100 Protesters Disrupt Sunday Mass

Mexico's sore loser in the previous Presidential election, Obrador (below) has sent his supporters to desecrate the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City and interrupt a Mass. The hooliganish thugs overturned barriers and pews and threatened parishioners and priests. The leftist loser Obrador is another one of those anti-Church closet communists whose near election was a close shave for sane people everywhere.

Obrador, a sore loser, but a loser nonetheless. See the snake on his head?

Perhaps a little Lady should do something about it? =)

Mexico City's Cathedral Closed

100 Protesters Disrupt Sunday Mass

MEXICO CITY, NOV. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The cathedral of Mexico City closed its doors last weekend, after more than 100 political protesters disrupted Sunday Mass.

Leftist thugs behaving like animals in God's house.

The decision was announced the same day by Armando Martínez, the president of the College of the Catholic Lawyers of Mexico, who said that the cathedral will not open again until the government can guarantee the security of the faithful and priests.

During the midday Mass at the cathedral Sunday, a group of members of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) interrupted the liturgy chanting slogans supporting Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the 2006 presidential candidate who lost by a slim margin to Felipe Calderón. López Obrador contested the results, raising allegations of electoral fraud, and proclaimed himself the "legitimate president" of Mexico.

The protesters also threatened the faithful, the priests and Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, archbishop of Mexico City, who was in Rome on Sunday.

"These are acts of aggression that we should not allow," said Martínez, who said the main concern is for the safety of the faithful present in the cathedral, as well as the cardinal, bishops and priests.

The demonstrators said they were provoked by church bells that chimed for an unusually long time, disrupting a rally in the central Zocolo square at which López Obrador was speaking. The dean of the cathedral, Rubén Ávila, told the newspaper El Universal that the bells rang for the normal time for a Sunday Mass.

In a statement released by Hugo Valdemar Romero, director of communication for the Archdiocese of Mexico, he called the event a "condemnable and cowardly act of terror, unequivocal expression of religious intolerance and of the hatred toward the Catholic Church."

Tell us something we don't know...

Cardinal Dziwisz: John Paul II Lived Like a Saint

Prelate and George Weigel Receive Honorary Degrees

BARCELONA, Spain, NOV. 15, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz said working with Pope John Paul II was a tremendous grace, because the Pontiff lived like a saint.

The cardinal, who is now archbishop of Krakow, and author George Weigel both received an honorary doctorate from the University Abat Oliba CEU in Barcelona on Wednesday.

At a press conference before the ceremony, both spoke of their relationship with John Paul II. Cardinal Dziwisz was John Paul II's personal secretary for 39 years. And Weigel wrote a well-known biography of the Polish Pope, called "Witness to Hope."
Cardinal Dziwisz said, "For me, it was a tremendous grace to work at his side. He lived like a saint, because the man became holy during all of his life."

The cardinal explained that John Paul II said he received his assassination attempt as a grace, because the Church needed it that way.

The cardinal also affirmed that even as a youth, Karol Wojtyla prayed prostrate on the floor with his arms in the form of the cross.

Regarding the Pope's social teaching, Cardinal Dziwisz recalled that John Paul II received a lot of criticism, but always tried to stay firm, independent of political conditions.
Weigel mentioned his appreciation for Cardinal Dziwisz's work as the Pope's secretary, noting the cardinal's "great spiritual life" and affirming that he "tried not to shut doors, but rather to open them."

Too many cooks...

One might be forgiven for mistaking the chef in the center as a bishop with his mitre rotated, but these photos actually show Pope Benedict XVI with a group from the Italian cooks association as he arrives to lead his weekly general audience in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican November 14, 2007.

B**ches

No, not female dogs, but of the sunny sand and surf variety. But some people can't seem to tell the difference. This post is a tribute to stupid censors.

I was watching a movie yesterday on General Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day. Throughout the movie, plans of the invasion were discussed and beaches and beachheads were mentioned. But each time the words came up, the censors went into action and cut off the sound. I was stunned at their stupidity and even more stunned at their lack of comprehension.

