Catholic and Loving it!

The Hull Faith Forum talks are pitched for young people of secondary school age.

They are held on Monday Evenings at 7.30pm at the Endsleigh Centre, Beverley Road, Hull

Monday 9th June
How to get the most out of the readings at Mass
Fr Stephen Maughan - Curate at St Charles, Hull

Monday 16th June
Do Miracles Happen?
Fr Mark Vickers - Diocese of Westminster

Monday 23rd June
The Pope speaks to the young: The Message from the World Youth Days
Fr John Paul Leonard - Head of the Middlesbrough Diocesan Youth Service

Monday 30th June
Why the Church is Right about Contraception
Fr Tim Finigan - Diocese of Southwark

Monday 7th July
How to be Good in a Fallen World
Sister Roseann Reddy - Sister of the Gospel of Life, Glasgow

It's been a while since I gratuitously padded out the blog with some YouTube footage, and I think I owe Mark something good after that unfortunate incident with the Waterwheel.

"The Vatican is the hill in Rome where Saint Peter is supposed to have been martyred in 65AD"

Says the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales... right here.

Hey, St. Peter! What are you doing here? You're supposed to have been martyred....

At least they never said CE.

So, where were we? It's been a while... oh yeah, I remember:

Part One

Some things are better than others.

Part Two

The more you know about things, the better you can make things.
There are some things you have to find out for yourself.
The Scientific Method is a good way of finding things out.

Part Three

Science requires certain assumptions to be true.
- Things don't just happen for no reason.
- Things have no choice.
- Things are not right or wrong, they just are.

I think it's worth pressing home the point about how obvious these scientific assumptions are. Nobody seriously considers the "it happened for no reason" option. Ever. If you were on your way home and you got smacked in the head by a flying piano you wouldn't wake up in hospital saying "A trebuchet? That's ridiculous. It's far more likely the piano simply appeared in the sky for no reason".

We sometimes talk as if inanimate objects had minds. "I think my computer hates me", "I hope my car decides to work this morning" but we don't mean it. Not really. We don't watch Knight Rider and think "Yawn, happens all the time". Thomas the Tank Engine? Ivor the Engine? Just pop down to Kings Cross and have a chat with any train you like... No.

If my vacuum cleaner breaks down just before the queen comes to visit (happens all the time) I don't blame my vacuum cleaner. I don't send my vacuum cleaner to it's room to think about what it's done. If the queen's vacuum cleaner breaks down just before I come to visit the queen doesn't have her vacuum cleaner sent to the Tower of London to have it's head chopped off. A vacuum cleaner isn't broken because it is immoral, it is broken because the physical arrangement of it's parts doesn't result in dirt being lifted off the floor when it is turned on. It is just how it is.

Things don't happen for no reason. Things don't choose to do things. Things are just how they are.

I have three problems for you...

The "Why? why? why? why? why?" Problem...

The "Why? why? why? why? why?" problem (also known as the "But why?" problem) is simple enough to understand but very difficult one to solve. It is a problem you can easily try at home, all you need is an irritating child. The child asks questions and you try to answer them...

Why do birds sing? Why do I have to go to bed? Why do I have to get up? Which came first the chicken or the egg? Where do babies come from? Why can't penguins fly? Why can puffins fly? Can I have a puppy? Why are trees green? Why is the sky blue?

Sooner or later you hit a question where the answer is either "I don't know" or "It just is".

Let us pay a visit to Issac Newton under his apple tree. I haven't the foggiest idea if Newton ever had any kids, but I am going to stick my neck out and assume there were kids in those days and that he might even have met one. Newton has observed that thing's don't speed up or slow down unless a force pushes or pulls them. You'd be amazed how long it took somebody to work that out. Yet here is an apple plummeting towards the earth and nothing is pushing it at all.

Annoying little kid: "Why does the apple fall?"
Hmm, says Newton: "The apple falls because there is a force pulling it towards the ground."
Annoying little kid: "But why is there a force pulling it towards the ground?"
Hmm, says Newton: "The apple has mass and the earth has mass (not that kind of mass) and I have noticed that there is an invisible force pulling anything that has a mass is towards anything else that has a mass. This is why the moon goes around the earth instead of flying away in to space."
Annoying little kid: "But why does anything that has a mass attract anything else that has a mass?"

