Fr. Samir, Turkey and Regensburg: the same Pope

ISLAM - VATICAN
Turkey and Regensburg: the same Pope
by Samir Khalil Samir, sj
In his meetings in Turkey, Benedict XVI launched once again the ideas of Regensburg, building opportunities for encounter and dialogue between West and East. The urgency of condemning violence and safeguarding “open” secularity, against the temptation of politics that marginalizes religion and religion that monopolizes politics.

Beirut (AsiaNews) – The enthusiasm with which the Turks welcomed Benedict XVI and the positive assessment made by local media have taken everyone by surprise. On the eve of the Pope’s visit, concerns prevailed in Turkey (and the Pope himself said that he was “worried”) as did fears, in connection with violent threats from Iraqi branches of Al-Qaeda. What prevailed most was a certain prejudice against Benedict XVI – that he was “anti-Turkish”, “anti-Islam”, an “inquisitor”, a “conservative” – as well as a partial and ideological reading of his Regensburg speech, labelled as “the gaffe”, the “blunder” of the pontificate which risked sparking war between Islam and the West, with the quotation of Manuel II Paleologus and the “presumption” of bringing together Religion and Reason, excluding violence, and instead implying that too often Islam and violence go together. But now, most comments are that “finally” Regensburg has been forgotten, wiped out, killed and the Pope changed his “policy” in Turkey, having become even an astute politician who is more careful about opportunity than about truth. Actually, though, the Pope’s message in Turkey is a continuation of that of Regensburg. The essential message at Regensburg was two-fold. Firstly, with a view toward the West, it was to say that secularization is not a positive thing and does not allow for universal dialogue. Instead, Reason allows for universal dialogue on the condition that it is not detached from religiosity and from moral principles. This was a critique of the West. There was also a critique of the Islamic world, too tempted by violence. The final aim of this two-fold critique was a positive affirmation: if we want universal peace and global dialogue, these aspirations are threatened in the West and the East by these two main issues. The Pope is thus striving to build a philosophical-theological framework centred on rationality, but a rationality which is open to the transcendental dimension. In his trip to Turkey, Benedict XVI gave substance to this vision, applying it to a concrete situation, but his thinking remains that of Regensburg. Speaking to the Muslims, he discretely recalled the question of violence, but avoided the misunderstanding which occurred with his words at Regensburg. There, media said that the Pope identified Islam with violence. Instead, he had pointed his finger at an existing and dangerous reality, that of violence in the Islamic world, without establishing a total equivalency between Islam and violence. The proof of this, we know, lies in the fact that, at Regensburg, the Pope quoted one single verse of the Koran, the most positive, the one according to which, in Islam, on matters of faith, “there is no constriction.” The Pope thus suggested that for authentic Islam, there can be absolutely no use for either violence or moral pressure. And quoting the much-discussed text of Manuel II Paleologus – the “novelties of Islam are just violence and evil” – he distanced himself from it, even though he did not say it was false. It was false in its generalization, but not in having sensed a danger. The Pope made clear that that is not an accusation against Islam in general, but a risk that exists in Islam. And who can deny it? From this point of view, what was said by the President of Religious Affairs in Turkey, Ali Bardakoglu, seems to me absurd. He said that it is scientifically impossible to maintain this thesis, according to which, historically, Islam was spread through violence. This is absurd. Many Muslim historians have written that the spread of Islam, especially in the initial phase, in the Middle East and North Africa, occurred through war. In other parts, in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, etc., it occurred instead through commerce and the Sufis (mystics). Often Islam did not force people to become Muslim, but gave rise to a social and political system by which, to have a say in this society and to play a political role, one needed to become Muslim. The social system foreseen by Islam – and already foreseen in the Koran – pushes non-Muslims to become Muslim if they want to have a role in society. In so doing, Islam reduced Christian communities to intellectually, socially and politically weak minorities. This involves constriction, contrary to what is said in the Koranic verse mentioned above. Benedict XVI reminded Bardakaglu that collaboration between Christians and Muslims needs to have at its basis attention for “the truth of the sacred character and dignity of the person,” in “respect for the responsible choices that each person makes, especially those pertaining…to personal religious convictions.” The message to the West – dealt with in the Pontiff’s meeting with the diplomatic corps at Ankara – is that of secularity open to the spiritual. The Pope returned to this theme – which he had already dealt with at Regensburg – to apply it to the secularity of the Turkish government, calling for freedom of religion and of conscience. In theory, the West recognizes religious freedom. The point is that Western secularity goes as far as to exclude all that is religious, putting it into the private domain. Turkey’s secularity is Islamic secularity: limits are set on whoever is not nationalistic and Islamic so that national identity is not jeopardized. In the past week, two Turkish converts from Islam were condemned by virtue of the law on national identity (article 301 of the criminal code). This is the same accusation (and sentence) that is made against those who dare to speak of or recognize the Armenian genocide. The Pope insisted much on freedom of conscience. And he made an appeal to the Islamic world by praising Turkish secularity, which allows for a distinction between state and religion. He highlighted this aspect, recalling that religions must stay out of politics, “as that [Editor’s note: direct politics], is not their province.” Benedict XVI is thus striving to find a middle way for all humanity that allows for the interrelation between religion, spirituality, reason, secularity and state. Being in the Western world, he insists on a secularity which is “open” to the spiritual. There thus exists continuity in the Pope’s speeches in Turkey with what he said at Regensburg, in looking for a way of communication between politics and religion, against the monopoly of religion on politics and against the monopoly of politics which excludes religion.

Vid--Salve Regina

Via NLM

Irish Dominicans at San Clemente in Rome chanting the Salve at the end of compline YouTube

Is Peak Oil Pessimism a Generation of Men Coming to Realise How Useless They Are?

Via EB

Is Peak Oil Pessimism a Generation of Men Coming to Realise How Useless They Are?

In this post I want to discuss an evolving theory I have which may illuminate some and enrage others. I have come to think that part of the reason behind the “die-off” perspective and the mind-set which thinks that Western civilisation is doomed because humanity is basically selfish and foolish, and that it is too late for humanity to do anything on the necessary scale is in fact that a generation of men are coming to realise on some level that they are almost entirely unequipped to face the challenge that peak oil creates.

One of the main impacts of the Age of Cheap Oil, the great Petroleum Party so rapidly drawing to a close, has been the monumental deskilling that has gone on during that time. A friend of mine recently told me of a friend of his 14 year old son, who had grown up eating sliced bread, and was unable to actually cut a slice of bread from a loaf! How many people now know how to cook, garden, build, repair, mend, pickle, prune or scythe? In the space of two generations, we have lost so much basic knowledge and skills that previous generations learnt by osmosis without even thinking about it.

