Thomas Augustine Francis Kelly RIP

For those of us who knew and loved him Thomas Augustine Francis Kelly was a man whom we could never imagine with the letters RIP after his name. He had BA, MA, MPhil and the rest but the idea of this larger than life character ever being finally and irrevocably gone was simply ridiculous. Until today, when all that changed. We still don't know what happened exactly but he was found this morning at or near the Royal Canal in Maynooth. It seems that there was some sort of accident which caused him to fall in. Unfortunately falling into a canal is easily done and climbing out again is well-nigh impossible.

Thomas (I could never call him "Tom" still less "Tommy") was a man of immense intelligence and talent. He spoke four languages fluently, had a working knowledge of at least two others, and an acute reading knowledge of three others. (The latter being Ancient Greek, Latin and formal logic, since you asked.) He wrote two books and edited at least three. He founded at least three refereed academic journals and after 17 years of coaxing and cajoling seminarians in Philosophy, crossed the bridge to the National University of Ireland side of the Maynooth Campus; after some years there he finally arrived where we all knew he belonged. In the Chair of Philosophy, as Professor Thomas Kelly.



He wasn't however in any way limited to just academic achievement. He was also an accomplished painter and had exhibited in various places down the years. (It provided the cover art for his tribute to William Desmond of K U Leuven and late of Cork.) He wrote a novel once - which he never published despite my assiduous nagging encouragement. He sang with successively the Schweizer Romanos-Chor (Eastern Church music, in Switzerland no less), the Palestrina Choir and the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir.

Yet he wore all this artistic achievement lightly. He hadn't just a wide-ranging and powerful intellect but what was more important a warm and generous heart. He was well known for his capacity for making and keeping friends; he was loyal and generous to a fault. Yet a really full and complete happiness eluded him until he met his wife, Marian O'Donnell. Whatever the sadness we all feel at his death, it is as nothing to the grief she must feel. So of your charity, please pray for the peace and happy repose of the soul of Thomas Augustine Francis Kelly, and for his wife and his widowed mother that they will be comforted.

Weddings and such ...

Though we're still in January (if only just), October isn't that far away. So do have a look at our wedding website to see how the plans are coming along. The Wedding in question is hers and mine, needless to say. If, by the time you read this, you've gotten an invitation you'll find everything you need to know about directions, times and dates on it. If you're not coming on the day but just want to know all about it, this is the place for that too!

Tagged again, by my lovely stalker ...

I was tagged by Herself so I really have no choice ...

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE ?
No. My mother says that she simply knew I was to be an Éamonn (complete with the unique spelling; it's usually one n and no fada or acute accent over the E) and so I am!

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Just before we walked my father's remains from Massey Brothers to St Audoen's for the funeral.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Yes, most of the time.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Herta low fat salami.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No, but ask me again after I get married next October.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Maybe but only intermittently.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Lots, and even too much on occasion.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
No. A lot of risk, a great thrill I'm sure but no skill involved. Unlike, say, abseiling!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Meusli but no added sugar or salt.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Yes, always. (They wouldn't come off otherwise!)

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Physically? No. In terms of character? Yes, on occasion but only when there is something or someone more important than me at stake.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Plain vanilla, when it really tastes of vanilla.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Their eyes.

15. RED OR PINK?
Neither, I'm a man.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF?
A tendency to self-pity.

17. WHOM DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Silly question really.

18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Trousers? Green. Blue slippers.

19. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Beef Stew and spuds.

20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
My fiancée breathing 125 miles away! (Ain't Skype wonderful?)

21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Royal Blue.

22. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Coffee beans, freshly ground or anything with garlic in it!

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Phil Byrne (she's a colleague who is also a cousin of mine).

24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Rugby, on the rare occasion when Ireland is winning.

25. HAIR COLOR?
Grey but my fiancée says my beard has three (or is it four) colours in it!

26. EYE COLOR?
Blue.

27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No, glasses.

28. FAVORITE FOOD?
Mammy Gaines's Sunday dinner (Roast chicken, mushy peas, stuffing, roast potatoes and gravy!). If I have to cook it myself? Either my own homemade pizza or Éamonn's Idiot-Proof Chicken Surprise (TM). (Apply to Lowdenclear for a considered judgment about whether they're any good.)

29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Both?