This is the part where I need to slow everything down, bullet time, like on the Matrix. You need to watch carefully here because Science is about to do some slight of hand and most people are going to fall for it...

Hmm, says Newton: "Because of Gravity."
Annoying little kid: "What is Gravity?"
Hmm, says Newton: "Gravity is the invisible force that pulls anything that has a mass towards anything else that has a mass."

Did you spot it? Newton has reached a dead end and turned it around in to a circle. He explained the invisible force by calling it "Gravity", he explained "Gravity" by describing the invisible force. In short: Newton hasn't explained anything. He discovered a force that happens for no reason, he came up with equations to describe this force and he gave it a name.

The name is the trick. The important thing is to give it a Capital Letter and say it with Confidence.

Now, when someone asks "Why is there an attractive force between any two objects that have mass?" Science no longer has to embarrass itself saying things like "Hmm I don't know, there just is.." Science can confidently proclaim: "Ah ha! You are talking about Gravity. Issac Newton discovered it. We know all about Gravity."

This trick is repeated throughout Science. Why do two pieces of iron attract (or repel) one another? Magnetism. As if that is anything but a name for "The force that makes two pieces of iron attract (or repel) one another". The word "Magnetism" is no explanation at all and neither is an equation for how the strength of the force varies with distance. Why do cups and plates stay on the table when the trickster pulls the tablecloth out from under them? Inertia. As if that is anything but a name for "The way things resist the motion of tablecloths".

The ultimate version of this trick is one of the most well known. Why is there anything at all? Science is clever enough to realise that nothing happens for no reason, which means that everything happens for a reason. So what is the reason for everything?

Science looks to the past and observes that somewhere in the region of 13 billion years ago there was nothing and then there was something. Run that past me again. You serious Science types seriously want me to believe that nothing turned in to something. How can that happen?

Easy, they say (confidently and with Capital Letters): The Big Bang.

The phrase "The Big Bang" is a description of what happened. It is not an explanation. It does not explain anything. I am saying to Science "How does nothing turn in to something?" and Science is saying "The Big Bang". Well, Professor dork-house. What caused The Big Bang.

If nothing turned in to something there was nothing to cause it. If something caused it, what caused the something? Things don't happen for no reason, everything has a cause. But what caused the first thing? What came first? What whas the first cause?

Science requires certain assumptions to be true...

These assumptions are not always true.
- Somehow, somewhere, something happened for no reason.

If the "Why why why why why?" problem was one of the first problems I encountered, the "Concious Free Mind" problem was definitely the second.

The "Concious Free Mind" Problem...

Science requires that protons, neutrons and electrons do not have any choice in what they are doing. They simply do it.

This is pretty obvious, if the magnetic field says jump, they don't say how high because exactly how high and how far and what direction the move in is defined by the field. They simply follow the rules. If they didn't your computer would stop working. Aeroplanes, helicopters, pens, coffee machines, calculators, pulmonary arteries, dogs and ducks (not to mention Trebuchets) would all stop working. There would be chaos. If fundamental physical particles didn't follow the rules we would all be dead.

Now when we put protons and neutrons and electrons together to form atoms. Do they still follow the rules? Yes. That's useful, because it means we get helium which makes your voice go high pitched. When atoms come together to form molecules we get all manner of fantastical things. You don't need to be a chemist to be grateful when the molecules in your beer do, well, what they do. Simply combining fundamental physical particles to form complex systems doesn't create any kind of free choice.

So let's put the molecules together, let's form pieces of metal, lego bricks and blocks of wood. Any rebellion yet? Any fundamental particles getting fed up with their lot in life and going off on one? No? I didn't think so. Let's complicate matters... lets pump electrons down copper wires. Let's build a computer. Let's use a load of electrons in a wire to mean 1 and very few electrons to mean 0. Is anything thinking for itself yet. Testing, Testing, 0001, 0010, Testing. No. The electrons are whizzing wherever they whizz.

So what's my problem...?

