Category Archives: Christianity

Conservatism Beyond Markets

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Anthony Daniels

R. S. Thomas, the Welsh poet, was curmudgeonly by nature and when he saw how the Czechs used their freedom after the destruction of the Berlin Wall he was appalled, all the more so as he had detested communism. The first fruits of their freedom were precisely the things in modernity that he most disliked or despised, such as a vulgar consumerism and a militant licentiousness. In the same vein, Generalissimo Franco told General Walters that after his death there would be everything in Spain that they (the Americans) liked: democracy, pornography, etc.

Conservatives are attached both to freedom and to the preservation of a cultured tradition. There sometimes seems to be a conflict between the two, in so far as the exercise of freedom results in the destruction of a cultured tradition. In this respect, some socialists have been more conservative than some conservatives: Their ideal was the extension of the appreciation and availability of the best of civilization to those who previously had little access to it, rather than the radical destruction of that civilization that now seems to be the main aim of radicals—a destruction that market forces alone also successfully effect.

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Confronting the Marxist campaign of subversion

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The introduction of the $8 million Government-sponsored program ‘Safe Schools’ that endorses students cross-dressing and other radical sexual concepts shows just how far the Marxist campaign to totally subvert Australian society has come. Let’s not be under any illusion. Whether you want call it Marxist-Leninist, Cultural Marxism, Critical Theory, the Frankfurt School, Political Correctness, Marxist theory is the foundation of the campaign to turn traditional Australian society on its head. The Safe Schools program is a massive open assault in the campaign and targets society’s most tender and vulnerable: children. The Andrews Government in Victoria, rushing at the head of the program of subversion, has won for itself the title as Australia’s first Marxist government, a government propped up by the iron fist of Marxist unionists. If one listens to the Andrews rhetoric one can hear echoes of Mexico in the 1920s and Spain 1930s when the Marxists began murdering Catholic clergy, the first target of all Marxist campaigns. When one observes one institution after another caving in (the feminizing and homosexualizing of the Liberal Party is well advanced under Malcolm Turnbull and his treacherous acolytes), one must think it would take a foolishly brave cleric to ride out onto a battlefield littered with the fallen amid the white flags of surrender. Yet there is such an unwise cleric. Below is a letter addressed to the members of a Catholic parish in Melbourne. Its author had no intention of addressing a public audience. But his fierce uncompromising stand and utter disregard of the consequences of standing up to forces that want to crush him without mercy make it an example for all those hanging back. It is reproduced here with the permission of the author. Continue reading →

Ireland – a famous political victory and a devastating cultural defeat

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By voting in a landslide to change the definition of marriage, Ireland has shown on the great feast of Pentecost that it has flipped over into its pagan past. The cultural signs and symbols might still be there, but it’s superficial. Ireland can no longer be considered a Catholic nation. Indeed, it would be struggling to call itself Christian.

The most important part of Irish culture, its Catholic religion, has been spurned. The religion the Irish desperately clung to for centuries under a heartless persecution that reduced two-thirds of the Irish population to a little more than miserable degraded serfs in their own country has been spurned. Continue reading →

Magna Carta

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The British Library has a website devoted to Magna Carta, explaining the document’s history, legacy and crucial influence on the formation and development of modern democracies – HERE. Below is their introduction to the document, emphasizing the principle of the rule of law to safeguard the liberty of the individual in community with others.

MAGNA CARTA: AN INTRODUCTION 

by Claire Breay and Julian Harrison

What is Magna Carta?

Magna Carta, meaning ‘The Great Charter’, is one of the most famous documents in the world. Originally issued by King John of England (r.1199-1216) as a practical solution to the political crisis he faced in 1215, Magna Carta established for the first time the principle that everybody, including the king, was subject to the law. Although nearly a third of the text was deleted or substantially rewritten within ten years, and almost all the clauses have been repealed in modern times, Magna Carta remains a cornerstone of the British constitution.Most of the 63 clauses granted by King John dealt with specific grievances relating to his rule. However, buried within them were a number of fundamental values that both challenged the autocracy of the king and proved highly adaptable in future centuries. Most famously, the 39th clause gave all ‘free men’ the right to justice and a fair trial. Some of Magna Carta’s core principles are echoed in the United States Bill of Rights (1791) and in many other constitutional documents around the world, as well as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the European Convention on Human Rights (1950).