30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Charade. Although this lady always tops my list, Audrey Hepburn would come a respectable second!

31. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Grey and white stripes.

32. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Both, each at the proper time.

33. HUGS OR KISSES?
Depends whom I am to hug or kiss.

34. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Tiramisu

35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
The Aryan Christ and The Reform of the Roman Liturgy and The Heresy of Formlessness.

36. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
A Dell logo.

37. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?
Nothing!

38. FAVORITE SOUNDS?
The Guild of Choristers of St. Cecelia singing the Vidi Aquam for the Sundays after Easter.

39. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
The Beatles

40. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
San Diego, California

41. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I don't know. Define "special".

42. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Dún Laoghaire, near Dublin, Ireland.

Dan Brown, it's not!

If you like Biblical studies, religious intrigue, serious intellectual puzzles, exotic languages (living and on-life-support) and all round entertainment, then get thee to Fr Renzo di Lorenzo's wonderfully puzzling new blog-cum-novel. Thus far it seems to promise all the weirdness and wonder that Dan Brown does. The difference is that Fr Renzo delivers. (Or as My Lady put it, like Dan Brown "only good"!)

Besides which, Fr Z approves. What more could you want ...

Tridentinist? What's that when it's at home?

"The majority of the new lay movements are not Tridentinist and they are where many of the young are to be found."

I'm not even sure what a "Tridentinist" is when it's at home. I'm a Catholic who prefers the traditional form of the Roman Liturgy. I have never been to Tridentinum (Trent to you and me) and have very little interest in going. There is also this worrying trend of juventophilia, an obsession with pleasing or attracting the young. If you have a very popular, youth based ecclesial movement, it doesn't necessarily mean very much. It could be like the "Gospel Mass" (i.e. Mass with Black American style choral music) that is celebrated in a certain Dublin Church; it attracts the crowds but has had the Gospel liturgically proclaimed by a lay woman! Yes, they are going to Mass but are they being edified, built up in their practice of the Faith?

In any case, it is a mistake to see liturgically traditional and non-traditional Catholics as mutually exclusive categories. For example, Youth 2000 is a vibrant organisation which is very successful in youth evangelisation here in Ireland. I have trad friends who are members of Y2K prayer groups; many Y2K members with a more Charismatic background are finding the traditional liturgy more and more attractive. Y2K also has a contemplative side with a great focus on Eucharistic adoration. As a card-carrying trad, I find this to be a very good thing. In the end, however, people will go where they can pray best; this is one of the greatest gifts that the Holy Father has given in Summorum Pontificum. We no longer have to be card-carrying "Tridentinists" or anything else to derive full benefit from Holy Church's liturgical patrimony. Benedict XV of happy memory had the right idea:

It is, moreover, Our will that Catholics should abstain from certain appellations which have recently been brought into use to distinguish one group of Catholics from another. They are to be avoided not only as "profane novelties of words" out of harmony with both truth and justice, but also because they give rise to great trouble and confusion among Catholics. Such is the nature of Catholicism that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole or as a whole rejected: "This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe faithfully and firmly; he cannot be saved" (Athanasian Creed). There is no need of adding any qualifying terms to the profession of Catholicism: it is quite enough for each one to proclaim "Christian is my name and Catholic my surname," only let him endeavour to be in reality what he calls himself.

The Von Tone-Deaf Family Singers present ...

The Definitive Answer to every busybody who thinks someone else's generously sized family is their problem.



The parents of this wonderful family finally got tired of all the silly and disrespectful comments they were getting from total strangers about having seven children; especially true for the Mom. (My own mother tells me that she experienced the same nonsense when we - all 7 of us - were small.)

I've embedded it here but it's even more fun if you look at it here because the seventh commenter down turns out to be the one and only Aussie Mum of 7!

Anyway, this is by way of a thank you to my own parents, and as a friend of mine - who is childless - commented, think of all the people like him whose pensions will be paid by the earnings of all those grown-up kids from big families!

Tradition on the move ...

The following interesting titbit was emailed to me by a friend. It refers to the ubiquitous Red Book produced by the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei. It was once referred to, by the late Michael Davies, as the most famous little red book after Chairman Mao's. He added that this one had done a lot more good than Mao's ever had!