Over the last few weeks I have been doing oral history interviews with older people in and around Totnes of their memories of the 30s, 40s and 50s. They remember working with horses on the farms, raising children with gas lamps, candles, home grown vegetables and home made clothes. This is less than 2 generations ago. What emerges is an innate sense, in the generation that made it through World War Two, of what constitutes enough, of an instinctive sense of self-reliance and an almost universal ability to turn one’s hand to anything.

A couple of years ago I went to London to a peak oil conference, and the evening before it I went to the pre-event social. I was struck by the fact that everyone there (with one exception) was male, aged 25-40, and, as far as I could tell, worked in IT. They were all very pleasant, intelligent, well read on the whole peak oil issue, and as able as anyone to argue that the peak is imminent and we need to act. There were however, almost no women, no gardeners, no builders, no foresters in the room, nor at the subsequent conference as far as I can tell.

Writers such as Shepherd Bliss and Carolyn Baker have questioned why it is that women are less prominent in the peak oil community. I have a nagging suspicion that it is because what we are seeing is, in part, a generation of men awakening to the fact that they are completely ill-prepared for life beyond oil. Almost all of the peak oil writers, and the vast majority of peak oil website writers and bloggers, are men. When I have organised peak oil-related events, finding female speakers on the subject is very tricky.

From the oral history interviews I have been doing, I have seen how older men are less concerned about “going back” to the kind of lifestyles of the 40s and 50s because they still remember how to do things. They often say “well it’s not a problem, I still know how to do all that stuff”. Something happened around the 1960s and the passing-on of that knowledge just stopped. Perhaps mens’ natural instinct is to protect and to provide, and at a time when we feel on some level the need to be doing so again, we are realising that our education has left us completely incapable of doing either. The oil-based economic system has basically said “don’t worry about that, we’ll take care of that for you” for that last 50 years, but that system is now starting to look very shaky, and we realise we have been taught the wrong skills.

The skills one needs to work in the service industry, in sales, in IT, in the insurance industry, in a call centre, are of very little use when one starts thinking about what might follow that in a more localised near-future. What those of 2 generations ago had that we have lost was a practical attitude. They knew how to use the various tools around them, and had a confidence that they could turn their hands to most things. They had the core skills they would need to get through most challenges. Dig for Victory was possible because most people still knew how to garden.

I think that panic and woe is a natural first response to peak oil. In my recent interview with Richard Heinberg he discussed the different stages of peak oil awareness. “Probably the typical stages of grief, denial, anger and all that and very often an obsession with the facts themselves and trying to become knowledgeable about those facts, internalise the information and then verify the information so they can be sure of this. After all, they are probably in the process of reorienting their lives and their priorities and they may be trying to convince their friends and family about this and they need to have better information and get all the facts straight so they can do that”. I would add to this that what often follows that is a realisation that we have lost the skills to adequately respond. In running the recent Transition Town Totnes Open Space days, I have seen that one of the most powerful things about them is that people get to meet and chat with other people who have the skills they are realising that they need. I came away from the food day with a great sense of hope, there are lots of knowledgable people around here, there are the skills to tap into.

I’m a 38 year old male. I know how to grow food. I can build walls, plaster, make compost, plant trees, design, cook, make jam and chutney, make turf roofs and chop wood. I’m hopeless with electrics. I’m not a great carpenter, and I have no clue about fixing machines of any kind. Yet having learnt to do the things I can do, I feel confident that I could turn my hand to most things. Almost as importantly, I am starting to find the people around me who could teach me thing things I need to learn. Although you may disagree with the theory I have set out above, I have found it an interesting way of looking at where the numbing sense of peak oil catastrophism comes from. It is, in the main, a theory most felt and promoted by men.

My feeling is that it represents a stage in evolving peak oil awareness, and is rooted in a dawning sense of horror at ones personal inadequacy in terms of skills and personal resources. My hope is that, within and beyond the peak oil movement, this sense of despair and futility can be harnessed by the acquiring of skills and local networking and turned into a catalyst for the relearning of a wide range of skills. In Transition Town Totnes we are doing our part by planning a series of workshops for the next programme called “The Great Reskilling”, which contains, among other things, workshops on sock darning and on edible container gardening. Succumbing to peak oil die-off despair gets us nowhere, unless we can use it as a spur to action and to reskilling.

Does this resonate with you? Any thoughts or discussion on the above much appreciated, I’d like to hear your thoughts…

Damn straight! Talk about possibly precipitating a vocation crisis. (For those who complacently assume that their job is their vocation.)

Check out the comments in response to the post..

Out of your car, off your horse (final)

19. No one can make ecological good sense for the planet. Everyone can make ecological good sense locally, if the affection, the scale, the knowledge, the tools, and the skills are right.

20. The right scale in work gives power to affection. When one works beyond the reach of one's love for the place one is working in and for the things and creatures one is working with and among, then destruction inevitably results. An adequate local culture, among other things, keeps work within the reach of love.

21. The question before us, then, is an extremely difficult one--How do we begin to remake, or to make, a local culture that will preserve our part of the world while we use it? We are talking here not just about a kind of knowledge that involves affection but also about a kind of knowledge that comes from or with affection--knowledge that is unavailable to the unaffecitonate and that is unavailable to anyone in the form of "information."

22. What, for a start, might be the economic result of local affection? We don't know. Moreover, we are probably never going to know in any way that would satisfy the average dean or corporate executive. The ways of love tend to be secretive and, even ot the lovers themselves, somewhat inscrutable.

23. The real work of planet-saving will be small, humble, and humbling, and (insofar as it involves love) pleasing and rewarding. Its jobs will be too many to count, too many to report, too many to be publicly noticed or rewarded, too small to make anyone rich or famous.

24. The great obstacle may be not greed but the modern hankering after glamour. A lot of our smartest, most concerned people want to come up with a big solution to a big problem. I don't think that planet-saving, if we take it seriously, can furnish employment to many such people.

25. When I think of the kind of worker the job requires, I think of Dorothy Day (if one can think of Dorothy Day herself, separate from the publicity that came as a result of her rarity), a person willing to go down and down into the daunting, humbling, almost hopeless local presence of the problem--to face the great problem one small life at a time.

26. Some cities can never be sustainable at their present levels of population because they do not have a countryside around them or near them from which they can be sustained. New York City cannot be made sustainable, nor can Phoenix. Some cities in Kentucky or the Midwest, on the other hand, might reasonably hope to become sustainable.

27. To make a sustainable city, one must being somehow and I think the beginning must be small and economic. A beginning could be made, for example, by increasing the amount of food bought from farmers in the local countryside by consumers in the city. As the food economy became more local, local farming would become more diverse; the farms would become smaller, more complex in structure, more productive; and some city people would be needed to work on the farms. Sooner or later, as a means of reducing expenses both ways, organic wastes from the city would go out to fertilize the farms of the supporting region; thus, city people would have to assume an agricultural responsibility and would be properly motivated to do so both by the wish to have a dependable supply of excellent food and by the fear of contaminting that supply. The increase of economic intimacy between a city and its sources would change minds (assuming, of course, that the minds in question would stay put long enough to be changed). It would improve minds. The locality, by becoming partly sustainable, would produce the thought it would need to become more sustainable.