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Kenneth Branagh’s Very Christian Cinderella

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The following review of the soon to be released movie CINDERELLA appeared on Zenit Online
MORE THAN A FAIRYTALE

By Fr. Robert Barron

Kenneth Branagh’s “Cinderella” is the most surprising Hollywood movie of the year so far. I say this because the director manages to tells the familiar fairy tale without irony, hyper-feminist sub-plots, Marxist insinuations, deconstructionist cynicism, or arch condescension. In so doing, he actually allows the spiritual, indeed specifically Christian, character of the tale to emerge. I realize that it probably strikes a contemporary audience as odd that Cinderella might be a Christian allegory, but keep in mind that most of the fairy stories and children’s tales compiled by the Brothers Grimm and later adapted by Walt Disney found their roots in the decidedly Christian culture of late medieval and early modern Europe.

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The Christmas story according to St Luke, translated by Mgr Ronald Knox

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The infancy chapters 1 & 2 of

THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

Translated by Mgr Ronald Knox, 1945

MANY have been at pains to set forth the history of what time has brought to fulfilment among us, following the tradition of those first eye-witnesses who gave themselves up to the service of the word. And I too, most noble Theophilus, have resolved to put the story in writing for thee as it befell, having first traced it carefully from its beginnings, that thou mayst understand the instruction thou hast already received, in all its certainty Continue reading →

CONSTITUTING THE CONSTITUTION:

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UNDERSTANDING THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION THROUGH THE BRITISH CULTURAL CONSTITUTION
by GARRETT WARD SHELDON

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Professor Sheldon provides an explanation of the differences between the concepts of a written, a codified and an unwritten constitution. An understanding of these differences is essential for students of constitutionalism. The essay is aimed at American students but is nevertheless of interest to those who have forgotten or never knew the background of their constitutional monarchy

Reference is often made to the legal, philosophical, and historical progenitors of the American Constitution in ideas derived from Great Britain, such as the writings of John Locke or William Blackstone, and familiar documents like the Magna Carta or The Petition of Right of 1628. Perhaps an even more significant constitutional heritage may be found in our inheritance of the British appreciation for the customary or cultural foundations of fundamental law. This appreciation for what is often termed the “organic” constitution, beholden philosophically to Aristotle, Aquinas, and Burke, emphasizes how a society or nation is “constituted,” and the implications of that social constitution for the written or codified document. In this respect, the example of British constitutionalism may be helpful in understanding the proper approach to American constitutional interpretation. Read on here

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s

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The Scriptures are an essential part of our literary heritage
22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 22:15-22
After this the Pharisees withdrew, and plotted together, to make him betray himself in his talk. And they sent their own disciples to him, with those who were of Herod’s party, and said, Master, we know well that thou art sincere, and teachest in all sincerity the way of God; that thou holdest no one in awe, making no distinction between man and man; tell us, then, is it right to pay tribute to Caesar, or not? Jesus saw their malice; Hypocrites, he said, why do you thus put me to the test? Shew me the coinage in which the tribute is paid. So they brought him a silver piece, and he asked them, Whose is this likeness? Whose name is inscribed on it? Caesar’s, they said; whereupon he answered, Why then, give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. And they went away and left him in peace, full of admiration for his words.

Saving those who are lost

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How could one possibly understand a musical masterpiece like Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion with out being deeply acquainted with the New Testament? The same holds for so much of the West’s musical heritage.

9th November, 2014 – DEDICATION OF THE ARCHBASILICA OF THE MOST HOLY SAVIOUR (LATERAN BASILICAL)

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This is the anniversary of the day on which the Basilica of the Most Holy Saviour was dedicated, the first church of Rome to receive solemn consecration. It is the Cathedral church of the Pope, and consequently the chief church of the Catholic world. Several Councils have been held there.

GOSPEL READING

Luke 19:1-10
He had entered Jericho, and was passing through it; and here a rich man named Zacchaeus, the chief publican, was trying to distinguish which was Jesus, but could not do so because of the multi­tude, being a man of small stature. So he ran on in front, and climbed up into a syca­more tree, to catch sight of him, since he must needs pass that way. Jesus, when he reached the place, looked up and saw him; Zacchaeus, he said, make haste and come down; I am to lodge to-day at thy house. And he came down with all haste, and gladly made him welcome. When they saw it, all took it amiss; He has gone in to lodge, they said, with one who is a sinner. But Zacchaeus stood upright and said to the Lord, Here and now, Lord, I give half of what I have to the poor; and if I have wronged anyone in any way, I make resti­tution of it fourfold, jesus turned to him and said, To-day, salvation has been brought to this house; he too is a son of Abraham. That is what the Son of Man has come for, to search out and to save what was lost.