Far-right attempt at storming the Reichstag

On Saturday far-right protestors brandishing prohibited German national flags attempted to storm the Reichstag.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and President of the German Parliament Wolfgang Schäuble spoke on Sunday in worrying terms of the development. 

Also the leader of the CDU Annegret Kramp- Karrenbauer expressed her anger of what happened on Saturday and finance minister and SPD chancellor candidate, Olaf Scholz said that a democratic Germany cannot tolerate such behaviour.

On the same day in Portland, Oregon a cavalcade of cars carrying Trump flags drove into the city in a most threatening and menacing manner.

We are living in terribly dangerous times.

Lukaschenko celebrates his birthday in difficult days

It so happens that Alexander Lukashenko is 66 today. He was born in Kopy, Belarus on August 30, 1954.

Demonstrations continue across the country including the capital, Minsk.

The protests are about democracy, not about a westward geopolitical course. 

Presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who according to credible exit polls won the August 9 presidential ballot, has said:

“[The protest movement] is neither a pro-Russian nor an anti-Russian revolution. It is neither an anti-European Union nor a pro-European Union revolution. It is a democratic revolution.”

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spent a number of summers in Roscrea, learning English.

Minsk Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, has issued a statement after an altercation between people heading for church and Minsk police. The archbishop said that Belarusian armed forces are supposed to protect citizen rights, not hinder them.

He has called for reconciliation and dialogue to resolve the political instability in the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to send police to Belarus in support of the Lukaschenko government. Or should it now be called a 'regime'?

Having a say in our own lives

The ‘Thinking Anew’ column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

When we come across the words ‘scribes’, ‘chief priests’ and ‘elders’ when reading the Gospels, we immediately consider them to be the people who impeded Jesus and the work he was doing. And that’s quite understandable because that’s exactly what they did. At every turn they tried to prevent him from his work of bringing Good News to the people.

It suits many to  extract those specific chief priests, scribes, and elders and see them as a unique  group of people who found themselves at odds with Jesus and did everything in their power to stop him in opening the minds and hearts of people to see the world in a new light.

Yes, we can pick and choose across the Bible and use what suits us to support our own viewpoint. But it is fascinating how conveniently  we manage to airbrush Jesus’s views on the civil and religious authority of his day. 

Sometimes I’m inclined to think that we have sold our souls to authority, whether it be the civil or religious authority.

Of course, there is need for authority and no sensible person wants anarchy to reign.

 

President Donald Trump spotted that large numbers of Americans felt that an elite group was  controlling their lives and he promised to do things differently and return power to the people. 

Of course, he never did it and instead surrounded himself with his own elite. But it was and is a remarkably clever trick. 

Trump identified  a real longing in people. And it’s a genuine and in many respects wholesome desire – people want to have a say in their own lives, people want a say in how their community, their society is managed.

A central word in the Christian vocabulary is communion. We talk about Holy Communion, and we celebrate the unity of persons in the Blessed Trinity. We affirm our belief in the Communion of Saints. And we stress that the church is the community of the people of God.

And then what do we do? We go back to exactly what Jesus preached against. We allow the scribes, elders and priests to have an over-dominant role in the running of the community. 

All over the developed world people have walked away from the style of Christian religions that predominated until say the 1970s. And why has that happened? I am a Catholic priest of 46 years. It’s no short time to form an opinion and maybe even to allow me to make a suggestion or two.

In tomorrow’s Gospel (Matthew 16: 21 – 27) Jesus tells his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes. When Peter tries to remonstrate with him,  Jesus  reminds Peter that he is thinking in human rather than divine terms. Isn’t that more or less what has happened in the Christian churches?

A group of people have taken charge. The priestly class have abrogated to themselves what’s to be done and what’s not to be done. Yes, there is a token acceptance or acknowledgement that the church is the people of God. Alas, the stress must be on the word ‘token’.

I’m familiar with the Catholic Church in Ireland but I’m also well versed in what goes on in Germany. And from my experience it’s clear to me that the life of any parish is over dependent on the priest who is in situ on the day.

 

This is not a criticism of the many good men who are  priests, but it is a reminder that  the institutional church has come to resemble  the scribes, chief priests and elders, the very people whom Jesus spent much of his  ministry criticising.

