" PAST " THE LITTLE GIANT SUBVERTS THE DEFORMATION

" I  verily think no man can be said to have done more good of all those who laboured in the English vineyard. He was the immediate occasion of saving the lives of many hundreds of persons, both ecclesiastical and secular." (Father John Gerard S.J. 1564 - 1637)

The martyrdom of Nicholas Gooden Owen

 

Nicholas Gooden Owen is understood to have been born in Oxford around 1550 into a devout Catholic family, suffering under the Penal Laws directed against Catholics.He trained as a carpenter and for thirty years witnessed to his great Faith by going about the country building "Priest Holes" - these were secret hiding places within English homes where Priests could hide secure from the King's Commissioners enforcing the Penal Laws.

Calling himself "Little John"- for he is said to have been abnormally short - close to a dwarf perhaps - he travelled around the country plying his Priest Hole making trade. He asked for no payment other than his accommodation and sustenance, and sufficient food to get him to his next job.He always worked alone and at night in order to minimise the chance of betrayal.The total number of projects he completed is not known, but it seems likely to have been in the hundreds. He worked for the Jesuit Priest Henry Garnet (Martyr 1555-1606) for some years and became a Jesuit lay brother in due course.

Following the Martyrdom of Saint Edmund Campion, Nicholas publicly proclaimed Saint Edmund's innocence of the charges brought against him, Nicholas was arrested for a time and later released. But in 1594 he was arrested again and this time tortured but disclosed nothing. He was fined, but the fine was paid by an admiring Catholic family and so his release was again received - for the authorities had no inkling of his achievements, merely thinking him an accomplice of Priests in some general way.

But in 1606, the time of the Gunpowder Plot hysteria, he contrived to give himself up in order to facilitate the escape of several nearby Priests. Lord Cecil, the Secretary of State said of his capture: It is incredible, how great was the joy caused by his arrest.. knowing the great skill of Owen in constructing hiding places, and the innumerable quantity of dark holes which he had schemed for hiding Priests all through England."

He was at first delivered to the Marshalsea Prison, that strange institution which held men convicted by Court Martial for offences committed at sea, those who had committed "unnatural crimes",political figures and intellectuals accused of sedition or other inappropriate behaviour and debtors from London at the whim of their Creditors. A good indication of its operation and peculiarity can be gained from Dickens' story "Little Dorrit". From there he was transferred to the Tower of London.

THE MARSHALSEA PRISON - A STRANGE INSTITUTION

 

In the Tower, Saint Nicholas was most cruelly tortured. He was strung up by the wrists and increasingly heavy weights were tied to his feet until at last "his bowels gushed out with his life". He died in 1606 - most authorities say on 2nd March, a few make the date 12th November. He was canonized on 25 October,1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

The Tower of London

 

The Tower of London is notorious for the high profile political prisoners it has held including: the Princes in the Tower,  Ann Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Princess Elizabeth before she became Elizabeth I,Sir Walter Raleigh, in addition Blessed Margaret Pole and Saint Thomas More and many other heroes of the Faith.

Saint Nicholas Owen had the body of, maybe, a near dwarf - but he had the heart and spirit of a Giant with achievements to match.

Saint Nicholas Pray for us that we may have the grace to aim for your courage and vigour in defending the Faith, and be blessed with even a fraction of your achievements in the same cause. Amen.

" PAST" BATTLE IS JOINED TO DEFEND CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES

 

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney - Forthright Leadership

Serving with the Angels

The action of the Bishops of New South Wales in urging the faithful to vote against the Greens in the State Election on 26th March, 2011 is refreshing and commendable, the action of the Bishop of Broken Bay David Walker, in refusing to co-sign is indefensible and reprehensible given the Greens advocacy of Abortion, Same sex “Marriage”, Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Euthanasia, compounded by a policy which would reduce Government funding to many Catholic Schools.

