THE SCAPULAR

Look I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up to date with the bizarre aspects of catholicism. I've been a bit distracted by the goings on in New Zealand's Parliament and of course Robert's loony ravings on creationism, abortion and on  god (who?) knows what else.

Anyway, here's a bit of an insight into a rather arcane bit of catholicism that I have actually had first-hand experience of - The scapular.

The Scapular 

The Scapular is a type of necklace worn by many Catholics. It is worn across the scapular bones (hence its name) and it consists of two pieces of wool connected by string. One piece of wool rests on the back while the other piece rests on the chest. When a Catholic wishes to wear the scapular, a Priest says a set of special prayers and blesses the scapular. This only occurs the first time a person wears one.

For wearing the scapular, Catholics believe that Mary, the mother of Jesus, will ensure that they do not die a horrible death (for example by fire or drowning) and that they will have access to a priest for confession and the last rites before they die. As a condition for wearing the scapular and receiving these benefits, the Catholic must say certain prayers every day. The Catholic Encyclopedia says this:

According to a pious tradition the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Simon Stock at Cambridge, England, on Sunday, 16 July, 1251. In answer to his appeal for help for his oppressed order, she appeared to him with a scapular in her hand and said: “Take, beloved son this scapular of thy order as a badge of my confraternity and for thee and all Carmelites a special sign of grace; whoever dies in this garment, will not suffer everlasting fire. It is the sign of salvation, a safeguard in dangers, a pledge of peace and of the covenant”.

(Personally I think that Simon Stock was like an early version of Richard Branson or other successful marketers and and  he set up a manufacturing and sale business of these scapulas and made a killing. He most likely retired to the south of France or Spain.)

The brown scapular, known as the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the most commonly worn scapular, though others do exist. When the scapular is worn out it is either buried or burnt and a new one is worn in its place.

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I wore a scapula when I was a kid going to St. Anne's primary school and Marist Brother's Newtown up until about Standard Four. I didn't have a choice in this as it was my mother who bought the damn things and commanded that I and my siblings wear them. To Mum, apart from the catholic teaching aspect it was the promise that we wouldn't " die a horrible death (for example by fire or drowning) and that they will have access to a priest for confession and the last rites before they die." It was kind of like the instruction to put on clean underwear each morning 'in case you get run over and be taken to hospital'. To be fair, I didn't die a horrible death by drowning or being burnt by fire so maybe the scapula worked.

I don't know what happened to my scapulas. I certainly don't recall burying them or burning them when they were worn out although that would have been fun - kind of like witchcraft or pagan ceremonies where we would dance about at full moon burning and burying our scapulas - but I digress. They probably got a bit dirty and smelly from being worn too long or more likely faded away after being put through the wash too often. 

I wonder if Richard and Robert had to wear these at school?

Robert probably still does.

ELEGANCE SQUARED

Not having regular television, SKY or otherwise I resort to watching select films, programmes and series on Netflix, Lightbox and TV On Demand. I bought a 'Smart TV' last year and it connects to the Broadband in the house. This enables me to access Youtube and other web-based platforms.

Recently while trawling I discovered Intelligence Squared which has very interesting debates featuring very clever and accomplished people. The first I watched was a debate on who is the best spy writer - Ian Fleming or John Le Carre. Each side of the argument had a champion who had spent many years researching and promoting one or the other. They were assisted by a panel of outstanding actors who read excerpts from the novels in support of the arguments. This was clever British television.

Tonight I watched a part of a debate on the Catholic Church. I watched the Stephen Fry part (I'll watch the late Christopher Hitchens part and the protagonists later). Fry was emotive but also very elegant and eloquent in his attack on the Catholic Church. He was gracious in his acknowledgement of some very sincere and dedicated people who work and who have worked in the Church but was unequivocal in his condemnation of the duplicitous hierarchy including popes.

This makes for good watching.

STEPHEN FRY VS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

DUMB AS ROCKS

I thought that Robert had forgotten about creationism now that he's been sidetracked by the (difficult to read) Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan but no, his odd creationist comments have appeared on Richard's latest post on his blog Richard's Bass Bag.  Something about bananas having been created not evolved. I wonder if Robert's creator created banana splits, banana milkshakes and Banana Bikes?
See HERE

Richard was a bit rude to Robert in his answering comment. I hope that Robert doesn't delete his blog again as his probationary period just keeps getting extended and he will never build up a reputation for serious and responsible blogging.

In case he stays though, I guess we can revisit the old creationism thing again. To kick it off here are some views from Richard Dawkins.

RICHARD DAWKINS - CREATIONISTS ARE DUMB AS ROCKS

LUCKY ESCAPE

Times definitely are changing.
Recently our Parliament dropped references to Jesus Christ in the daily prayer (they still kept referring to 'god' though).
The old stand-by of "I'm a Christian so trust me" has largely gone.

See this funny and apt comedy clip:


TRACEY ULLMAN

JESUS OUSTED FROM PARIAMENT

BREAKING NEWS

It has been proposed to change the parliamentary prayer and Trevor Mallard, Speaker of The House is jumping the gun by already adopting it.