How often is there consultation with the Christian community about the appointment of a bishop? If the papal nuncio is a conservative, the bishops appointed  will be conservative. If, on the rare occasion the papal nuncio is liberal, then the bishops will be of like mind.

Personally, I think it is far too simple to say that people have walked away from the church because of some ‘secular evil’. That’s too handy as an excuse. Maybe it is that people feel unhappy with today’s scribes, chief priests and elders. 

Pope Francis is opposed to clericalism which places the institution before the principles on which it was founded. He must be, because so too was Jesus. 

Germany finds it hard to love Hegel

This is an interesting read on German philosopher Hegel.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/27/germany-finds-it-hard-to-love-hegel-250-years-after-his-birth?CMP=share_btn_link

Kamala Harris and Joe Biden on Donald Trump

US presidential candidate Joe Biden gave an excellent interview with Anderson Cooper this evening.

Well worth watching. Biden was on top of his game and made many insightful comments about President Trump. His remark on Trump's comments about his religion were classic, funny too. And so accurate.

It was followed by a stunning talk given by Senator Kamala Harris in Washington DC.

NBA coach lashes out at US police racist brutality

Speaking about the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin in the US, Doc Rivers said: ‘It’s amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.

We're the ones getting killed, we're the ones getting shot.'

Doc Rivers is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association. 

The preliminaries before the centre can no longer hold

When an organisation is in the process of collapsing it would seem the majority of the management class simply don't get it.

Do they ever stand back and admit that they have played a major role in causing the failure?

They write reams of pages and expend great energy and time in an attempt to give substance to the collapsing facades. Instead of propping them up it never dawns on them to ask what's the point.

They never dare ask the foot soldiers for their views and opinions. Don't ask the awkward questions and always toe the party line.

They pick a few scapegoats, thinking by rebuking them, closing them down, the centre can hold for the immediate future.

And then the self-importance.

In the weeks and days before the Berlin Wall came tumbling down all the management class could do was call its opponents traitors.

Like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Watching two Americans, an attorney and a bishop

Jacob Blake's lawyer Patrick Salvi spoke clearly and eloquently last evening to reporters.

Jacob Blake was shot in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

According to hie father he has been left paralysed from the waist down.

Every day Bishop J Strickland of Tyler, Texas, tweets pious material, from advising people to examine their conscience before casting their vote to quoting regularly from Fulton Sheen. He writes in a language that at times seems difficult to understand.

It seems the bishop has not said one word on his twitter account about the police shooting of Jacob Blake in the back.

Attorney Salvi speaks a language that seems far more inspirational than that spoken by bishop Strickland.

What exactly does Phil Hogan mean by fulsome?

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

In the days after the Oireachtas golf dinner in Clifden, apologies were swirling around as if they were about to go out of fashion.

I’m always amused with public apologies.

Maybe I have a cynical way of thinking about things but I’m forever asking myself would there be any public apologies if those making them had not been caught? 

Is this another instance of the 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not get caught.

On the Sunday after the golf dinner Phil Hogan made a second apology and in that apology he said: ‘I thus offer this fulsome and profound apology, at this difficult time for all people, as the world as a whole combats Covid-19’.

Ouch, I wonder does Phil know exactly what the word ‘fulsome’ means.

Language is interesting and can prove great fun at times.

I still have a dictionary, which was my mother’s.

It’s The Concise Oxford Dictionary, printed in 1964. The first edition was published in 1911 and my mother’s was the fifth edition.

Under the word ‘fulsome’ is the following meaning: ‘Cloying, excessive, disgusting by excess, (of flattery, servility. Exaggerated affection).

If you take that as the meaning of the word is there not a suggestion of fake contrition? According to the 1964 Oxford definition of the word it seems to mean the complete opposite to the meaning intended by Phil Hogan.

Some days earlier the Taoiseach Micheál Martin also used the word when he was interviewed on the 6.01 RTE News by Catriona Perry. He  used it in a way similar to that of Phil Hogan.

I pulled down my Collins English Dictionary from the bookshelf and checked ‘Fulsome’.

It gives two meanings for the word. The first meaning: ‘Excessive or insincere, esp. in an offensive or distasteful way.’ 

The second meaning: ‘Not standard. Extremely complimentary’.

This is the second edition of the Collins English Dictionary, first published in 2000 and my copy was printed in 2010.