My problem is simply this, that there is at least one complex system of fundamental particles in the world that breaks this rule. This complex system has a name: James Preece. I have the amazing ability to break the laws of physics by making free choices. My component electrons cannot choose, but I can. How does that work exactly?

I'm not entirely sure... I spent a lot of time thinking about this when I was a teenager. I know that many of my choices are not particularly free. When Leona moves as if to poke me in the eye, I do not choose to flinch, its an automatic reaction. When I am hungry, I find myself wandering in to the kitchen and looking for food. Ella doesn't make enough cakes...

So it looks like I am just a machine following the laws of physics... When I am tired I sleep. When I am hungry I eat. Only I can do something a machine shouldn't be able to do. I can choose not to eat.

- Some things have a choice.

People have written entire books about free will, the mind and counciousness. There is lots more to say and many potential arguments, but my opinion is simply this: The material world cannot account for the existence of a concious, free mind.

The "Right and Wrong" problem...

Like the Concious Free Mind problem, people have written entire books on the Right and Wrong problem and this has got long enough already. So I'll keep it short...

In science, if you get a load of particles in a jar and leave them to follow the laws of physics and do whatever they do, they can't do anything wrong. They can blow up or stick together or shine a bright light in your face or form a solar system or whatever, but they are just doing what they do.

If you leave the physical particles in a person's head to do what they do, they can decide to murder somebody. That's wrong.

- Some things are right and wrong.

But how can the particles in my head be right but the particles in a jar can do no wrong?

So, to sum up...

Things that should be keeping Richard Dorkhouse awake at night...

Science requires certain assumptions to be true.
- Things don't just happen for no reason.
- Things have no choice.
- Things are not right or wrong, they just are.
These assumptions are not always true.
- Somehow, somewhere, something happened for no reason.
- Some things have a choice.
- Some things are right and wrong.

Houston, we have a riddle...

If there's one thing Hull needs almost as much as Evangelisation, it's a Juggling Club.

(Mobile Phones on Belts are not cool. Jimbob, fanclub or no fanclub: I'm talking to you.)

This cannot be true.

On Tuesday 13th May (the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima) the year 8s of St Mary’s College, Hull had a day of reflection at The Endsleigh Centre. The day involved the Franciscan Friars of Renewal from Bradford and a mission team from Dublin called ‘Youth Challenge’.

The day consisted of four workshops which covered the topics of 'God's Love', 'The Eucharist', 'Our Lady' and personal testimony. The focal point of the day was to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the afternoon. It was apparent that Our Lady was to point us all to the direction of her son. After Pat from the mission team gave a talk on the importance of Confession in front of the Blessed Sacrament, something very beautiful happened. The vast majority of 250 children went to Confession or to speak to a priest. All students reported that they had experienced something which was amazing and inexplicable. The sacrament could not have been administered to all these children if there had not been support from the clergy of Hull and surrounding areas. Fifteen priests very generously gave up their time to come and to hear Confession from 2.00 pm - 3.00 pm. A big thank you to all of the priests who came to support and help out on the day and to the friars and the mission team. Many thanks to Sr Catherine and her staff at the Centre. They made the day run smoothly and did so with a smile. Finally, thanks to the young people involved. Their behaviour was exemplary and prayerful. We pray that there were seeds sown for the future and that they will be nurtured and watered.

Sarah Holmes

Diocesan Youth Officer

No. No. No. It's not possible. You can't do youth events like that. Catechesis? Confession? It can't be done! Sarah must have remembered it wrong... What must have happened is the kids played football and then had mass in a sports hall.

Alas no, there is no musical. I lied to make the title sound more exciting. But it is true that Fr Massie said my last 'Why Bother?' was too long and boring. So... here's the short version.

Things don't just happen for no reason.

You know, stuff doesn't just magically appear in the sky Monty Python stylee. Trains are caused by a whole team of engineers and designers who are in turn caused by the sort of behaviour you can't describe on a family blog by their parents who were in turn caused by their parents etc etc until you have fish on a planet caused by a primeval ooze or something. The planet came from rocks that were just floating around... or, perhaps they came from dust... which came from... um... here's an idea. Everything just popped in the existence out of nowhere with a big bang.

