Links

- Gandalf ... see last link

- James Bond is an 'impotent drunk' ... Bond would be classified in the "top whack" of problem drinkers and would be at high risk of liver damage, an early death and impotence. "So he might be practising safe sex after all," said Dr Davies.. Despite having read all the Bond books as a teen, I've not really ever liked the movie James Bonds except the Timothy Dalton version.

- Fr. Robert Baron, a pretty conservative Catholic, blames Kant for Pope Francis being chosen by TIME magazine - sigh :( ...

[T]here is something that has been bothering me ever since Francis became Pope, and its on rather massive display in the Time article, namely, a tendency to distinguish radically between this lovely Franciscan emphasis on mercy and love for the poor and the apparently far less than lovely emphasis on doctrine so characteristic of the Papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. There is actually a good deal of dangerous silliness in this way of characterizing things. If I might cite the much-maligned Benedict, the Church does essentially three things: it cares for the poor; it worships God; and it evangelizes. Isolate any of the three from the other two, and distortions set in. Indeed, without deep care for the poor and for social justice, the worship of God can become lifeless ("liturgical fussiness") and evangelizing can devolve into cultural criticism or mere intellectual debating.

But isolate care for the poor from the other two and equally problematic distortions ensue. Without the worship of God and evangelization, the Church deteriorates in short order into one more social service institution among many, a mere "NGO" in Francis's own language. Now listen to the authors of the Time article: "In a matter of months, Francis has elevated the healing mission of the church -- the church as servant and comforter of hurting people in an often harsh world -- above the doctrinal police work so important to his recent predecessors." And "his vision is of a pastoral -- and not doctrinaire -- church." This is so much nonsense. The source of a good deal of this mischief is the 18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant ....

- An interesting article at Fulcrum. There's a perception that all Christians denominations and individuals agree on stuff like the legitimacy of divorce and right of remarriage, on abortion, on just war or pacifism, on usury, on contraception, on genetic engineering, on sexuality, on economic priorities, on response to climate change - to name just a few moral and political questions, not to mention doctrines of church, ministry, mission and eschatology. but of course they do not. Why not? ... Why do Christians disagree? by Dr David Atkinson, former Bishop of Thetford.

- I've been showing my sister bits of the LOTR movies and we're almost at the end. I love Gandalf's laugh n this part! ...