Too often in Australia Bishops have kept silent whilst the winds of radical “Green” politics rose and rose in fury. Very late it seems, they have realised that these people are not so much concerned with matters environmental which are “warm and fuzzy “as they are fundamentally anti-human and anti-Christian.


The technique of subverting a popular movement as a path to power is one that the Marxists in their Communist days had honed to a fine sharp edge. Too often unionists found their legitimate grievances used as a stepping stone by those who wanted control of the union for other reasons and for causes the workers did not support. Now we find the Green movement has been similarly subverted by glib Marxist programmed types not so much concerned with the trees and the atmosphere as ending the lives of the unborn, unnatural sex, terminating the lives of the sick and the elderly, abusing the bodies of the stillborn or aborted and using social engineering to attack Christian Schools.


Having spent the last forty years protecting the hard-won community acceptance of Catholics, the Bishops have, until very late in the piece, mostly lost the habit of advocating Catholic doctrine when it is directly counter cultural. Thank heaven they have woken up corporately, even though the day is close to dusk – better late than never. We can be thankful for the long haul leadership of Cardinal Pell and Bishop Fisher(Parramatta), for Bishop Jarrett(Lismore) and Bishop Matthys(Armidale) also, though the media does not have them on its radar.

Fortunately in the United States where politics is more regularly wedded to principles than in Australia where pragmatism usually rules, a large corps of newer Bishops, orthodox, well-educated, intelligent and articulate has developed and they have not hesitated at all to engage in public discourse and use their positions responsibly to influence the faithful in support of Catholic doctrine.


We are grateful to see this turning of the tide as Secularism becomes ever more brazen.

" PAST " THE WAR AT SEA COMES HOME

 

 

H.M.S. Repulse British Battle cruiser ( in 1916) sunk with H.M.S. Duke of York Battleship on 10th December, 1941, when attacked by 350 Japanese land based Aircraft.The giant ships had been sent without escort to shore up defences in the East.

The war at sea was very much in the mind of Australians during WW II - and rightly so. The phrase "tyranny of distance"had yet to be coined, but if any phrase covered our situation it might have been "splendid isolation" - so that our safety depended on sea power, and our Royal Australian Navy was fairly large in relation to our small population of only 3.5 Million.Even so, given our enormous coastline, it was really inadequate and we relied heavily on our "great and powerful friends""Mother"Britain and our American "cousins".

As time would tell, "Mother"did not succeed in "coming to our aid"until the show was almost over and the British Pacific Fleet was formed late in the war. It was not lost on the Australian public that Australian ships, soldiers and airmen had , from 1939 served with the British throughout the European and North African theatres.The bulk of them were not withdrawn until the Japanese threat was revealed.

But the War at Sea came home to Berala in 1944. My brother Pat finished his secondary schooling at Marist Brothers Lidcombe in 1943 at the end of Third Year as was the custom for most young fellows of the time - very few went on to Matriculate and go to University. The famed Parish Priest of Lidcombe was Father Lloyd who was a legend in Sydney for his ministry to the Boxing fraternity. He was equally famous in the Parish of Lidcombe for getting young fellows leaving school at the Brothers ' jobs. The Great Depression never really ended in peacetime and getting jobs was a tough assignment. Well, Father Lloyd did it regularly , and he got young Pat Dixon a job with the American owned JANTZEN ( "the Trademark is the Jantzen Diving Girl"said the jingle on the wireless) swimwear factory out on Parramatta Road, Lidcombe as a machine mechanic apprentice.This suited the young 16 years old for some months, but in 1944 he got the idea in his head that he wanted to join the Navy.

