More of a Tourist Destination than a Pilgrimage One

Santorini, Greece is know for it's scenic views and breath taking churches. Glory to God!

Posted by Orthodox Christian Network on Saturday, October 17, 2015

St. Edward the Confessor

Once I Was a Clever Boy: St Edward the Confessor

Aidan Hart has written several icons of the saint: here and here.

WW2 Fighter Planes

In the comments section there are a lot of complaints about the background music, a riff from Dire Straits's "Money or Nothing." The sentiment is perfectly understandable...

Equity Feminism Was Never Enough

For some, even in the first generation of American feminists. Second-wave feminism didn't start off as a good movement which was then hijacked by the sexual revolution. "Equal opportunity" implies gender equality; if the sexes are unequal, you can't complain about unequal "treatment" or oppotunity. Secondly, because the sexes are unequal, their responsibilities to others are also unequal, and these differences are also taken into account in the political economy. It seems to me that it is liberalism (and its child feminism) which assumes that the (self-defined, autonomous) individual is all that matters for one's personal identity. Any natural (and even voluntary) social identity is irrelevant for moral and political considerations.

This sort of feminism-friendly social conservatism needs to go.

New: "Subverted: How I Helped the Sexual Revolution Hijack the Women's Movement"

Now available from Ignatius Press: Subverted: How I Helped the Sexual Revolution Hijack the Women's Movement

by Sue Ellen Browder

Contraception and abortion were not originally part of the 1960s women’s movement. How did the women’s movement, which fought for equal opportunity for women in education and the workplace, and the sexual revolution, which reduced women to ambitious sex objects, become so united?

The Beatitudes

"They Work Out Like Men"

At dinner I saw some of this year's Crossfit Games (sponsored by Reebok); the women's competition was being shown on ESPN2. Is this evidence that SJWs have taken over programming? How many normal men would find this interesting, or the competitors physically and attractive? How many of the female competitors have used steroids? Or are we to believe that all of them are just obsessed with crossfit? Looking at their bodies, many of them have very broad shoulders and narrow hips, reminding me of E. European women athletes in the Olympics during the 1980s. Think necks and thighs, muscular abdomens -- how much body fat do they have? Do they have regular periods? What normal man would want to marry one of these Amazons? What are they missing out by expending so much energy on this pursuit? This is not about functional fitness.







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The Synod That Is Of Interest

Mospat: Russian Orthodox Church delegation arrives in Chambesy for the 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference
The 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference begins its sessions

Peter Hitchens on Suffragettes

Votes for Women!

Alas, he writes this: "Who on earth would oppose votes for women now? Not I, for one, and I like to think I’d have been against the denial of votes on the grounds of sex had I been alive and able to express an opinion 110 years ago."

Whose History? Which People?

Hiding from History By R.E. Smith, Jr.

Blue Angels

More videos at this channel and one at this.



From 3 years ago -- cockpit cam vid.

But of course...

A Calling from Christ

On the Jubilee of Mercy

Francis has made it clear that the Jubilee of Mercy will be a time for confession by Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith

The second thing is indulgences, which can be applied to the living and the dead – a welcome reminder of the comforting doctrine of Purgatory. Indulgences are not fashionable in certain circles, but we should remember that the Jubilee itself is rooted on the Old and New Testaments, as is the concept of Indulgence. It is clear that Our Lord was the first to give “indulgence” to sinners – consider the case of the Good Thief, who is promised paradise that very day with Jesus. This is in keeping with the generosity to the land and to people that is laid down in the twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus. Indulgences are the canonical form of this divine generosity. The person who neglects to obtain an indulgence for the living or the dead during this Jubilee of Mercy will be missing out on the opportunity of lifetime.

Is talk of indulgences enough for metanoia?

Something on Mencken

Mencken on Women By D.G. Hart
The bad boy of Baltimore was a sexual counterrevolutionary.

