Jesus played cricket: opened the batting
Two interesting reports caught my eye tonight: one that Jesus played cricket and the other that William Shakespeare was a Catholic.
Neither comes as a shock. There have long been rumors that Bill was a Mick, but author Joseph Pearce has apparently found new evidence.
Jesus would have been a great opening batsman and handy spin bowler. Unlike Bradman, who just fell short, he would have certainly achieved the 100 average. Read more »
Tags: Books, religion, Sport2 comments
17 May 2008
Traditional Anglicans maintain the faith
I know it’s a sin to click my own Google ads, but sometimes I find them interesting and can’t resist.
Not that there is anything forbidden (I think) about the West Australian Apostolic District of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia.
I’m just surprised it exists because I had never heard of them before.
According to their web site: “The Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) is a worldwide association of Continuing Orthodox Anglican Churches, working to promote the Catholic Faith as the Anglican Church has received it and to resist the secularization of that Church.” Read more »
Tags: Catholic, faith, religion0 comments
11 May 2008
Ancient language goes modern
It’s rather ironic I learned about The Vatican’s web site from a blog named The Inquisitr 
I’m not surprised The Vatican has a web site; it’s just I had never thought about it before and had never visited.
As The Inquisitr reveals, a Latin section was only recently added.
I’ve never studied Latin and I was born just after the Second Vatican Council, so I never experienced a Latin Mass.
I can appreciate the value of Latin. From Roman times to the Industrial Revolution it was the universal language. Read more »
Tags: Burma, Catholic, church, internet, language, religion, Technology1 comment
20 March 2008
Good Friday holiday
The Herald Sun reports a Uniting Church cleric who believes Good Friday should be dumped as a public holiday in favor of something to do with reconciliation.
That’s the sort of nonsense you come to expect from the Uniting Church.
I have written before about how Australia’s public holidays need an overhaul, but I never envisaged dropping Easter or Christmas.
Australia’s demographics have changed, but it’s important we respect our Christian origins and observe the major feast days. To do otherwise would be to suggest that our value-system has changed, and I don’t believe that’s the case.
Labor Day is the most obvious holiday to be dumped and made uniform across the country.
Tags: Australia, holiday, religion, society0 comments
14 December 2007
Celebrate Christmas
Christmas exists for a reason. Whether you subscribe to the theory it’s a pagan feast transformed to Christianity, or believe it is the birth of the Messiah, it has a meaning.
Australia has a public holiday for Christmas Day and most Australians are Christian. So why are our public schools averse to celebrating Christmas?
Not only do they avoid celebrating Christmas, apart from wearing Santa hats they virtually pretend it doesn’t exist! Read more »
Tags: Australia, education, holiday, religion3 comments
10 June 2007
Freemasons dinner
As an editor I get invited to all sorts of functions. Saturday night though was the first time I had ever gone to a Freemasons event.
It was a dinner following the installation of a new district grand master. There are four lodges on the Goldfields and I think all of them are under the Scottish constitution.
I didn’t see any of the secret ceremonies, so I think it’s okay for me to describe what happened at the dinner, which was open to wives and guests, as well as the “brethren”.
It was a black-tie affair but some men wore kilts. Basically it was just a lot of toasts. The function began with a loyal toast and a singing of God Save the Queen followed by an unscripted rendition of Flower of Scotland.
The other toasts were to various brethren, always followed by a short song of acclamation and the waving of fingers according to some ritualistic code.
There was a display of Highland dancing and the night ended with Advance Australia Fair and Auld Lang Syne.
There was plenty of whisky flowing but the night didn’t kick on too late. Most of the Masons are older men but there were a few my age and the new grand master is 34.
The Masons have been criticised in the past as a secret society. I sense they are wanting to open up to the community more and show some of their works.
Tags: Kalgoorlie, religion, society2 comments
21 May 2007
Lamb by Christopher Moore
I’m currently reading Lamb by Christopher Moore. It’s the fictional (obviously) story of Biff, Christ’s childhood friend, and it describes the first 30 years of Jesus’ life.
It’s very funny and the story, although possibly blasphemous in a literal sense, isn’t offensive in my view.
The pair travels the world seeking out the Three Wise Men. I’m at the stage where they are in a Buddhist monastery somewhere in the Himalayas.
They head out with the abbot and some other monks on a winter retreat, stopping in a frozen shelter. Jesus and the monks start meditating and generate enough heat in their trance to stay warm. Biff doesn’t have the gift, so he improvises:
At first I arranged the monks in a large pile, trying to keep their elbows and knees out of the eyes and yarbles, out of respect and in the spirit of the infinitely compassionate Buddha and stuff. Although the warmth coming off them was impressive, I found that I could only keep one side of me warm at a time. Soon, by arranging my friends in a circle facing outward, and sitting in the middle, I was able to construct an envelope of comfort that kept the chill at bay. Ideally, I could have used a couple of more monks to stretch over the top of my hut to block the wind, but as the Buddha said, life is suffering and all, so I suffered. After I heated some tea on Number Seven monk’s head and tucked one of the cylinders of rice under Gaspar’s arm (the abbot and wise man) until it was warm, I was able to enjoy a pleasant repast and dropped off to sleep with a full belly.
There are plenty of classic one liners and examples of Jewish humor.
Tags: Books, humor, religion5 comments
20 April 2007
Stumble upon God’s law
I’m having a lot of fun with Stumble Upon, which connects people with web sites according to their areas of interest. Mine for starters were politics, technology, internet, journalism and satire.
I think it was the last of those which led me to this site headlined: Why can’t I own a Canadian? Think New Zealander instead of Canadian for Aussie readers. Read more »
Tags: humor, religion, satire0 comments
10 April 2006
Religion
I admit that we lost contact with organised religion after the twins were born. It required a big effort to get the family to mass and the twins were a handful. Traditional denominations in Australia have lost members partly because they haven't been family friendly. As congregations grow older it's hard for parents to take young children to church in an environment where they have few peers. That's no reason though to forget or ignore one's faith. I came across a web site called the Catholic Show which reminds people that the church is a vibrant, growing, relevant organisation. With Kathleen attending a Catholic secondary school next year it's likely we'll become more involved in the local parish.
Tags: Australia, Catholic, children, church, environment, faith, family, rant, religion, school, Twins0 comments
22 September 2005
The culture of busyness
The Australian Catholic Bishops have released their annual Social Justice Sunday Statement. It has been acclaimed this year as representing the views of men and women across the Catholic spectrum.
The theme is that we have become a commercial, affluent, busy society at the expense of our Christian roots. There’s a headline “never enough time”.
“If a life of affluence means a culture of waste, it can also mean a culture of busyness. The feeling
that life has become frenetic and empty resonates across our cities and towns. We always have to be busy, because if the busyness stops there’ll only be the boredom. The busy world of work and pressures to have a successful career can also leave us with less time for family and friends. Yet the things we are busy about are not necessarily related to our basic need for food, shelter, health and education. They are more about a certain quality of life and level of affluence for ourselves and our children.”
Read more »
0 comments
Recent comments
- Kathryn: I have just started (literally the past couple of days) trying to pick up where my mother had started...
- malissa: but IS THERE ANYTHING else 2 use besides an umberella if your just goin for a walk
- Nev: I am a cyclist and have had my share of attacks this year…. the orange flag (from Woolies at $8) and the...
- johnny cage: Google finance has specific US UK CAN and CHINA sites we need an Australian one urgently.
- Sue: I understand. I have had a few awful smears in my comments from time to time. All of my older posts are...
