What have I done to deserve all these vermin? Answer me!
The name is a direct derivation of the Latin cicada, meaning "buzzer". Some cicadas produce sounds up to 120 dB (SPL)[11] "at close range", among the loudest of all insect-produced sounds.[12] This is especially notable as their song is technically loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss in humans, should the cicada sing just outside the listener's ear
As I returned to the rectory this morning, I was attacked by a cicada! After 13 years of being buried in the ground, they have emerged by the millions to do their thing and their offspring will go away for 13 years and emerge.
MILLIONS OF THESE EMERGE THROUGHOUT MACON AND ALL OF GEORGIA! THE ONE WHICH ATTACKED ME THIS MORNING!THEM!CLICK ONCE OR TWICE ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE!
They make a deafening sound that sounds like the giant ants in "Them!" It is almost like an electronic sound, but it is THEM!, CICADAS!
At about minute 2:30 you'll hear what the CICADAS! sound like!
Cicadas have a long proboscis under their head that they use for feeding on tree sap, and if they attempt to inject it into a person's body it can be painful, but is in no other way harmful. This sting is not a defensive reaction and should not be mistaken for aggression; it is extremely uncommon, and usually only happens when they are allowed to rest on a person's body for an extended amount of time.
This movie first called "Catholics" and then later renamed "The Conflict" stars Martin Sheen. It was a made for TV movie from 1973. Martin Sheen places a hip, young Vatican IV priest. This dialogue is absolutely wonderful and what a time capsule from this 1973 era and those actual progressive Catholic theologians who must have informed the writers of the this movie said to them. It is a hoot but disturbing since much of what the Sheen character is saying is what "spirit of Vatican II" people, especially theologians were saying. You want to know what the 1970's were like, here it is!!!!!
Updated:Catholics, starring Martin Sheen and Trevor Howard, filmed in 1973. Martin Sheen took the name Sheen to honor Bishop Fulton Sheen and thus Charlie Sheen has that name thanks to the good Bishop, but Charlie hasn't honored his memory or name! But I digress, this movie is a bit of a time capsule and shows the Vatican cracking down on traditionalist Catholics in Ireland:
Below is from The Australian Newspaper and comments on the Holy Father's removal from office of Bishop Morris:
(I love it that the article gets the name of the National Catholic Reporter in our country wrong, about the 4th paragraph from the bottom)
Catholics get tough on doctrinal dissent
* Christopher Pearson * From: The Australian * May 07, 2011 12:00AM
LAST Monday the front page of The Australian featured a large photograph of an angry bishop. Some commentators in the blogosphere saw it as yet another media beat-up designed to depict the Catholic Church in an unflattering light.
To my mind, it demonstrated a grasp of the battle lines in the culture wars that has eluded the rest of Australia's broadsheets.
The bishop in question was the outgoing Bishop of Toowoomba, William Morris. He is one of three men who have been relieved of their dioceses by the Vatican in the past few months.
The others were the bishops of Pointe-Noire in Congo-Brazzaville and Orvieto-Todi in Italy. But while they were removed for financial mismanagement in one case and misbehaviour in the other, Morris's ouster was on doctrinal grounds.
Bishops are in some respects akin to sovereigns in their dioceses and, while it has the authority to remove them, the Holy See is usually very slow to do so, preferring discreet solutions such as early retirement.
The three forced departures in seven months have no precedent in recent years and suggest an increasing preparedness to intervene on the part of the Pope and his new prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet. The previous prefect, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, was an uber-liberal.
The Catholic archbishop of Brisbane, John Bathersby, who will be retiring in 11 weeks, professed himself at a loss to understand the decision. He told the ABC: " I just wish it hadn't happened and I don't know why it happened and I would very much like to know."
Perhaps I can enlighten him.
Morris issued an Advent pastoral letter in 2006 that canvassed various options to make up for the lack of priestly vocations in his diocese.
Some were uncontroversial. Others, including the ordination of married or single women and recognising the validity of Anglican, Lutheran and Uniting Church clergy, were heretical.
He has since then maintained what he likes to call a dialogue on these non-options.
As anyone with the rudiments of a theological education would know, the Catholic Church resolved the question of women priests in 1994, with the Pope ruling that it had no power to ordain women in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in 1995 described that decision as unchangeably settled and "to be held definitively as belonging to the deposit of faith".