And so the War at Sea came to our home. By this stage of 1944 it was clear that we - the Allies- were winning the war and that nothing could reverse that trend. In fact I grew up with the moral certainty that we would win the War , and except at the end of 1941 in the East, and a little later in Europe, I gather that was the case with adults as well. My Mum and Dad were firmly opposed to their 16yrs old Pat, who had a good job, going needlessly into the Navy. The battle was largely engaged in the evenings , after I had been put to bed.The salvos were then fired back and forth. Sometimes pleading, sometimes angrily on either side. This went on for weeks it seems to me.It was so memorable because ours was normally a very peaceful household. Then a decisive intervention took place. Pat's boss at JANTZEN, a very nice fellow apparently , with the exotic name of Andy Ortega - himself an American I think, wrote a letter to Mum and Dad saying how pleased he was with Pat's work and what a bright future he had with JANTZEN, and urging them not to consent to their son enlisting (a  consent that was necessary for anyone under 18yrs). That put Pat's case back several paces and steeled Mum and Dad's resolve. I have an idea that Brother Loyola, the tough little Headmaster at Lidcombe was also pressed into service on Mum and Dad's side at some stage. Finally it was over. The family was to have no association  with the Navy. At least, not until I joined the R.A.N. Reserve in the 1960's.But that is another story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The war at sea was very much in the mind of Australians during WW II - and rightly so. The phrase "tyranny of distance"had yet to be coined, but if any phrase covered our situation it might have been "splendid isolation" - so that our safety depended on sea power, and our Royal Australian Navy was fairly large in relation to our small population of only 3.5 Million.Even so, given our enormous coastline, it was really inadequate and we relied heavily on our "great and powerful friends""Mother"Britain and our American "cousins".

As time would tell, "Mother"did not succeed in "coming to our aid"until the show was almost over and the British Pacific Fleet was formed late in the war. It was not lost on the Australian public that Australian ships, soldiers and airmen had , from 1939 served with the British throughout the European and North African theatres.The bulk of them were not withdrawn until the Japanese threat was revealed.

But the War at Sea came home to Berala in 1944. My brother Pat finished his secondary schooling at Marist Brothers 'Lidcombe in 1943 at the end of Third Year as was the custom for most young fellows of the time - very few went on to Matriculate and go to University. The famed Parish Priest of Lidcombe was Father Lloyd who was a legend in Sydney for his ministry to the Boxing fraternity. He was equally famous in the Parish of Lidcombe for getting young fellows leaving school at the Brothers ' jobs. The Great Depression never really ended in peacetime and getting jobs was a tough assignment. Well, Father Lloyd did it regularly , and he got young Pat Dixon a job with the American owned JANTZEN ( "the Trademark is the Jantzen Diving Girl"said the jingle on the wireless) swimwear factory out on Parramatta Road, Lidcombe as a machine mechanic apprentice.This suited the young 16 years old for some months, but in 1944 he got the idea in his head that he wanted to join the Navy.

And so the War at Sea came to our home. By this stage of 1944 it was clear that we - the Allies- were winning the war and that nothing could reverse that trend.( In fact I grew up with the moral certainty that we would win the War , and except at the end of 1941 in the East, and a little later in Europe, I gather that was the case with adults as well.) My Mum and Dad were firmly opposed to their 16yrs old Pat, who had a good job, going needlessly into the Navy. The battle was largely engaged in the evenings , after I had been put to bed.The salvos were then fired back and forth. Sometimes pleading, sometimes angrily on either side. This went on for weeks it seems to me.It was so memorable because ours was normally a very peaceful household. Then a decisive intervention took place. Pat's boss at JANTZEN, a very nice fellow apparently , with the exotic name of Andy Ortega - himself an American I think, wrote a letter to Mum and Dad saying how pleased he was with Pat's work and what a bright future he had with JANTZEN, and urging them not to consent to their son enlisting (a  consent that was necessary for anyone under 18yrs). That put Pat's case back several paces and steeled Mum and Dad's resolve. I have an idea that Brother Loyola, the tough little Headmaster at Lidcombe was also pressed into service on Mum and Dad's side at some stage. Finally it was over. The family was to have no association  with the Navy. At least, not until I joined the R.A.N. Reserve in the 1960's.But that is another story.

