Day Cross, a 'stick' and a rather valuable copy of a historic icon around the country in the lead up to World Youth Day Sydney.

At that time he was all of 18 years old but he has aged considerably and since published a book of the journey, called "In the Light of the Cross". The attempt received high praise as "Gospel writing" according to Sydney Archdiocese's Episcopal Vicar for Renewal and Evangelisation who is an authority on such things!

Now Fr Ryan is turning his hand to blogging which he sees as an opportunity to 'think aloud' about things he finds interesting, wondrous and strange. Exploring God, what it means to be a follower of Christ in the world today, and what it means to be truly human the blog he claims will be "kind of light and fluffy."

Seeing Swans at Night he calls it.

Lets hope his charismatic conceptions ruffle a few feathers in the aCatholic camp lest the venture prove an ugly duckling or worse... a swan song!

The Assumption of the Blessed Mother...

2011-08-15T06:15:00.000+10:00

We give thanks...

The Circle of Love

2011-08-13T16:13:00.009+10:00

"Accompanied by the sound of bells, they encircled her as she stood in the center of the stage. Then all 600 sisters in attendance extended their right hands as they chanted a blessing: "Receive strength and light; receive power,receive love."

At a recent Chapter here in the Cloister, we studied the above excerpt from a report * on the August meeting of the US Leadership Conference of Religious Women.

Some of our number thought it must be a joke.

Well, yes, it is a joke - but it also apparently happened. And people sometimes wonder if the recent Visitation of the American women Religious was needed!

*In Father Zuhlsdorf's favourite fishwrap.

Saints Preserve Us - The Jesuits Shame of Simony

2011-08-10T10:43:00.000+10:00

The question begs what's more alarming... that the Jesuits sold a 7th century relic or that the British library acquired it because they felt it needed saving...

The historic St. Cuthbert Gospel - a late 7th-century Anglo-Saxon manuscript and relic of the Saint has passed into the possession of the British Library for a purse of more than $14.7 million to raise funds to further Jesuit projects in London and Glasgow, Scotland.

The book, a pocket-size Latin translation of the Gospel of St. John, was found inside the coffin of St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, when the saint's grave was opened in 1104 - 400 years after his death during the dedication of a shrine in his honor at Durham Cathedral. His grave later became a pilgrimage site.

It is believed the relic manuscript was placed inside the casket within 10 years of the hermit's death in 687 but when King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries during the Protestant Reformation the Gospel passed into the hands of a private collector in 1540. By the 18th century, the book was in the possession of the 3rd Earl of Lichfield who gave it to Canon Thomas Phillips, who in turn presented it in 1769 to the Jesuits.

The Jesuits say it has been their privilege to possess the book for nearly 250 years but satisfy themselves that "People will be able to see the Gospel set among the library's other treasures of the Christian faith and of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic art".

No matter how you look at it... It's no way to treat a relic!

Get with the Spirit Please!

2011-08-09T17:44:00.000+10:00

Would Chant be so bad?

or even something like this by Parramatta's Kirkpatrick...

Must we recycle Haugen or Schutte... if not now we may never be free of them!

Mary of the Cross... Pray for Us!

2011-08-08T05:45:00.000+10:00

On this the very first Solemnity of St Mary of the Cross (MacKillop) let us pause to remember...

Lost in (the new English) Translation...

2011-08-07T07:08:00.001+10:00

Marty Haugen has said he could never become Catholic due to the Church's failure "to commission, ordain, and welcome all humans as Jesus did". Marty also claimed it has never been his intention to dominate so much of Catholic liturgical music.

Many pilgrims may have hoped the new translation might usher in a new era of liturgical music...

Au contraire!!!

If you can keep your head when all about you..

2011-08-06T06:15:00.001+10:00

Coo-ee pilgrims... Mother Mirabilis here again!

Pilgrims would do well to remember the names of Reverends John Dobson OAM PP, John Dwyer, Stan Griffith and Seamus McMahon SM. You will likely be hearing them again. Priests of a 'type' of the Archdiocese of Brisbane or as regulars to this curious place will recall... more of +Bathersby's buffoons!

They are the appointed presbyteral presence to the Caloundra Parish which unfortunately embraces the once Catholic Communities of Beerwah, Bokarina, Caloundra, Currimundi, Golden Beach, Kawana, Kenilworth, Landsborough, Little Mountain, Maleny and Mooloolah. These clerical clowns share much in common with that other self proclaimed heretic and South Brisbane joke Peter Kennedy.

The Parish website speaks volumes...

In a recent propaganda editorial masquerading as the parish bulletin one of their number, Dwyer, employs a shallow and selective misuse of scripture to bolster a trademark tired and baseless assessment of what attracts young people to the liturgy in a shameless rejection of the Roman Missal.

Railing against the so-called 'institutional church' he ignores in his assessment that to "attract the younger generation to share in our liturgies, it would seem that we would have to use a language that is the day to day language that is used in education and ordinary conversation", that it was on his watch those very young people left in droves. He concludes that "the use of archaic grandiose outdated terms or bad translations from a dead language would be counter-productive."

While 'jokes' of his kind are MUBAR (Messed Up Beyond All Recognition) it's hard to know whether to LOL (Laugh Out Loud) or simply Compatior (pity) them.

Believes in Petitions but not Prayer...

2011-08-04T07:23:00.002+10:00

Regular pilgrims will recall our remarks about meaningless and empty gestures of protest and in particular a certain petition to be sent to the Holy Father and our bishops. The petition requests each bishop to convene “a synod in his diocese” so that the faithful can “discuss” how the local Church can be, well, more of the same. They want “a real voice” for clergy and lay faithful alike in the selection of bishops, beginning with the next Bishop of Toowoomba (not to mention Armidale, Ballarat, Brisbane, Hobart, Perth and Sandhurst).

