Organised Religion

How did it come to be acceptable to casually dismiss "organised religion"? Is a more disorganised religion more plausible? Isn't it just snobbery to brush a collective belief aside simply because it is a collective belief?

Unity & Catholicism

I was having a little mental ramble a while ago, and I thought I'd blog it, just because.

I went to the U-nite ecumenical prayer event, which was more of a U-evnin' this year. It was pleasant enough, and it's good that something ecumenical happens at the University (for the city, one of the more visible things is the Good Friday Walk of Witness, which this year has been re-branded the Exeter Passion Play by well-intentioned zeitgeist yoofy people) but it was a bit limp. The Christian Union has a habit of ignoring it - draw your own conclusions - which I think is a pretty important factor. So I was thinking about unity and ecumenism, and that for the benefit of the CU it would probably be best to use something scripturally heavy-handed to encourage them to come along, and it reminded me of these verses:

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? - 1 Cor 1:10-13

The bit in bold (my emphases, obviously) struck me the last time I read it. Whenever the subject of ecumenism comes up in a mixed-denominational setting, someone is always at pains to point out that we all follow Christ and that's the important thing. It's good that we all follow Christ of course, but I think it does tend to get used as an excuse for not seeking unity. I think it would be over-egging the pudding to suggest that we can't all call ourselves Christians, but it certainly doesn't seem to be getting a lot of approval from St. Paul. C.S. Lewis, as I don't doubt most of you know, wrote a very good little book called Mere Christianity on the core of Christian belief, but he took the time to say that it couldn't end there, likening it to a hallway from which it was necessary to choose a room (or presumably get in the way of the cleaners). And it's quite possible to use mere Christianity as a vehicle for smugness - it depends on the individual of course, but it's possible for "But we're all Christian." to be quite as self-satisfied as "I'm sure it's true for you."

I thought of a nice parallel too - at least I liked it:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. - Rm 6:1-4

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. - Eph 4:1-6

In the same way that Christians have died to sin, yet are commanded not to sin, Christians have unity in Christ, yet must seek unity:

["]Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. [...] I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.["] - Jn 17:11,20-23

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul[.] - Acts 4:32

I was thus reminded of how "catholic" is a very good word, as and when "Christian" doesn't seem to be delivering the goods, for it derives from the Greek kata and holou (genitive of holos, as in "holistic" and "holocaust" - a sacrifice burnt whole), meaning 'according to the whole'. In other words, it has unity built in, something which might be slightly less apparent from the briefer definition of "universal". This is a reason that you'll never hear me describing myself as a Roman Catholic; it doesn't make any sense. It's like proposing a Mancunian universe - just silly. I'm quite happy with English Catholic, because I am in fact English, but you can't put an imaginary hyphen between the two adjectives. Our head office is in Rome, but Catholicism is a property of existence, not a city-state within Italy.

It also occured to me that I can't think of another Christian group that takes as its appellation on of the notes of the Church as set out in the Nicene Creed (one, holy, catholic, apostolic).

I think I've done.

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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to allow free votes on the embryology and fathers components of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill when considered by the House of Commons.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/embryovote/

There is a tradition when dealing with matters of conscience that MPs are not whipped. This is particularly true when it comes to human embryos. When the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was considered by Parliament the (then) government allowed free votes on all matters up until the final vote.

The joint committee on the draft Human Tissues and Embryos bill recommended that this approach be adopted for questions over embryology and the role of fathers, but the Brown government has said that free votes will only be allowed on abortion.

This decision suggests that there is no room for conscience and conscientious objection in our politics. If the government is genuinely concerned about voter apathy and alienation it should demonstrate that British politics caters for conscience and conscientious objection through free votes.

Polycarp, Micah & Pastoral Issues

Hello.

I just thought I'd blog a couple of things:

1. Today is the feast of St. Polycarp, who was runner up to be my name saint (bet he's well miffed).

Now, as Polycarp was entering into the stadium, there came to him a voice from heaven, saying, "Be strong, and show yourself a man, O Polycarp!" No one saw who it was that spoke to him; but those of our brethren who were present heard the voice. And as he was brought forward, the tumult became great when they heard that Polycarp was taken. And when he came near, the proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp. On his confessing that he was, [the proconsul] sought to persuade him to deny [Christ], saying, "Have respect to your old age," and other similar things, according to their custom, [such as], "Swear by the fortune of Cæsar; repent, and say, Away with the Atheists." But Polycarp, gazing with a stern countenance on all the multitude of the wicked heathen then in the stadium, and waving his hand towards them, while with groans he looked up to heaven, said, "Away with the Atheists." Then, the proconsul urging him, and saying, "Swear, and I will set you at liberty, reproach Christ;" Polycarp declared, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?" - from The Martyrdom of Polycarp

2. I liked today's Old Testament reading, which I wasn't familiar with:

With shepherd’s crook lead your people to pasture,
the flock that is your heritage,
living confined in a forest
with meadow land all around.
Let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old.
As in the days when you came out of Egypt
grant us to see wonders.