That leaves it all so ambiguous. I think it’s fair to ask the question, which actual meaning did Phil Hogan intend conveying?

Somehow or other I doubt that Phil meant the insincere meaning.

Every time I hear the word being used I ask myself who actually has changed the meaning of the word?

Does it mean that if a large number of influential people start saying that black is white, that in fact after a period of time and usage black actually becomes white?

Out of the mouths of babes…. But words are really amazing.

And especially so this word fulsome and its two meanings, which seems to make it meaningless. Still, is it some sort of paradigm for a greater story? Might it just be that it’s a perfect example in explaining to us that maybe it is true after all that politicians do talk out of both sides of their mouths at the same time?

I’m wondering how the legal people would deal with the meaning of this word? Take it a step further, who decides on the meaning of words. And let’s go another step, who decides on anything?

Maybe the lesson of the day is that we should never be fulsome in our praise of anyone, whichever meaning the word has.

Words and their meanings

Why is everyone using the word algorithm today when before we used formula?

And then there are the two meanings of the word fulsome. One meaning contradicting the other.

It seems the politicians have gone for algorithm and are certainly misusing the word fulsome. If they mean it in its original dictionary, ouch, then they really are mixing things up.

We note in late August ‘It’s getting late early’

Ned Foley's uncle once said to him in late August: 'It’s getting late early’. 

Ned Foley is a 98-old Dominican priest. A gentleman and a scholar. 

Before joining the Dominicans he spent some time working as an engineer with Kerry County Council. Up to the springtime of this year he was operating a lathe in his workshop.

Dr Scally throws cold water on expedient apologies

Dr Gabriel Scally makes a scathing attack on those who attended the Oireachtas golf dinner.

Dr Scally, who is president of the Epidemiology and Public Health section of the Royal Society of Medicine, said that when people of high office resign after a scandal there should be no question of them ever returning to their former jobs or indeed any job in that particular field.

He also said that public figures often make empty apologies and  the apologies are only made because the bad behaviour of the people in question, have been found out and made public.

A valid point.

Those who attended the Oireachtas golfing dinner have perfectly played into the hands of Sinn Féin.

Their behaviour is the oxygen that has given birth to Trumpian politics.

Imagine if they were all sacked and stripped of their State pensions.

But obviously, the Constitution would  prohibit the stripping of pensions. Or would it?

For legal reasons not posting a comment

A reader contributed a comment on yesterday's blogpost. While it is pertinent and makes for interesting reading, there is a possibility that it could be libellous. For that reason it is not being uploaded on this blog.

The Irish Passport service

I applied for a new passport book and card on Tuesday evening. The passport book was delivered by An Post at 08.04 on Thursday morning. The passport card arrived this morning at 08.07.

Once the applicant files the digital form she/he can track the progress of the passport, firstly with the Passport Office and then with An Post.

The price of the passport book is €75. Passport book with passport card costs €100.

Passport book is valid for 10 years. The passport card is valid for five  years travel within the EU, EEA and Switzerland.

An excellent service.

Right-wing opposition to Covid-19 government regulations

Why are right-wing people so opposed to Government guidelines on Covid-19?

Every day columnist David Quinn is early off the blocks expressing critical opinion on Covid regulations.

In the United States Dominican priest Fr Pius Pietrzyk makes snide remarks about Covid-19 regulations as they apply to churches in California.

Another US priest, Fr Thomas Petri writes: "No evidence has emerged to suggest that distribution of Holy Communion in accordance with Thomistic Institute Guidelines has led to Covid transmission."

Difficult to understand the mindset here.

Is the Catholic Church attracting far-right, QAnon-like followers. It seems so. 

It's becoming an uncomfortable place.

Treacherous behaviour by US and UK in Iran

On this day, August 19, 1953 MI6 with the assistance of the CIA, overthrew the legally elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstated the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Mohammad Mosaddegh was a Hume-like politician, who was in the process of leading Iran to a bright and peaceful future.

The United Kingdom and the United States behaved in a despicable manner. Their action was immoral and unjust, and broke all the rules of civilised behaviour.

Their obscene and vile behaviour has played a significant role in what has happened in Iran in the intervening years.

Why have both countries not been called to the United Nations to answer for their illegal behaviour?

And how both countries preach to the rest of the world.

Trying to keep my head above water

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

I’ve been inundated with water problems.