But if that wasn't enough, this from that community in self imposed exile St Mary's South Brisbane...

SECOND PETITION
This second petition to the Pope, which the Australian bishops are being asked to present to the Pope during their adlimina visit to Rome later this year, is attached for your support. In spite of the deafening silence to our earlier petition, this new one developed by a Melbourne group of laity and clergy comes at a time when Rome is under enormous pressure from many sides, particularly the Irish Government. I have signed it in hope!

The Australian Bishops travel to the Vatican every five years and present a report to the Pope on the pastoral situation of their local Church. The next visit will be in October this year. An Open Letter to Pope Benedict and the Australian Bishops has been prepared asking for a greater level of dialogue between the Leadership of the Church and the Body of the Church. Many in your community may find this of interest and wish to sign the letter. The letter can be found at - http://www.petitiononline.com/adlim11/petition.html

Coming from the man who doesn't believe in God, the Church, Prayer or much else those who are in the charge of the Holy Father do it begs the question why bother! Take heart though he does believe in petitions!

So there you have it gentle pilgrim... more empty vessels!

Liturgical Pragmatism, Rabid Ecuminsim or just Episcopal Egotism?

2011-08-03T09:03:00.019+10:00

Be it the product of an early summer breeze or an ill wind, a number of pilgrims have now shared that at a recent workshop conducted for clergy in a particular Australian Archdiocese, on the matter of the new English Translation of the 3rd Typical Edition of the Roman Missal, two Ordinaries indicated concern over the translation of the Nicene Creed and in particular the words... man, men and consubstantial.

While the word 'man' has long been deemed contrary to the 'spirit' of Vatican II and needing to be exorcised from all ministry it was nonetheless surprising to learn that two Australian Bishops favoured promulgation of local decrees that the Nicene Creed not be used excepting certain Holy Days. Moreover, on those Holy Days when the Nicene Creed was to be permitted it would only be permitted in the Latin.

The news has left some in the Cloister wondering if the usual aCatholic suspects will be quite so quick to the barricades defending the full freedom usually enjoyed by the local pastor in such matters and embodied in general law. Afterall, is it even within the power of the local Ordinary to so restrict, by decree, the options of the Missal or would not such restriction require 'recognitio' from Rome?

It remains to be seen upon what canonical advice these bishops are relying to promulgate such bold decrees relegating the Nicene Creed to an extraordinary form while requiring and preferring as the ordinary form the Apostles Creed - previously reserved for Masses with children.

Should our information prove sound and our politically correct prelates subsequently succeed by bluff, it seems almost certain they will in their 'local' churches occasion a rupture in the liturgical tradition attracting the eye of Rome faster than anything our friend in Toowoomba might have done!

Caption Competition

2011-08-02T08:47:00.000+10:00

Coo-ee pilgrims... Mother Mirabilis here again!

“So, Perth’s Bishop Brady is still waiting for the light.”

WYD Madrid - Days in the Dioceses

2011-08-01T14:18:00.002+10:00

The DID began in 1997, when the WYD was held in Paris. As a consequence, all of France welcomed the pilgrims coming from countries from around the world, in order to inspire the French youth to attend the WYD. The Spanish dioceses will also open their doors to the pilgrims of WYD. The youth that want to participate will be able to learn about the richness of the Spanish culture as well as the rich Catholic tradition.

The objectives of the DID program emulate those of WYD but also include distinct types of activities that promote Prayer, Solidarity and Culture in the context of historical, sportive, musical, artistic and culinary activities as well.

So what to expect...

Prayer

Please God dont let me die!

Solidarity

In a food fight its everyone for themselves!

Culture

Just as in days of yore an afternoon spent crushing the Moors. Now that's culture!

Oh well.. what doesn't kill us makes us stronger but make sure Mum and Dad invested in top of the line travel insurance!

This Cadaver Stinks

2011-07-31T10:34:00.001+10:00

Over at Acatholica – a place of increasing weirdness – Fr Daniel Donovan has a “commentary” on the Irish PM's response to the Cloyne abuse scandal.

At least it starts out being about clerical sexual abuse, but then without so much as a line break or new paragraph he moves from the appalling Irish affair to “the power of the various Movements which have sprung up in predominantly the Latino cultures of Spain and Mexico during the fascist regimes of Europe between the 1930's and the 1960's with dubious relevance to the world Church.” Really, “non-sequitur” is hardly strong enough to encompass his conceptual agility, leaping from one idea to the next.

Oddly, in the present commentary he accuses these lay movements of being too “secular” in their financial affairs. Huh?

I think Fr D has read the DaVinci Code once too often. Recently in an Acatholica commentary he seemed to attribute the increase in Catholic cremations to Opus Dei.

He thinks the “Cadaver Synod” of 897ad was an idea worth emulating: in this commentary Fr D exhumes the idea – decently buried by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches many centuries ago – that bishops should not ever be moved from the care of one diocese to another.

Justice should be done and where necessary procedures should be reformed. But these weird ideas of Fr Donovan need to be consigned to the crematory, along with Mr Coyne's "sense".

Lost in (the new English) Translation...

2011-07-28T09:50:00.005+10:00

The countdown to the new English translation of the Roman Missal has officially begun and the liturgical calendar is hurtling toward the Advent 2011 launch...

This much-anticipated and much-discussed new translation seeks to bring the Mass in English closer in sense to the original and universal Latin.

Much will be gained and lost in the adoption of the new texts; so herewith the first in a series of things the Cloistered hope and pray might be lost in (the new English) Translation...

Benvenuto! 'straliaDome open for busines!

