Cardinal George Pell spoke at San Francisco’s Star of the Sea church for 34 minutes on December 8.
A few excerpts:
“Matthew Arnold in 1868 wrote “Dover Beach.” about the departure of faith….. We Catholics are here to stay. We are not going away….
“The best commentators on faith and morals have been in this country…. Previously there were great Catholic writers in England – Belloc, Chesterton, Tolkien. There were great writers on the continent. Especially at the time of the Council. They’ve all gone except for Joseph Ratzinger, our much loved Pope Benedict.
“So here in the United States we’ve got writers like George Weigel, Father Raymond D’Souza from Canada, Ross Douhat from the New York Times, Rod Dreher with his Benedict Option, and perhaps the most perceptive of them all, Mary Eberstadt. I recommend her book Adam and Eve after the Pill.
I want to cite her address to social scientists in September, “The Cross amid the Chaos…”
“We must be faithful to the Apostolic tradition of the Catholic faith. We are not the masters of the tradition. There are no back flips…. Look at Holland and Belgium and Quebec….
“After 400+ days in jail I came to believe in the value of redemptive suffering.”
“Chaos is the result of the secularist-wreckers – a tribal fretful void, regularly frightened. The fears of Covid and global warming prey especially on the young.
“One spectacular example from Japan. 43 percent of women and 23 percent of men 18-24 are no longer interested in sexual contact. They’ve been de-sensitized by pornography. A problem not just for Christians. As with the Manicheans and Albigensians the Church will need to show the value of sexual activity in marriage….”
After the cardinal’s talk, he took questions for over 20 minutes and ended with an anecdote about the English converts, Lord and Lady Longford, who were the parents of Reformation historian Antonia Fraser.
“Lady Lockford, one of the reporters said to her, you’re a Catholic. You’ve been married many years to your husband. Yes. Have you ever thought of divorce? And Lacy Lockford said no, never. But I’ve often thought of murder.”
Just ordered two books from Mary Eberstadt. She seems a clear illuminating prophetic voice in these dark and murky times. So thanks Cardinal Pell. You’ve earned the right to be heard as few have.
She is.
Read the Bible and the Catechism. Read the writings of the saints. Read the papal documents.
“Read the Bible and the Catechism. Read the writings of the saints. Read the papal documents.” And not Mary Eberstadt?!?
If you read the Bible and the Catechism, the writings of the saints and papal documents you will be reading things of eternal and infinite value.
I have never read her books. I cannot comment on them.
cd– Mary Eberstadt is an outstanding devout, conservative, highly-acclaimed, huge Catholic scholar, author and leader, in Washington, D.C.– one of the very few which we are highly blessed with, in today’s world. If you like and deeply appreciate the rare work of SCOTUS Judge Amy Coney Barrett, for example, you will cry with joy over the outstanding work of Mary Eberstadt.
I did not even know Amy Coney Barret had written anything
I have looked at the Amazon page of Mary Eberstadt.
Of all the authors mentioned by Cardinal Pell, the only one I have read is Wiegal’s biography of John Paul II.
I started a Chesterton but did not make it very far.
I have read Cardinal Sarah’s book on Silence twice. I heartily recommend that.
cd– Isn’t Cdl. Sarah wonderful? The highly acclaimed scholar and author, Mary Eberstadt, has the same dedication and devotion to the Catholic Faith, and dedication to Truth, in her field, that SCOTUS Judge Amy Coney Barrett has, in her field. We are so blessed to have these few, but outstanding, dedicated Catholics, in today’s darkened, leftist-liberal-infested world A bright hope, for Christian morality, and ending the evil of Abortion.
Those too, of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueh7vF5Lkbo
“The topic is “A suffering Church in a suffering world. Originally, when the topic was first given to me, it was suggested it be “A suffering Church in a post-Christian world.” And one of the people I sent it to, one of my friends and advisors, said he didn’t particularly like that, and I agreed. So I said “I don’t do “post-Christian.” I don’t really like the idea. I don’t think in our society, in Australia or in the United States, we are going to be in that situation in any foreseeable future. And there are many many good things happening in the Church and in the world, but there is an element of suffering.”
Cardinal Pell at Star of the Sea Parish SF Dec. 8, 2021
Coffee just shot out my nose. Comparing Cheston and Belloc to those people is beyond ludicrous.
“Dover Beach” is so poignant. Matthew Arnold would not be able to bear seeing the darkness, suffering, evil and misery, wrought by abandonment of Faith in God, in the cold and heartless, modernistic, “science-dominated,” “post-Christian” world of today– devoid of beauty, love, light, hope, and religious Faith, and devoid of even human decency and morality. Perhaps in love, we still can find some comfort and joy, and alleviation of pain, as the poem suggests… but yet, to face the harshness and sufferings of life which come our way, without God and religious Faith– is a terrible loss.
He did not believe in salvation by Jesus Christ but he thought it was a great story.
Great writers and poets can be very complex. Some who have said they were non-believers, actually admired religious faith, and were quite interested in it. It seems that these types really did desire to find faith in God, deep down– but never were able to find their way to God, sadly. Matthew Arnold abandoned Christianity for agnosticism when young, but nevertheless knew and appreciated the value of religion. He was a great admirer of St. John Henry Cardinal Newman— although he did not agree with Newman’s Christian faith at all. Regardless– I don’t care, I just think that “Dover Beach” is very poignant.