Somehow, somewhere, something happened for no reason.

Things have no choice.

Electrons follow the laws of physics. Magnetic field says go left, they go left. Magnetic field says go right, they go right. Stick them in a copper wire and push them around. They move around. Create a complex system of copper wires and push them around. They move around. They don't "think". They have no choice. They do what they do. Except in the case of James Preece. James can choose. He has free will. I know because I am him and I say so.

Some things have a choice.

Things are not right or wrong, they just are.

There is no physical property called 'morality'. You can't measure it. It isn't there. Only it is.

Some things are right and wrong.

Happy now?

Buying is dead money...

According to the Halifax, house prices fell 2.4% in May.

All the houses around us, the ones with luxuries (we are spoiled brats after all) like windows and floors, cost about £125k for your basic 3 bed terrace. This is Hull after all. Down south they are going for more.

By not buying a £125k house last month, we saved ourselves nearly £3000. Oh sure... we had to pay rent. But we don't pay £3000 in rent! Even if we paid £1000 a month in rent... and we don't... we saved £2000 last month.

Next month, we will save more...

This is not grim news. This is great news.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand it's useful for Catholics to be able to meet other Catholics online. On the other hand, you can do that already with, um, the Internet.

I can't help but think Catholics should just go be Catholic via existing social networking structures like Facebook.

I'm just not cool with the whole Catholic Youth Ghetto thing.

Trautman said the draft includes words such as "ineffable" that would not be in the ordinary vocabulary of people.

"This should be the prayer of the people," Trautman said. "I'm not for having street language. ... We should certainly have elevated tone, but words like that are just beyond the common comprehension."

Catholics coming out of a lunchtime Mass at Erie's St. Peter Cathedral weren't familiar with "ineffable."

[Link]

What does it all mean?

The Vatican has banned the makers of a prequel to The Da Vinci Code from filming in its grounds or any church in Rome, describing the work as “an offence against God”.

Angels and Demons, the latest Dan Brown thriller to be turned into a film, includes key episodes that take place in the Vatican and Rome’s churches. Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, the head of the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs, said that Brown had “turned the gospels upside down to poison the faith”.

“It would be unacceptable to transform churches into film sets so that his blasphemous novels can be made into films in the name of business,” he said, adding that Brown’s work “wounds common religious feelings”.

...

Published before The Da Vinci Code, which suggested that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and had children, Angels and Demons revolves around a plot by a sinister elite known as the Illuminati to install their candidate as Pope and blow up the Vatican. Crucial scenes are set in the Vatican and two Rome churches — Santa Maria del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria. In both churches, cardinals are murdered and mutilated with mysterious marks and symbols. Father Antonio Truda, parish priest at Santa Maria del Popolo, said that there was no question of allowing scenes to be shot there. “It’s bad enough having to put up with tour guides explaining the scene to tourists,” he said.

[link]

They can come and film it in St. Joseph's if they like...

Lots of good things being said about the Eucharist on Zenit today...

Prelate: Faithful Not Mere Bystanders at Mass

When Catholics attend Mass they are not mere bystanders, but rather participants in the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection, says the archbishop of Washington, D.C.

He continued: "Unlike any other form of remembrance or commemoration, the Mass, the Eucharistic liturgy, thanks to God’s gracious gift, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, has the power to make present the very reality it symbolizes.

"In the Eucharist, Jesus has instituted the sacrament in which his Passion, death and resurrection would be made present again in our lives in a way that enables us to share in the benefits of the cross.

"We speak of our dying to sin and rising to new life because we participate in the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection."

"The Church uses the word 're-present' to speak of what is happening in the Mass," the archbishop explained. "The term 'holy sacrifice' of the Mass is also exact because sacramentally, but really and truly, the death and resurrection of Christ are once again made present."

[link]

...and then...

Cardinal: If They Understand the Mass, They'll Come

"The Eucharist is a gift of God," said Cardinal Tomko. "Not as an object, as the other gifts of God, but a very special one, because the gift of God himself.

"The Eucharist is Christ himself, a Person with his divine and human nature, given to us. It is the body and blood of the Risen Christ present with us under the sacramental signs of the bread and wine."