2011-07-27T07:03:00.000+10:00

“The ‘straliaDome will provide a true pilgrimage experience and further strengthen the links between the Church in Australia and the Church in Rome. It will be a real home away from home for travelling Victorians”

Continuing the long established tradition of providing accommodation for our friends, the ‘straliaDome is much more than a place to rest, it is a strategic networking centre for our scheme to take over the world. Muahahahaha!

As well as offering very comfortable accommodation for pilgrims, it provides a RealCatholic ™ pilgrimage experience, with daily Mass in English (celebrated personally by Cardinal Pell most days of the year)* and an “information centre” providing the opportunity for visitors to Rome to learn more about the history of the Church in Ballarat.

*featuring praise-music by Milly McKenna and theological reflections by Brian Coyne

Gong Booming or just empty vessels making a lot of noise?

2011-07-26T17:56:00.000+10:00

Coo-ee pilgrims... Mother Mirabilis here again!

Catalyst for Renewal are at it again, folks but this time they mean business. They’ve really pulled out the big guns in preparing our bishops for their Ad Limina visit next year. For such an important part of a diocesan bishop’s life, Catalyst for Renewal have embarked upon ... a petition.

Of all the meaningless and empty gestures of protest, this petition is to be sent to the Holy Father and our bishops. But wait, what does it ask for? The petition requests each bishop to convene “a synod in his diocese” so that the faithful can “discuss” how the local Church can be, well, more of the same.

And there’s more. They want “a real voice” for clergy and lay faithful alike in the selection of bishops, beginning with the next Bishop of Toowoomba (not to mention Armidale, Ballarat, Brisbane, Hobart, Perth and Sandhurst).

How new age!

The power of prayer...

2011-07-25T07:45:00.000+10:00

Former rebel Brisbane priest Peter Kennedy will allegedly further distanced himself from the Catholic Church tonight, saying he no longer believes in worshipping God or the power of prayer. In the debut episode of her six-part series Judith Lucy's Spiritual Journey, Kennedy tells comedian Judith Lucy that for years he had not believed in the value of prayer. When pressed by Lucy that prayer does make up part of the services he now conducts he responds "Yes it does, because they like it. If I had my way we wouldn't have it."

Kennedy's reluctant nemesis, Archbishop John Bathersby, tomorrow marks half a century as a priest and 19 years as head of the Archdiocese of Brisbane. He will write to the Pope to offer his resignation and says he rather hopes "the Pope will say fairly quickly 'yes you can retire, we've found someone else to take your place'."

A quick straw poll seems to suggest he is not alone there with some eager to prove to Kennedy how resoundingly powerful prayer really can be!

So if Frs Sequeira and Catchlove featured here are to be the last by his hand, it begs the question will the last in a presbyteral pedegree mark a full stop, a comma or a new chapter for Brisbane?

Feast of St James

2011-07-24T21:40:00.003+10:00

After a considerable sabbatical, 800 years and World Youth Day in Madrid seemed reason enough for some to return to The Cloister... the journey continues it seems!

HOW CAN YOU RESIST A BORG'S PRAYER...

2011-06-21T10:53:00.000+10:00

As Broken Bay Diocese celebrates 25 years, Bishop David Walker has called a Synod with a focus on celebrating the past, engaging with the present and envisioning the future. The don't go much on evangelisation it seems!

It is a full twelve months of navel-gazing with a synod on June 3 just passed and a further one scheduled for May 2012, with a year of "continued consultation" in between.

One prominent presbyter with a seat at the table of 'synoders', Fr Robert Borg, has been described as a big man in mind and body, who did much to demonstrate the joy of christianity in action.

A prayerful fellow it seems from the Synod Prayer Gallery? Whatever that means!

If only the links on the diocesan website functioned! We might have seen some pics from the event or even thumbed the virtual pages of the perhaps aptly named newsletter of the synod... The Nod!

Oh well Father, so glad we found this one of you in collar... Funny the habits one visits when frequenting the great Archdiocese of Melbourne!

LIFE IMITATING 'SACRED' ART?

2011-06-20T16:13:00.000+10:00

And unto Queen Padmé Amidala a child is born...

CAPTION COMPETITION...

2011-06-19T20:49:00.000+10:00

One of these things is not like the others? Two of these things are kinda the same?

CAPTION COMPETITION...

2011-06-07T07:11:00.000+10:00

Meeting his first real life gargoyle... and so well preserved too!

A gargoyle you say? Imagine that!

HOW ROOTED AND BUILT UP IN CHRIST JESUS, FIRM IN THE FAITH ARE THEY IN ABERDEEN?

2011-06-06T21:52:00.000+10:00

The new bishop of the Diocese of Aberdeen, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI and announced on Saturday 4th June, is to be Abbot Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B., until now Abbot of Pluscarden Abbey, near Elgin. His episcopal ordination is planned for Monday 15th August.

So Aberdeen diocese will have a new bishop, good! He’s from Pluscarden, good! But he’s being ordained the Monday of World Youth Day in Madrid... Good?

The bishop emeritus of Aberdeen said of the appointment

“I am delighted to welcome Bishop-elect Hugh Gilbert as my successor. During his nineteen years as its abbot, Pluscarden Abbey has continued to be the serene spiritual heart of our diocese, and I am confident that our new bishop will guide us in that personal search for holiness upon which Pope Benedict laid such stress when he visited Scotland last year.”

Should one assume therefore that the renewal of young hearts in Aberdeen will come from a personal search for holiness and not a week with his Holiness?

MUSLIM BILLBOARDS RENDER THOSE RESPONSIBLE LESS MUSLIM!!