Ave Maria in trouble?

School's slow growth prompts funding plea

By Jennifer Brannock (Contact)

Monday, December 4, 2006

Costly tuition prices, lofty academic and maturity requirements and an inching accreditation process could stall the growth of Collier County's most ambitious project.

In a recent letter to Ave Maria University supporters, Provost Joseph Fessio wrote that enrollment and retention numbers at the stringent, private Catholic college are low.

The problems are contributing to "a probable added deficit," which he referred to as a "crisis."

"It isn't that we did not plan for it," Fessio wrote in a letter, dated Oct. 18. "But as a situation unfolds, the problem (or sometimes even a crisis) becomes crystal clear."

AMU needs more students. The ideal growth of the school and 5,000-acre town, to be located between Immokalee and Naples in eastern Collier County, depends on it.

After disclosing a laundry list of problems the school has with recruitment and retention, Fessio made a serious plea to potential donors to fund merit and need-based scholarships so more students could have the opportunity to attend.

"To that end, I'm starting a task force of Regents to raise money precisely for scholarships that will help us increase our enrollment and retention," Fessio wrote.

"Without such a scholarship fund, we are going to incur deficits over the next few years which will be unsustainable."

Despite the ominous statement, Fessio insisted the school and town are far from doomed.

WEBIFIED

• MORE COVERAGE: Read more stories about Ave Maria

"It's not false," Fessio said of the written statement Wednesday. "Nothing will happen" if AMU doesn't admit more students.

"But we'll be smaller than we should be."

Slow growth at Ave Maria isn't an issue for Collier County planners or developers.

Representatives at Pulte Homes, who have three housing complexes planned for Ave Maria, said they have loads of interested people who say they want to live in the primarily Catholic community. The growth of the school will not be a factor, representatives said.

Because Ave Maria will be responsible for its own water, sewers and roads, the pace of the town's growth won't affect other county projects, said Joe Schmitt, the county's Community Development and Environmental Services Administrator.

"That is a self-contained, self-sufficient entity," he said. "We still expect 500,000 to 600,000 people living in eastern Collier County at build-out, so I don't think they'll have any problems."

AMU has enrolled about 600 students since 2003 at its temporary campus, in The Vineyards in North Naples. Of those, more than 100, about 17 percent, have left the school prior to graduation, Fessio said.

According to statistics compiled by the College Board, about 49.5 percent of freshmen at four-year private universities do not graduate from the institution they started at.

The reasons for leaving AMU, or for not coming at all, are plentiful, Fessio said.

"The number of academically qualified students mature enough in their faith to respond to what we have to offer here is relatively small," Fessio wrote. "When you add this to the fact that we are presently still a rather small and unaccredited institution a long way from most population centers in the U.S., with a limited number of majors, it's clear to me that our growth will necessarily be slow over the next few years."

Fessio said the top reasons for the departure of students are academic and disciplinary dismissal.

The average SAT scores for incoming freshman are between 1200 and 1218, Fessio said. Students must also maintain a 2.0 grade point average or higher to stay in school.

AMU has strict behavioral policies to which some students fresh out of their childhood homes have difficulty complying. Some more troublesome rules include boundaries on male/female interaction and the requirement that students must live on-campus throughout their college years.

But don't expect those rules to change, Fessio said.

"We have pretty high expectations of students when it comes to behavior with relationships, drinking and so on," he said. "We've experienced that some students come here, and it's not as lively as they had hoped, and they leave.

"It takes maturity, and we're not going to diminish our standards for decency and character."

Though the school has received pre-accreditation, they are still 3-4 years away from receiving national accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), Fessio said.

The school offers only 12 undergraduate majors, which has prompted many students to leave the school and finish elsewhere, Fessio said. The school cannot offer any new majors until they receive their SACS accreditation.

"We haven't had any difficulty getting students work after graduation," Fessio said. "Nevertheless, it is a deterrent for students coming here."

The main factor Fessio is working on is the bottom line. Fessio said many Catholic families are large, with several children to support, and cannot afford to spend the $22,575 per year AMU charges for room, board and tuition.

Fessio hopes his Regents task force will form by the end of the year, and will be successful in raising money for prospective students.

"The fact is, if we're going to help the students who need the most help to come here...we have to support them in some way," Fessio said. "I believe if I can communicate to our friends in this area what our students are like, how terrific they are and what we need to get them here, people are generous and will respond."

AMU students like Maria Victoria Puerto Hernandez of Honduras and Andrea Rodriguez of Immokalee have already reaped the benefits of full merit and need-based scholarships.

"I wanted to come here when I saw what Ave Maria offered," said Rodriguez, 20. "I couldn't have come without the scholarship."

"I needed to know how to approach the teachings of the church, and I knew Ave Maria was teaching the truth," added Puerto Hernandez, 19, who wants to work as a missionary. "Coming here gave me the opportunity to be more exposed in terms of culture."

Fast or slow, Fessio said he is confident the university will achieve their build-out goal of teaching 6,000 mature, academically excellent students one day.

"There are students like this all around the country," he said. "It just takes time for them to get to know us, and for us to know them, because we're still new here."

Review of Casino Royale

Last night Fujian Gal and I went to see Casino Royale at AMC Boston Common. [While we were there we ran into someone rather unexpected, someone else's ex-bf, with a possible date?] The movie was being played in auditorium 2, which is rather big--not like the small screens on the upper level. For some reason they played the old trailer for Apocalypto, and not the most recent one. There was the Marshall U. football movie trailer, which Fujian Gal might be interested in; she also wants to see the upcoming Will Smith movie in which he plays an aspiring stockbroker.

What can I say about Bond? While the movie was ok, and certainly better than previous Bond movies that were over-the-top, still at its core Bond is the somewhat bizarre fantasy of a British civil servant. Bond has been trying to maintain its relevancy for a long time now in its choice of villains; while the updating of Casino Royale may have been successful for the movie audience, my biggest gripe was that it was still too unrealistic. Of course, by its very nature a Bond movie cannot be realistic, and I am just reacting to that. At least with Bourne it is somewhat more believable that Bourne is going one-on-one with his opponents, since he is not on an operation, he is just fighting for his survival. I suppose it may be more palatable for us to watch a movie in which it is clear who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. If it becomes ambiguous (which probably better reflects reality), then our reaction will be different (as was the case with Munich).

Some of the same criticisms can be levelled at 24, but at least Jack Bauer is not the lone hero; he actually has a support team and other agents working with him. Still, while re-watching the first 3 seasons, I do find that the show loses some of its freshness and the lack of realism becomes more apparent. I'll watch season 6, but I doubt I would ever purchase the dvds...