You all may have seen this, but I noted the following line in the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei newsletter:

“…before July 7, 2007, the Coalition shipped 1,000 Latin English Booklet missals each month. Since July 7 we have shipped 1,000 booklets every week. In May, we had reprinted 20,000 booklet missals, and ordered another 20,000 in October.”

An urgent request.

The good people at Family and Life have this urgent prayer request in their latest bulletin.

Urgent Prayer Request from Bryan, TX, USA

The following letter came from one of our readers: “Hello to everyone, hope your doing well. I have a personal favour to ask of you. Ivory is 7 years old and this week she was riding her go cart without a helmet, and lost control landing her under a neighbours double wide that didn't have any skirting. She was stopped by the floor and support beam by her neck. She slashed her neck from her ear to her larynx, cutting her thyroid, her juggler was torn slightly causing the blood to drain into her lungs, which then collapsed, she broke her neck, & broke her back. She was air lifted to Musc, she has had one operation on her lower back and they found her spinal cord to be totally cut. They have to wait for 2 weeks to operate on her larynx, thyroid and neck. Not knowing until then if her spinal cord is torn at the neck...Which will tell to what extent she will be paralyzed. This little girl is only seven years old and has her whole life to live. I ask you to lift her up to God in payer. And if you wouldn't mind adding her to your Church prayer chain, we all know what God can do when we only have Faith and come together in unity. Thank you so much for your time and most importantly... your prayers.”

Please pray for her.

First Christmas in our new (Ecclesiastical) home, Deo Gratias!

The three Masses for Christmas in St Kevin's Church, Harrington St, Dublin 8 are as follows:

9pm Christmas Eve, Mass at Night
9am Christmas Day, Mass at Dawn
10.30 am Christmas Day, Mass in the Day

All weekday Masses during the Octave of Christmas will be 9am instead of the usual 8am.

On Monday, December 31st (New Year's Eve) there will be a Solemn Te Deum and Benediction at 7.00pm.

Further information from the Chaplain, Rev. Gerard Deighan at 087 288 46 38 or latinmass@dublindiocese.ie

My one and only ...

My one and only tagger, that is. My soon to be life-long and solemnly vowed better half has tagged me again, with one of those impossible list everything you know about yourself memes, and with the proviso that you tag half the world! Well actually only 8 people, but as I couldn't even manage SIX people last time, I'll just say (pre-emptively) that if you read this and are as yet untagged for this particular exercise, consider yourself tagged now!

Apparently I have to list 8 random facts or habits about myself, and then tag lots of other people. Well I've copped out of the last part already so here goes with the eight.

1. I like to be precise, and yes, that is almost synonymous with pedantic. But only almost...

2. I'm a coffee, tea and occasionally wine snob. It has to be real, (i.e. ground coffee, leaf tea and the wine must always be red, wet & alcoholic). Accept no substitutes!

3. I'm a bibliophile: the more books the better. It'll be even better when I get to read them all! I don't collect first editions or fine bindings just to look at them; I get books to read or to give away as presents. I refuse to recognise any other reason for owning a book, although if it happens to be nice to look at (or even smell too) that's no harm.

4. Pipe smoker. Only very occasionally but it's good for unwinding after lots of stressful goings-on, and is also a poke in the eye for the neo-pagan health fascists who seem to be everywhere these days. (After all, as my sainted Dad used to say, "life is a sexually transmitted disease with a 100% mortality rate".)

5. Stationery junkie. I like paper and envelopes and note cards and personal calling cards (I always have some with my name, address, phone number, email &rl in my card case, in my jacket pocket) and copperplate fount in mid-blue for my personal letterhead. (A PC with a half-way decent printer is a great blessing!) As addictions go it's more fun than most and less harm than almost any other.

6. When I get tired and I mean really tired my sense of humour (an erratic thing at best) either goes into overdrive or disappears completely. (My poor fiancée is sometimes reduced to reassuring me in a voice-suitable-for-the-sickbed-of-a-close-friend that she was only joking; the fact that I will, in fact, see the joke later, i.e. after 8 hours sleep never seems to help at the time ...)

7. I am capable of footnoting anything, even a conversation. I often lose people's attention that way ... By way of a footnote to items 1 and 5 in this list, yes, fount is the correct spelling for the word pronounced "font" and the contraction "&rl" is not a typo, it's the Irish form of "etc". And yes it is "Irish" or more specifically "Erse"; the language is emphatically NOT called "Gaelic" which is either a form of football or the Celtic language of Scotland. (The latter is pronounced "Gaah-lic" rather than "Gay-lic" incidentally.) Unless you happen to be American, in which case all bets are off!