2011-05-31T09:03:00.000+10:00

Who could forget the violent reactions by Muslims to the Holy Father's Regensburg Lecture where Benedict quoted an unfavorable remark about Islam made in the 14th century by Manuel II Palaiologos, a Byzantine emperor. Mass street protests were mounted in many Islamic countries, the Majlis-e-Shoora (Pakistani parliament) unanimously called on the Pope to retract "this objectionable statement"

More of the same, including death threats amidst the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in 2005. Flemming Rose, Jyllands-Posten's culture editor, commented that "the modern, secular society is rejected by some Muslims. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their own religious feelings".

So should Christians living in a traditionally Christian country, where theirs is the overwhelmingly dominant religious observance, be just a little surprised and upset by billboards diminishing Christ Jesus to a mere prophet of Islam?

Bear in mind too this is no mere error but a targetted campaign where those responsible make no secret that they intend to follow up with similar ads bearing slogans as “Holy Quran: the final testament” and “Muhammad: mercy to mankind” - on buses traveling through the Sydney CBD and Hills district.

Those responsible say they want to encourage Christians and Muslims to find common ground by raising awareness that Islam believed in Jesus Christ. Perhaps a good place to start might have been in truly honoring Muslim belief and tradition...

With Muslim's residing in Australia advocating the State's recognition of Sharia law it is perhaps interesting to note that Sharia does not allow freedom of speech in such matters as criticism of Muhammad. Such criticism is blasphemy and punishable by death. Interesting too, that among the five main branches of Sharia law is Adab, a prescribed Islamic etiquette defined by refinement, good manners, morals, decorum, decency, humaneness. Accordingly, an honourable Muslim is demanding of respect and in exhibiting Adab bears witness to proper discrimination of correct order, behavior, and taste.

Jesus may well be considered by Muslims to be a Prophet of God, but should we consider those with such disregard for Sharia and who are without Adab to be Muslims!!

COULD OUR GOOD FRIEND ARMIDALE NOT GET WITH THE TIMES BEFORE HE GETS GOING...

2011-05-29T21:49:00.000+10:00

On the eve of an announcement of the 10th Bishop of Armidale it remains a sincere disappointment that almost three years after it was first raised the Catholic Diocese of Armidale unlike Lismore is STILL without a substantial 'web' presence.

Certainly, the Catholic Schools Office has a website and the diocesan section has continued to grow, nourished by such historical pearls as this fine photo of the second bishop of Armidale.

Just last week the Prime Minister visited Armidale and with the assistance of some Presbyterian students turned on that $56B white elephant, the National Broadband Network. That said however, with all that internet grunt at your disposal now it seems almost sinful not to have a state of the art diocesan website.

Dare I say... the clock is ticking My Lord and how would you have us remember you?

CAPTION COMPETITION

2011-05-23T13:34:00.000+10:00

That whirling dervish of the aCatholic sect, Brian Coyne, discusses the latest aCatholic storm in a teacup with the 10% he alleges are all that is left in the pews!

aCATHOLIC CONCERN THAT COMENSOLI MAY HAVE MODELLED HIMSELF ON THE POPE...

2011-05-17T17:46:00.000+10:00

Less than a month ago that whirling dervish of the aCatholic sect, Brian Coyne, was praising the selection of Bishop elect Comensoli as not a Pell promotion claiming reliable sources...

Time will tell, My Warden Friend (sounds like the name of someone in charge of an asylum, doesn't it?), who made the right call. My information comes from pretty reliable sources. Personally I don't know Fr Peter at all and was only vaguely aware of his name before last night. I do though have confidence in my sources as they have generally been spot on in their assessments in the past.

You see gentle pilgrim the 'Pell' test is the aCatholic litmus for the soundness of episcopal appointments in Australia.

So its significant that now there seems to be some concern over at aCatholic central that Comensoli might have modelled himself on the pope... Benedict XVI that is and not John XXIII.

Christians universally know what's to be done when salt loses it's saltiness... or a source its reliability!

TOOWOOMBA CLERGY SHOULD MAKE A STATEMENT... BURN THOSE TIES!

2011-05-16T08:30:00.000+10:00

A document, entitled “Summary History of Bishop Morris' dispute with the Roman Dicasteries” has emerged as part of a deliberate campaign to represent Bishop Morris as a victim of injustice at the hands of the Vatican.

Prepared by two of the eight priests who comprise the diocese' consultors, the summary document sets out a detailed timetable which inadvertantly points to a structured process whereby high-ranking Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict XVI, devoted a great deal of time and energy in trying to convince Bishop Morris of his errors and to keep him in office.
First in the summary is the following:

Feb. 1993: On Feb. 10, Bishop Morris is installed at Toowoomba’s St. Patrick's Cathedral. He immediately introduced dramatic changes in the liturgy and government of the Church. According to the consultors’ document, he also “broke with tradition and wore a tie, embroidered with his coat of arms, rather than the Roman Collar.” The consultors added: “The Bishop offered each priest a black tie with the Diocesan Arms and indicated that the wearing of the tie was to be considered clerical dress, along with the collar and the white shirt with crosses, the choice being left to the individual cleric.”

Babyboomers should well recall that in the fight for justice the burning of distinctive clothing can achieve lasting recognition of key liberating issues. But should there be need of further convincing let us not go past the timeless words of the Exultet...

This is the night when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin! This is the night when Christians everywhere, washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness. ...The power of this holy night dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy; it casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride. Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth and man is reconciled with God!

Burn those ties brothers!

AND IN OTHER NEWS...

2011-05-04T21:53:00.000+10:00

Since Sunday some 250,000 pilgrims had filed past the wooden coffin as it lay in state before the basilica's high altar. Later, in a private ceremony, it was transferred to the altar of St Sebastian located near the right-hand-entrance to the church.

