The motion in the House of Commons to disestablish the Church of England just happens to be numbered 666.

From Times Online

January 10, 2008

Commons call to disestablish church is number 666

Ruth Gledhill Religion Correspondent of The Times

A motion calling for the disestablishment of the Church of England has been listed in the House of Commons as 666 - the Number of the Beast.

Labour MP John Austin, who has repeatedly tabled Early Day Motions urging disestablishment, put down his latest motion last night as MPs debated scrapping Britain's blasphemy laws.

It appeared appeared on the House of Commons order paper numbered 666, the number associated with the Antichrist in the Book of Revelation. Scholars believe 666 referred to the Emperor Nero.

The King James Bible renders Revelation 13:8 as: "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester and one of the signatories, said: “It is is incredible that a motion like this should have, by chance, acquired this significant number.

“This number is supposed to be the mark of the Devil. It looks as though God or the Devil have been moving in mysterious ways.

“What is even stranger is that this motion was tabled last night when MPs were debating blasphemy.”

The motion is unlikely to be debated. But momentum for looser ties between Church and State is growing, as the support for the repeal of the blasphemy law illustrates. The blasphemy law favours Christianity and in particular the Church of England.

Although the attempt by Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris to amend the Criminal Justice Bill was unsuccessful, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown has disclosed that he is consulting with the churches about its repeal.

Spotted this baldachin (permanent altar canopy) on the New Liturgical Movement.

Here's one of "those" stories about Communion in the hand.

One of these last Sundays (June 21 or 28, 1970), at the seven o'clock parish Mass, in the Beauceville Church (P.Q., Canada), the parish priest Charles-Eugene Houde (about 50 years old) was celebrant. He had already told his parishioners that they were permitted to receive the Sacred Host in their hands, according to the directives given by the Archbishopric of Quebec. This day, before the Mass, he told his parishioners the following: "Henceforth, to avoid complications, everyone of you will receive the Host in your hand for Communion . . . "

At the moment of the Communion of the Mass, Reverend Houde turned to the people, holding the ciborium in his hand. Before he had time to take one single Host and make a single step, about fifty consecrated Hosts flew out of the ciborium by Themselves, They went up in the air, and dispersed Themselves around the celebrant, then slowly fell to the ground . . .

Father Houde was so much struck by the prodigy that for a few minutes he remained motionless having his face white. Then, interiorly inspired, he said to the faithful who were approaching the Holy table: "Henceforth, all of you will receive the Sacred Host on your tongue, not in your hand, because God just gave us a sign."

. . . Back at his presbytery he is reported having said: "Never in my life will I give Holy Communion in the hand."

A painting by Rubens of St. George putting some serious smackdown on the dragon:




St. George, the patron saint of England, was historically a Roman soldier who rose from tribune, then count, to a member of Emperor Diolcetian's personal bodyguard, i.e. the Praetorian Guard. However, when Diolcetian launched the last great persecution of Christianity, George was ordered to carry it out. He revealed that he was a Christian himself, and was put to death.

The story of George and the dragon comes from tales that the Crusaders brought from the east. According to one form of the story, a dragon made its nest by the spring of a town in Libya. The villagers relied on this spring for their water, but in order to get the dragon to move, they had to offer a sheep as sacrifice. When no sheep are available, the peasants offer a maiden instead, chosen by lots. One day, the chosen maiden happens to be the king's daughter. As the princess is offered to the dragon, a young soldier in his travels, St. George, protects himself with the sign of the cross and then rides into battle. He slays the dragon, rescues the princess, and the whole town converts to Christianity out of gratitude.

The story sounds a bit incredulous, I know, but if you read the dragon as a symbol of, say, Greco-Roman paganism..... it makes much more sense.

Seeing that dating websites are, for the most part, a cosmic waste of time, I've decided to create an easy-to-use Girlfriend Application for potential suitresses. If you're interested in this promising and profitable career, simply cut and paste this form into an email and type away! Then submit to ViscountGryphon AT yahoo DOT com. Don't forget to attach your best pictures. The form may be updated as my needs require. Thank you, and good luck!