Daniel Craig wears the role well. (Nonetheless, the use of stunt doubles is apparent during the chase scene at the beginning of the movie.) If there were another activity besides movie-going that would promote friendship I would eagerly turn to it; at least the Catholics at ND have their parties and tailgaters. It is difficult to be festive without being settled to some degree.

Evidently there is a Beverly Hills Cop movie in the works... it's amazing how movies like Beverly Hills Cop or Revenge of the Nerds got made in the first place. I can't imagine people would be willing to pay for full-priced movie admission to see these movies now, but there were plenty to do so back then. Their cultural worth is practically 0.

"Exciting today, boring tomorrow."

Varia, 04 December 2006

Year-end performance: Cheerleaders of Ewha Womans University stage a year-end congratulatory performance in front of a large banner reading “Thanks 2006 Welcome 2007,” at the students’ hall in Seoul on Monday. /Korea Times 11-27-2006 20:45

Diesel-powered Grimaldi: Michael A. Grimaldi, CEO of GM Daewoo Auto & Technology, poses with fuel-efficient Euro lV diesel engine that will power its first Korean diesel sedan, Tosca. /Courtesy of GM Daewoo 11-30-2006 14:20

Christmas arrives early at Hilton: Employees at Millennium Seoul Hilton show children the hotel’s “Christmas Train” at the lobby. The train is much more than a festive ornament as the hotel will donate all the proceeds from the sponsorship of companies, which list their logos on the boxcars, to the Hyeshimwon Orphanage in Yongsan, downtown Seoul. /Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul 11-30-2006 20:32

On board for mission: Eight astronaut candidates line up at Incheon International Airport, Sunday, as they leave for in-depth physical and mental tests at Gagarin Space Center in Russia. Two dropped out of the 10-person list. /Yonhap 12-03-2006 22:18

Kwanghwamun restoration: Korean traditional dancers perform before a ceremony to launch the restoration of Kwanghwamun, the main entrance gate to Kyongbok Palace, in central Seoul, Monday. The structure began to be torn down Monday, and is expected to be restored to its original form and position by 2009. The structure will be moved 14.5 meters to the south and 10.9 meters to the west and rotated 5.6 degrees clockwise to its original position. / Yonhap 12-04-2006 18:50

Coming-of-age ceremony: Senior students of Taejang High School adjust their friends’ “hanbok,” Korea’s traditional costume, in a ceremony to celebrate their coming of age in Suwon, Kyonggi Province, on Monday. The event was held to congratulate the students who took the college scholastic ability test (CSAT) and will soon graduate from the school, even though the coming-of-age day fell on May 20. /Yonhap 12-04-2006 21:00

Kwanghwamun restoration: A large crane lifts two “Chwidu,” a decoration that adorned the top of a ridge on a traditional Korean structure, from Kwanghwamun, the main entrance gate to Kyongbok Palace, in central Seoul, Monday. The gate is expected to be restored to its original form and position by 2009. The structure, which had been moved by Japan in colonial times, will be moved 14.5 meters to the south and 10.9 meters to the west, and rotated 5.6 degrees clockwise to its original position. / Korea Times Photo by Park Seo-gang 12-04-2006 21:54
Front - Nov. 24, 2006

A shaman performs a ritual at the Agissidang shrine in Seoul on Thursday. The ritual, which is held every year, was designated an intangible cultural asset by Seoul City this January. The woman is the seventh generation in her family to become a shaman./Yonhap

Culture - Nov. 24, 2006

Foreigners enjoy Korean dishes with wine at a tasting of wines from French regions of Alsace and Cote du Rhone at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul on Thursday./Yonhap
Front - Nov. 25, 2006

The 10 candidates to become Korea’s first astronaut selected by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Korea Aerospace Research institute on Friday. The final two candidates will be announced around Dec. 25.

Front - Nov. 27, 2006

The all-male performance troupe Namsadang give a concert of Pungmulnori or Korean folk percussion concert in Insadong, Seoul on Sunday./Newsis
Culture - Nov. 27, 2006

Overseas visitors to the 2006 SIWA and Diplomatic Community Bazaar at Samseong-dong’s COEX experience Korean culture in the form of flattening ddeok or sticky-rice patties on Sunday. Proceeds from the annual bazaar held by the Seoul International Women’s Association and diplomats’ spouses go to charity./Newsis
National - Nov. 28, 2006

Umbrella-toting Seoul residents walk through a sea of golden gingko leaves on the stone wall road behind Deoksu Palace on Monday afternoon./Yonhap
Front - Nov. 29, 2006

Fans root for the national football team during the Group B second round match between Korea and Bangladesh at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday. Korea won 3-0./Yonhap
National - Dec. 1, 2006

Pedestrians struggle through the cold in Seoul on Thursday, when the mercury suddenly plummeted.
Front - Dec. 2, 2006

A schoolboy is muffled up against the cold in Sillim-dong, Seoul on Friday, when the mercury dropped below zero across the country./Newsis
Culture - Dec. 4, 2006

Foreign workers learn to play Korea’s traditional percussion quartet samulnori in Incheon on Sunday.

Business - Dec. 4, 2006

LG Electronics’ hit Chocolate phone and related technologies are on display at the ITU Telecom World 2006 expo in Hong Kong on Sunday./Yonhap

‘Mr. Vengeance’ Back for Romance

'Church of the Ark' found on West Bank

Via NRO

'Church of the Ark' found on West Bank

By Harry de Quetteville in Shiloh
Last Updated: 1:40am GMT 04/12/2006

Archaeologists claimed yesterday to have uncovered one of the world's first churches, built on a site believed to have once housed the Ark of the Covenant.

The site, emerging from the soil in a few acres in the hills of the Israeli occupied West Bank, is richly decorated with brightly coloured mosaics and inscriptions referring to Jesus Christ.

Archaeologists look over a mosaic discovered at Shiloh

According to the team, led by Yitzhak Magen and Yevgeny Aharonovitch, the church dates to the late 4th century, making it one of Christianity's first formal places of worship.

"I can't say for sure at the moment that it's the very first church," said Mr Aharonovitch, 38, as he oversaw a team carrying out the final excavations before winter yesterday. "But it's certainly one of the first." He said the site contained an extremely unusual inscription which referred to itself, Shiloh, by name.

"That is very rare and shows early Christians treated this as an ancient, holy place," said Mr Aharonovitch. According to the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, was kept by the Israelites at Shiloh for several hundred years.

It was eventually moved to the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple that the Bible says was built by King Solomon around 1000 BC. When the temple was sacked by the Babylonians 400 years later, the Ark was lost, sparking theories about whether it had been hidden or destroyed.
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The team at Shiloh is considering whether to dig under the beautiful mosaics that they have uncovered, in order to find traces of the Ark. "We have to decide whether to fix the mosaics here or take them to a museum," said Mr Aharonovitch.

