Priest Caught Out Lying to Parishioners after Concordia Disaster

When will people learn?! Always tell the truth!

An Italian priest has a lot of explaining to do after telling his parishioners he was going on a spiritual retreat, only for it to be revealed that he was on the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship.

Father Massimo Donghi told his parishioners that he was heading off for a week of contemplation and prayer, but instead boarded the luxury liner at Civitavecchia, north of Rome, for a luxury cruise of Mediterranean ports.

He was found out when his nephew, who was also on the cruise, posted assurances on Facebook that the priest had survived the disaster.

The nephew told worried friends and relatives that he, his uncle and the priest’s elderly mother had managed to get into lifeboats when the 1,000ft liner ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio.

They were among the 4,200 passengers and crew who were forced to evacuate the ship after it smashed into a rocky shoal on the night of Jan 13.

Its captain, Francesco Schettino, apparently sailed too close to the island in order to give a ‘salute’ to a retired naval commander and as a favour to a member of his crew, a head waiter whose family are from Giglio, part of the Tuscan archipelago of islands.
Capt Schettino, who has claimed that his employers from Genoa-based Costa Cruises insisted on the risky manoeuvre in order to provide a spectacle for passengers, is under house arrest in his home town of Meta di Sorrento near Naples.

Father Donghi, who joined the priesthood after studying at a theological seminary in Milan, will now have to explain himself to his parishioners in Besana Brianza, near Monza in northern Italy.

Church-goers had imagined he had signed up for a week of simple living and religious devotion, rather than a cruise on board a ship which boasts spas, saunas, jacuzzis, four swimming pools, five restaurants, 13 bars, a casino and a discotheque.

“What do you want me to say?” the priest told an Italian news magazine, Panorama. “I have nothing to add. Im OK although I’m still a bit in shock. I will talk to my parishioners in church. The judgment of others is not important to me.”

 

A Letter from the Vicar General of Traditional Anglican Church in Britain

A letter from the Vicar General of Traditional Anglican Church in Britain sent by yet another unnamed source to the usual spot. Given that it is now public, it does give us some insight as to what is going on over in the UK as far as TAC matters go.

Dear Father,

Since I last wrote to you in September, there has been a substantive development concerning our College of Bishops, with particular regard to the status and position of the Primate and the future direction of our Communion.

The College, by a unanimous majority of all of those eligible to vote have called for the resignation of the Primate with immediate effect. The Primate has indicated that he will resign as such at Pentecost 2012. The College has rejected this as unacceptable and has indicated that it will within the next six weeks determine the Primates status.

With reference to Bishop Moyer our Episcopal Visitor, Bishop David has received his nulae ostae, and will shortly be leaving for Rome.

Bishop Robert Mercer has already left for Rome.

The current leadership of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) is firmly committed to assisting the TTAC and Episcopal oversight will be maintained thus enabling us to remain faithful to the Anglican way, with the provision of transparent and faithful support.

Regarding those of you who responded to the questionnaire that I sent to you in September, may I thank you for your time and consideration in responding.

Twelve priests indicated their desire to continue as TTAC/TAC priests and many members of our laity, the following points do not apply to you and you need take no action.

To those of you who did not respond and have submitted personal dossiers to Rome the following applies directly to you.

As we now know, the petition that was agreed at the Portsmouth Synod of the College Of Bishops and duly sent to Rome. The Petition did not receive an offer of “intercommunion or unity between us” from the Holy See, but an offer to us requiring personal individual conversions to become Roman Catholics. That offer has been rejected by our College of Bishops.

The Motion that was agreed and passed by the Assembly of the Traditional Anglican Church in October 2009, in pursuit the offer made by the Holy Father has also been firmly rejected by the College of Bishops and will not be implemented. The current leadership of the College of Bishops have authorised me to state the following; “that in effect those who have submitted dossiers for personal conversion to Rome have by their own actions indicated their decision to leave and have in effect left the Communion”.