On the issue of recognising the orders of Protestant clergy, Pope Leo XIII declared Anglican orders "absolutely null and utterly void" back in 1896 in Apostolicae Curae. That decision was reaffirmed by the CDF in 1998 as an infallible pronouncement to which Catholics must give "firm and definitive assent". The Lutherans in Australia and the Uniting Church don't have bishops or anything remotely like ordination in the Apostolic Succession, so recognising their orders is, theologically speaking, inconceivable.
As a bishop, Morris was obliged to teach what the church teaches, rather than using his position to sow error and confusion among his flock. His removal must have come as an almighty shock to him and his brother bishops in Queensland because they've been getting away with flouting some of Rome's rulings with impunity since the 1970s.
Given that Morris has had five years of what he again likes to call dialogue with no less than three Vatican congregations and the Pope, with plenty of opportunities to change his tune, why has he persisted in error when he was so clearly in the wrong? There are several schools of thought.
The first argues the bishop just isn't very bright.
Its spokesman, Frank Brennan SJ, says: "Bill Morris never pretended to be an academic theologian. He was and is a sensible, considerate, pastoral priest and bishop of a country diocese."
The second, aired on high-profile sites such as Rorate Caeli and Father John Zuhlsdorf's blog and local sites such as Vexilla Regis, is that Morris may have had health problems. The third view, which most agree is at least a significant element, is stubbornness. Morris is one of those liberal-authoritarians who like to assert that within their own jurisdiction they are as powerful as the Pope.
The (ultra-liberal) National Council of Priests encouraged this delusion with a press release last week. "We are concerned about an element within the Church whose restorationist ideology wants to repress freedom of expression within the Roman Catholic Church and who deny the legitimate magisterial authority of the local bishop within the Church."
However, the fact of the matter is that individual bishops have no authority to make independent decisions about questions of doctrine, but rather a collegial role with the other bishops under the leadership of the Pope.
And, again despite the NCP press release, the Pope is not merely the first among equals. According to Canon 331, "by virtue of his office he possesses supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power, which he is always able to exercise freely".
Morris's removal sends a clear message to bishops, in Australia and around the world. The Holy See's patience is not, as it long seemed, limitless.
As with the Orvieto-Todi case, the fact that this intervention happened in a first-world country suggests delinquents in the European and American hierarchies can take a lot less for granted than before. As well, requests from the Vatican for bishops' resignations are more likely to succeed during the rest of Pope Benedict's reign because he has just demonstrated that he's prepared to use his powers.
Morris has become a cause celebre in the US thanks to an editorial in The National Catholic Recorder. More of the same can be expected from The Tablet, the English Catholic journal and other liberal websites. No doubt some members of the Swiss and Dutch bishops' conferences will be once again canvassing the option of schism, de facto or actual.
What are the likely repercussions for the Australian Catholic Church?
Morris's departure will further fortify the position of Cardinal George Pell and the more traditionally minded bishops.
The more realistic, liberal bishops are going to have to kiss goodbye to any lingering fantasies they clung to in the 90s of ordaining nuns, or at least keep them to themselves.
"That's one reason Benedict has been so proactive in rescuing Catholic liturgy from the banality into which it collapsed throughout much of the world (especially the English-speaking world) after Vatican II. Benedict's objective here is not a reactionary "return to the past." Rather, it's about underscoring the need for liturgy to accurately reflect what the Church has always believed -- lex orandi, lex credendi -- rather than the predilections of an aging progressivist generation that reduced prayer to endless self-affirmation." This is a very good article on Pope Benedict. Read it by pressing these two sentences.
There are many people who say that the Church following the Second Vatican Council became very confusing to many people. We were all caught up in reforming the Mass, reforming the Vatican, reforming dioceses and reforming the priesthood, religious life and parish life.
The Council was about the baptized and their legitimate role in the Church to be a priestly people and so they needed to do all the churchy things that priests and religious did. There shouldn't be any distinctions between the laity, the religious or the priests. Clothing for priests and religious often reflected this new found focus.
I can't tell you how many times the term Vatican II was said during homilies all through most of the 1960's, '70's, '80's and '90's. I would suspect the term Vatican II was used more that Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the angels and saints!
It was as though Vatican II had become an "idol" which replaced Scripture and Tradition as the primary tools to teach us about the love of God, the salvation we have in Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ has entered a personal relationship with every baptized Christian He had chosen and anointed. It was as though we were now to be in a personal relationship with Vatican II!
