| Defending Truth and Tradition in the Roman Catholic Church |
It seems that very few people know about this, but I think it’s cool enough to merit attention.
This Saturday, from 9am to 3pm (so you can make 5pm Mass =P) is the annual Rochester Chesterton Conference. It is at Saint John Fisher and more information can be found here.
Featured speakers include Dale Ahlquist and Joseph Pearce.
I, for one, am going to be there. I hope at least a few of you, dear readers, decide to come along.
Today in World Religions, I skimmed the packet handed to us. It is to be our classwork for the next week or so. Something caught my eye, which I shall paraphrase here (because I am a poor memorizer): “Public schools can teach about religion but not teach religion because they cannot align themselves with a particular religion. However, they can present them all in a fair and straightforward manner, as facts.”
See, here’s the thing. If public schools really presented everything in the same manner with the same tone and as just facts, then it’s really NOT fair to other religions because Catholicism is so clearly superior. Yes, that sounds pretentious. But if they are presenting the facts in order to allow their students to seek the Truth, then Catholicism really is superior and nothing else, frankly, can hold a candle to that much Tradition, majesty, or common sense. No other arguments hold water. If someone is honestly seeking Truth (and not just a reason to execute their own agenda) then they will see the Light.
…geez, when I write about Catholicism and God, it’s like I’m writing in German… >_>;
Wow, I’ve had a chaotic summer. And I’ve been sitting on a very awesome post for something like two months now–finally, I get a chance to put it out there. Consider this my last hurrah, a denial of the end of the glorious gift to students known as “summer vacation.”
Right after school let out, my mom and sister and I went to ITALY~! Where I took a bajillion pictures (mostly of places and quite a few “arty” shots). I have gleaned some of the best of these pictures to post here with commentary. We spent not-quite-three full days in Rome (so two nights), then about two days in Florence, almost two days in Venice, and then an overnight in Milan. Eight crazy whirlwind days of AWESOME.
Thus we embarked on our crazy journey to meet up with some friends there (they’re basically family). So, armed with my fancy new camera (my birthday is riiiight towards the end of the school year–end of June), I set out to document absolutely everything about this trip. Below are some dozen or so, selected from over 150–and those are just mine. My mom took over a thousand. (Don’t ask my sister if she took pictures. She takes pride in her measly fifty-five. Over eight days.)
Trevi Fountain in the daytime.
You know, they say that if you throw a coin into Trevi Fountain, it means you’ll be coming back to Rome. ‘Course, that doesn’t excuse the zoo of tourists.
Trevi Fountain at night~ (I threw in a coin.)
The Vatican--we went to a general audience with the Pope.
It was so, so hot… and I’d forgotten a hat… I got sunburnt. Blast that sun. Blast my pasty-white-nerd-skin. They don’t mix well. But it was totally more than worth it! (By the way, never let anyone say that Americans are the loudest. Poles win, hands-down.)
At the General Audience. Check out Il Papa, rockin' the red straw sunhat. You rock that hat, Papa Ben. ^_^
Maybe if I’d asked, he’d have let me borrow it. >_> A chapel veil has too many holes in it to keep the sun off my head. (Yes, I tried.)
Recognize this? =P (Basilica San Pietro.)
The Duomo in Florence. So beautiful... <3
Florence is an architect’s dream, if you just look around…
View from the bridge in Florence... I love the mirror-effect the water has.
Venezia~
Okay, I joke about buying a boat and moving to Venice so I don’t have to deal with road traffic… it’s not so much a joke now. I love Venice.
More Venice, my new favourite city (though Rochester comes in at a close second).
The above and below pictures are taken from Venice’s famous Rialto Bridge. These are overlooking the Grand Canal on each side of the bridge.
Even more Venice! I really love it as a city. It's so beautiful...
Milan's Duomo, the church of San Carlos Borromeo. With its white marble facade, it is exceptionally striking at night--which is when this picture was taken.
And last but not least, check out what I found in a bookstore while waiting for the parents to get train tickets! (For you, Ben. =P)
On my daily commute this morning (which consists of a 15 min. drive and a 10 min. walk), I was listening to GK Chesteron’s “What’s Wrong With the World”. Every time I hear Chesterton, I must constantly resist the urge to do a blog post of every sentence. This time I just couldn’t resist that urge. His words are just oh so relevant to us today.
The audio: http://librivox.org/whats-wrong-with-the-world-by-gk-chesterton/
The text: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1717/1717-h/1717-h.htm#2H_4_0005 (second to last paragraph)
We often read nowadays of the valor or audacity with which some rebel attacks a hoary tyranny or an antiquated superstition. There is not really any courage at all in attacking hoary or antiquated things, any more than in offering to fight one’s grandmother. The really courageous man is he who defies tyrannies young as the morning and superstitions fresh as the first flowers. The only true free-thinker is he whose intellect is as much free from the future as from the past. He cares as little for what will be as for what has been; he cares only for what ought to be. And for my present purpose I specially insist on this abstract independence. If I am to discuss what is wrong, one of the first things that are wrong is this: the deep and silent modern assumption that past things have become impossible. There is one metaphor of which the moderns are very fond; they are always saying, “You can’t put the clock back.” The simple and obvious answer is “You can.” A clock, being a piece of human construction, can be restored by the human finger to any figure or hour. In the same way society, being a piece of human construction, can be reconstructed upon any plan that has ever existed.
btw – if you’re into audio, a while back Mike pointed me to a great blog resource that keeps you up to date on free audio resources: Sonitus Sanctus