Those of you who have submitted personal dossiers and may now wish to reconsider your position to return to the TTAC/TAC should do so by contacting me directly in writing by February 3rd 2012.

A Diocesan Assembly will be held in March 2012 in Lincoln, notices/agenda etc will be sent out in February. A revised clergy and parish list will be circulated in February.

In Christ

Father Ian+

Perhaps it’s just as well that I’m off to a Parish Youth Evening (yes, we have youth) so I don’t have the time to get into the above letter. But you can decide for yourself:

1. Is the Vicar General protecting the Church by asking those who would have gone and are now not going for whatever reason (which usually is that the offer was not good enough or they face the very real prospect of being asked to join the ranks of the laity because of the impediments they carry), or
2. He’s being harsh and uncharitable towards those who would have dropped the TAC and left for the Ordinariate in a flash, had their applications to Rome been successful?

The fact that the College of Bishops has to deal with a Primate (Archbishop John Hepworth) who was most eager to go back to Rome and now is not, all because he cannot face the prospect of the loss of his clerical state (laicization is the end result of abandoning the Catholic Priesthood and what made him so special to think that he would be accommodated otherwise?) and instead settles now for second best (the TAC), places the College, in my opinion, in an even more difficult position than Fr Ian faces with his clergy.

And if people don’t want to go (again, for whatever reason) let them be reconciled, reorientated, and helped so to do.

But we have to move away from the notion of the TAC being a ‘cheap’ Communion, where you can come and go as you please; where we pick up all sorts of men who have done a little theological training (completed it or not) and ordain them; where we accept those who have been kicked out of other Churches, men who carry clear impediments, and ordain them; and where vows of canonical obedience mean precious little before God or man.

Perhaps then, and only then, will we be seen as more than ‘rebel traditionalists who have left official Anglicanism’.

 

Former Manchester United Footballer to Become a Priest

The Catholic Herald reports:

A former Manchester United footballer is training to become a priest. Phil Mulryne, who was once a teammate of Ryan Giggs and David Beckham, has enrolled at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome.

The former Northern Ireland international midfielder was invited into the priesthood by Bishop Noel Treanor of Down and Connor after leaving the sport and becoming involved in charitable activities.

Mulryne, 34, began his career with the Manchester United youth team in 1994, but despite great talent found it hard to find a first team place in one of the most famous English league sides of all times, with Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt all playing in similar positions. He joined Norwich in 1999 and eventually had spells with Ipswich Town, Barnsley, Leyton Orient and Polish side Legia Warsaw.

During his time as a footballer Mulryne dated a model, Nicola Chapman, and was once sent home from the Northern Ireland squad in 2005 after breaking a curfew to go drinking. His career was cut short in 2008 by injury, and he decided to return to Ireland.

However since returning home and becoming involved in charity work he turned his life around. Former Norwich teammate Paul McVeigh said he had visited his friend in Rome and was surprised by the change.

Mr McVeigh said: “To my amazement, and most likely to the rest of the footballing fraternity’s, Phil decided to train to become a Catholic priest.

“I was still in contact with him and knew that he had turned his life around and was doing a lot of charitable work and helping the homeless on a weekly basis. Still, it was a complete shock that he felt this was his calling.

“I know for a fact that this is not something he took lightly as the training to be ordained as a Catholic priest consists of a two-year philosophy degree, followed by a four-year theology degree and only after that will he finally be qualified as a priest.

“When I arrived in Rome, I was met by a very contented-looking Phil who took me back to the Irish college where he was to be based for the next four years.”

Mulryne’s mother Sally said the decision to follow his vocation was a “big decision”.

That, it always is…

 

Ancient wine

The importance that wine assumed in Judeo-Christian ritual stems from the prominent position of wine in Ancient Israel.

