Volo a Roma!

Headed to London this morning to catch a plane back to Rome.

License exams take place next Friday (8th) and Saturday (9th).  Please keep all the students in prayer.

God bless, Fr. Philip

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Coffee Cup Browsing

10 Things Catholics Should Know about the New Mass Translation. . .we've been using the new translation for about month here in the U.K.  No exploding heads, no pew riots, no increase in domestic violence, no cats and dogs sleeping together. . . IOW, none of the disasters predicted by the dino-left.

(NB.  One criticism of the new setting for the Gloria. . .it's almost unsingable. Every time we've tried it here, it's pretty much been a disaster.)

The probability of you existing is about as close to zero as you get!

Reason #6,589,362 to dissolve the U.N. and use that ugly building in NYC as storage.

The South will rise again!  "Americans, black and white alike, are moving in record numbers to a part of the country where taxes are low, unions are irrelevant, and people love their guns and their faith."

Christian pastor condemned to die in Iran b/c he refuses to recant his faith.  (NB.  The B.O. White House has denounced the sentence.  Score one for B.O.!)

P.C. multi-cultism ain't the future:  "Vigilant Americans must restore the founders’ vision before multiculturalism forever eclipses our last vestiges of liberty."

Speaking of P.C. multi-cultism:  more evidence that our universities have become "nurseries of nonsense." 

Very interesting. . .though I don't plan on getting arrested anytime soon, if I do I'll remember to keep my big mouth shut.

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Belated D/L's and Grazie's. . .(UPDATED)

Speaking of the Kindle Wish List. . .mille grazie to Glenn S. and "HomeBirth Mom" for their contributions to my Kindle collection. . .

Kindle Wish List motto:  Books To Keep Me Sane While Doing Philosophy.  

:-)

P.S.  Per Lynn's suggestion from the combox:  all but one of the books on the Kindle Wish List are under $3.50.  

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Historic levels of distrust in the gov't among Americans. . .well, given what a gigantic screw-up the gov't is, we'd be foolish to trust it, right?

Dem governor suggests that we suspend Congressional elections. . .

87% of doctors do not think that the AMA represents their views.  What happened?  ObamaCare. 

Fr. Schall on the legal persecution of the Church in the U.S. 

Excellent piece on the difference btw The Documents of Vatican Two and the often sneering, dismissive commentary of Pro Progs who commune with the "spirit" of Vatican Two.  

Science proves driving gender stereotypes to be true; i.e. Women Really Are Bad Drivers.  (ducks/runs).

Time to abolish the DHS?  Hmmm. . .abolish another way for our politicians to dole out our money to keep themselves in office. . .doling out our money???  Nawwwww. 

Cartoon insights into the question:  why do Catholics who hate the RCC stay in the RCC?

P.S.  Since the response to my last Kindle Wish List Update was so good. . .thought I'd try it again.  :-)  <-- cheesy grin. . .

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License Update. . .

License News. . .

The 20 page "themes schema" is done and sent.  The T.S. is a collection of 2 page outlines/biblio of 10 themes assigned according to your section (anthropology, history, Aquinas).  The hard part of me was keeping the outlines/biblio to just 2 pages each.

Also, got the Lost Thesis recopied, rebound, and shipped to Rome.  Only cost me $80!   Still wondering why my lost thesis is my problem given that I didn't lose it. . .

Speaking of Rome. . .my flight back to the Eternal City leaves Saturday.  License exams, etc. take place Sat., Oct 7th.  Keep us in prayer, please. 

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Prayers, please: thesis missing

The Devil is after me again. . .

I've been working feverishly this week to put the final touches on the last piece of the license process:  the Theme Outlines, i.e., 10 themes from the history of philosophy outlined in two pages each with a short bibliography.  Sounds easy!  Just two pages!  Easy-cheesy.  Yea.  Try stuffing the history of the ontological argument for the existence of God--all 12 versions--and all the criticisms of each version into two pages.  Fun, fun. . .

Anyway. . .while I am busy cruising the history of philosophy and outlining stuff, I learn from the dean of my department in Rome that the secretary's office of the university has lost all three copies of my license thesis.  Way back in June of 2010, I asked one of the brothers to hand the thing in for me b/c I needed to catch a plane and the university office was closed when I went to hand it in. 

Now, it's lost.  So. . .send those prayers to St Anthony for me!!!

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Brit Lefties won't understand the Tea Party.  Yup.  I can attest to that fact from personal experience.  

With the predictability of a Swiss clock:  anti-Don't Ask Don't Tell group agitates for expanded "rights" after winning the repeal of DADT.  

Another reason to dissolve the U.N.:  ". . .the fate of the peace process and of American influence in the Middle East fell to Gabon, Nigeria, and Bosnia, the way any smart, sane international assembly would want it."