Jewish residents in the modern settlement of Shiloh, which sits on a hill amidst Palestinian villages, want the team to keep digging.

David Rubin, a former mayor of Shiloh, said: "We believe that if they continue to dig they'll reach back to the time of the Tabernacle," referring to the portable place of worship where the Israelites housed the Ark.

Out of your car, off your horse cont.

by Wendell Berry

10. Geographically, the sources of the fossil fuels are rural. Technically, however, the production of these fuels is industrial and urban. The facts and integrities of local life and the principle of community are considered as little as possible, for to consider them would not be quickly profitable. Fossil fuels have always been produced at the expense of local ecosystems and of local human communities. The fossil-fuel economy is the industrial economypar excellence, and it assigns no value to local life, natural or human.

11. When the industrial principles exemplified in fossil-fuel production are applied to field and forest, the results are identical--local life, both natural and human, is destroyed.

12. Industrial procedures have been imposed on the countryside pretty much to the extent that country people have been seduced or forced into dependence on the industrial economy. By encouraging this dependence, corporations have inreased their ability to rob the people of their property and their labor. The result is that a very small number of people now own all the usable property in the country, and workers are increasingly the hostages of their employers.

13. Our present "leaders"--the people of wealth and power--do not know what it means to take a place seriously--to think it worthy, for its own sake, of love and study and careful work. They cannot take any place seriously because they must be ready at any moment, by the terms of power and wealth in the modern world, to destroy any place.

14. Ecological good sense will be opposed by all teh most powerful economic entities of our time, because ecological good sense requires the reduction or replacemenet of those entities. If ecological good sense is to prevail, it can do so only through the work and the will of the people and of the local communities.

15. For this task, our currently prevailing assumptions about knowledge, information, education, money, and political will are inadequate. All the institutions with which I am familiar have adopted the organizational patterns and the quantitative measures of the industrial corporations. Both sides of the ecological debate, perhaps as a consequence, are alarmingly abstract.

16. But abstraction, of course, is what is wrong. The evil of the industrial economy (capitalist or communist) is the abstractness inherent in its procedures--its inability to distinguish one place or person or creature from another. William Blake saw this two hundred years ago. Anyone can see it now in the application of almost any of our common industrial tools and weapons.

17. Abstraction is the enemy wherever it is found. The abstractions of sustainability can ruin the world just as surely as the abstractions of industrial economics. Local life may be as much endangered by those who would "save the planet" as by those who would "conquer the world." or "saving the planet" calls for abstract purposes and central powers that cannot known--and thus will destroy--the integrity of local nature and local community.

18. In order to make ecological good sense fo rthe planet, you must make ecological good sense locally. You can't act locally by thinking globally.

to be continued...

St. John Damascene, 4 December, 2006

Forgot to look at the calendar! A belated post, but I'm publishing it on the correct day...

Catholic Encyclopedia

Saint John, pray for us and for the re-establishment of communion with the Orthodox!

Saint John of Damascus

alt

See his defense of Holy Images and About the Orthodox Faith (which is the cause of his being given the title "Father of Scholasticism" by some)






From Doctors of the Catholic Church--









From Iconofile


Church of St. John of Damascus, Dedham
St. John of Damascus (OCA)

Review of Shanghai Gate

Hrm, not much to say...

Fujian Gal did not like it all, and I can't really differ from her. We ordered the xiao long bao and they did not task fresh or authentic. Fujian Gal thought they were pre-made frozen bao that was just heated up. Not sure if she is right, or if the kitchen staff is just lousy. We also ordered the spicy beef--beef, celery, pepper--and a chicken dish that resembled the chicken dish we got at the sichuan place on Washington. I have to agree, the sichuan place has a better chicken dish. The one at Shanghai Gate tasted overcooked, and it had an odd taste too it; not sure if it was the oil, or some ingredient. I thought it tasted like oil contaminated with burnt scraps. I don't think either of us will be returning there...

Boston.com

Mere Comments discussion of "Biblical Dating"

here

Manga adaptation of P&P

Hilarious! Via AustenBlog. sample

Apparently there is a graphic novel of Northanger Abbey.

Pope's Address in Armenian Apostolic Cathedral

Pope's Address in Armenian Apostolic Cathedral

"To Heal the Wounds of Separation"

ISTANBUL, Turkey, DEC. 1, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is Benedict XVI's address to Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafina, delivered Thursday during the celebration of the Word in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Istanbul. It followed the patriarch's own address.

* * *

Dear Brother in Christ,

I am pleased to have this opportunity to meet Your Beatitude in this very place where Patriarch Kalustian welcomed my predecessors Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. With great affection I greet the entire Armenian Apostolic community over which you preside as shepherd and spiritual father. My fraternal greeting goes also to His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of Holy Etchmiadzin, and the hierarchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. I give thanks to God for the Christian faith and witness of the Armenian people, transmitted from one generation to the next, often in very tragic circumstances such as those experienced in the last century.

Our meeting is more than a simple gesture of ecumenical courtesy and friendship. It is a sign of our shared hope in God's promises and our desire to see fulfilled the prayer that Jesus offered for his disciples on the eve of his suffering and death: "that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17:21). Jesus gave his life on the Cross to gather into one the dispersed children of God, to break down the walls of division. Through the sacrament of Baptism, we have been incorporated into the Body of Christ, the Church. The tragic divisions which, over time, have arisen among Christ's followers openly contradict the Lord's will, give scandal to the world and damage that most holy cause, the preaching of the Gospel to every creature (cf. "Unitatis Redintegratio," 1). Precisely by the witness of their faith and love, Christians are called to offer a radiant sign of hope and consolation to this world, so marked by conflicts and tensions. We must continue therefore to do everything possible to heal the wounds of separation and to hasten the work of rebuilding Christian unity. May we be guided in this urgent task by the light and strength of the Holy Spirit.

In this respect I can only offer heartfelt thanks to the Lord for the deeper fraternal relationship that has developed between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church. In the thirteenth century, Nerses of Lambron, one of the great Doctors of the Armenian Church, wrote these words of encouragement: "Now, since we all need peace with God, let its foundation be harmony among the brethren. We have prayed to God for peace and continue to do so. Look, he is now giving it to us as a gift: let us welcome it! We asked the Lord to make his holy Church solid, and he has willingly heard our plea. Let us climb therefore the mountain of the Gospel faith!" ("Il Primato della Carità," Ed. Qiqajon, p. 81). These words of Nerses have lost nothing of their power. Together let us continue to pray for the unity of all Christians, so that, by receiving this gift from above with open hearts, we may be ever more convincing witnesses of the truth of the Gospel and better servants of the Church's mission.