A link to my Myspace may be of use in your discernment.

Lord James in his feet-sweeping attire

Lord James as drawn by the court artist during his trial on charges of excessive attractiveness



Lord James's Official Girlfriend Application, Version 1.0

Full Name:
Preferred nickname, if any:
City of residence:
Age:
Height:
Weight (may round to the lowest ten):
Hair color/eye color:


Contact Information

Email:
Instant Messenger service and screen name:
The inevitable Myspace and/or Facebook account:
Phone (optional):


Your Living Habits

Note: Under Lord James's non-discrimination policy, no answer will automatically disqualify you from eligibility.

1.) Do you smoke? If so, how often?
Do you drink? If so, how often?
Do you use illegal substances? (yes, that includes Mary-Jane)

2.) What is your current occupation?

3.) What is your living situation?

4.) Do you drive? If so, what vehicle?

5.) Highest level of education completed:

6.) Do you have any children? If so, how many and how involved are you in their lives? (read: this is where you brag about your parenting skills and hopefully not the lack thereof)

7.) Do you have a criminal record? If yes, what's on it, and do you have any cool stories to share? Do you possess an axe?


Your Interests and Hobbies

Lord James is very interested in what you have to say here, so by all means, feel free to splurge on the word count here.

1.) List your top three favorite movies with a brief explanation of why for each:

2.) What is a favorite movie quote of yours? (Research on iMDB is allowed here)

3.) Do you enjoy video games or PC games? If so, list three favorites.

4.) Do you enjoy tabletop RPG's (e.g. Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire: The Requiem, GURPS)?

5.) Do you like sports? Which ones?

6.) Are you a writer and/or artist? If so, feel free to attach any of your works which are worthy of viewing.

7.) What is your favorite food?

8.) What is your sense of fashion style?

9.) If you could invent or build any one thing, what would it be?

10.) List up to three talents or abilities you have which you think may be useful for performing the job you are applying for.


Your Beliefs

1.) What is your religious and/or spiritual persuasion? Feel free to describe them in one paragraph.

2.) What is your political persuasion? As above, feel free to describe them in one paragraph.


Short Essay

1.) Please describe your idea of the perfect date.

2.) Why are you filling out this application? i.e. why are you interested in a relationship with Lord James?

3.) Are you a princess? Why or why not?


Relationship History

Please fill in the details of your last three relationships, beginning with the most recent.

Boyfriend's name:
Start date:
End date:
Reason for breakup:
Circle one: Dumper dumpee

Boyfriend's name:
Start date:
End date:
Reason for breakup:
Circle one: Dumper dumpee

Boyfriend's name:
Start date:
End date:
Reason for breakup:
Circle one: Dumper dumpee


References

Provide three references and their contact information. Attractive female friends recommended!


Certification

I hereby certify that the information given in this application is true to the best of my knowledge and that give unto Thine Excellent Majestie (you) the authorization to verify it. I also understand that filling out this application does not guarantee that I will receive the position.


Applicant's Signature:
Date:


Please submit this application to ViscountGryphon AT yahoo DOT com. Thank you for applying.

I know summer has arrived when I can see two good movies in the same week.

First, I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on its midnight premiere with all the fanboys and fangirls. I was a bit skeptical of its ability to recreate the feeling of the other three, but I came out satisfied. Harrison Ford is still kicking Nazi (or rather, Communist this time) butt at his advanced age. In fact, I believe he's done more stuntwork by himself in the making of this film than in the others. I was also suspicious of Shia LeBouf's character, Mutt Williams, being overly annoying. Thankfully, it turns out he's not so bad, and he's actually integral to the plot.







I also saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I'm ashamed to admit that I've neither seen the first movie nor read any of the books by C.S. Lewis (despite having read his Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters) so I had almost no idea what was going on, plotwise. Nevertheless, it was excellent and met my desires for epicness this week. I don't know why, but I never get tired of watching CGI armies marching in formation to certain death.