As much as I like ecumenical councils, finance councils, pastoral councils and diocesan councils, these get on my nerves from time to time and I wish I didn't have to contend with them. But not so with Jesus Christ.
If only we had focused more on Jesus Christ for the last 45 years and less on Vatican II maybe we would be in a better place today. But of course I am not clairvoyant but maybe I am.
Over 300 attend our EF High Mass on Easter Sunday, everyone loved it! Entrance Procession and Vidi Aquam The chanting of the Gospel in English and versus populum The elevation of the Hostiam (Victim) Ecce Agnus Dei!
Sometimes I think Michael Voris is a bit over the top and shrill although there is a kernel of truth in what he says and he says it with such unabashed masculinity which could be off-putting to a feminized Church. For this reason, he appears he's about to be attacked by a pack of nuns as you get to minute 4:30. It's a bit funny on one level. But apart from that what do you think of what he is saying?
Keeping secrets and confidentiality at one time was considered a virtue. Not so today. As soon as someone learns something, whether true or not, it is communicated to someone else. This use to be called gossip. Even major news outlets function in a such a way in order to fill the 24 hour a day news cycle.
Where does this new "virtue" come from? Could Phil Donahue have started it? Did Oprah Winfrey continue it? Does Jerry Springer glorify it?
People are going to confession all over the blogs, talk shows and other venues, like facebook. Much of what they confess is idle gossip and sometimes it is very harmful to the one that is the victim of such gossip. But you won't catch these people going to sacramental confession--that's too secretive, not transparent enough.
Today's public confessions aren't much more than bragging and voyerism. Much of it is for a few minutes of fame of knowing something first and letting the cat out of the bag. Sacramental confession on the other hand is about purging sin, repenting of it, showing some guilt and shame and asking God to take it away, wash it clean, make it disappear.
The same has happened in the Church. So many left-leaning progressives want transparency on everything. They'd love to know what was uttered in confession too. They want to know what the pope told the bishop in Australia who the Holy Father dismissed. They want to know all the facts. But the Holy Father is tight lipped and this has brought upon him libel and slander--he's not transparent enough; there's no due process; who's next? We need to know. But the Holy Father remains tight lipped! Good for him--he's going against the grain; he's counter-cultural in this; he isn't moved by public opinion, only the truth and carrying out his responsibilities before God!
But you know what. Transparency has its limits. Gossip is still a sin and confidentiality still has its admirers.
Saint Andrew's Catholic Church, Judique, Cape Breton where my father was baptized, confirmed, made his first Holy Communion, his parents were married and buried from, Diocese of Antigonish. The camera in this photo would be standing almost in front of my father's farm house to the left of the camera. My father is from Judique, Cape Breton which is in the Diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia. From my father's farm house back door (the home where he was actually born and it still stands today) you can see the lights of Antigonish across the bay. My father would have turned 101 this July!
Catholicism was very, very strong on Cape Breton and that part of Nova Scotia in my father's day and the Church much respected. I doubt that still exists today, but Nova Scotian Catholics are a faithful group!
This story is shocking, tragic and sad. All the more reason to appreciate Good Friday and Easter Sunday. This man needs it and I suspect we all do! READ ABOUT IT HERE!
Believe it or not there is a "Little Judique" (not to be confused with "big Judique" but right next door) and this is its harbor! View of the Bay that can be seen from my father's farm house, Antigonish seen across the bay: World War I and World War II monument with names of those from Judique who served either the Canadian or American Army during both wars. This is to the side of Saint Andrew's Catholic Church: My father's name is inscribed on the monument on the left side, third from the bottom, Donald MacDonald and yes, MacDonald is the correct spelling of our last name, but when he became an American Citizen and joined the army, his name was misspelled on the naturalization papers to McDonald and he tried and tried to get it back to MacDonald but failed. When I was in elementary school he would sign our report cards either way and I would spell my last name either way, but once McDonald's Hamburgers became famous, I liked the famous spelling better! My relatives in Nova Scotia and other parts of Canada and in New York and New Jersey are none to pleased that we spell our last name differently in Georgia and on my father's grave to boot! My father hated his first name because of the redundancy. He was known as "Mac" by his friends and my mother called him that. I thought it was his first name as a child which I thought was Mac MacDonald which I thought was worse than Donald MacDonald. Oh, well! We share the same middle name "Joseph." This is a photo of the late Buddy MacMaster and his niece, Natalie MacMaster both world famous fiddlers in the Judique style (Scottish Gaelic). In the very early 1970's and shortly after Buddy MacMaster had moved back to Judique, he and his famous pianist-sister, Betty Lou Beaton visited my father at a friend house when my father and I were visiting Judique. He and his sister played for us privately and it was quite an evening of music. I didn't realize at the time just how world famous he was. His niece Natalie still is. She is from Troy, Cape Breton which is one step over (literally) from my father's barn in Judique!