Such stupidity is an indictment of the degree of proficiency in the English language possessed by our censors. One would expect a censor to have at least minimally functioning English to be considered for the job, but apparently, in Malaysia, that’s too much to ask for. Malaysia, like Singapore, as a former British colony has always boasted a high degree of proficiency in the English language. Much of that originates from the sound system of education bequeathed to us by the British, the backbone of which are the various missionary schools.

I myself am a product of that education, having studied in the Penang Free School (above), founded in 1816 as the first English school in South East Asia in the tradition of the great British public schools and for many years one of the most prominent.The Penang Free School numbers amongst its alumni many royals, including 2 Kings of Malaysia (since 1957), the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, the famous plague fighter Dr. Wu Lien-Teh and numerous other personalities and personages of note including many many winners of the prestigious Queen’s Scholarships during the long reign of Queen Victoria. In my time, the proud traditions of excellence were still maintained and cultivated.

The first Penang Free School building, now housing the State Museum

But that inheritance has been chipped away with the nationalists promoting Malay (from the ruling party, right) at the expense of English. Attempts to restore that proficiency, after realizing the implications, has so far been a failure as the teachers themselves have lost the ability to teach and communicate effectively in the language due to years to neglect. That’s sad and worrying because one of the factors of the nation’s rapid progress and development and its ability to attract foreign investors had been the general proficiency in English. With Thailand, China and India now offering cheaper skilled labour, our hard earned advantage should not be so lightly surrendered to pander to racist politics such as those promoted by the ruling party.

Stupid, inept censors is just another symptom of that deeply entrenched malaise.

Hishamuddin Tun Hussein, the Hon' Minister of Education and the keris (Malay dagger) he wants to bathe in our (non-Malay) blood.

Clustrmaps

Astute and observant readers may have noticed that the Clustrmap on my sidebar which shows the locations of the visitors to this blog has changed from the big red splotch below:

To this rather sanitized version.

Apparently, the map was updated and archived and this happens yearly. I really need to read the fine print =)

The old map showed me where my visitors came from and I was very pleased to note the diverse origins of my blog readers who came from almost every continent (except the Arctic and Antarctic regions.... do they even have the internet there?). Aside from readers fromthe United Kingdom and America, over the past year, I've had many European readers as well as a smattering of visitors from South America and Africa.

Yup, each and every one of those dots is a reader... I'm humbled and amazed.


To all those who had visited and have made your mark as it were, pardon the pun, thank you so much! But as you can see, the new map is rather sparsely dotted so let's light up this baby again this year =)


PS
And while you're at it, do remember to vote =)
Thanks.

If you'd like to vote for me, please click on the Blogger's Choice Awards button above.

Some local news

From The Star

Holy day: Bishop Antony cutting a cake to commemorate the celebration. With him are Holy Communion and Confirmation candidates.

THE parishioners of St Michael’s Church in Alor Star had three reasons to celebrate recently.

They celebrated the feast of St Michael the Archangel, Holy Communion as well as Confirmation. Preparation for the parish feast day began with novenas and masses for nine days.

Parish priest Father Jude Miranda said the novenas had a theme for each day – family, vocations, area groups, married couples, youth, peace, the sick, priesthood, country and community.

They were preached by eight invited priests.

A total of 24 candidates from churches in the northern region received Holy Communion and Confirmation.

Bishop Antony Selvanayagam, together with Father Francis Xavier from Nibong Tebal, Father Fredrick Joseph (Chapel of Kristus Cahaya), Father Mitchel Anthony (Jesus Caritas) and Father Jude, celebrated the Feast Day Mass.

The Duck & the Devil . . .

Ok, let me tell you a little story I heard some time ago. There was once a little boy named Johnny who was visiting his grandparents on their farm.

Little Johhny was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target. He tried and tried, but never got close, so getting a little discouraged, he headed back home for dinner.

As he was walking back, he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it.

He was shocked and grieved!


In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching!



Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes."

But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen."

Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?"

So Johnny did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing, and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper."

Sally just smiled and said, "Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help."

She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's, he finally c ouldn't stand it any longer.

He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you."


Thought for the day and every day hereafter . . .

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done
. . . And the devil keeps throwing it up in your face . . . (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) . . .

Whatever it is, you need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing.

He has seen your whole life.

He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven.

He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.

The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but He forgets.

Remember, the image that we have of the God is the Father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, not the elder brother.

So, go to Confession today!