Back in March Irish Water informed me that I was consuming approximately 1,700 litres of water per day. There was a leak in an old lead pipe in my front garden. I availed of their First Fix scheme. Shortly afterwards I encountered more water problems. It took me days to repair a toilet cistern that was leaking.

To cap it all, last week, water started pouring down through the ceiling in my living-room. I knew that the thermostat on the immersion heater in my hot water cylinder was faulty.

I went upstairs to be greeted by a burning smell and a weird sound. I immediately switched off the immersion heater and turned on the hot water tap and out poured boiling water. I knew I was in trouble.

I left the hot water tap on, ran down stairs to be greeted with water pouring down through the ceiling in my living-room. I’s not a pleasant sight or, indeed, site, and for a few seconds I felt completely helpless. It’s interesting how we react when things go wrong.

The first thing to do is to get a large container to catch the falling water. I’m agitated and excited. I have learned over the years that panic never helps because it’s well-nigh impossible to do anything when panic sets in.

I’m reminded of a TV insurance ad where there is a water leak, people freak out and go looking for masking-tape and saying and doing many silly things.

I turn off the main supply of water coming in to the house. Water keeps pouring relentlessly through my ceiling. Eventually I manage to turn off the supply of water to the hot water cylinder. I stand in the living-room looking up at the ceiling, watching the water. 

Ever so slowly I notice the flow of water is easing, it’s down to a trickle, then to single slow drops. An hour later it’s stopped. The relief experienced at that moment is indescribable. It could have been so much worse. Imagine if the leak had happened over a bed or had my laptop been on a table under the leak. And worst of all, had I not been in the house when it happened.

The cause of the damage was a faulty thermostat on the immersion heater. I’m neither an electrician nor a plumber but I’m wondering why the faulty thermostat did not trip a switch on the Miniature Circuit Breaker in the kitchen?

I’ve learned many lessons from the episode. Householders should know where every valve on every pipe is in their home. And they should make themselves familiar with all their functions.

Any hot water cylinder older than 30 years needs to be checked. And certainly don’t do what I did. I knew there was something wrong but kept postponing repairing or replacing it.

On the scale of things my water leak was nothing. 

What must it be like for people who experience serious flooding in their homes and towns?

And finally, there was the issue with my own waterworks, which landed me in hospital recently. 

But you don’t need to know about it. And I’m certainly not telling you.

Otto von Bismarck's apt comment on the United States

God has a special providence for fools, drunkards and the United States of America.

- Otto von Bismarck

An episcopal ruling on one-piece swimsuits

Michael Browne was bishop in Galway from 1937 to 1976.

He forbade the wearing of two-piece swimsuits in his diocese.

On one occasion, walking on a Galway beach with his secretary, he spotted a woman wearing a bikini.

He told his secretary, who was a priest, to approach the woman and tell her the episcopal ruling.

The servile, compliant secretary went up to the  woman and told her that the bishop did not allow woman to wear bikinis in his diocese.

The woman, who spoke with an English accent, told the secretary to ask the bishop which part should she remove.

Clever, funny too.

But on a more serious note, is it any wonder that the Irish Catholic Church is where it is today.

It's a true story and a great one too.

Well done to the woman. A tale of the damage that clerics can do. 

'Have a care for justice, act with integrity'

The 'Thinking Anew' column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

The first reading in tomorrow’s liturgy, written approximately 3,000 years ago, needs to be shouted from the rooftops. It has a spectacular relevance today. The first sentence in the reading from the Prophet Isaiah goes: “Thus says Yahweh: Have a care for justice, act with integrity, for soon my salvation will come and my integrity be manifest.” (Isaiah 56: 1) Most of us crave for justice and when we see injustice we are horrified and greatly upset.

After the ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut last week there was a consensus among the Lebanese population that such a devastating event did not just happen. It is generally believed that the body politic in the country is not what it should be. I have been twice in Lebanon on work assignments and have been impressed with the idealism of the people and the beauty of their capital city. It’s important to remember that Lebanon is home to over 1.5 million Syrian refugees. Sadly corruption weaves its multifaceted web in myriad situations. Seldom if ever is anything in life black and white.