"On the eve of his passion, in the Cenacle he took the bread and solemnly declared: 'This is my body given up for you.' And he said over the wine: 'Drink from it, all of you, this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.'

"He has accomplished only a few hours in advance of and in a bloodless, sacramental manner, the sacrifice offered in bloody way on the Cross at Calvary. Jesus therefore instituted the Eucharist as his redemptive sacrifice. The Eucharist is a sacramental form of the sacrifice of Jesus on cross, Cenacle and Calvary are just one sacrifice 'for the life of the world.'"

"This sacrifice happened only once," added the papal legate, "but Jesus wanted to apply and to perpetuate it through the centuries. Therefore he gave a commandment to his apostles: 'Do this in memory of me.'

"It is a memorial and a command: not only to remember him with speeches and words, but to do what he has done."

"From that time," said Cardinal Tomko, "the priests of his Church accomplish this sublime command doing the same action and pronouncing the same words. Through 2,000 years the same words of Jesus consecrating the bread and wine resounds."

"In each celebration of the Mass," he said, "Jesus Christ himself is present with us in the situation of sacrifice as the lamb of God who takes away the sins of our world, of our community, our sins."

"It is not a show, not a pure commemoration or remembrance," he stressed, "it is sacramental representation of this salvific event, a persevering memorial bringing its fruits to the faithful."

[link]

From todays 'Levy Letter'...

St Charles Borromeo

I’m not sure if you know about this little gem or if you can remember a piece Look North did last year about an incredible church in Hull. It’s called St Charles Borromeo and it’s right in the centre of Hull near the New Theatre. Well, it’s apparently the oldest post-reformation Roman Catholic church in the city. It’s incredible inside with beautiful paintings and ornate statues. So if you ever get a chance to take a look, then I really recommend it and there are some photos on the internet of it as well, so use a search engine to find out more. Well, it’s badly in need of restoration and I’ve heard about a charity event to raise some money for its restoration. The Cottingham Singers have decided to help with fundraising and they’re joining forces with the Arterian Singers to perform Vivaldi’s Gloria in St Charles Church this Saturday. So good luck to both groups performing this weekend.

Enjoy...

I didn't expect it to be a priest who expressed disappointment at yesterdays "boring" blog entry about the Eucharist. He tells me he logged on to read the exciting tale of my weekend in Exeter and found "boring" blog entries about "religion". I don't usually do requests... but I'll make an exception because, well because I was going to blog about it anyway. Besides which I probably would do requests, just nobody ever makes them.

As you know, that blighter Mark is fleeing the warm climes of Blighty to the rain drenched Italy with a "girl" - a girl who does not understand the intricacies of a game of 'grill hand'. Thank God he has such blummin' good mates who will do all that's necessary to give him a darn good send off.

'All that's necessary' entails a medieval banquet, replete with wench and mead!

I know its short notice - sorry! It would be awesome if you could join in the mayhem and give Mark oodles more happy memories to cherish before he goes to a land that did not grow up on Bottom and Red Dwarf.

Please come dressed in medieval garb, with a humorous anecdote about Mark to be spake in the stylings of Shakespeare!

We can put some of you up for the Friday night beforehand, if that helps, and for the Saturday night.

So it began...

Our car is SORNed at the moment (probably indefinitely) and so I looked online at train tickets. A "saver" return to Exeter is £120. Yikes! "But James" you ask (as several people did) surely you can get a railcard. They said it in that patronising parent voice as well, the one that says "trains are only expensive for you because you are an idiot". Look. Railcards give a 1/3 off, which is £40. But they cost £28. So you save £12 with a railcard. "Oh but you still have the railcard!". Great, for all those other times I go on long journeys without Ella and the Babe. Anyway, turns out that if you are 25 or over you can hire a car for the weekend for £35. There's no way (I figured, because I am an idiot) that I can spend £80 on petrol. Our huge car only used about £70 when we went to Exeter last time and this car will be smaller. It fuel prices have gone up. I spent £80 on petrol meaning I spent £115 getting to Exeter. £7 more than with a railcard. However (aha!) I gave a lift to a stranger I met on Facebook and they contributed to petrol and made it very much cheaper than the train.