[Original text: English]

© Copyright 2006 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Lim Soo-jung: 39 kg, but That’s Okay

Lim Soo-jung: 39 kg, but That’s Okay

Lim Soo-jung had to get her weight down to just 39 kg to shoot her latest film. The actress went through a punishing weight loss process to act as Young-gun, who believes herself to be a cyborg, in Park Chan-wook’s new movie, “I'm a Cyborg, but That's Okay.”


“The hardest thing about shooting the film was having to make Lim starve,” the director confessed. Lim endured a few months of eating only raw sweet potato and pieces of apple. On top of that, on days when she did not have to go to the set, she went to a fitness center to work out. The movie is released on Dec. 7.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

Apparently, those scruples weren't enough and he didn't have that much of a problem with it. Really, is acting or making a movie worth that sort of disordered behavior? I think not. If the character is human, but has some sort of weird psychological problem then what difference does it make if she is fat or skinny or of a healthy/normal weight? Perhaps it would be better to make a movie about eating disorders--and not one that turns into a sappy love story, and not even a tragic love story, but one that deals with the problem honestly, and the impediments to a healthy psychic life that exist.

Friendship

Latin text at Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum; English

"friendship can exist only between good men"

some Cicero in Latin

Plus, Aelred of Rievaulx, De Amicitia

And St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life

Friendship varies according to these communications, and they vary according to that which people have to communicate. If men share false and vain things, their friendship will be false and vain; if that which is good and true, their friendship will be good and true, and 197 the better that which is the staple of the bond, so much the better will the friendship be. That honey is best which is culled from the choicest flowers, and so friendship built upon the highest and purest intercommunion is the best. And just as a certain kind of honey brought from Pontus is poisonous, being made from aconite, so that those who eat it lose their senses, so the friendship which is based on unreal or evil grounds will itself be hollow and worthless.

So what would St. Francis make of Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha? "Hmmm."

Treatise on the Love of God

W. Berry, Out of Your Car, Off Your Horse

From Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community

1. Properly speaking, global thinking is not possible. Those who have "thought globally" (and among them the most successful have been imperial governments and multinational corporations) have done so by means of simplifications too extreme and oppressive to merit the name of thought. Global thinkers have been and will be dangerous people. National thinkers tend to be dangerous also: we now have national thinkers in the northeastern United States who look on Kentucky as a garbage dump. A landfill in my couty receives daily many truckloads of garbage from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. This is evidently all right with everybody but those of us who live here.

2. Global thinking can only be statistical. Its shallowness is exposed by the least intention ot do something. Unless one is willing to be destructive on a very large scale, one cannot do something except locally, in a small place. Global thinking can only do ot the globe what a space satellite does to it: reduce it, make a bauble of it. Look at one of those photographs of half the earth taken from outer space, and see if you recognize your neighborhood. If you want to see where you are, you will have to get out of your spaceship, out of your car, off your horse, and walk over the ground. On foot you will find that the earth is still satisfyingly large and full of beguiling nooks and crannies.

3. If we could think locally, we would take far better care of things than we do now. The right local questions and answers will be the right global ones. The Amish question "What will this do to our community?" tends toward the right answer for the world.

4. If we want to put local life in proper relation to the globe, we must do so by imagination, charit, and forbearance and by making local life as competent, independent, and self-sufficient as possible--not by the presumptuous abstraction of "global thought."

5. If we want to keep our thoughts and acts from destroying the globe, then we must see to it that we do not ask too much of the globe or of any part of it. To make sure that we do not ask too much, we must learn to live at home, as independently and self-sufficiently as we can. This is the only way we can keep the land we are using and its ecological limits always in sight.

6. The only sustainable city--and this, to me, is the indispensable ideal and goal--is a city in balance with its coutryside: a city, that is, that would live off the net ecological income of its supporting region, paying as it goes all its ecological and human debts.

7. The cities we now have are living off ecological principal and by economic assumptions that seem certain to destroy them. The people of these cities do not "live at home." They do not have their own supporting regions. They are out of blaance with their supports, wherever on the globe their supports are.

8. The balance between city and coutryside is destroyed by industrial machinery, "cheap" productivity in field and forest, and "cheap" transportation. Rome destroyed the balance with slave labor; we have destroyed it with machines and "cheap" fossil fuel.

9. Since the Civil War, perhaps, and certainly since World War II, the norms of productivity have been set by the fossil-fuel industries.

to be continued...

Singers-Turned-Actors: the Best and the Worst

Singers-Turned-Actors: the Best and the Worst

From left: Jung Ryoe-won, Uhm Jung-hwa, Eugene, Seong Yu-ri and Lee Hyo-lee

Among women, Jung Ryoe-won came top thanks to her part in “My Name is Kim Sam-soon.” Jung "is able to reflect her own natural image into the role she plays in the drama," one panelist said. "She works hard at learning her craft. If you look closely at her eye movement, tempo, breathing and reactions to her partners, you can see that she studies the script really hard.” Uhm Jung-hwa came second with 17 points and Eugene in third with 12. Uhm is said to be able to play a wide range of parts, have a lively spirit as an actress and act very naturally. Eugene drew favorable responses thanks to her fluent dialect in the drama “I Really Really Like You” broadcast this year. She was praised for speaking dialect very well, which is not easy at all.

Overall, Rain came top with 27 points, followed by Uhm Jung-hwa with 14, Jung Ryeo-won with 12, and Lim Chang-jung with 11.

Who, then, is the worst singer-turned-actor? Seong Yu-ri held the sorry title with 21 points, followed by Lee Hyo-lee with 14, Park Jung-ah with 13, Kangta with 8, and Eric again with 5. Seong, our panelists said delicately, "has starred in several dramas but still has a long way to go.” Lee Hyo-lee, who was featured in the drama “Three-Leaf Clover,” was denounced as woefully miscast. The glamour girl “did not suit the character of a factory worker,” they said. In Park’s case, the difference between the singer’s image and her soap character was also judged too glaring.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

Ah poor Watcher... I suspected Hyori's acting skills were not good, even though it is said that she is being offered more roles.

'Yonsama' Brings K-Wave Expo Opener to a Halt

‘Yonsama’ Brings K-Wave Expo Opener to a Halt

The Hallyu Expo in Asia celebrating the march of Korean pop culture across the continent opened Wednesday at the International Convention Center Jeju at Seogwipo’s Jungmun Resort. Tourists from Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong filled more than 2,000 seats, chiefly to catch a glimpse of the actor Bae Yong-joon. But Bae, a goodwill ambassador for the event, was late for the opening ceremony, which started 30 minutes behind schedule due to his tardiness.

Korean actor Bae Yong-joon waves to fans at the opening ceremony of the Hallyu Expo in Asia held in the International Convention Center Jeju on Wednesday. /Yonhap


When he finally showed up during Jeju City Mayor Kim Tae-hwan’s opening address, Bae, his hair tied up in a ponytail for the filming of the new drama “Taewangsasingi”, waved and smiled. It was his first official appearance since promoting the movie “April Snow” last year. Chaos ensued. The fans, mostly women between 30 and 80 who had come to Jeju by charter plane, shouted for joy, drowning out the mayor’s speech. Bae laid a finger on his lips to quiet down the excited crowd, but it took 10 minutes before Kim was able to wrap up his address.