The death of John Hume has reminded us of the work he did in bringing about peace in Ireland. At his funeral Mass in St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry Fr Paul Farren mentioned some of John Hume’s characteristics and his great achievements. The Gospel read at the Mass was the parable of the Good Samaritan and Fr Farren pointed out that John never passed a person in trouble. 

Jesus used parables to advise his listeners on how to behave. I think above all else John Hume would like us to honour his name by being people of justice and peace.

I’m often intrigued when I hear about the controversies that tend to gain ascendancy in different religions and in different Christian faiths. It is striking that social justice and all its aspects seldom seem to cause a stir, especially within religious leaderships. Indeed, it might be fair to say that the churches are generally reticent or slow at times to speak out on matters of social justice.

Recently the archbishop of Portland in the United States, Alexander Sample advised people to stay at home, suggesting that they disengage from the current Black Lives Matter demonstrations.  Catholics taking part in the demonstrations have been critical of his stance. 

Yes, the churches produce fine documents on many aspects of social justice, but I think it’s fair to say that in the general perception of people, church leadership is far more reticent to speak on matters of social justice than say on matters of  sexuality. 

The Catholic church, of which I am a member is better known for its stance on sexual matters  than on social justice. We proclaim loudly that  it is a ‘mortal sin’ to commit adultery. When did you hear a bishop or priest say that it is a ‘mortal sin’ to underpay an employee or to overcharge a tenant, or worse, hound a family out of their home for the sake of getting a more  profitable tenant? 

When did you ever hear of a priest being ‘defrocked’ for not taking the side of the marginalised or those abused and degraded by the powerful and wealthy? Never? Are the churches as forthright  in preaching a gospel of social justice as they are in preaching on sexual morality? We know the answer to that and blaming the media solves nothing. 

During the papacy of John Paul II for any priest to be appointed a bishop he had to tick all the right boxes when it came to his orthodoxy on sexual morality. Seldom if ever would there have been an examination of his attitude on matters of social justice. 

Isn’t it interesting that Pope Francis, who regularly asks pertinent questions about our attitudes towards the terrible inequalities in the world and matters of justice in general, attracts so much  criticism from his own bishops and cardinals? 

However it is impressive to see that a third of the Brazilian bishops in an open letter have criticised the Bolsonaro government. “The cause of the storm is a combination of an unprecedented health crisis and a disastrous collapse of the economy and tension striking the foundations of the Republic, brought about largely by the president, producing a deep crisis of politics and governance.”

A moment of hope?

I’m with Francis in preferring  a church that never stops talking and preaching on matters of social justice.

John Hume is recognised around the world for his work concerning issues of peace and social justice. There is little point in vilifying the body politic in Lebanon or praising John Hume unless we strengthen our resolve to become  people of justice, if we are to be saved, as the Prophet Isaiah bids us in tomorrow’s liturgy.  

Journalist asks Trump if he regrets telling all the lies

 Watching this live was great television.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/14/do-you-regret-all-your-lying-white-house-reporters-question-startles-trump?CMP=share_btn_link

Bishop Pere Casaldáliga - what a man

Wouldn't this story renew one's belief in priesthood.

What a man. No doubt the angels in heaven have received him with open arms.

Isn't this really what priesthood is about. And surely priesthood cannot be about all the mad 'stuff' that seems in fashion at present? All the liturgical paraphernalia, candles, statues, crazy liturgical vestments. And then all the fake holy gestures.

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2020/08/brazilian-bishop-famous-for-clashes-with-john-paul-ii-dies-at-92/

An open letter:

http://rosemarieberger.com/2017/03/24/pedro-casaldaligas-open-letter-brother-romero/

No doubt he and Damian Byrne often met and discussed what was happening in the world and with the people of God.

Trump's insight into the condition of his hair

 Is this for real? Can this really be true? If so, then we are living in a mad world. But, then again, we are.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/12/us-shower-pressure-trump-hair-water?CMP=share_btn_link

How a dog can show up the stupidity of a man

Yesterday in Dublin's Rathgar a young man was walking with his dog. The dog stops to poop. The young man starts shouting at the dog using profanities. He shouts loudly while pulling the dog and demanding that the dog stop pooping.

Its was an insane and vulgar monologue.

The young man has no poop bag and walks off with his dog.

The good dog and the vulgar man.

Who at all do we think we are?