A few things I learned from this movie:

1.) This series must have an insane amount of blatant Christian symbolism. That's not a complaint in any way, because it's good; just an observation. Lots of similarities between Peter Pevensie and St. Peter, for example, as leaders. Aslan as a Christ figure was very obvious, but I did some further inquiry and found that Lewis intended for Aslan to not be an allegory of Christ in the strict sense, but rather an imagining of what Christ would incarnate Himself as if He were in a fantasy world of talking animals (like Narnia).

2.) Usurpers to the throne are irritating, and even blasphemous to some degree. Lewis was surely a monarchist. Of course, this film is all about restoring a prince to his rightful place as king.

3.) Anna Popplewell is a cutie. She plays as Susan Pevensie in the film series.

Judging by these pics from the New Liturgical Movement, it looks like the feast of Corpus Christi in Rome was, just like my street's name, Fabulous.

Some step-by-step instructions on how to build your own all-in-one PC like you see in the pics below:



It even has curtains like a stage:

I knew I should have stayed in town this weekend. Not only did I miss my church's Brass FX concert, I also missed the Corpus Christi outdoor procession and benediction. Father Phillips's report on the events, with pictures.

More pictures on this link.

According to W. Shakespeare's play Henry V, the King, having defeated the French at Agincourt, makes this declaration:

"Do we all holy rites;
Let there be sung 'Non nobis' and 'Te Deum;'
The dead with charity enclosed in clay:
And then to Calais; and to England then:
Where ne'er from France arrived more happy men."

A clip from Kenneth Branagh's version:



For Trinity Sunday, the schola at today's Mass sang the Gregorian setting of Te Deum, the classic hymn of praise which, according to tradition, was composed by St. Ambrose for the occasion of baptizing St. Augustine. For the postlude/recessional, our organist played a magnificent anthem based on the Te Deum by Jean Langlais. Ah, I found a free mp3 here.

The following video features the Te Deum sung for an FSSP priest's first Mass:



Looking at the text, one can see how it was inspired and expanded from the Gloria.

Last Friday, my good friend Pablo informed me that a friend of his was coming to San Antonio for the weekend and that I should drive them around to show the newcomer around town and entertain him for a night. So I did.

To be honest, I thought this guy was going to boring as hell and that I would force Pablo to make me forget about the whole thing by drowning myself in a pit of American federal reserve notes.... but to my pleasant surprise, the guy was great. Actually, scratch that: he was a dandy, and I'd be more worried about whether I was interesting enough for him. His name is Michael Mattis, and he runs a column on Dandyism.net called "The Sophistocrat". We met up at a hotel downtown, walked along the Riverwalk for a bit, then retreated to a hookah cafe on the other side of town to chemically reduce our lifespans and tell ridiculous stories/jokes over the sound of funky Arabic pop music.


All in all, it was a pretty good night to burn gas and walk around in unnecessarily dressy clothing.

When I grow up, I want to marry Tarja Turunen. Too bad she's already taken.

These past few weeks have seen what seems to be a growing trend of cardinals and other bishops laying some long overdue smackdown on various issues and people in the Catholic Church. A small smorgasbord of some of those events:


Statement of Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, against Rudolph Giuliani's receiving Communion at the papal Mass in New York City. Cardinal Egan was, of course, the man who orchestrated Pope Benedict's visit to NYC and escorted him the entire way. The statement reads:

“The Catholic Church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God. Throughout my years as Archbishop of New York, I have repeated this teaching in sermons, articles, addresses, and interviews without hesitation or compromise of any kind. Thus it was that I had an understanding with Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, when I became Archbishop of New York and he was serving as Mayor of New York, that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion. I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the Papal visit here in New York, and I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding.”

Cardinal Cipriani, archbishop of Lima, Peru, bans Communion in the hand. That link'll direct you to an interview with the good cardinal, posted on WDTPRS.


Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council of Christian Unity, tells Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury that Anglicans must choose between Protestantism and tradition. This is referring to the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent visit to Pope Benedict in Rome, which Father Phillips mentions here.

In the cardinal's words:

"Ultimately, it is a question of the identity of the Anglican Church. Where does it belong? Does it belong more to the churches of the first millennium -Catholic and Orthodox - or does it belong more to the Protestant churches of the 16th century? At the moment it is somewhere in between, but it must clarify its identity now and that will not be possible without certain difficult decisions."

Archbishop Naumann of Kansas City bars governor of Kansas from Communion. The issue, of course, is that the governor is pro-abortion. The article states:

The governor will be welcomed back to Communion, the archbishop wrote, if she acknowledges her error, goes to Confession, and makes "a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion."

Here's an article about singer Amy Winehouse's conversion from Judaism to Catholicism. Score another victory for..... wanton popery! She still looks gross to me, though. Apparently, no amount of holy water can fix that.

Three awesome movies:

First, the instructional video for the Tridentine Latin Mass produced by the FSSP and EWTN. Words do not describe how professional this video is. It includes a step-by-step commentary of the rubrics, another commentary about the spiritual aspects of the prayers and gestures, and the ability to watch the entire low Mass and switch between four different camera angles at any time. It even has a preface video by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos. It's free for priests and seminarians, and for the rest of us, it's on sale for $20 at a special pre-order price at this site.



Next, I wanted to recommend The Forbidden Kingdom, still in theaters. This film stars the two greatest living legends of Chinese martial arts movies, Jet Li and Jackie Chan, working together for the first time. The storyline is about a kid from Boston who finds a mythical staff and is transported to an ancient China based and embellished by myth, with the quest to return that staff to its rightful owner. It draws very heavily from Chinese myth with characters such as Sun Wukong (the Monkey King), Lu Yan (the Drunken Immortal), and the Jade Emperor.




Bingbing Li is a hottie in that one. She plays as the evil witch.




Finally, I have to recommend Iron Man, which very recently came out in theaters. It's one of the best comic-to-movie adaptations I've ever seen. Robert Downey, Jr. steals the show with his perfect and always-engaging portrayal of Tony Stark/Iron Man. My only complaint is that the villains in this one suck. No one cares about Obadiah Stane and lowlife thugs from Afghanistan. Hopefully the Mandarin appears in the sequel.

Autumn Kelly, the soon-to-be bride of Peter Phillips, renounced Catholicism and joined the Church of England so that she and her future husband would not be barred from the throne. The 1701 Act of Settlement prevents papists and those married to papists from becoming King or Queen of the United Kingdom.


The funny thing is..... Phillips is 11th in line to the throne! He doesn't even have a royal or noble title of any kind, i.e. he is legally a commoner. Alas, the words of St. Thomas More to Richard Rich in A Man for All Seasons comes to mind: "Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world ... but for Wales!"



In other news, apparently Pope Benedict was not included in TIME Magazine's list of 100 most influential people, despite it being issued after His Holiness's visit to the United States and despite the fact that two other religious leaders (the Dalai Lama and Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople) both appear there. How those two guys got a 1-up on the Pope is beyond me, unless Benedict was excluded on purpose. That is the most likely explanation.

Some photos, courtesy of the New Liturgical Movement, of the Holy Father opening the month of May by praying the Rosary all in Latin. It's at St. Mary Major, the highest-ranking church dedicated to Mary. There's a splendid papal throne and an equally splendid papal Easter stole. As I understand it, if the Ascension falls in or near the month of May, the Saturday that follows it is celebrated as the feast of Mary, Queen of the Apostles. It's meant to remember the time that the Apostles spent praying with Mary until the arrival of Pentecost.

My parish opened May with the "May crowning" of Mary's statue in the Lady Chapel. In medieval times, the month of May was associated with the blossoming of flowers and the approaching summer.