Spooks: The Greater Good

I didn't read the Variety review or The Telegraph until after I watched the movie, but I found it decent, even though not many characters from the series return for the movie. My only complaint might be that there was too much of the cloak-and-dagger that was trademark of the series -- is that sort of maneuvering more realistic than Bond? I think the movie had a better pacing than 24 and its real-time gimmick?

Harry Pearce and his sort of cold calculus, perhaps in accord with utilitarianism required for the security and prosperity of the modern nation-state, but cold nonetheless. (And even in the series he pays a personal price for doing his "duty.") Will there be a sequel despite the ending of the movie? Did Peter Hitchens see the movie? Did it do well enough at the box office to warrant a sequel? I think fans of the original TV series will probably like the movie despite its imperfections, but I think it unlikely that the movie gained a wider audience for the story.

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Spooks: Exploring the past, present and future of the iconic spy series
Max Brown keen on Spooks movie sequel: "I loved playing Dimitri"

The Canonization of the Martins

You can see a copy of the "icon" for the Martin family at this post: Mass for the Synod on the Family by Charles Cole

On one of Stratford Caldecott's blogs.

A different one here.

A third.

Chastity: The Crucial Message of a Canonization

Josephite marriages -- part of the ideal process of discernment for lay Catholics? I don't think it is being promoted as such though there may be some rhetoric somewhere in the Catholic world in connection with chastity. As for the foundation that is the friendship between husband and wife -- historically, how much of it in reality comports with the companionate ideal of marriage (and the versions which emphasize egalitarianism), and how much with "sex complementarianism"?

Something by James Martin with respect to their beatification.

Idolatry?

Listen as Dr. James Skedros, Dean of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Cantonis Professor of Byzantine...

Posted by Orthodox Christian Network on Tuesday, October 13, 2015

A Symptom of Hypermasculinity

Divorced from functional fitness? When Did Movie Stars Get Into Steroids?

Thought this comment was interesting:

In classic Hollywood movies, the alpha leading man dominates women and effeminate men through his superior will, nerve and wits (think especially anything with Bogart, Cagney or Robinson, but even in films with the very tall Gary Cooper or the decently sized Clark Gable, its his superior will and coolness under pressure that allows him to triumph over his cowardly foes). Today, that sort of masculine domination isn’t allowed, so masculinity has been forced to express itself in purely physical form. Sure, today’s dudebros have more muscle than flabby 1940s men, but today’s dudebros put up with feminist behavior from women that 1940s men would never have tolerated.

The Problem of Agriculture by Robert Jensen

Resilience

Last Season for Anonymous 4

Hope to catch them at one of their final performances together; would love to hear the 1865 program and guest performer Bruce Molsky.

Too Good for Stanfurd

Playing to a sold-out crowd this Friday.






A cover of one of their songs...

Work Still in Progress

Benedict Option FAQ
A debate with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove: New Monasticism & the Benedict Option and Conflict Between Neo-Benedictines
The Joy of the Benedict Option

But Good Intentions Aren't Everything

America Magazine's Rome correspondent, Gerard O'Connell, picked up on the theme of bona fides - and the need for people...

Posted by Vatican Radio - English Section on Thursday, October 8, 2015

No Fraternal Correction, Probably

Sororal, that is -- see photos of the Episcopalians/Anglicans meeting the pope.

Here's another short batch from the weekly General Audience on Wednesday...

Posted by Vatican Radio - English Section on Thursday, October 8, 2015

A Perspective on the Extraordinary Synod

Salt + Light TV interviewed Bishop Peter Kang U-il of Jeju, Korea.
Posted by Vatican Radio - English Section on Saturday, October 10, 2015

Sanitized presentation of events? Elsewhere on the FB page...

From inside the 2015 Synod of Bishops on the Family: Interview with Louis Raphaël I Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church (Iraq) Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015

Posted by Vatican Radio - English Section on Friday, October 9, 2015

English Group "D" was moderated by Cardinal Collins of Toronto and reported by Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia. "...
Posted by Vatican Radio - English Section on Saturday, October 10, 2015