A common trend in Legionaries of Christ and Schönstaat

A story is emerging that Fr Josef Kentenich (1885 - 1968), the founder of the highly influential Schönstatt Movement had been accused by the CDF, the then Holy Office, of abusing his power and of sexual abuse.

The Schönstaat Movement has rejected the research carried out by Alexandra von Teuffenbach, a former professor of theology and church history at the Pontifical Lateran University. 

But a letter written by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith, the then Joseph Ratzinger in 1982 to Fr Ludwig Münz, superior general of the Pallottines, the religious congregation to which Kentenich originally belonged, would seem to support von Teuffenbach's research.

While living in Germany I was familiar with members of the Schönstaat Movement. I found their piousity and an over-indulgence in formal prayer spooky, to say the least. They all looked so pious and 'holy'. 

While living in Rome between 1974 and 1976 I first came across members of the Legionaries of Christ. And also with these young men their 'holiness' was weird. Indeed, it turned out, that they were forbidden to speak with me. I was considered a bad influence.

Today the world knows about their founder Marcial Maciel and what he was up to. He was a drug addict, and a fraudster, who sexually abused minors and vulnerable women. He was also known as a prolific recruiter of seminarians and a powerful fundraiser for the church.

Personally I am scared of any group that puts such concentration into  religious paraphernalia.

There is something unnatural, maybe even sinister with placing emphasis into an excess use of candles and other liturgical items.

That's what people in Schönstaat and the Legionaries of Christ did and maybe still do. And what's dangerous is that it is gaining an unhealthy momentum in a number of dioceses and religious congregations.

If the CDF examined Schönstaat and the Legionaries of Christ, maybe there is need for them to carry out an investigation into current trends across all priestly formation.

Olaf Scholz has been chosen as the SPD's anointed

Germany's Social Democrats have chosen Olaf Scholz to be the SPD's chancellor candidate in next year's German federal elections.

Scholz is currently Germany's finance minister and deputy chancellor. 

According to polls he is Germany's third most popular politician after Angela Merkel and health minister Jens Spahn,

His choice is somewhat of a surprise among SPD members but he is one of the most popular politicians among the electorate.

Scholz was bron in Osnabrück and grew up in Hamburg.

Studied law and is a member of the Bundestag since 1998 and is a former SPD labour minister.

The SPD have a fight on their hands but in the world of Covid he might well be the person for the job.

Good luck.

Horrific tales about dog theft around the country

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

Happy must be four months old. He has a lovely face and gorgeous eyes. He’s small and looks up at you with an adoring smile.

But it’s been a tough few months. When he arrived in their house, he was covered in fleas and was most disruptive.

Matters have greatly improved, the fleas are gone and mum, dad and the three children now adore Happy.

Happy, who is not a purebred, cost over €700. He’s a cross between a King Charles and a Bichon Frise.

When I called last week he barked but I was told it was a friendly bark as he was wagging his tail. Happy is a nice little dog and I have no doubt he brings great joy to the family and he in turn will be well cared for and loved.

The mum of the home told me that when he first arrived he was snapping at everyone. ‘He was an arrogant little fecker. He sees the world as his oyster. I felt he was not a good fit. It was during the lockdown. I had to move from home-schooling the children to looking after him. It added an extra element to the day.

‘But it has all changed now. The first thing the children do when they come down in the morning is say hello to Happy,’ mum smiles.

A dog brings positive energy to a home.

I recall my late father often saying that if people are kind to animals it’s most likely they will be kind to humans. Wise words. Any time I see people being cruel to animals I’m wondering how they behave at home.

Over the last number of weeks it has come to my attention that dog theft is on the increase. It seems that during the lockdown there has been a spike in the number of dog thefts. More and more people have been looking for dogs so that has caused an increase in their value. Isn’t that what capitalism is about, supply and demand? It seems to be how our lives are regulated from birth to death.

There have been some horrendous stories. An 85-year-old man turned to Facebook to see was there any hope he could find his 10-year-old Spaniel, who had been taken from his home.

The man said that the dog was his best friend: ‘He is more than just a dog - he is my reason to get up in the morning.’ 

Isn’t that simply shocking that someone could be as nasty and as mean-minded as to steal an elderly man’s dog? The great news is that the dog was found last week and dog and owner are reunited.

There have been other stories about bitches and litters being stolen. In one case a bitch had her microchip crudely removed before she was thrown on the side of the road. Eventually the owner was reunited with the dog but all the pups were gone.

