"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
There is much work to do
The Republican Party needs an in-house revolution, and, frankly, so does the Catholic Church. Lay people need to quit taking references to believers as "sheep" quite so literally.
Listening to Handel's Messiah I always hear: 'O we like sheep, o we like sheep have lost our way'. Mishearing KJV Bible in that case.
In my defence, we Catholics in my day didn't even see a Bible let alone learn to quote it. In fact, despite ten plus years in a Catholic school I only got around to acquiring and reading a full Bible in recent years - was surprised how long the Old Testament is, and how well written. Previously only saw excerpts.
Perfect companions to any Old Testament study are Dennis Prager's "The Rational Bible: Genesis", and "The Rational Bible: Exodus". They are teaching and analysis gleaned from Dennis' extensive research and teaching. He taught the Old Testament verse by verse. I was able to attend for 4 weeks that, luckily, was about the Ten Commandments. It was amazing! The books are excellent!
There are millions of Catholics in India. I spent a year among them, 6 months in 2009 and 6 months in 2012. They are untouched by western fads. Just to see the devotion of ordinary women there is mind-blowing, like old Hollywood movies - 'Song of Bernadette' - except for the Indian Catholic women it's real and life-long. The churches are full, traditional life goes on.
Thanks for the tip Deborah. Americans in India have commented to me that 'It's just like South America' which has some superficial truth. Here's one way it's different though - half the Christians in India trace back to St Thomas the apostle, long before the western church was much of a thing. The apostle founding may be a myth, but the Portuguese found 'Syrian' Christians in southern India when they colonised it 500 years ago, and that link to Eastern Orthodoxy is maintained - some of them have even joined the Roman church in 'communion'. Also there is a very old Jewish community in the same areas where the old Christian community is found, and Jews and Christians have some common history - I visited the old Cochin synagogue which is just near the Catholic areas. It's all fascinating if you're interested in Christian history: was Christianity brought to India by Jews?
Listening to Handel's Messiah I always hear: 'O we like sheep, o we like sheep have lost our way'. Mishearing KJV Bible in that case.
ReplyDeleteIn my defence, we Catholics in my day didn't even see a Bible let alone learn to quote it. In fact, despite ten plus years in a Catholic school I only got around to acquiring and reading a full Bible in recent years - was surprised how long the Old Testament is, and how well written. Previously only saw excerpts.
Perfect companions to any Old Testament study are Dennis Prager's "The Rational Bible: Genesis", and "The Rational Bible: Exodus". They are teaching and analysis gleaned from Dennis' extensive research and teaching. He taught the Old Testament verse by verse. I was able to attend for 4 weeks that, luckily, was about the Ten Commandments. It was amazing! The books are excellent!
DeleteWe sang a lot of Kumbaya tho.
ReplyDeleteDid you use the K-word, Bruce? Thanks for the lack of a trigger warning!
ReplyDeleteBut seriously,this article in the Atlantic is worth a read on the subject of Catholics resisting the latest fads.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/01/retreat-christian-soldiers/603043/
What the Church needs to do is get rid of the Jesuits and Comrade Frances.
ReplyDeleteCheck and double-check.
ReplyDeleteThere are millions of Catholics in India. I spent a year among them, 6 months in 2009 and 6 months in 2012. They are untouched by western fads. Just to see the devotion of ordinary women there is mind-blowing, like old Hollywood movies - 'Song of Bernadette' - except for the Indian Catholic women it's real and life-long. The churches are full, traditional life goes on.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mangalorean.com/kerala-catholics-celebrate-as-mariam-thresia-declared-saint/
Fascinating history, Bruce.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, wasn't Goa a big center of the Christian faith? I imagine the Portuguese influence had something to do with that, but don't know for sure.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip Deborah. Americans in India have commented to me that 'It's just like South America' which has some superficial truth. Here's one way it's different though - half the Christians in India trace back to St Thomas the apostle, long before the western church was much of a thing. The apostle founding may be a myth, but the Portuguese found 'Syrian' Christians in southern India when they colonised it 500 years ago, and that link to Eastern Orthodoxy is maintained - some of them have even joined the Roman church in 'communion'. Also there is a very old Jewish community in the same areas where the old Christian community is found, and Jews and Christians have some common history - I visited the old Cochin synagogue which is just near the Catholic areas. It's all fascinating if you're interested in Christian history: was Christianity brought to India by Jews?
ReplyDeletePaco: Goa was the base of the Portuguese. But as I say, the roots of Christianity in India are much older than that, no one can say how old:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christians