Tuesday 29 November 2011

Blogs promoting Pushkin

(and keeping schtum on the B3 issue)

The Hermeneutic of Continuity (link) - 26.11.2011

Fr Ray Blake's Blog (link) - 24.11.2011

Mulier Fortis (link) - 18.11.2011

Enough to make one vomit

Catholic Paterfamilias blog - 28.11.2011
(link)

The Free the B3: Justice for Fr. Dermot Fenlon blog has picked up on this YouTube clip about the launch of a book about a cat.

The video clip that I link to above is nauseating in itself. Placing it in the context of the wrongful and unjust exclaustration of Fr Dermot Fenlon from the Birmingham Oratory and his being homeless as he approaches his 70th birthday really is enough to make one vomit.

But, I'm missing the Nuchurch agenda - three pesky Oratorians who said things about Church teaching that were rocking the bad ship Nuchurch got booted. I would love to have sat in on the meeting that decided "So what if one of them is homeless and soon to be 70 - no one will remember that if we can get a book out about a cat..."

Oh, but we will remember and I think that history will show the Birmingham Oratory to be seriously diminished in the eyes of many in consequence.

Sunday 27 November 2011

Friday 25 November 2011

Diversionary tactic, smokescreen, sidetrack maneuver, call it what you will.

Pushkin the Pontifical Puss: Tails of an Oratory Cat
St Paul's Publishing


(link)

"PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
When Pope Benedict XVI visited the United Kingdom in 2010 many historic and significant events took place. The head of the Catholic Church was personally welcomed to the United Kingdom by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England; thousands of young people gathered with Pope Benedict in Hyde Park, London to celebrate a prayer vigil; for the first time in history on English soil, the Holy Father declared an Englishman Beatus (Blessed) - John Henry Cardinal Newman. However, for one resident of the city of Birmingham these events were nothing compared with the honour he bestowed upon the Holy Father.

In the Oratory in Birmingham, the former home of Blessed John Henry Newman, lives Pushkin, the Oratory Cat. But Pushkin is no ordinary cat. He is one of many felines who have played an important part in momentous events in history, not only in England, but worldwide.

Pushkin: The Pontifical Puss gives an insight into the life of this extraordinary cat. It details his early life, time spent in Fenton, his encounter with HRH Princess Michael of Kent (in Pushkin's own words, She-who-wears-diamonds) and Pope Benedict (He-who-wears-white).

With the assistance of his Human (Fr Anton Guziel), and illustrations supplied by the Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of the Magnifi-cat, Wolverhampton, Pushkin is delighted to make available his autobiography."

NB: Fellow Oratorians Fr Dermot Fenlon, Fr Philip Cleevely and Br Lewis Berry were not allowed to meet Pope Benedict XVI or to attend the beatification of their founder, Blessed John Henry Newman, in October 2011

Thursday 24 November 2011

Heresy and Obedience in Tridentine Italy



In the spring of 1972 the layman Dermot Fenlon wrote these moving and humble acknowledgements in the preface to his book HERESY AND OBEDIENCE IN TRIDENTINE ITALY:

“To have finished a book is to be aware of debts and a certain measure of defeat. The debts are easier to recount. (…) There are friends whom I can never adequately thank: my supervisor, whose encouragement and guidance, cautions, queries and corrections, combined with monumental patience and humour, supported me, against the odds, through an education in research, and much more than research; his wife, who generally took my side when it counted; my friends (...) who helped and sustained me, through good and bad times, more than they will ever realise (…)
One’s defeats, like one’s debts, are entirely personal. (…) … but as my mother remarked when I explained the problem, Pole was a man who encountered many disappointments in his own lifetime, and he is unlikely to be much bothered by anything that can happen now.” (Cambridge, 24 March 1972, Eve of the Annunciation, Dermot Fenlon)

Sunday 13 November 2011