Filum Romanum - A Thread for the Catholic Church

The RCC had a bad habit of only letting the high born get the promotions... It's the same kind of absurdity you saw in militaries where you bought your commission.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

There's actually a fairly straight forward reason for that. The early Christian church often encouraged willing property to the church for wealthy members of the congregation (you occasionally run in to theories that Diocletian's Persecution was at least partly inspired to get some of the properties held by the Church back on the tax rolls). As a result certain church offices commanded power equal to the great feudal landholders, right up to the Pope as the ruler of the Papal states.

And this isn't even counting the fact that when members of the nobility entered the clergy, their noble titles could become attached to church positions. This is something that persists to this very day with the Bishop of Urgell being one of the Princes of Andorra.

There was probably a feedback loop there as well, the Church's acquisition of lands driving a push to where the top positions were given to those of a higher social status for when interacting with their secular "peers".

I'm two days late, but Dom Justo Takayama "The Holy Samurai" finally became a Blessed in a ceremony in Japan in 7 of February. The entire ceremony is on Youtube (The English translation's english is very hard to pierce, however) His apparent patronage (though I can find no source for this) is Japanese immigrants and persecuted Christians. Lost a good opportunity there to make him patron saint of swordsmen.

But the point is Samurai Saint.

Get hype.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."

Well, he's not quite a saint yet (canonization is the level after beatification that recognizes one as a saint), but he'll get there. So yeah, get hype indeed.

As for patron saints of swordsmen, while there isn't one who was specifically assigned, there have been local/folk cases that portray S. Paul, S. Peter, S. George and/or S. Michel (the latter was recognized as so by the French guilds of fencing) as one.

edited 9th Feb '17 6:33:13 AM by Quag15

I'm aware he's not quite a Saint yet, but that's why I said get hype. He'll get there I'm sure of it. Even if I have to become Pope to canonize him.

Also, interesting that info on patron saints of swordsmen. St. Michael seems like the most valid one, striking down Satan with a fiery blade and whatnot.

edited 9th Feb '17 6:38:42 AM by Gaon

"All you Fascists bound to lose."

But Michael is an Angel. An Archangel, for crying out loud. How does an immortal non-human qualify for sainthood?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Basically, while Archangel Michael is often called Saint Michael, the title does not indicate that a canonization took place. In other words, humans have to go through the various steps in order to be considered/acknowledged as saints (there are 4 levels, of which canonization is the last). Non-human entities such as the archangels were automatically called Saints (probably a long, long time ago).

I assume that non-human entities that are called saints are so because of praying and liturgical traditions (such as the formal prayer that is the Litany of the Saints, which names the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael).

edited 9th Feb '17 7:09:37 AM by Quag15

For once in his life, Pope Francis says something silly. And it's adorable.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

I kinda see the point, though. Texting at the dinner table is rude.

Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.

My parents do it the most.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

He just said something a lot more interesting: Pope suggests it's better to be an atheist than a bad Christian

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."

To clarify, he said that a hypocritical Christian is not a real Christian and that he doesn't want crooks in his Church. He's taking aim at corrupt businessmen who donate to the Church, in particular.

It's an extension of his statements when he excommunicated the Mafia.

I despise hypocrisy, unless of course it is my own.

That is very ballsy and awesome of him. Respect.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

I confess that I laughed at this one.◊

In another topic, Lent! Who's participating? I'm not Catholic, but I'm going to anyway.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Sadly, I'm still too lapsed to have the resolve to do it in full. I hope I'll do it properly someday^note until the age of 18, I was partially exempt from most of it due to being a minor and to not having the amount of weight average kids and teenagers have, hence my parents only had to make fish on Fridays and Ash Wednesday for me - they still do, and I live with them; and, during my college years, I was basically an agnostic.

---

Good luck with your Lent and may the Lord bless you and keep you.

edited 6th Mar '17 7:54:37 AM by Quag15

The wife has given up coke and sugar. The rest of us are hiding in the basement.

edited 6th Mar '17 9:04:23 PM by DeMarquis

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."

Gave up on midnight snacks as my sacrifice if I make a meat-related mistake. Recently, I used midnight snacks as breakfast.

Gave up Twitter. At first I worried that it was kind of an inane sacrifice to make ... but so far, the withdrawal pangs of doing without it suggest that I did the right thing.

"She was the kind of dame they write similes about." —Pterodactyl Jones

Your limited and targeted Ramadan is adorable, and I mean that in the nicest way. I especially like how you take the initiative of detecting your vices and addictions and going after them head on.

Although killing a bad habit normally takes ninety days, not thirty, so I'd suggest tripling the length of your efforts if you want them to bear sustainable fruit.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

But then what would we give up next year?

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."

What if an alcoholic goes teetotaler for that period of time or more than that and suddenly ends up drinking again (you know, in large doses)?

I'm pretty sure most people have different periods of habit-killing/recovery time, which can range from a few weeks to... years. Then, there's personality factors going in, social-economic conditions, and many, many other complex variables... so, killing a vice (or even a simple habit) is quite far from being an easy thing.

edited 7th Mar '17 12:51:10 PM by Quag15

And some addicts really, really shouldn't quit cold turkey. Withdrawal can be worse than the drug.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

I should know. Do you know how many times I tried to quit TVT?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

CNN is reporting that the Pope has said he's open to married men becoming clergy as a way to address the declining number of clergy.

Francis seems to be putting a lot of liberal ideas out there, while I doubt they will be implemented soon he's probably laying the groundwork for a future pope to bring about a lot of reforms.

edited 10th Mar '17 6:30:20 AM by Silasw

"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran

I'm not sure about taking away the celibacy rule here. Disagree with Francis on that one.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."