The Flintstone's was the first prime time cartoon and began on Friday nights in 1960 when I was six years old.
It is hard to believe today that a cigarette company could sponsor a cartoon. But the Flintstones was meant to appeal to adults too and was based on Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners."
I can't say that I actually remember this particular commercial, but I sure do remember the Winston Jingle! My mother smoked Kent's and I wanted her to spoke Winston's because of the jingle, especially the clicking sound of two packs or the cigarette lighter!
Later in life I began smoking around the age 16 or so (don't tell my parents)but I gave it up in the mid 20's. In fact in the 8th grade I went to a public junior high school that only had 8th and 9th grade, and we were allowed to smoke outside!!!!!
Be that as it may, I ended up smoking "True" but menthol Salem's were my favorite!But I also like Moore's which was a skinny long cigarette that had brown paper making it look a bit like a cigar that also came in menthol. Maybe I should sue the Flintstones for making smoking so appealing to me! And that Winston's jingle; you've got to love it! The first has the original opening and closing of the Flintstones which I remember now seeing it again, but it was slightly changed especially when the Flintstone's went to color and the outrage over a cigarette company sponsoring a children's cartoon led to a change of sponsors! These are cool:
Try as they may, progressives in the Church have been trying to reform the nature of the Church as a hierarchical one, to one that is not. Of course that wouldn't be the Catholic Church and thus they have failed in their attempts.
Commenting on Bishop Morris who was fired as a bishop of an Australian diocese, another Australian bishop gets it right. Please note the all important last sentence below:
Australian archbishop weighs in on bishop’s removal May 04, 2011
Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane said he supported Pope Benedict’s decision to remove Bishop William Morris from his position as Bishop of Toowoomba, one of Brisbane’s suffragan sees.
“I feel sad about it all, but I'm sure there must be a lot of reason in the decision the Pope has made,” he said. “I don't know all the ins and outs of the situation of what a bishop may have done. I think that's something between the bishop and the Pope.”
Commenting on reports that Bishop Morris was removed over remarks on women’s ordination, Archbishop Bathersby said that “the Roman Catholic Church is hierarchical and the Pope is at the top of it, and when the Pope makes a decision we accept it.”
At 2:00 PM on Divine Mercy Sunday we had solemn exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament followed by a solid hour of confessions being heard by three priests. Then at 3:00 PM, The Divine Mercy Chaplet was prayed followed by Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Finally the Divine Mercy Image or Icon was venerated.
It is a wonderful devotion which includes a Novena that begins on Good Friday. A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who pray the novena, attend the Divine Mercy devotion, go to confession within 7 days and receive Holy Communion worthily.
Devotions such as Adoration, Divine Mercy, the Holy Rosary and Benediction are making a come-back and all for the good of God's people who choose to participate!
About 250 attend Divine Mercy Devotions on Divine Mercy Sunday at St. Joseph Church, Macon, GA (Click on any image once or twice to enlarge) Solemn Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament: The Divine Mercy Chaplet: Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament: Veneration of the Icon of Divine Mercy by the clergy, faithful and 4th Degree Knights of Columbus (Many thanks to the Knights!!) The 4th Degree Knights of Columbus recess
In light of the sexual abuse crisis and what is perceived to have been a lax administration by bishops and their helpers, there has been a call on many fronts that bishops be held more accountable.
I would suspect that this call to accountability would have been welcomed by both right and left leaning Catholics.
But there is angst in Churchy Land. Many on the left believe that there wasn't enough transparency. Evidently they don't believe in confidentiality when firing someone. I wonder how many of these on the left would support total transparency when anyone is being fired.
I don't know the behind the scenes process that led to the Bishop's happy release, but I do suspect there was a process of dialogue that led to an either/or stalemate and the good bishop didn't either do what was asked which led to the or of being fired.
What do you think about transparency and due process? Should it always be an open book?