What god can compare with you: taking fault away,
pardoning crime,
not cherishing anger for ever
but delighting in showing mercy?
Once more have pity on us,
tread down our faults,
to the bottom of the sea
throw all our sins.
Grant Jacob your faithfulness,
and Abraham your mercy,
as you swore to our fathers
from the days of long ago. - Micah 7:14-20

3. A, presumably homeless, guy came into church after mass while we were waiting for confession and some people were praying the Rosary. He firmly told us that our religion was of the devil, and man-made, and that God wouldn't hear our prayers. What can you do eh? He didn't hang around to chat long after that. I gather that it was provoked because he approached our priest and didn't get what he was after. Tough one that; it reminds me of a story that was on Sunday on R4 a while back, which unfortunately I only seem to be able to find on the Daily Mail's web-site. I can't remember what Dad does when someone comes to his door. Luckily in Exeter we have a couple of excellent organisations which we can refer people to, St. Petrock's who we explicitly support periodically, and Crossline, which is student-led. People expect a lot of church leaders however, and mostly don't have an understanding of what a tough job it is, so I guess it's only to be expected that they're slammed for hypocrisy. This also reminds me of something I heard from Fr. Mike at an RCIA class - when a priest takes on a parish, he takes on the care of all the souls in that parish, which is a big deal when you think about it.

Dress, Christmas

I've got a dress! I found it on Saturday. It wasn't like they say, that you try it on and you recognise it. It was more like they all agreed it was really nice but I wasn't sure. Then the more I looked at it the more I liked it so I said yes. It's really smooth and soft I kept on touching it for the all time and Giò told me off.

I think I might go to the convent (Marghe's convent) tonight for midnight mass. They are having a small reception afterwards. These nuns really enjoy eating!

Today I'll help my mum preparing food for tomorrow. I should go to confession and look out for bagpipes! They are coming to my village, I really like them, it's so Christmassy.

It's almost a week now that I'm back home. I'm relaxing, sleeping, seeing my friends , not studying, everything is fine. But I left Mark behind and I really miss him. He misses me too, so much that he fell ill!

It snowed last Friday. It was really cold! But it was nice to wake up and see everything covered with snow.

On Tuesday my mum, my sister, my friend Giò and I went to a bridal dress shop ( I don't know how you say it). I was really excited and positive, I was the only one. They were a bit, just a bit, skeptical about the idea of me finding the right dress just in one go. I said I was being positive. They were right. After an hour and a half the shop assistant gave up. She didn't understand what I had in mind, I said I have nothing in mind, ( many people will agree with that, especially Giò). She said it was impossible, that I had something in mind but I didn't say.

It's hard because you think that something will suit you but then you try it on and it doesn't. And that happened with all the dresses I tried ( around 15) but one. Only one was decent, in the sense that I feel I can cope with that if I can't find anything else. What was good was that Giò agreed with me. There was nothing special and she agreed on the one being the possible solution if say I can't find anything else.

We' ve got another appointment on Saturday at 3 with a shop that seems to have more range. At least I hope so.

In the meantime I had an haircut and booked the hairdresser for the wedding.

My sister is BIG! She is 7 months pregnant and she's got a big belly. I felt the baby moving twice! It's so exciting! It seems they' ve got 2 possible names: Nicola or Federico. I'm tired of waiting I want to look at his face and hold him. But I have to wait. Not fair.

Christmas Wishes

Ah yes, Christmas. Hasn't exactly been top on my list or priorities... Have a link to my wishlist. I added a couple of things last night, will try and get round to adding some more...

Nick's Wishlist

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' - Mt 25:31-40

R.I.P. Norris.

Christmas Shopping

I may well be stating the obvious here, but never mind. Having just update my Amazon wish list, I felt I should point out that although Amazon's a useful place to list stuff, it's by no means the best place to buy stuff. I'd suggest using a price comparison website, such as Kelkoo, Pricerunner or Shopping.com to find a better price.

The trip to London on Saturday went reasonably well, even if the Natural History was a little more crowded than I'd hoped for, but it wasn't too bad for a half-term Saturday. I had a few quiet day with Nan, took a walk around Hall Place. I helped Carlos transport a "table top" board, too big for a car to carry, too heavy to manage alone. Jenny and Clive arrived with Amy on Monday, all slightly under the weather but it was still very nice to see them.

The Video Games Live Concert was great, starting with a music video of actors running through a city dressed as Ms. Pac-Man and the ghosts. Purple Tentacle deservedly won the costume competition (they even made a good attempt at moving like Purple Tentacle!). There were even two gaming competitions between pieces. The person who played Space Invaders was disappointing, ignoring the crowds calls to start a the sides. Frogger was played far better, with the two players, playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who went first, which rather threw the announcer at first.

Martin Leung, the "Video Games Pianist" was performing as part of the concert, starting with the Final Fantasy Fanfare (First tune played). The only disappointment was that SquareEnix wouldn't allow game footage to be shown on screen during the concert, (Microsoft, Nintendo and Disney didn't have the same nit-picking attitude, come on, it's free publicity). The final song played was "One Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII, which brought cheers and applause. The announcer suggested that we raise our mobile phones, DS's, PSPs, PDAs or i-Pods, as the modern equivalent of waving cigarette lighters during a rock concert. However he didn't expect someone to be waving their laptop. I returned to Nan's house tired, but very happy. I think I'll go to the next UK concert, if I can, it would be nice to go with someone (like my dear siblings (or any other relative), maybe?)

The return trip was slightly marred by the coach being delayed by 25min with no explanation given, and because of the lateness of the delay announcement, I wasn't able to have tea before getting on the coach. The coach actually arrived earlier than I had expected, considering the delay.

I have a busy little day today, signing on (done), appointment with support worker and house group in the evening, tomorrow I'll be going bowling with the Asperger group.

Today my sister Vanessa told me that she is pregnant with a baby boy!!!! She is 22 weeks pregnant. The baby is healthy, quite long and everything is fine. He's due for the 3rd of March. I'm so happy!!

She was hoping for a girl and she had chosen 2 girl names and none for the boy. Her husband Lorenzo wanted a boy and I know that my dad is quite happy too, having spent his whole life with 3 women!!!

This means Mark that now it's our responsibility to give the world some nice little girls!