Gardaí have been warning people about the problem and advising them to be more vigilant in caring for their dogs.

It is now also on the political agenda and there is a call to give more legal status to family pets. That would mean harsher punishment could be meted out to those found guilty of stealing pets.

Yes, human beings are capable of extraordinary goodness but we can also stoop so low. A dog is a great companion and we can learn so much from them.

Oscar Wilde describes the two tragedies in life

The Irish Times of Saturday carried a report about a rare handwritten document of Oscar Wilde selling at auction at Sotheby's in London last week for €50,000.

It was in the form of a questionnaire he completed while studying at Oxford.

It includes the following quip:

There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.

Brilliant.

David Quinn's opposition to EU and Covid-19 regulations

What is it about right-wing Catholics and their opposition to the European Union and critical of medical advice being given about Covid-19.

Almost every day columnist David Quinn is highly critical on his Twitter account of the advice that NPHET gives Government on Covid-19. He is also opposed to the Government's lockdown policy.

In recent days Mr Quinn published Ireland's net annual contribution to the EU budget, which will be approximately €1.5 billion. He says it is five times what it was in 2018. Obviously implying that this is too much.

And what's his problem. Are we not fortunate to be in such a position.

History will show that Germany's finest period was between 1954 and 1990 when it behaved in a most altruistic fashion towards the rest of the world.

Has Mr Quinn a problem with  supporting those less fortunate?

Pedlars in narcissism and pomposity

An American Dominican, Pius Pietrzyk writes on his twitter account:

"Trying to be 'pastoral' without being firmly grounded in doctrine usually ends up just being narcissistic."

Not sure about the logic of that or indeed the accuracy. 

Narcissism is always a danger with management teams. 

The old guard, the leadership of the SED, were the custodians of communist doctrine in the former German Democratic Republic. They were masters in narcissism.

Of course the same happens across all organisations, and in the churches too. 

And right now the ascendancy of  a right-wing zealotry within the hierarchical Catholic Church is creating a great number of narcissists within its priestly ranks.

Is Twitter not the home for narcissists?

Does pomposity not complement narcissism?

It's worth checking out Fr Pietrzyk's most recent tweet, which includes a picture. A powerful example of narcissism and sexism?

Indeed, much of the 'holy stuff' is a veil for narcissism and its purveyors.

Fifty-three years in the Dominican Order gives one that extra sense or ability at spotting spoofery, narcissism and all the other 'stuff' that seems to go hand-in-hand with a conservative brand of priesthood that's dressed up in 'piousity' and pseudo-orthodoxy.

Today is the feast of St Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order. He was born on August 8, 1170 and died on August 6, 1221.

Anthony Morris, who was novice master of the Irish Dominican Province in the 1960s, would say to his novices that all good Dominicans die in their 40s.

Anthony Morris was and is a great man. He was born in 1929.  We all say 'strange/silly things'.

US needs to learn that sanctions don't work against China

This has to be great writing. So simple, easy to read, exciting and interesting and tells the story of China versus the United States of America.

In the 1960s Mao said: “Cut us off? Go ahead – eight years, 10 years, China has everything.” A few years later Mao had nuclear weapons and was not afraid of anyone.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/06/sanctions-china-politics-us-showdown?CMP=share_btn_link

The great evil the US committed 75 years ago today

Today 75 years ago the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. 

Three days later they dropped a second bomb.

The Soviet Union was about to enter the war in Japan. Many historians say that the Japanese were about to surrender ever before the Enola Gay dropped its deadly ordnance.

The United States is the only power that has used a nuclear weapon.

From today's Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/04/hiroshima-atomic-bomb-us-japan-history?CMP=share_btn_link

Who at all do we think we are?

This quote from Stephen Hawking must put matters in perspective for people.

Who at all do we think we are? And all the 'little women and men' with their airs and graces. God love us.

The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate size planet orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies.

John Hume - a man who never passed a person in trouble

Fr John Farren preached a powerful and inspiring sermon at the funeral Mass of John Hume in the Cathedral of St Eugene in Derry this morning.

He spoke about the man, who won the Nobel Prize for Peace, the International Gandhi Peace Prize and the Martin Luther King Peace Award, who always came to the cathedral in Derry to pray for peace and find peace.