In the Jerusalem Post:

Winemaking began in the triangle of the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee). It was somewhere in eastern Turkey, Georgia and Armenia that wine was first made. The vine then traveled south toward Egypt – which was the first great wine culture – where wine’s importance was first documented. On the way, it passed through Canaan and ancient Israel, which was therefore one of the earliest of all wine-producing countries. The Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans finished the job, spreading the wine message to the West and bringing the vine to North Africa and Europe.

Wine features very prominently throughout the Bible. Noah was the first recorded vine grower. He planted his vineyard where the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat. Nomads did not plant vineyards. It was a sign of civilization when people became farmers instead of hunters.

When the spies returned to Moses after scouting out the Promised Land, they carried a large bunch of grapes on a pole between two people, which they used to illustrate that it was a land flowing with milk and honey. This enduring image is the logo of the Israel Tourist Board and Carmel Winery.

The wine industry blossomed. Wine was the mainstay of the economy and the country’s major export. King David had two wine officials. One managed his vineyards and the other his cellars. Maybe these were Israel’s first viticulturist and sommelier!

People drank copious amounts of wine because it was safer than the water. Wine was also used as a disinfectant for wounds, as a dyeing agent, as an aid for digestion and for religious ritual.

The reminder of this golden period of Israeli wine may be found in the many winepresses that exist in Israel. When you next come across an ancient winepress, read Isaiah’s “Song to a Vineyard,” use a little imagination and it will bring the biblical harvest scene to life.

The winepress, (gat in Hebrew), is the area where the grapes were pressed. This was normally a limestone basin cut into the rock. Usually they were square but sometimes round. There was often a wooden structure surrounding and covering the press to offer shade.

The people knew something about winemaking in those days. The winepress was usually close to the vineyard because there was less wastage and a greater opportunity to maintain control of the winemaking process. The whole family would be involved with the harvest. Grapes would be carried in baskets and laid on the floor of the winepress, and the men usually did the pressing. This was done by treading on the grapes with bare feet. There was enough pressure to extract the juice but not enough to crush the grape pips and release unpleasant bitterness. To avoid slipping, the treaders would hold on to ropes attached to the roof.

The juice, or must (tirosh), would then flow down a gulley or channel from the main pressing area into a deeper hole, known as the yekev (literally “winery”). Twigs or thorns would be placed strategically to act as a rudimentary filter.

In the yekev, the wine would begin to ferment naturally. The natural yeasts on the skins of the grapes would find all the sugar in the grapes irresistible. The deepness of the hole and the stone surrounds would keep temperatures stable. Fermentation of the tirosh would take three to five days, and the result would be wine.

As soon as the production of carbon dioxide (a by-product of fermentation) finished and before the wine could begin to oxidize, the wine would be channeled into an even deeper pit, where Canaanite jars were filled. This was a pottery container with two large handles and a pointed bottom.

They became better known by their Greek name, amphorae. They were closed or sealed with pine resin. This imparted a unique flavor that may still be sampled in the retsina wines produced in Greece. The amphorae were stamped with seals giving the information of the vintage, vineyard, type of wine and color…

Read on here.

 

Holocaust Memorial Day

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day:

January 27, is an international memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide that resulted in the annihilation of 6 million European Jews, 2 millions Gypsies (Roma and Sinti), 15.000 gays and millions of others by the Nazi regime. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on 1 November 2005 during the 42nd plenary session. The resolution came after a special session was held earlier that year on 24 January, 2005 during which the United Nations General Assembly marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of the Holocaust.

January 27 is the date, in 1945, when the largest Nazi death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, was liberated by Soviet troops…

Rest at Wikipedia.

And here is Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks:

See also, Observant Survivors Keep The Faith After Holocaust:

It’s a huge question for observant Jews: How can one still believe in a merciful God after suffering through the worst genocide in history?

As the world marks Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday, members of Israel’s most devout group will remember the victims with prayer, study of scripture and a deep conviction in a grand plan that is beyond their earthly comprehension…

More here.

Lest we forget…