" PAST " WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ARK OF THE COVENANT?

 

 

A RE-CREATION OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

 

Whatever happened to the Ark of the Covenant?

The Ark of the Covenant was sacred to the people of Israel long before the Temple at Jerusalem was built. The Ark itself was built according to Divine instruction, including the detail of its design.

It contained the two tablets of stone God gave to Moses inscribed with the Ten Commandments, the staff of Aaron which had flowered indicating that he should be High Priest and a portion of the Manna with which God had fed the people of Israel whilst they wandered in the desert.

God had decreed that the Ark should be built thus:

A rectangular box

Approx.1.2 Metres by 0.7 Metres by .0.7 Metres.

Made of Acacia wood, it was gilded inside and out.

On each side were two golden rings through which were placed the poles used to carry the Ark in solemn procession

Atop the Ark, was a solid Gold plate . This provided the base for two golden statues of seraphim. Their wings extended over their heads, and where their wings met, God would appear to His people.

This appearance was called the Shekinah, and the place where this occurred was known as the “kepporet””the “mercy seat".

When the Israelites were a wandering people, the Ark was carried by priests and when camp was made, they set up the Sanctuary Tent which housed the Ark. King David brought it to Jerusalem and finally it was installed in Solomon’s Temple in the Holy of Holies. In the earlier wandering times, the Ark had even been carried into battle. On one occasion it was captured by the Philistines, in a terrible defeat. For seven months they retained the Ark, but it brought them plague and they finally brought it back, together with golden votive offerings to appease the One True God.

The awesome sacred nature of the Ark was highlighted by an incident on the first occasion David tried to bring it into Jerusalem. It was being carried on a carriage and at one stage seemed about to topple, when an attendant named Uzza in reaction, stretched out his hand to steady it and touched the Ark. He was instantly struck dead.

King David was so overcome by this demonstration of the Ark’s sacred character that he halted the proceedings and for three months kept the Ark in the nearby home of Obed-Edom.The latter prospered during that time, so David regained his courage and once again in great and celebratory procession, the Ark was brought into Jerusalem and placed on the very spot where it was believed Abraham had been prepared to sacrifice Isaac.

David was forbidden to build a permanent structure to house the Ark, by the Prophet Nathan. The task was reserved to Solomon who built the mighty Temple for that purpose. For 400 years it remained there, visited only one day a year on the Day of Atonement, by the High Priest. But Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. There we lose track of the Ark. It is not mentioned among the objects plundered by the invaders. A later Jewish tradition tells the story that the Prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark, burying it on Mt. Nebo, where Moses was buried, and that it would appear in the skies to foreshadow the Day of the Lord.

In New Testament times we are told in the Letter to the Hebrews that such sacred objects of the past only foreshadowed the coming of Christ who is Himself the “mercy seat”- the true meeting point between God and Man. And Saint Luke in his Gospel fully rounds out our understanding of the new Covenant: Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant bearing in her womb the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Like the Ark of old, she was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.

" PAST " STRANGE DAZE INDEED1

 

In Happier Times - The  Consecration of St.Joseph's Cathedral Rockhampton

Bishop "Call me Brian"Heenan of Rockhampton

 

Strange “Daze” Indeed!


Now, we know that Rockhampton has been through a lot of late, what with the terrible floods and all, but does that excuse anything and everything?

We have been accustomed to many odd things in the Diocese of Rockhampton, from Episcopal liturgical abuse on down. But the current Lent 2011 booklet of the Diocese “BEING EUCHARIST TO EACH OTHER” just about takes the cake! (We won’t bother about the photograph on the cover of an American family holding hands whilst “giving thanks” before a Thanksgiving Meal – huge turkey, candied vegetables and all.). No, let’s concentrate on the genuine local content, or is it?