Noble simplicity is a term that springs to mind!

ITS REALLY QUITE COMICAL IF YOU IGNORE THE VENOM...

2011-05-03T18:00:00.000+10:00

That whirling dervish of the aCatholic sect, Brian Coyne is in a flap again over the identity of those members of the Coo-ees Chapter but as my old friend Hardman Window observed the poor man has become quite unhinged...

"like Osama bin Laden there was one escapee who has now set up an alternative site called "The Warden's Window"... Like all the taliban they operate from their caves and secret places and seek to constantly disguise who they really are."

"from the element in Catholicism that Benedict needs to urgently tell where to get off our bus. Benedict won't do it of course because I actually suspect the Warden is in fact Benedict Ratzinger"

Or then there was my personal favorite...

"I suspect he is either a young and quite cyber-literate priest or some kind of groupie priest that loves to hang around young boys."

Is it really such a stretch then to consider...

TOOWOOMBA CATHOLICS OFFERED A NEW APPRECIATION OF CHURCH...

2011-05-02T19:59:00.000+10:00

VATICAN CITY, 2 MAY 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father removed Bishop William M. Morris from the pastoral care of the diocese of Toowoomba, Australia.

Finnegans Wake is a work of comic fiction by Irish author James Joyce, significant for its experimental style and resulting reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the English language.

Written in Paris over a period of seventeen years, and published in 1939, two years before the author's death, Finnegans Wake was Joyce's final work. The entire book is written in a largely idiosyncratic language, consisting of a mixture of standard English lexical items and neologistic multilingual puns and portmanteau words, which many critics believe attempts to recreate the experience of sleep and dreams.

Owing to the work's expansive linguistic experiments, stream of consciousness writing style, literary allusions, free dream associations, and its abandonment of the conventions of plot and character construction, Finnegans Wake remains largely unread by the general public.

The Pastoral Letter of the newly appointed Apostolic Administrator in Toowoomba is deserving of better treatment...

aCATHOLICS STIR TOOWOOMBA TEACUP IN FACE OF ECCLESIAL CLIMATE CHANGE...

2011-05-02T18:00:00.000+10:00

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd cautioned Australians that climate change was the "great moral challenge of our generation". The import of his observation may well have been lost on many of us until now...

In just the past fortnight the climate of the Church in Australia has certainly experienced change. But is this cause for panic or is it simply the proverbial storm in a teacup?

That whirling dervish of the aCatholic sect, Brian Coyne, has whipped himself and his followers into a frenzy over the recent Bishop Morris resignation...

What has been done to Bishop William Morris is a moral outrage of the highest order. It needs to be confronted and redressed as a matter of the utmost urgency... Your "eternal salvation" may well depend on it as much as the "eternal salvation" of the people who you are supposed to be guardians of in your flocks... This is about discerning the moral behaviour called for by none other than the Creator of Life itself!

Ably assisted by the likes of 'the people's pastor' and popularist tart, Frank Brennan, Coyne's cult are working to give voice to a defence of +Toowoomba's untenable position using secularist notions of a denial of natural justice.

It plays well with the 'unwashed' and is nothing new. Our aCatholic sisters and brothers struggle with an appreciation of Church which originates, not in banal self serving notions of social justice, but rather in the Magisterium and the Sacraments just think back to Peter Kennedy and the South Brisbane debacle.

Not unlike Kennedy, +Morris is alleged to have displayed flawed and defective pastoral leadership, invited discussion about the ordination of women contrary to the church's infallible teaching, and encouraged recognition of the orders of other churches. And so he did, didn't he? In his own words, in the service of his own pen, in a pastoral letter circulated widely by him in his name to draw upon just one example.

Our brother Coyne says "It is time for ordinary pew-sitting Catholics, and those who have already left the pews in silent protest over recent decades, to start standing up to this moral outrage. This is a deep moral issue calling for courage and intelligence on the part of the ordinary faithful as well as by our spiritual leaders"

But why Brian are you and yours the only victims ever. Why are those who moved to correct the bishop's flawed and defective pastoral leadership deemed neither "courageous, intelligent or ordinary faithful". Indeed this would seem to be at the very heart of why the 'remnant' cafeteria cult are so out of touch with their Catholicism and indeed their Church; and why they are so disturbed by developments which might to the otherwise ordinary faithful appear rather reassuringly predictable.

It may have escaped their notice but the ordinary pew-sitting Catholics, and those who have already left the pews in silent protest over recent decades, are standing up to this moral outrage! They want their Church returned to them and are tired of self important windbags telling them why the Faith of their Fathers is insufficient for today's "courageous, intelligent or ordinary faithful"

Perhaps what is called for here is a Heresy Trading Scheme or great big tax on Pious Polluting!

TOO MUCH FOR TOOWOOMBA?

2011-05-01T07:37:00.000+10:00

Word is that the good bishop has announced early retirement...

Some may remember the grieving in 2006... now there will be wailing and nashing of teeth as well no doubt!

HAPPY MAY DAY! ... HOW WILL YOU REMEMBER HIM?

2011-05-01T06:24:00.000+10:00

Thank's be to God!

HE IS RISEN!

2011-04-24T00:00:00.000+10:00

Happy Easter

FORKED TONGUE OR SNAKE OIL, COYNE'S CLUELESS ON TOM TOM MESSAGE...

2011-04-21T06:50:00.000+10:00

Fr Comensoli has been named the next Auxiliary for Sydney and almost immediately our aCatholic friends are keen to work out the new man's politics. Such things are important to the remnant rump of the self appointed custodians of the 'Spirit' of Vatican II.

That incredible mystic Brian Coyne has announced to those over at aCatholic Central that he is hearing things again... this time it's tom toms!