$16 million for muffins?  "I know you’re angry, but don’t forget that DOJ made some extra cash this year selling AK-47s to Mexican drug cartels. Those muffins are paid for, dude."

Ironically, it's the Diversity Industry in the universities--allegedly devoted to including the disadvantaged--that's pricing the poorest out of a college education.

FBI analyst:  Islam is the problem not individual terrorist groups who happen to be Muslim.  I don't know enough about Islam to know if he's right about this.  His assertion strikes me as overly broad.

Catholic campus ministry wins suit against UW!  Congrats!

Catholic Charities in IL would lose half its funding b/c of the state law allowing same-sex couples to adopt kids.  More evidence that SSM is all about hurting the Church.

Fr. Robert Barron on the supernatural elements in Catholicsm. . .part of his new PBS series on the faith.  PBS?  Yes, PBS.  Hmmmmmm. . .

Foreign aid, the U.N., and a $16,000 a night hotel suite for the Prez of Rwanda.  NB.  which country at the U.N. has the best record for paying NYC parking fines?

When pigs fly. . .

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FR. Lew!

 

Br. Lawrence Lew, OP is now FR. Lawrence Lew!

He was ordained priest on Sept 17, 2011 at Blackfriars, Oxford by Archbishop Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R.

The two friars next to the bishop were ordained deacons that day as well:  

Rev. Br. Haavar Nilsen, OP and Rev. Br. Robert Verrill, OP

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus admits that they'd be protesting the W.H. if B.O. weren't President.   Does make them racists?

Anti-capitalist Day of Rage was a massive fail.  Of course it was.  For all its problems, capitalism is still the best way to raise folks out of poverty and Americans know it.

Speaking of Massive Fails:  "green jobs."

Hollywood hates Mississippi.  I wrote a research paper in seminary showing that the largest number of Klansmen in the 1920's lived in NY and OH. 

Nanny State punishes couple for holding a Bible study in their home.  Yes, folks, you need a permit from Nanny to study the Bible at home.

From Canada:  ". . .the press gave the great American republic an untried, unknown and. . .incompetent figure as President."  And their professional standing has suffered thus.

Radical lefty group tries to charge the Holy Father with "crimes against humanity" in the International Criminal Court.  Yet another reason to dismantle these Globalist institutions.

How Classical Liberalism devolved into Coercive Liberalism.

No comment.  (Hey, you gonna eat those peanuts?)

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Coffee Cup Browsing

UnGoodThink in the U.K.  30,000 kids a year labeled "racist" and "homophobic."  I say tattoo the little snots so we'll all feel safer. . .oh, and let's make sure that their kids get tattooed as well. . .ya never know, UnGoodThink could be genetic.

Yawn.  German pols pitch a hissy-fit about Pope's visit.   

Latest Stab to the Heart of Anglicanism:  canon of Church of Ireland cathedral enters civil union with his boyfriend.

Cabbies in NYC have the right to refuse racy ads. . .Good.  Would they have won this right had they been Christian? 

The B.O. White House is ". . .a genuinely hostile workplace to women.”

The federal gov't has a higher standard for what counts as a Catholic university than the bishops do!

Muslims banned from praying in French streets.  Let the rioting begin!

Must remember this. . .might need it one day.

Local police conduct a physics experiment.  Result?  Two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. . .even with the sirens going.

Hey!  Don't toss that fan. . .I can use it.

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Kindle Wish List (Update)

I've updated the Kindle Wish List!  (hint...hint)

After wading through some Plato, Aquinas, and Heidegger. . .I long for a bit of dungeons and dragons.  (NB.  No, Jesus didn't make me to be a philosopher!)

NB.  Mille grazie to Glenn S. and Matthew R. for the Kindle Books. . .you guys made my Saturday morning!

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Facts Under Construction. . .the latest paranoid theater piece from the B.O. campaign.  LOL!

Dem Congressman:  "You don't deserve to keep all of [your money]. . ."  Now there's a campaign slogan if I've ever heard one.  Definition of "gaffe"?  When a politician tells the truth.

A Confederate flying machine?  Too late to save the South during the War of Northern Aggression.

Hate crimes against Christians on the rise in Europe. 

The Holy See says the SSPX must accept the teachings of Vatican 2 if they want to rejoin the Church.  I wish the Vatican would say this to our more "progressive" brothers and sisters!

Abortion stats for NYC:  60% of black babies aborted.

Does the science of evolution debunk the faith?  Short answer:  No.  Nor can it.

My new favorite site:  Lifehacker.  Along the same lines:  Instructables.

Two B.O. appointed federal appeals court judges get the dates wrong.  They threw out a VA lawsuit based on an easily verifiable fact.

I'd do something like this.   No.  Seriously.

7 Reasons Why the Zombie Apocalypse will fail.  Yea, whatever.  I still want my Zombie Machete.


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Military rule for America?

A recent survey of America's institutions is very bad news for Congress and very good news for the military.

