Though I may not have an Irish sounding last name, my dad was born in 1912 Dublin. When my wife and I took an ostensibly Catholic tour of Ireland in 2018, we heard the absolutely dopey description of Bridget as a "pre Christian" saint! Modern Irish ignorance of Catholicism helps to explain how they could have voted in abortion and a br…
Though I may not have an Irish sounding last name, my dad was born in 1912 Dublin. When my wife and I took an ostensibly Catholic tour of Ireland in 2018, we heard the absolutely dopey description of Bridget as a "pre Christian" saint! Modern Irish ignorance of Catholicism helps to explain how they could have voted in abortion and a brand new definition of marriage! Ireland needs the prayers of her children in the old land and of those of us living in the diaspora.
Kevin Williamson (a convert) closes his Tuesday newsletter today with the following:
Today is the feast day of St. Brigid, who is one of the patrons of Ireland and a great favorite of the pooh-poohers and would-be sophisticates, who revel in the fact that St. Brigid is a pretty clearly mythological figure, the pre-Christian pagan goddess Brigid swallowed whole by Catholic hagiography in the early days of Irish Christianity. This would not have come as a surprise to early Irish Christians, at least some of whom seem to have been well aware that the saint was none other than the goddess in minimal disguise and put that observation into writing more than 1,000 years ago. The church has long experience with this kind of thing: St. Christopher medals remain popular devotional items, but there isn’t much reason to suppose that the story about his carrying Jesus across a river on his back is anything other than a “charming legend,” to use a frequently recurring phrase in the Catholic literature. I would think that people who cannot quite agree about what happened in the last election — or what is happening right now with Covid or Russia or the economy — would understand that any enterprise that is still going after 2,000 years is going to have some stories attached to it, some legends, and some myths — and some outright fabrications, too.
The Catholic writer Hilaire Belloc once observed: “The Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine — no merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight.” It is a great big vineyard, one that happily makes room for such knaves as us.
To reply more directly to Mr. Tevington: I'm 7/8 Irish and blessed with the name of a legendary saint. The Catholic faith is compatible with sober inquiry regarding any particular saint's life (or existence, for that matter).
Regarding abortion and marriage, I am afraid the quasi-theocracy that ruled Ireland in the middle of the 20th century bred a lot of resentful "nones" who are eager to stick it to the Church, no matter what the issue.
Though I may not have an Irish sounding last name, my dad was born in 1912 Dublin. When my wife and I took an ostensibly Catholic tour of Ireland in 2018, we heard the absolutely dopey description of Bridget as a "pre Christian" saint! Modern Irish ignorance of Catholicism helps to explain how they could have voted in abortion and a brand new definition of marriage! Ireland needs the prayers of her children in the old land and of those of us living in the diaspora.
Kevin Williamson (a convert) closes his Tuesday newsletter today with the following:
Today is the feast day of St. Brigid, who is one of the patrons of Ireland and a great favorite of the pooh-poohers and would-be sophisticates, who revel in the fact that St. Brigid is a pretty clearly mythological figure, the pre-Christian pagan goddess Brigid swallowed whole by Catholic hagiography in the early days of Irish Christianity. This would not have come as a surprise to early Irish Christians, at least some of whom seem to have been well aware that the saint was none other than the goddess in minimal disguise and put that observation into writing more than 1,000 years ago. The church has long experience with this kind of thing: St. Christopher medals remain popular devotional items, but there isn’t much reason to suppose that the story about his carrying Jesus across a river on his back is anything other than a “charming legend,” to use a frequently recurring phrase in the Catholic literature. I would think that people who cannot quite agree about what happened in the last election — or what is happening right now with Covid or Russia or the economy — would understand that any enterprise that is still going after 2,000 years is going to have some stories attached to it, some legends, and some myths — and some outright fabrications, too.
The Catholic writer Hilaire Belloc once observed: “The Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine — no merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight.” It is a great big vineyard, one that happily makes room for such knaves as us.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/02/01/public-holiday-marking-st-brigids-feast-established-in-ireland/
To reply more directly to Mr. Tevington: I'm 7/8 Irish and blessed with the name of a legendary saint. The Catholic faith is compatible with sober inquiry regarding any particular saint's life (or existence, for that matter).
Regarding abortion and marriage, I am afraid the quasi-theocracy that ruled Ireland in the middle of the 20th century bred a lot of resentful "nones" who are eager to stick it to the Church, no matter what the issue.
Six plus months later....
Those "resentful 'nones'" are defying God in their embrace of murder and destruction of the family structure.
Six plus months later....
Those "resentful 'nones'" are defying God in their embrace of murder and destruction of the family structure.
Six plus months later....
Those "resentful 'nones'" are defying God in their embrace of murder and destruction of the family structure.