“Not an appointment from the big man.” he says.

Guff and nonsense. Peter Comensoli has long been a watched man by the Cardinal. Completely out of touch, Coyne! Making stuff up as usual!

ROME ANNOUNCES A NEW BISHOP FOR SYDNEY...

2011-04-20T19:10:00.000+10:00

The Holy Week silence has been interrupted and within the hour one lucky Australian Archdiocese will have a new Bishop!

Fr Peter Comensoli of the Diocese of Wollongong will become the next Auxilary of Sydney...
We are not really meant to say anything until 8pm but then someone should tell the Bishop Conference's media unit... but then they would be following the example of His Lordship Wollongong who made the announcement at the annual Mass of the Holy Oils in St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, to the spontaneous applause of the clergy and laity of the Diocese... or so the media release says!
Embargo indeed!

MALONE'S MIASMA HEADED IN THE WRIGHT DIRECTION?

2011-04-04T18:45:00.000+10:00

At last the Diocese of the Big Drain has a new bishop... American born, Sydney priest Fr William Wright.

Serving as parish priest in a number of Sydney parishes, Wright proved a "go to kind of guy" when he assumed responsibility of Liverpool Parish in Sydney's south west following certain events in 2009.

The only potential fly in the ointment may prove to be this small, rather innocuous, comment reported in the Catholic Weekly following the Queensland floods...

“I have emailed my old mate Bishop William Morris, Bishop of Toowoomba, offering financial assistance and prayers.”

Best pray for the bishop-elect... with "old mates" like Toowoomba and a predecessor like the Miasma's, he's going to need it!

LOST IN TRANSLATION?

2011-03-29T09:24:00.000+11:00

With "optimism and hope" the Catholic parishioners of Kinglake celebrated the fourth incarnation of their church, St Mary's. Three times destroyed by fire it has again arisen from the ashes. But gentle pilgrim if this was the concept design...

What's this...

Oh well, thank the Lord for small mercies, at least there is a church and a priest! Or at least they did have a priest until the Archbishop despatched him for Toowoomba... make of that what you will!

RELIGIOUS PRACTICE... A WEIGHTY ISSUE!

2011-03-28T08:46:00.000+11:00

With World Youth Day just around the corner, our Spanish hosts might be interested by a recent study by researchers at Northwestern University in the United States which found that young adults who regularly attended religious events were much more likely to be obese.

Researchers collected data from 2433 people for 18 years, starting between the ages of 20 and 32, all of whom were of normal weight at the beginning of the study. By the end, however, those who had attended a religious function at least once a week were more likely to be obese with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.

"Our main finding was that people with a high frequency of religious participation in young adulthood were 50 percent more likely to become obese by middle age than those with no religious participation in young adulthood," said the study's lead investigator and a fourth-year medical student.

Catholics come in all shapes and sizes, and with previous studies identifying religious observance with living longer and better mental health, this most recent study is unlikely to carry much weight.

Indeed reflecting on WYD Sydney, some of the youth represented were positively little more than skin and bone...

ALL THIS TALK OF HATS...

2011-03-21T22:12:00.000+11:00

At my old friend Hardman's invocation I did attend upon Mr Coyne's aCatholica to cast an eye over the episcopal speculations going on there and was almost immediately reminded of Beckett's Waiting for Godot that classic absurdist play in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive.

Lucky's monologue is very Coynesk or is it that Coyne's rants are very Luckyesk?

"Immediately promote Tony Doherty to Archbishop of Sydney and give him the Cardinal's hat for this nation. I reckon Tony is the one guy who in seconds could re-unite and restore morale of all the priests and bishops in this nation — and the people. I'd hesitate to place the responsibilities on any person's shoulders given the present low state of morale in the Church across this nation but of all the priests I've met Tony is probably the best I've seen in his pastoral sense, his presentation sense, his "media savvy", his intellectual abilities, his deep love of the authentic Catholic tradition. The only thing against him now is his age and asking him to take on the massive workload and responsibilities that are involved."

How absurdist of you Brian! While we're about it why not declare Doherty Pope...

Please somebody remove Lucky, I mean Brian's hat!

BISHOPS CAUGHT MIA ON THEIR WATCH... SURPRISE AND NO SURPRISE!

2011-03-20T06:18:00.000+11:00

Next weekend, NSW goes to the polls and the Australian Christian Values Institute has applauded the actions of the many Catholic bishops of NSW in the release of ‘The Green Agenda’ document to the people of NSW.

Australian Christian Values Institute spokesman, John Miller said, “We applaud the courage and foresight of the Catholic bishops of NSW in releasing this important information. It is not only Catholics who should read the expose but people of other faiths, Christian or non-Christian. Even our Muslim friends will take encouragement from this well crafted defense of the position of the monotheistic traditions in matters of morality and family values. Many atheists will also be disturbed by the Greens’ inhumane policies.”

The document was signed by just 10 NSW bishops including the Sydney Archbishop, George Cardinal Pell. However the Bishop of Bathurst, Michael McKenna, and the Bishop of Broken Bay, David Walker, did not sign the statement. Surprise... and no surprise.

Walker feels that "the bishops need to take great care regarding intervention in the political process" telling The Record, in Perth, that he supports the highlighting of key issues of concern but had some reservations "that attacking a particular political party serves to highlight these issues in the most effective way."

Lismore's Bishop Jarrett, put the initiative in perspective telling The Record that the prelates were not instructing how to vote, but doing "what people expect of us" -- being "watchmen on the tower."

The Greens are toxic but they make no excuses for their anti-Catholic policies. Perhaps more dangerous is the Green's bride-to-be...