Only 8% of those polled trust Congress.  Fifty-four percent trust the military.  At first I thought that this was an excellent result.  Congress doesn't really deserve our trust and the military does.  

However, a second and third thought gave me pause.  Is this healthy?  I mean, is it healthy for a nation's citizens to trust its military more than its democratically elected representatives?  

Don't get me wrong here:  I agree with these results!  America's military is a top-notch, professional organization stocked with well-trained, dedicated men and women who risk their lives daily for the maintenance of our nation's security.  Can we say the same for Congress?  Hardly.

So, what's the problem?  The military is not (and should not be) a democratic institution.  What does it say about the nation's direction that we trust an authoritarian organization more than a democratic one?

For a minute or two there I had visions of Americans welcoming military rule.  Is such a thing possible?  Of course it is.  Probable?  No.  But the level of anger and frustration with Congress, the President, and the Courts increases the chances of seeing some sort of authoritarian rule in the future.  

Natural disasters, economic collapse, terrorism, etc. push us toward longing for the kinds of decisive, non-political solutions to our nearly overwhelming problems that the military could provide.  I am confident that our military men and women would resist taking on the power and responsibilities that martial law would require. . .

Sadly, religious institutions rank  slightly below our public schools as trustworthy.  Frankly, this is the spot we deserve. 

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Strange miracles?

St. John Chrysostom

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Blackfriars, Oxford U.

A strange miracle. Is the phrase “strange miracle” redundant or oxymoronic? Are you repeating yourself when you label an event not only “miraculous” but “strangely miraculous”? Or are you contradicting yourself? Writing against the heresies of Marcion in the second century, Tertullian uses Jesus' miraculous resuscitation of the widow's son to a make a point about Christ's relationship with his Father. In the process of making his devastating point, Tertullian quickly summarizes the scene from Luke and notes, almost off-handedly, “This was not a strange miracle” (Against Marcion, IV.18). Not a strange miracle? Correct me if I've misunderstood something here but Luke is reporting that Jesus has just brought a dead man back to life? Out of compassion for a widow whose only son has died, Jesus tells the woman not to weep, and then touches the dead man's coffin, and says, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” And he does. Now, Tertullian is telling us that it is not strange that a dead man rose from his coffin and started talking? Nothing odd about that at all. Nothing unusual in the least. Well, I am most confident in declaring that Tertullian and I have very different definitions of the word “strange.” To be fair to Tertullian, he's making a fairly broad point by using this Lucan miracle. His broader point is that the revival of the widow's dead son is not at all strange when viewed in the longer history of prophetic miracles. He asks, if God's prophets can perform miracles of such magnitude, why not His Son? Especially when the miracle bears the burden of revelation: “. . .they glorified God, exclaiming. . .'God has visited his people.'” 

Just a day or two before reviving the widow's son, Jesus had healed the centurion's servant. In both cases, Jesus showed compassion and exercised great power. In both cases, his interventions gave witness to his ministry and glory to God. And in both cases, news of his words and deeds spread like wildfire over Judea. There is one interesting difference btw the two events. In the case of the sick servant, Jesus acts on a request for healing. No such request is made in the case of the widow's son. What's interesting is that the power and glory of God are revealed in both cases, whether those most directly involved in the miracle ask for God's help or not. Where Christ goes—preaching, teaching, healing—so goes the most exacting revelation of God possible. The truth of that revelation—God's Self-revelation—is not contingent upon the need, the desire, the faith, or the credulity of those to whom He reveals Himself. To those with eyes to see and ears to hear, He is uncovered, unveiled, and all there is to do is give thanks and praise! For others, strangeness abounds when a miracle occurs and there is nothing to do but seek an empirical explanation.

Let's ask a somewhat difficult question: do we need a strange miracle to occur before we can say with the utmost confidence: “God has visited His people!”? Do we need a man several days dead revived? Do we need a sick servant healed from a distance? If so, if we, if you need a strange miracle to believe, ask yourself why. Why do I need such thing? And consider: God visits His people daily in the Eucharist. In the breaking of the bread, a great prophet rises among the people. God's mercy; His healing touch; His cleansing spirit; all the gifts necessary to come to Him in the perfection of His Christ. . .all freely available right here in His Church. Think of them as miracles. . .strange little miracles, if you want. Regardless, strange or not, miracles or not, in the Eucharist, all of the sacraments, Christ touches you and says to you, “Arise!” Arise from death. Arise from sin. Arise from disease, doubt, distress, worry. Arise, speak, bear witness, and be yourself a revelation of God the Most High!

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Exaams

Received word about the comprehensive philosophy license (Ph.L.) exams. . .

The three hour written exam will take place on Oct. 7th.  The oral exams on the themes paper and the license thesis will take place either on the 6th or the 8th.  

Please pray for me and all those taking the exams!

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