THE CURRENT PRAYER:

Almighty God,

Humbly acknowledging our need for Thy guidance in all things, and laying aside all private and personal interests, we beseech Thee to grant that we may conduct the affairs of this House and of our country to the glory of Thy holy name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the honour of the Queen, and the public welfare, peace, and tranquillity of New Zealand, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

PROPOSED VERSION:

Almighty God, we give thanks for the blessings which have been bestowed on New Zealand.

Laying aside all personal interests, we pray for guidance in our deliberations, that we may conduct the affairs of this House with wisdom and humility, for the public welfare and peace of New Zealand.

Amen.

All good as far as I'm concerned (except for the reference to God) but some religious and monarchist nutters are up in arms about this.

I thought that it'd be a good idea to get Angry Jesus's view on the matter so I invited him/her/it in for a chat.

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Meeting between Angry Jesus (AJ) and The Religious Curmudgeon (RC) at the local club.

RC: Hi AJ, glad you could come. Do you want a glass of wine or will you make your own?

AJ:    Ha ha, don't be a smart-arse. I'll have a decent chardonnay - from a bottle with a label on it. It's   nice to get a decent drink not like that piss that Richard serves up.

RC: No problem. The club serves a decent Gisborne chardonnay. It's in a big glass that they fill to       the brim and only costs five bucks.

AJ: Richard invited me to his club once. We got chucked out. Richard said it was because of the         dress I was wearing at the time. I tried to explain that it was normal garb for a Galilean but they wouldn't have a bar of it. Bastards. Anyway, I got Dad to destroy the rail network. They won't be crowing about being on the main trunk line anymore .... so. TRC why the meeting?

RC: Well, I thought that we'd have a chat .......

AJ:  Whoa there guy. I hope this isn't like the chat I last had with you. You made a fool of me. See: HERE

RC: Ha ha, ...er ..it was a bit of fun wasn't it. Robert got his knickers in a twist again though.

AJ: Yeah, that made it worth it. So...?

RC: Oh yeah, a chat ... did you know that Parliament is chucking out references to you and the Queen in the proposed new prayer? They're going ......

AJ: WHAT! WHAT THE FUCK!? WHAT! The bastards they can't ...

RC: Calm down AJ, calm down. They'll still have reference to God .

AJ: Yeah, that'd be about right . 'Good old' Dad made sure to keep his name in there. I suppose that greasy seagull The Holy Ghost has snuck in too?

TC: No, no I don't think so .... look here's a draft of the new prayer (hands Angry Jesus a copy). Trevor Mallard as Speaker has adopted it but it's not final yet he ....

AJ: MALLARD! THAT DUCK!. I'll roast the bastard ...ha, ha. with oranges ... I'll sort him out. I'll arrange for him to lose that Speaker position and go back to that shithole electorate he was running. What was the name of it? ...

RC: I can't remember. 'Lesser' something or other.

AJ: This has really upset me. I'm off. I think I'll get my old mate Richard to look into this. His wine is crap but that instant coffee he makes is OK

RC: OK. Thanks for coming. Sorry to have upset you with that news (hee hee).

AJ: Hrrrumph!

RC: Hey barmaid, how about another chardonnay over here. Hey! Have you put on weight?

THE REAL QUESTION

The Philosophical Curmudgeon posted a while ago on good vs bad behaviour and ended with a comment about not turning the other cheek. See HERE

OK, I can see where he's coming from as I've wondered myself why Joseph put up with the fact that Robert's god knocked up his wife (with the help of an archangel) without some sort of remonstration.

Joseph decided to help Mary and bring up her child. He apparently was a gentle man but strong where it counts. He's the true saint and hero in the Jesus story and doesn't get enough recognition for this. I think he did the right thing in turning the other cheek so I don't agree with The Philosophical Curmudgeon.

I do agree with the question that Joseph poses in this cartoon though. What was all that crap about Jesus - son of man etc.? If god exists why didn't he just create a fall guy and save Joseph and Mary all that trouble?

NOT A RAVING LOONY

CHRIS NICHOL - a rare Christian with common sense

There was a great interview with Chris Nichol by Kim Hill on National Radio yesterday morning that is well worth listening to if you can get past Kim Hill's annoying mannerisms and interruptive interviewing.

Robert has been quite active in propagating his religious (as according to the catholic church) doctrine this last week so I thought that it would be good to hear from an educated, balanced and 'not a raving loony' religious person. Chris Nichol is a TV presenter and producer - Praise Be was one of his shows - and is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church and has taught a course in Religion, Media and Culture at Victoria University.

In this interview he talks about his takes on religion and uses some really interesting music to underline them.

I particularly like the bit where he says that Creationism is a myth. He believes that fundamentalists make the mistake of thinking that the Bible is real history. This should get Robert going.

He also says that the Resurrection was a myth as any right thinking person would acknowledge and explains this by saying that Jesus was on earth teaching some good things for which he was killed (political reasons). The 'resurrection' is in the fact that even though Jesus died he was on the right track and his teachings have endured - it is the teachings that have been resurrected. I can buy into that.

Have a listen to this if you have time:

CHRIS NICHOL - BEGINNINGS

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