Listen here train people... You are supposed to be the cheap option, for people like me who can't afford to run a car. £120 is not cheap. If four of us wanted to go, you would charge £480! I can hire a car and drive the four of us for £115, that's £28.75. Surely your train experiences similar economies of scale. Your train should be £30 to Exeter. Otherwise it's carbon-footprint ahoy!

So, yes, hire a car. I got a nice 'tango' one. A Ford Ka. Alas, these days we are three on a single income and poorness is our friend. We are trying to avoid spending money when not necessary and trips to Exeter are not technically, well, necessary. So I convinced myself it was an important occasion which it is really because it will cost a hell of a lot more to go and get pissed with Mark once he lives in Italy.

I drove to Sheffield then, to pick up Nic. Sheffield has been cleaned up very nicely these days and has an exciting water feature. Turns out Nic is only a stranger to me, he did archery with my wife for years at university and then went down south to live with Mark. We had a pleasant journey south. Exeter is about five hours from Hull (four from Sheffield) though both those times are the optimistic low versions you tell yourself before you set off. A stop at Hopwood Park and then you hit the south proper where the trees are a different shade of green and the road starts passing more interesting hills. We needed to be in Exeter for 2pm to get a train with the guys to Newton Abbot. We were late, so we carried on through to Newton Abbot by car and met them there. The car is faster than the train (Listen here train people...) so we beat them to it and had time for a bite to eat. A "Cornish" pasty handmade in Devon.

We met the guys at Tucker's Maltings which is a fascinating place for anybody who drinks beer. We had a guided tour and learned all about how to turn barley in to malt. In summary they allow the barley to germinate (start growing) and then when it has grown just enough to turn the starch in the barley to sugar they kill it. This involves many pieces of exciting Victorian Machinery. They even have a DC motor which is over 100 years old and still works.

After the visit to Tuckers Maltings we headed back to Exeter for some thumb twiddling until it was time to head over to Kate's for the Stag Proper. Kate had turned her house in to a Medieval banquet replete with wench and hay all over the floor. By now Nic and I had discovered the terrible truth, that we were the only ones to have "come dressed in medieval garb". Ed produced a Monk outfit for Mark but the others were rather, well, anachronistic. We drank huge quantities of Mead and consumed huge quantities of Meat. Meat and Mead. Mmmmm

We played some drinking games with Buckfast Tonic Wine. You may have heard stories of how vampires retain their youthful looks by bathing in the blood of virgins. The youthfulness of the virgins is somehow stored in the blood and the vampires absorb it and maintain their youthful looks. Well, the Monks at Buckfast Abbey use a similar process to become holy. Using a top secret technique they extract all traces of evil from their souls and place it in to wine (which is red, like blood). The Monks are left Holy and the wine is sold, primarily in Scotland where "Many politicians and social activists single out Buckfast Tonic Wine as being particularly responsible for crime, disorder, and general social deprivation in these communities" and it is described as "an irresponsible drink in its own right". The drink has become "a badge of pride amongst those who are involved in antisocial behaviour". Those dastardly monks! It tastes of pure evil as well, which is why we used it in our drinking games. When I knocked over the Jenga (Ed pushed me) I had to down 'three fingers' of Bucky. It was grotesque.

We had sword fights, we juggled turnips, we had a great time and then fell asleep in front of Monty Python's Holy Grail.

A good time was had by all.

The next morning I decided to go to Mass at the Catholic Chaplaincy. It was a bit of a poignant moment really because of course it's the same as it ever was and yet it isn't. The Chaplaincy is a place very much alive and full of life and yet it seemed to me somehow empty without old friends. It was really good to go back and at the same time I half wished I hadn't, though in hindsight I'm glad I did. As I drove back I noticed the house I used to live in on Cowley Bridge Road is no longer white but has been painted a kind of ugly salmon pink. Ugh.

The journey home was exciting because Exeter decided to have a fuel crisis. I had 300 miles to travel and an empty tank. Exeter had queues and empty pumps. Fortunately we managed to find a petrol station with some extortionately priced fuel and got home. It was fathers day, so I met my Dad at my sisters in Brough and then on to Ella's Dad's to see the Babe, who even seemed pleased to see me.