Fans braved sharp gales in the island to get a glimpse of their idol. Digital camera in one hand, binoculars in the other, they hung on Bae’s every little gesture. A 57-year-old Japanese fan who gave her name as Kiyoko said she made the three-night visit to Jeju only to see Bae and was satisfied to get a look at him even from a long distance. Asked why she likes Bae so much, she answered the Korean actor was graceful and gentle, qualities rarely found in Japanese men.

Japanese fans wait for the actor Bae Yong-joon to appear at the opening ceremony of the Hallyu Expo in Asia held at the International Convention Center Jeju on Wednesday.

Event organizers said more than 4,000 fans came to the island from Japan, Taiwan and China on Wednesday alone. They expect 50,000 foreigners and 100,000 Korean tourists to visit Jeju during the event’s run. Flight tickets to Jeju are sold out, and 90 percent of hotel rooms near the event venue are booked. The expo ends on March 10 and other Korean stars to take part include Lee young-ae, Song Seung-hun, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Jun-ki, TVXQ, BoA, Kangta, Super Junior and Kim Hee-seon.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

Ok, he has long hair because of the drama he is currently shooting. Maybe he would look obetter without the glasses... but in the photo above... I can understand what P'lyn says about him.

Can we get Joseph Pearce to BC?

When I said goodbye to Joseph Pearce, I told him that I hoped he would be able to come to Boston some time, and he replied, "Why don't you invite me?" or something like that... well obviously since I'm a nobody I can't do it, but I told him I would see what I could do. Perhaps Seraphic Single with her Saint Thomas More Society connections can bring it up with one of the members. (Although funding might be a problem for them, but perhaps they could work it out somehow.)

What do you think, Lady Downstairs?

Catholic ladies

After the banquet tonight, I asked a friend who had been at BC to get his MA in philosophy, MK, to check with Joseph Pearce to see if he was interested in going to get a drink. (Because it is Joseph Pearce, an Englishman and Tolkien afficienado--if anyone is going to live like a hobbit, it's Joseph Pearce.) Apparently he already had plans to go to the ND bar/restaurant, Legends. On my way out I was able to say my farewells to Dr. Lyon (I wish I could have talked to him more), Matthew Levering (definitely wished I could have talked to him more, and that my parting wasn't as clumsy), and Christopher Malloy. Aiya, I should have gotten a picture with Dr. Levering. Ah well, maybe my sister can get a picture of him. Dr. Levering is a rather shy, humble guy--he's a very good theologian, with a deep faith. A good younger role model for aspiring Catholic intellectals. I didn't get a chance to get a photo with Dr. McInerny this time around; he taught his last class this week. Another humble, quiet Catholic intellectual, a giant of his generation in many respects.

Anyways... to the original reason behind this post. At Legends tonight, besides Joseph Pearce there were several older Catholic women who were very attractive. [I was originally going to write a description with vocabulary more in tune with the first and more primitive response (nothing scandalous, just the typical vocab that is used today), but I decided against it--women like them deserve much better.] One was a convert from Evangelical Christianity to Catholicism; not sure what her profession is, besides being a mother. She told us of her suburban housing tract, which is evidently very much like Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives. Lots of shallow women there who get plastic surgeries and dress like teenagers, going out in rather whorish outfits and getting drunk, fretting and competing over rather trivial things. Meanwhile this faithful woman has a statue of the Blessed Mother on her lawn in front of the house, and feels so out of place. She learned rather recently that this "community" has a reputation for swinging, and she was shocked.

Serious about her faith, very interested in engaging this society and spreading the Gospel, and she and her friend were even talking about prayer! Haven't really witnessed anything like that since I was at Christendom. Can you imagine that--Catholic women talking about prayer! I found her to be quite feminine and even though she was older, I foud her to be very attractive physically (as I said before)--she was not all glammed up, I don't think she wore very much makeup at all... but wow. Maybe it is a gift, but maybe inner beauty does have an impact on outer beauty? Where do you find a woman like that? [Yeah, whoever is thinking it right now, better not say, "Ave Maria Singles."] Her husband is very lucky... a woman a serious Catholic guy would be willing to die for, I think... Her friend (blonde) was pretty too, but she wasn't really involved in our conversation, though she does seem to know Sarah Byers.

"He's got marriage on his mind."
Yeah, so what?

I also got a chance to met one of KK's friends, J. He and his wife H were there, with their baby daughter Olydia. Very nice Catholic couple, and their daughter was really cute. He graduated from ND with a degree in English and is teaching there now, on a fellowship. He is on the job market, and is interested great books programs...

[I must admit that I still react with surprise when I see mothers breastfeed in public without covering up with a towel or something. Yeah, yeah, I grew up in America. Sue me.]

So, while I might say this and that about ND the institution (and the administration there), still there are a lot of good solid Catholic people studying, teaching, and associated with the university in one way or another. One can definitely find some sort of Catholic community there, despite what may be happening at the university. And there are plenty of students who are committed to fighting the good fight in order to maintain some sort of Catholic presence and witness at the university. If I go back to California... where am I going to find anything resembling this? It is true that there are a lot of good Catholic families at OLP, but... it seems unlikely that I will meet people with the same sort of background in education, so the intellectual discussions might be a bit lacking.


Novena prayer to St. Joseph

I wonder if there is a traditional prayer to St. Raphael for finding a good spouse.

Providence Academy

This weekend at the conference I met Mr. John Lyon, retired ND teacher in the Great Books program, and now teaching at Providence Academy in Lacrosse, Wisconsin. We talked a lot about the program there, since I do have an interest in [Catholic] secondary education (which is where a lot of reforms ned to be). At Providence Academy they are trying a classical approach; it is not associated with any other school/program, though they did consult Trinity Academy in Milwaukee when they were first conceiving the school. Students learn both Latin and Greek--Dr. Lyon wasn't sure how proficient they would become, but he thinks students will be able to read some Homer and perhaps the OT or the NT. That's great! No plans for a logic course yet, just Euclid, but he did pick up Peter Kreeft's logic textbook from St. Augustine while he was here. I wonder if there are any Catholic schools with a classical education in the works in the Bay Area.

Dr. Lyon also appears to be a paleocon, being a subscriber to both The American Conservative and Chronicles. We talked a bit about community, Wendell Berry, E.F. Schumacher, Aristotle, and other things. He's a very interesting man, and has a rather large family--in fact he has a son in the 2nd grade I believe, and another son in Kindergarten? I forgot the number of children he has... was it 15? Anyways, a large family! He did some berry farming as well, iirc. We were both excited that Joseph Pearce was at the conference to give a talk, and he had a chance to talk to Professor Pearce tonight during dinner. Wonderful!