8. I am terrible for finishing things properly, and often have no idea how to bring a project to a proper conclusion. Like now, for instance.

The imposing presence of our Chaplain ...

Our Chaplain, the Reverend Gerard Deighan, is featured in all his praedicatorial and sacerdotal splendour in a photo here . There is also a very informative report on our settling in to our new home at St Kevin's Church, Harrington St. Deo gratias!

Tasteless joke alert!!!

If you've seen this and seen this lady's response to it along the lines of

you could probably teach a cat to bark, L. Cat's are sooooooooo smart. I bet you couldn't teach a dog to miow.

Teaching a dog to miaow is easy. Take your dog. Tie him to the back of your Ferrari or other high speed vehicle and then hit the accelerator - Miiiaaaaoooowww!

Teaching a cat to go "woof" is a little more difficult. Take your cat. Tie him/her/it up. Pour lighter fluid all over and then apply a lighted match. Result: Woof!

Summorum Pontificum

Well we got our long awaited motu proprio which gives us very wide scope for TLMs at the drop of a hat. Or maybe not ... Various Irish Dioceses seem to be adopting a cautious wait and see approach. Some are trying to introduce restrictive regulations, like Cloyne but as ever there is a solution. If you have asked (respectfully and charitably) and you have been refused, you can always appeal to Rome. Damian Thompson of the Daily Torygraph's Holy Smoke blog recommends writing "in measured language". The inimitable Fr Z (spelled ZED but pronounce ZEE, go figure) goes a little further. He gives the following summary of his own excellent advice: "Be brief, send evidence, leave out the obvious, don’t vent". He also gives an address

His Eminence
Dario Card. Castrillon Hoyos
President of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei"
Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio
00120 VATICAN CITY

So remember, just because you're (justifiably) angry or miffed or whatever, prudence, temperance and charity are still obligatory. Think carefully about what you need to say and follow Fr Zuhldorf's advice.

Res Latinae

All things Latin are coming back into vogue with the restoration of the Usus Antiquior to a place of honour in the Church. Our Pontifex Maximus having given us this great gift, many people are now looking for accessible Latin texts. Besides the celebrant's Missal (Altar Missal forthcoming from PCP, God bless them) there are also bilingual Missals available from various places. (The second bilingual link leads to Angelus Press, an SSPX operation; I don't agree with SSPX/Angelus generally but their Missal has larger print than Baronius and is easier to read especially for the older Mass-goer.)

As well as a Missal for full and actual participation in the Mass itself, one of the most important books for a Christian is the Bible. So is it available in Latin? Yes, as I explained here. I've since discovered that a combined Vulgate & Douai-Reims New Testament is available here, from Loreto Publications, the same firm that reprinted Deferrari & Barry's Lexicon of St Thomas Aquinas. (Though buying D&B from PCP might make more sense, as it's almost $20 cheaper!) Remember that the Douai-Reims-Challoner is as close and literal a translation of the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate as you're likely to get, so you'll always have a crib ready-to-hand for when you get stuck!

Finally, what if you have no Latin at all but would like to learn? There are two options for the Irish would-be Latinist. Firstly, set aside 8 weeks and approximately €2,5000 and do it in University College Cork. Alternatively, and more modestly, you can download a complete, absolute beginners Missal-based course in Latin from the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales. (Not to be confused with our own LMSI.) The LMSEW site seems to be down at the moment but this link will take you to an archived version of the page. It has the whole course in discrete .PDF modules or as a single .ZIP file, and is available for free download. So for all those budding Latinists, there is hope yet!

Their site is back up again, so Simplicissimus is available here too!

Apparently, I should play the harp! (I can't even play chopsticks!)

You Should Play the Harp

You are a sensitive soul, with a great admiration for beauty. You definitely have what it takes to make beautiful music, but most instruments are too harsh for you. You are subtle, shy, and even a bit spoiled. You're very picky about most aspects of your life. It's just your style to play an eccentric, hard to transport instrument like the harp that few people consider. Overall, you have the relaxed demeanor of a leisurely upper class person, and your music would reflect that. Your calm yet soulful harp playing would be sure to help people forget their troubles for a while. Your dominant personality characteristic: your zen-ness Your secondary personality characteristic: your quiet independence

What Musical Instrument Should You Play?