I even got a balloon hat.

Less than a year ago Fr Massie played a CD of a talk in place of his homily [Update: Apparently he played it during his homily...]. He is ordinarily a very sensible chap and I was shocked. I blogged about it saying "why have homilies by local priests when you could pop a TV on the lectern and have the Pope himself, live!"

Today, parody became reality. Again.

While Pope Benedict XVI may not attend the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in person, his virtual presence will be there for all to see.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec, announced April 24 that the Holy Father will give the homily at the closing ceremony for the June 15-22 congress. It will come live from Rome via satellite and be shown on large screens.

[...]

...the Pope will be seen and heard on screen by all those attending the Statio Orbis on June 22. This expression refers to the communion of the universal church in one location...

[link]

Oh Canada!

Update:

Seems this has happened before...

The remote homily is not unusual for Congresses as Pope John Paul II delivered the final mass homily at the 48th Congress in similar fashion. The first satellite address came from Pope Paul VI at the 41st Congress in Philadelphia in 1976. Pope Pious XI gave the first remote homily by radio in 1932 at the 31st Congress in Dublin.

[link]

When they say homily, do they mean, like, an actual homily?

When copying 80GB, don't try doing it over wi-fi.

By the way, 80GB is approximately 240 Encyclopaedia Britannicas. Which is about 30 English Wikipedias (without images) and a mere 100 CDs.

How handy...

Hey look! A Catholic Dad!

I began praying very specially to St Joseph, a very simple prayer: "Obtain for me from God, whatever Grace is necessary to be a loving, just and effective father." I certainly knew that St Joseph would know exactly what to pray for! I believe that this intercession has helped me greatly. Perhaps the fact that St Joseph is Patron of the Universal Church is also a great comfort, since I spend much of my time worrying about the state of the Church.

Funny that. I spend much of my time worrying about the state of the Church. Must be a Catholic Dad thing...

I've been reading Matt's blog for a while now. In the entire country, Matt is the only other Catholic Dad I know under the age of fifty and though we've had no contact (though I suspect we have several mutual friends) it's been a great source of comfort. As has the whole Catholic Dads blog.

I'm a "contributor" on there! Maybe someday I'll get around to writing something...

Well, finally my dream has come true... today I got to shoot my lovely new longbow.

Naturally I picked a windy day to disguise the fact that I might be rubbish at it but to my surprise It was not that bad! It took a while to get used to not pinching the nock with my finger tab, which in turn causes the arrow to fall off my hand, but I am mostly able keep it on now. Naturally I have lots of things I need to tweak but it is beautiful to shoot. The chaps at Bickerstaffe bows were not lying when they said that after a couple of dozen it shoots sweeter, it really does.

I cant wait to shoot it again, if only I had a target in my garden!!

So, once again I find myself. Mass at Holy Cross Cottingham. Oh no! Not a blog entry about Cottingham! James! Don't do it!

It was First Communion at Holy Cross and it took two hours. Two Hours! Doesn't Fr Pat know that mass is supposed to be One Hour!?!?!!? If it's a normal mass you pad it out with hymns and a long homily to make it take an hour. If there's a lot to do you rush it to make it fit in the hour. It's the Rules. The mass lasts 1/24th of the day and if mass were supposed to take longer than an hour then God would have put the earth further from the Sun.

In case you missed that one, I was being sarcastic or ironic or something. I don't think mass should take exactly an hour. It should take as long as it takes. Fr Pat is right to take the extra time to make sure these children's First Communion is a big deal.

But James... I don't get it. I thought you didn't like Fr Pat?

Er... Did I say that? What I said is that I disagree with some of the things he does. If you can't tell the difference between disagreeing with some of what a person does and disliking a person then I don't like you.

So, where is this all going?

I set out to explain why I bother with religion and so far everyone is thinking the answer is "because only religious people are willing to put up with your endless babbling with nary a conclusion in sight."