Bishop “Call me Brian” Heenan writes in the introduction: “We are invited to reflect on how we are eucharist to one another. What does this way of life call us to do? It calls us to gather together with others, listen to God’s word and share in the Eucharist, and to be to others what Jesus is for us, “To Be Eucharist To Each Other”.

What is happening here? We know that the word “eucharist” is a noun meaning “thanksgiving” and that the Catholic Church speaks of “the Eucharist” Holy Mass (this usage has become very common among the clergy since the Council especially- it was originally common among liturgically inclined Protestants) it is much less commonly used in referring to the Blessed Sacrament. But Catholics have NEVER spoken of “being “eucharist. And that, quite reasonably, because it is meaningless.

I began to wonder where this abuse of language might have originated. Sure enough! “Only in America” as they say! But who would seek to abuse this most sacred Catholic word, it seems a queer thing to do. “Queer” indeed as it turns out. About six years ago the use of this weird language by the Diocese of Rockhampton - indeed Bishop “Call me Brian” Heenan himself on Holy Thursday evening was highlighted by the then sole lay voice of orthodox Catholicism in Australia, the magazine AD 2000. It came from a poem called “The Eucharist” and had originally been contributed to the website of the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco” The Author, one R. Voight is said to have been a regular contributor.”We primarily serve the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community” the website tells the enquirer very openly. Further internet enquiry makes this all too clear.

Is it not puzzling that a Catholic Bishop should take up such a weird abuse of language, and even more so when it comes from a homosexual source? And a militant one at that!

The Bishop goes on “Eucharist is about being in relationship allowing each of us to be present to each other as well as forgiving and welcoming to outsiders.”Remember we are not talking about “the Eucharist”-just as well- but about this invented Americanism. Rather neat really, because it is meaningless one might be free of criticism. "And Eucharist can confirm and enable the things we are passionate about” says the Bishop. What are we talking about here?

All of this is stirred in with occasional references to “the Eucharist” and one or two concepts Catholics are familiar with. In the end it is a bit like a badly made trifle, little bits of cake a lot of watery jelly drowned in a sickeningly thin custard. One is left to wonder, who in Rockhampton Diocese is so familiar with a homosexual website for so many years, and still in a position to get this rubbish used? The Deceiver is at work leading people away by destroying the meaning of words.

" PAST " THE TRIUMPH OF THE CRUCIFIX

 

Crucifix by Giotto

The tide of, radical secularism riding the wave of "rights language"has at last, thanks be to God, received a severe check. And, of all places, in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In November, 2009 the Court had found in favour of a militant secularist who petitioned the Court to ban Crucifixes from all Italian schools alleging that they infringed the rights of children and teachers of non-Christian or no Faith. Now on Appeal, the Court has reversed the earlier decision by a 15 -2 majority.

There had been very widespread and significant protests throughout Italy because of the earlier decision. The new decision will greatly strengthen those defending the Crucifix in  other cases.

" PAST " GUARDIAN OF THE SAVIOUR CHILD

JOSEPH! to thee by hosts on high
and choirs of Christians, laud be paid!
saintly of life, -by purest tie
joined unto her, the glorious Maid.




When thou didst doubt thy wife's repute,
and mark her great with motherhood,
the angel taught thee that her fruit
came from the Holy Ghost of God.


To clasp the Son, the Lord, was thine,
to share His flight to Egypt's shore,
with tears, to seek in Salem's shrine
Him lost, -with joy, to find once more.


Death brings to other Saints their rest;
through toil they win the victor's place;
thou happier, like the Angels blest,
alive, hast seen God face to face.


Spare us, O Trinity most High!
grant that, with Joseph, we may gain
Thy starry realm, and ceaselessly
there raise to Thee our thankful strain.
Amen.


(Roman Breviary - Hymn Te Joseph celebrent agmina coelitum 17th Cent.)


"Though thou hast recourse to many saints as thine intercessors,go especially to St. Joseph, for he has great power with God." - St. Theresa of Jesus : Maxims (16th Cent.)St.Joseph