Fr Farren acknowledged how the world had recognised that John Hume was a man of peace.

John Hume advises that you can't eat a flag

A quote from John Hume: “You can’t eat a flag."

How history repeats itself. US President Donald Trump might take some time out to study the life and times of the late John Hume.

The link below is an obituary on John Hume, which appeared in yesterday's Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/aug/03/john-hume-obituary?CMP=share_btn_link

The great mystery of life and death

Death is shocking. Covid-19 has added a new layer of cruelty to death.

Every day we see and read about Covid-19 restrictions at funerals. Most times it happens someone else, a person we don’t know.

Two weeks ago a friend, whom I have known for over 20 years, died. She was a lady to her fingertips. She had the grace, fortitude and wisdom to put up with me. That tells you something about the woman she was.

She was 85 and when I first got to know her she was younger than I am now. And that is something that has caused me to pause and think, to think about life and death.

I am fit and healthy thank God but over the last five weeks I was a patient in three hospitals, had surgery and a number of tests.

Anyone who is a regular reader of this column will know that I am a hospital chaplain.

For myriad reasons I have been thinking these last weeks about life and death and all that happens in between. It’s four years since I began my current job as a hospital chaplain. It has been the privilege of a lifetime to journey with people who are ill. It has been a life-enhancing and indeed a life-changing experience. I imagine it is inevitable that it has reorientated or changed the focus on how I see this life of ours.

 

A 98-year-old man said to me that our perception of the world depends on the glasses we wear. A wise comment. A little child sees the world totally different from my 98-year-old friend. I’m seeing life now differently from when I was in my 20s or 30s. 

My own recent health issues gave me a new insight into my job.

No matter how kind and caring we are, we can never fully appreciate or understand what’s going on in another person’s mind, soul and body. But one thing is certain, the kinder, the more helpful, the more understanding we are to people, especially the sick and dying, the more we are making their journey less unbearable.

Then the big question: what’s life all about? It’s a discussion I often have with a friend of mine. He is a man who has a great sense of humour and certainly can make me laugh even in dark moments. When I ask him what life is about he smiles and says: ‘We live and then we die’. It’s not really an answer but it does throw a certain perspective on this great mystery.

When we think of all the things we get excited about, the issues we worry over, the times we spend preparing ourselves, the energy involved in collecting. And then we die.

The English Conservative politician Enoch Powell said that all politics ends in failure. Might one add that life ends in failure?

One of the church’s great theologians, Thomas Aquinas, on his deathbed said that all he had written was mere straw.

Is belief in God pie in the sky, a clever scam to massage our fear about dying and death?

Dare I admit it, but I spend my life doubting, doubting about everything but as I write this column I am going to say I believe in resurrection and I’ll quickly say that I don’t believe that my mother and father have been annihilated. Nor do I believe that my friend, whose funeral Mass I celebrated two weeks ago, is annihilated.

I’ll leave it at that for now.

 

John Hume has died

Ireland is a far poorer place this day.

The great John Hume has died.

Bishop Barron, AOC and the statue

The world seems to be living in extraordinary times. It’s as if we are all shouting at one another.

Would it not have been better and kinder for Bishop Barron to have contacted AOC privately and explained to her about the statue?

It might also have given him an opportunity to dialogue with her in a friendly and courteous manner.

Megaphone conversations are not the best way to dialogue, but especially so in these fraught times in which we are living.

 https://t.co/Wj92fPBxbs

https://twitter.com/BishopBarron/status/1289325684796481536?s=20

Many households build up savings during lockdown

According to a report in The Irish Times yesterday bank deposits rose to €5.3 billion between April and the end of June. During the same period last year bank deposits stood at €2 billion

Central Bank figures show that some households were able to save  money.

Because of the lockdown there was a substantial drop in consumer spending, while at the same time the Government's wage support scheme helped keep incomes for many households at or close to pre-Covid levels.

Is there need for eir to do a solo run?

Eir are currently laying a fibre optic cable in an estate in Dublin 14.

There is at present a Virgin Media fibre optic cable on the road.

The new eir cable is underground, whereas the Virgin Media cable is strung along the eaves of the houses and hence not at all as good a job as the eir cable.

But would it not have been a cheaper operation had eir piggybacked on the Virgin Media cable?

Isn't that what happens with out electricity infrastructure?