I have observed that there are a number of points that Science is fundamentally by definition unable to deal with. I am left trying to resolve "everything has a cause" with "something came first" and can only conclude that "something somewhere happened for no reason". The problem now is that I have strayed beyond the white lines science has carefully painted around the playing field. These are not scientific questions. These are religious questions. At this point I suppose I could simply say that I bother with religion becase I find myself troubled by these religious questions. The End. As Lemony Snicket would say, you can stop reading now. But that's hardly a decent explanation for paying attention to an old man in a dress and bright red shoes. I'd better go further...

A Choice to make about Choice...

I tried to imagine in my head how free will might work in a purely physical world. At first sight, most of my choices seem to be based on the physical reality around me. For instance, if I am hungry I choose to eat. If I am thirsty I choose to drink. This is not free will though, free will doesn't mean automatically reacting to my physical situation. Free will means I can choose not to eat when I am hungry. But why would I? For other physical circumstances? Just randomly? Is free will just the rolling of a dice.

If my free choice is truly free and truly mine it can originate from nowhere but me and I can have no reason for choosing it but my own free will. It seems to me, that every time we make a free choice we break the chain of causality. We refuse to be enslaved to the physical order of doing something simply because of physical causes but make choices simply (to quote Billy) "because we want to"...

It seems to me that every truly free choice must be an act of creation on the part of the chooser. Physically speaking, it is a physical event without a physical cause. Think about it. If it has a physical cause, it is not free. Just bouncing like a ball.

So I have to choose.

If I have the ability to make free choices - free will, then there must be some part of me that exists in a non-physical sense. This is the only rational explanation I can think of to explain my ability to make truly free choices independently of physical causation. If this sounds like religious crazy talk, that's because it is. Religious crazy people call this non-physical part of me my "spirit" or my "soul".

But the alternative is worse. If I reject the existence of a "soul" then I must reject my ability to make free choices. If my every choice is determined by the laws of physics then I have no more choice than a bouncing ball. I would have to be crazy to convince myself that I cannot make free choices.

I'm going with option A. I have a soul.

Oh my God I'm starting to sound like a freaking religious person...

credit: xkcd

It is a place where people come to feel at home, to feel special and to be among friends. I find it difficult to put into words just what it is that is so special about Lourdes, but it is. Over the weekend of the anniversary of the apparitions, I felt at home, I felt special and I was certainly among friends.

Feel at home. Feel special. Be among friends.

Wow!

Because I can't do that at home...

Something you don't see every day...

The high altar at St. Charles is usually obscured by the... um... low? altar. So I've never seen it before.

The pictures are hard to see in my blurry photo that I took practically in the dark (I've lightened it with computer magic). The fellow in the middle is either St. George (sword, cross of St. George, stood on a dragon...) or possibly St. Michael (wings).

The pictures on either side both show Christ. On the left He is honoured as a baby. On the right He is carried in to the tomb. Christmas and Easter. I think they have intentionally been painted to as to look very similar from a distance.

Now, hows about we see it more often...?

On Saturday 21st of June some of you might have gone along to a workshop lead by Fr Ed Hone at the Endsleigh Centre in Hull. Ella and I never went, because it sounded crap.

According to the Middlesbrough Diocese Adult Formation Website, Fr Ed Hone has been involved in "innovative approaches in reaching out to Catholics who no longer practise their faith" which roughly translated (by a friend of mine who knows him well) means he gives communion to divorced and remarried Catholics. In a letter to the Scotsman News website he is described as "a rebel priest who seems lost to any true understanding and interpretation of authentic Catholic doctrine". Elsewhere I read that "Fr Ed's previous marketing ploys have included using the model of phone sex lines". I asked a friend of mine in Edinburgh (which is where he is based) what she knows about him and she said "Run awaaaayyyyy!" and told me about her friend "who walked out of Mass cos it was so terrible..."

Unlike the Department for Adult Formation, the Hull Faith Forum simply can't attract speakers of that calibre. So if you come along tonight you'll just have to put up with some nobody from down south. Fr Tim Finigan? I bet he wouldn't know "innovative" if it bit him on the arse...

Fr Tim Finigan will be at the Hull Faith Forum tonight at the Endsleigh Centre tonight at 7.30pm.

I guess we'll just have to make do.