Don't be fooled into believing that NSW's Premier Catholic, Kristina's Keneally, has got your back when it comes to these issues either!

FRIAR +FISHER CAUGHT TUCKING IN THROUGH LENT?

2011-03-19T07:53:00.000+11:00

Being on the receiving end of hospitality has long been that exclusion clause in the Lenten observances. So while most of us are struggling our way through our Lenten fast it appears that Parramatta's Bishop Anthony Fisher has engaged in a little Lent busting collaboration with the Fairfax media...

Less than a week into the Lenten fast and the Bishop of Parramatta informs Fairfax readers that he dines out regularly and often entertains.

"Cooking is my only art" he says - though you could be forgiven by article's end for sensing it was more the art of degustation.

In a shameless example of Cuisine for Comments the good Bishop names a number of his favourite haunts... Chinese food from local restaurants including Hong Fu North East Chinese...

''The owner makes wonderful handmade noodles and dumplings; they are simple but very special,'' he says.

Half a block away, a number of Uighur diners have opened: one serves the Bishop's favourite fish dish, covered in chillies and cooked in beer.

''The combination of the chilli's fruitiness and the fizz on the tongue is really wonderful,'' he says.

On the way home he might stop at SeaSweet Patisserie for Middle Eastern sweets including baklava and knefe.

''I have a real soft spot for Middle Eastern pastries. I buy boxes of them for gifts,'' he says.

At the El-Phoenician, where he was reintroduced to Lebanese food our not so fasting Friar Tuck'in' recalls his first experiences with Lebanese food as cheap-and-cheerful restaurants

''It has been wonderful to discover sophisticated Lebanese cuisine and its focus on sharing and family'' he says.

+Fisher informs business owners on the busy Church Street strip that when he moved to Parramatta he promised himself he would make his way down Church Street, trying every restaurant but still has a little way to go...

Well your Lordship there is still a little way to go in Lent!

FOOTBALL, MEAT PIES, KANGAROOS AND HOLDEN CARS... A CATHEDRAL FOR OUR TIMES!

2011-03-17T19:23:00.000+11:00

Bishop Holohan is reported to have said the new Bunbury cathedral windows showed Bible scenes in an Australian context.

"Cathedral windows for a new cathedral really need to reflect the era and the culture and, therefore, they are contemporary Australian art and have an Australian context and Australian animals," he said.

The panels depict water lilies, dingoes, kangaroos and bilbies alongside scenes including the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the baptism of Jesus. The building has been designed by Perth architect Marcus Collins to stand for the next 300 years!

Reminded me of this infamous Python skit!

CLOSING THE DOOR ON REFORM BUT CAN THEY EVEN SPELL CONSUBSTANTIAL?

2011-03-16T08:25:00.000+11:00

Oh The Age is at it again... disguised as balanced journalism this time!

On June 6, 1960, Fr. Bugnini was appointed the Secretary of the Pontifical Preparatory Commission on the Liturgy. This body drafted the document that would become Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Interestingly, Bugnini not only voted in the new Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy in 1963 but in January of 1964, was appointed Secretary of the Consilium for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy.

This period in Church history is widely viewed in certain circles not as a Roman micro-management of local churches but rather a period of positive reform. And in a curious footnote the personal secretary of the later Archbishop Bugnini was Archbishop Piero Marini former Papal Master of Ceremonies who enjoyed until a few years ago great influence over liturgy given his highly visible role.

So imagine my surprise when priest forever, Paul Collins, attempts to suggest to the Fairfax readership that the sort of Vatican micro-management seen in the liturgy war is a new development dating back only to the last Pope, John Paul II.

40 years since the hijacking of Vatican II and over the last 10 work has progressed steadily to arrive at a more accurate English translation of the now 3rd edition of the Roman Missal. Bugnini and his contemporaries imposed a move not from English to English but from English to Latin and forced it through in a few short years and this should be viewed as a positive reform?

Bob Dixon, head of the Australian church's Pastoral Research Office, is concerned that nearly a third of Australian church-goers come from non-English-speaking backgrounds and so poses the question that in these circumstances will a more elevated, less idiomatic liturgy create language hurdles for them?

If we understand him correctly he is arguing that either non-English speakers are just generally linguisticly challenged or because English is your second or third language a translation more accurately emulating the Latin, and perhaps even closer in meter and idiom to your native tongue, will be more problematic for you to appreciate than the current liturgical strine peddled in English speaking countries. Arrogant git?

And last that universal galoot McGinnity says the liturgy is "the place we interface with the people and with God - it's a pre-eminent area. It's about meeting around the table of the Lord , and it's sad that it could be the cause of disunity. We would not like to see the Eucharist be a source of division or an exercise in control and power by a particular ideological position within the church." Because we have some experience in its effectiveness??

And there we were believing that the Mass was all about God and the worship of God... not some "interface"!

All these threats... What might have become of God's chosen people if Aaron, after hearing the instruction faithfully recorded in Exodus 28, had told God he didn't feel consulted enough and didn't do sacred dress-ups?

Progressives have been telling us for 40 years that the spirit of Vatican II was a good thing. Finally conservatives get on the same page only to find that yesterday's progressives now want to shut the door on reform that is good for you!

ARGUMENT FOR HUMAN INDUCED GLOBAL WARMING JUST MORE HOT AIR...

2011-03-14T18:34:00.000+11:00

According to the Fairfax Press, Cardinal Pell has rebuffed the head of the Bureau of Meteorology, Dr Ayers, for suggesting to a Senate committee that he (the Cardinal) was ''misled'' in his views on global warming.

Cardinal Pell told Fairfax the suggestions made by Dr Ayers, an atmospheric scientist, weren't in the least scientific and that Ayers was obviously little more than a hot-air specialist.