Providence draws many of its students from families who attend the local Institute of Christ the King parish (not sure which one, there are three in Wisconsin, and I don't feel like looking at a map to see which is closest to Lacrosse).

Please say a prayer for another son, who is a marine in Iraq.

St. Edmund Campion, Martyr, December 1

Jesuites.com


From BC


Source for the following. (website in German)

Icon by Fr. William McNichols

CE
EDMUND CAMPION—1540-1581 by Todd M. Aglialoro
Evelyn Waugh on the Capture of Campion
Jesuits Saints and Blesseds


Icon of St. Edmund Campion by T. Renee Kozinski

Campion's "Brag"
To the Right Honourable, the Lords of Her Majesty's Privy Council:
Whereas I have come out of Germany and Bohemia, being sent by my superiors, and adventured myself into this noble realm, my dear country, for the glory of God and benefit of souls, I thought it like enough that, in this busy, watchful, and suspicious world, I should either sooner or later be intercepted and stopped of my course.
Wherefore, providing for all events, and uncertain what may become of me, when God shall haply deliver my body into durance, I supposed it needful to put this in writing in a readiness, desiring your good lordships to give it your reading, for to know my cause. This doing, I trust I shall ease you of some labour. For that which otherwise you must have sought for by practice of wit, I do now lay into your hands by plain confession. And to the intent that the whole matter may be conceived in order, and so the better both understood and remembered, I make thereof these nine points or articles, directly, truly and resolutely opening my full enterprise and purpose.

i. I confess that I am (albeit unworthy) a priest of the Catholic Church, and through the great mercy of God vowed now these eight years into the religion [religious order] of the Society of Jesus. Hereby I have taken upon me a special kind of warfare under the banner of obedience, and also resigned all my interest or possibility of wealth, honour, pleasure, and other worldly felicity.

ii. At the voice of our General, which is to me a warrant from heaven and oracle of Christ, I took my voyage from Prague to Rome (where our General Father is always resident) and from Rome to England, as I might and would have done joyously into any part of Christendom or Heatheness, had I been thereto assigned.

iii. My charge is, of free cost to preach the Gospel, to minister the Sacraments, to instruct the simple, to reform sinners, to confute errors-in brief, to cry alarm spiritual against foul vice and proud ignorance, wherewith many of my dear countrymen are abused.

iv. I never had mind, and am strictly forbidden by our Father that sent me, to deal in any respect with matter of state or policy of this realm, as things which appertain not to my vocation, and from which I gladly restrain and sequester my thoughts.

v. I do ask, to the glory of God, with all humility, and under your correction, three sorts of indifferent and quiet audiences: the first, before your Honours, wherein I will discourse of religion, so far as it toucheth the common weal and your nobilities: the second, whereof I make more account, before the Doctors and Masters and chosen men of both universities, wherein I undertake to avow the faith of our Catholic Church by proofs innumerable-Scriptures, councils, Fathers, history, natural and moral reasons: the third, before the lawyers, spiritual and temporal, wherein I will justify the said faith by the common wisdom of the laws standing yet in force and practice.

vi. I would be loath to speak anything that might sound of any insolent brag or challenge, especially being now as a dead man to this world and willing to put my head under every man's foot, and to kiss the ground they tread upon. Yet I have such courage in avouching the majesty of Jesus my King, and such affiance in his gracious favour, and such assurance in my quarrel, and my evidence so impregnable, and because I know perfectly that no one Protestant, nor all the Protestants living, nor any sect of our adversaries (howsoever they face men down in pulpits, and overrule us in their kingdom of grammarians and unlearned ears) can maintain their doctrine in disputation. I am to sue most humbly and instantly for combat with all and every of them, and the most principal that may be found: protesting that in this trial the better furnished they come, the better welcome they shall be.
vii. And because it hath pleased God to enrich the Queen my Sovereign Lady with notable gifts of nature, learning, and princely education, I do verily trust that if her Highness would vouchsafe her royal person and good attention to such a conference as, in the second part of my fifth article I have motioned, or to a few sermons, which in her or your hearing I am to utter such manifest and fair light by good method and plain dealing may be cast upon these controversies, that possibly her zeal of truth and love of her people shall incline her noble Grace to disfavour some proceedings hurtful to the realm, and procure towards us oppressed more equity.

viii. Moreover I doubt not but you, her Highness' Council, being of such wisdom and discreet in cases most important, when you shall have heard these questions of religion opened faithfully, which many times by our adversaries are huddled up and confounded, will see upon what substantial grounds our Catholic Faith is builded, how feeble that side is which by sway of the time prevaileth against us, and so at last for your own souls, and for many thousand souls that depend upon your government, will discountenance error when it is bewrayed [revealed], and hearken to those who would spend the best blood in their bodies for your salvation. Many innocent hands are lifted up to heaven for you daily by those English students, whose posterity shall never die, which beyond seas, gathering virtue and sufficient knowledge for the purpose, are determined never to give you over, but either to win you heaven, or to die upon your pikes. And touching our Society, be it known to you that we have made a league-all the Jesuits in the world, whose succession and multitude must overreach all the practice of England-cheerfully to carry the cross you shall lay upon us, and never to despair your recovery, while we have a man left to enjoy your Tyburn, or to be racked with your torments, or consumed with your prisons. The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God; it cannot be withstood. So the faith was planted: So it must be restored.

ix. If these my offers be refused, and my endeavours can take no place, and I, having run thousands of miles to do you good, shall be rewarded with rigour. I have no more to say but to recommend your case and mine to Almighty God, the Searcher of Hearts, who send us his grace, and see us at accord before the day of payment, to the end we may at last be friends in heaven, when all injuries shall be forgotten.

Someone arguing that St. Edmund Campion was Shakespeare.

Yonhap News review of Seducing Mr. Perfect

Via KFCCinema
With its star power, 'Seducing Mr. Perfect' is a feel-good comedy

Sexy local singer and actor Uhm plays Min-jun, an outgoing career woman in the U.S. branch office of a company who tries to hold men by showering them with pocket money and motherly care, but keeps being ditched because she is too nice.

After losing once again to someone younger, she becomes determined to learn the games of love from "Mr. Perfect," her boss Robin.

He tells her how to keep men, which is play a "bitch." Among the pieces of advice from Mr. Perfect are that in relationships, you should not be the one who calls first, but the one who hangs up first; you choose, he pays; and don't permit him to follow his sexual impulses, or you are knocked out.

Sounds like the Rules, doesn't it? haha

Review of Solace
So they meet and have a one-night stand and it turns into something more? And how often does this happen in real life?

Korea Times review of Once in a Summer

‘Once’ Travels in Time for Love
The story seems innocent, but I hope it is not as sappy as The Classic. Sounds like the ending is rather disappointing though...

Actress, Director to Wed on Christmas Eve