The Times has Peter Mullen writing that Wealth creation can atone for the sins of Mammon.
The Guardian has Paul Oestreicher writing about Franz Jägerstätter.
The Daily Telegraph has Christopher Howse reviewing books: In and out of Hitler’s Reich.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times wrote about a film: This move hands the atheists a PR coup.
re: Giles Fraser’s article– What the film-makers are really afraid of, in the US at any rate, is bad publicity. It is almost a foregone conclusion that, if a film with an anti-Catholic bias (or a perceived one) opens, then William Donoghue of the “Catholic League” will all over TV denouncing it, calling it part of the overwhelming anti-Catholic attitudes of the media. That the claimed membership of Donoghue’s organization seems to be Donoghue, his staff, and anybody who ever sent it even a dollar, is beside the point. Donoghue will send out a press release, the morning talk shows… Read more »
One Giles made (possibly inadvertently) is that what is portrayed is often sanitised to make it more pleasing. One of the wake up calls after the 2004 SE Asian Tsunami was not that people hated Americans because they were holy, but because they were selfish, arrogant and cruel. It was a wakeup call. Mullens’ article made me laugh. It made me think that some see the world as too black and white. You know, Original Sin or Divine Purity, Capitalism or Socialism, Good or Bad. I couldn’t help but think about Australia’s previous NSW Premier, Bob Carr, who when he… Read more »
Why – and I mean w h y – didn’t more people do as Franz Jägerstätter?
Why was he a dirty secret for decades after?
“Why was he a dirty secret for decades after?”
Because he did what they lacked the insight or the courage to do. You always hate those most who do what you know you ought to be doing but aren’t.
But, honestly, would you have had the courage to do likewise? Married with children? I know I would not.
Don’t underestimate yourself Erika. There are some souls who did some incredibly brave things during that terrible time in European history. Not all were “out there” in the public way, but there were souls who managed to create underground highways to get Jews and soldiers outside safely outside of enemy lines. We often think of bravery as going into battle or grandstanding in a debate. Sometimes bravery is simply doing the right thing when no one else is, and inspiring others by your actions and fruits, rather than words and posturing. God knows the quiet souls as well as the… Read more »
Where are today’s Jagerstatters? I’m sure that if they are here, they and their stories are being silenced and hidden. We’re not to know about them, any more that we knew about Jagerstatter until now. I’m one of those fools who wants pacifists and conscientious objectors, and even those U.S. Americans who moved to Canada during the Vietnam war to avoid the draft, to be honored as heroes who also protect and protected our freedoms.
Lois Keen
Lois
I agree. The world is obsessed with flamboyance and extravagence, posturing and power.
The quiet gentle achievers are there, they just don’t hit the mainstream press.
Unfortunately some churches have become so absorbed with playing the marketing game that they also overlook those gentle souls.
Civilisations are not built on waves of war and conquest. They are interruptions to the process that keeps history woven together.
There are no great leaders without food or conception.