Admitting to having spent "a lot of time studying this stuff" the Cardinal seemed just a little disappointed that Ayer's shallow swipe was the best climate change adocates could muster saying he so regretted "when a discussion of these things is not based on scientific fact."

But leading government Climate Change expert (and classic drip under pressure) Professor Garnaut, an 'economist' of all things! claims there was no "genuine" scientific dissent and the mainstream science supporting global warming was never more sound.

Seriously gentle pilgrim, with an economist (not a scientist) as lead consultant on the issue of human-induced global warming is it any wonder the government is promoting market mechanisms and a revenue grabbing tax as the only mature scientific response!

Well the winds of change are with public sentiment as this lunacy rapidly becomes unhinged and nobody but the recidivistly stupid think a new tax or a carbon market is the answer.

So those dependent upon hot air... beware!

STILL NO MIRRORS AT 'CHEZ COYNE'...

2011-03-13T13:32:00.000+11:00

In late January we explored the proposition that there were no mirrors in the Coyne household but his most recent rant all but confirms our worst fears...

Entitled "The right wingers respond", Coyne maligns Cathnews (we are all guilty of that) for what he seemed to suggest was a reluctance to draw attention to the aCatholic position before going to town on an unsuspecting Fr Nicholas Pearce of the great Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Coyne invoke's Pearce's example to advocate the position that the Church no longer recruits from "the best and brightest" in society but rather "grey men" who will not "make waves".

Fr Nicholas keeps a quaint blog of his first year in priestly ministry over at apriestdownunder.com. Honest, if imprudent, his contributions are not worthy of that knave Coyne's agenda which fails to demonstrate any respect for this fine clergyman's work ethic and integrity.

If anything, Rev. Pearce is representative of the many fine men ordained to the priesthood in Melbourne, and indeed beyond, who commit to their ministry with a joy that clergy and laity of Coyne's era have in most cases long since soured for themselves.

A dip of the biretta for Fr Nicholas, I for one find his insights quite instructive on occasion.

As for the knave Coyne who grows more delusional by the day... could someone not get the poor man a mirror!

PRE-LENTEN RETREAT

2011-03-07T10:38:00.000+11:00

As one does... or at least should!

A NEW PERSPECTIVE FROM CATHNEWS?

2011-02-26T07:57:00.000+11:00

It is with great pleasure that on behalf of Church Resources, which brings you CathNews, Christine Hogan announced that the tripe already peddled five-days a week at Cathnews is being expanded...

The first addition in eleven years is to be called CathNews Perspectives and alleges a "more in-depth, feature-driven coverage of how Australia’s – and the world’s – media are covering Catholics, issues of interest to Catholics, and to the Church herself".

So how is CathNews Perspectives soooo different from the mostly morning edition of CathNews? The timing of its delivery for one as it will be delivered to your in-boxes every Friday afternoon, and it will include reflections by our Bishops and Archbishops (the usual suspects one imagines... Robinson, Power and the like).

Hogan says of the recent survey of its readership, "it became evident that while CathNews was widely loved and appreciated, there is also among our Subscribers an appetite for deep, rich, nourishing and sustaining stories". It seems a lot of readers thought the stories a little one sided... curious!

But worry not, Perspectives will still be managed by the winning combination of the two Michaels... Visontay (former senior editor for that Fairfax flagship the Sydney Morning Herald) and 'Blogwatcher' Mullins (the Eureka Street Editor)! In their experienced hands, the freaky Friday edition will "bring you backgrounders to the big stories of the week, putting the flurry of daily news stories into perspective for you"

Code for more lefty aCatholic apologetics crap?

FR FESTER... DOPPELGANGER?

2011-02-20T06:49:00.000+11:00

Could it be that aCatholic clergy sentiment is not the only thing to fester?

SO LONG, FAREWELL AND THANKS FOR THE FISH!

2011-02-19T10:04:00.000+11:00

The Fairfax Press reports that at least a dozen Australian priests have indicated they will refuse to use the new translation of the Roman Missal when it comes into effect later this year.

Leading looney liberal John Crothers, a Sydney priest, reportedly said he could not in good conscience use the text, believing it to contradict the 1960s Vatican Council's spirit of "aggiornamento".

Crothers told Fairfax "it's part of my philosophy that you've got to change and grow and develop" but not where he disagrees with the change it seems!
The chairman of the National Council of Priests, Ian McGinnity told Fairfax at least a dozen of its 1600 members had allegedly indicated they would not use the new English translation. It seems the 'expert translators' among them are "very concerned that the language, the idiom, might perhaps estrange more Catholics from participation in the Eucharist" McGinnity said.

Asked what sanctions a local bishop could invoke upon defiant priests, McGinnity said: "I really don't know. I suppose he could suspend a bloke. But given the [priest] shortage, it's unlikely."

Pope Benedict has spoken of a smaller, more faithful Church as perhaps the model of the Church for these perilous times, not unlike the early Church in its intense solidarity.

Perhaps the unlikely has become the imperitive!

OH RITE... NOW I GET IT!

2011-02-17T11:57:00.000+11:00

A pilgrim writes... "If I hear one more pun on Rite/Right associated with the new translation, I'll kill a kitten:

It seems our visitor was referring to a recent article in the Melbourne Archdiocese's journal Kairos reporting that more than 120 people attended the recent ‘Getting it Rite’ seminar, which focused on the changes being introduced to the Mass by the implementation of the new English translation of the Roman Missal.

But killing a kitten?

That's just not rite!

+DIONYSIUS DOPPELGANGER?

2011-02-16T08:36:00.000+11:00

Perhaps pilgrims might enjoy proposing creative captions for this fine snapshot...