Calling all Thomists ...

Two things of interest to the Aquinas fan in your life. One I am simultaneously delighted and bitter about. Preserving Christian Publications (whom Fr Z seems to like a little) have the incomparable Aquinas Lexicon (by Deferrari and Barry) for $70! When I got mine, six months ago, I paid almost $100. But then after it got translated into Monopoly Money, it wasn't so bad. Anyway for those living in Euro or Sterling land, this is a bargain not to be missed.

Also if you're around Maynooth, Co Kildare in three weeks time, specifically on the 25th of October (that's a Thursday) at 7.00pm the Cairde Thomáis Naofa are having a seminar in Renehan Hall, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

It opens with Gaven Kerr, Queen’s University, Belfast on The Limitation of Infinite Esse and the Self-Revelation of Being. (Gaven is an old friend, and a very good philosopher indeed.) At 8.00 p.m. then Professor Enrique Martinez, University of Navarre, Spain is going to talk about "Thomas Aquinas and the Incommunicability of Personal Being: A Consideration of Some Personalist Criticisms".

Well worth going, if you're at all philosophically minded.

Tagged by Therese

I've been tagged by Therese. Since she's a friend of my intended I'd better respond.

1. Do you attend the Traditional Latin Mass or the Novus Ordo?

TLM all the way! It's in St Audoen's on Sundays and NOW in St Kevin's, Harrington St on weekdays.

2. If you attend the TLM, how far do you drive to get there?

40 minute bus ride

3. If you had to apply a Catholic label to yourself, what would it be?

Just Catholic, actually

4. Are you a comment junkie?

So-so, it depends how interesting the topic is ...

5. Do you go back to read the comments on the blogs you’ve commented on?

Often but not always

6. Have you ever left an anonymous comment on another blog?

Once, by accident. I went back and claimed it though, as soon as I realised.

7. Which blogroll would you most like to be on?

The Dawn Patrol, since I'm already on Lowdenclear's!

8. Which blog is the first one you check?

The Curt Jester

9. Have you met any other bloggers in person?

TWO. Dawn Eden when she was last in Dublin. I've met Lowdenclear (I proposed marriage to her, in fact) but that was before I read her blog or she mine.

10. What are you reading?

PHECC Training Standards! Not exciting but it's for a report due tomorrow! Also, IaIIae for a course of lectures I'm giving. Oh and Jesus of Nazareth, by the Holy Father.

Bonus Question! Has your site been banned by Spirit of Vatican II?

Sadly, no but one day, hopefully!

I think I'm supposed to tag FIVE bloggers!! I don't know five bloggers but as this was an exercise designed to get to my fiancée, I'll just tag her instead.

You say to-may-toe, I say to-mah-toe!

Fr Z of What Does The Prayer Really Say? wants everyone to put in their tuppence worth or rather their two cent worth (the plural of cent has of course been banned by the EU) regarding what to call a Mass according to the Editio Typica of the Missale Romanum of 1962! There are only three choices but this is the runoff round. By the way, if you have to ask who Fr Z is, I'm not going to tell you! Go read his blog and you'll understand why the trad blogsphere takes him so seriously.

Arch-Radical Paleo-Traditionalists ...

For those who may not have seen it or indeed wondered where it disappeared to, here are the two surviving traces of the web presence of the Society of Saint Pius I!! To be any more trad, you'd have to be Jewish TM.

When something this good disappears, you have to wonder whether helicopter-borne Cardinal assassins had something to with it, a la Dan Brown ...

Res Biblica ...

Some time ago I posted on the availability of the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate (aka the Latin Bible used by the Church until 1970 or so) in hard copy. I mentioned for those who might be interested that Baronius Press were going to produce a new edition of the SCV. This isn't going to happen now. They have this to say on their website:

Clementine Vulgate

Although we did plan to publish a Clementine Vulgate Bible, we have had very few requests for this. Another possibility would be to produce a Clementine Vulgate/ Douay-Rheims combined Bible. Those who may be interested in having such a publication should contact us, as we would have to gauge the demand for such a Bible prior to producing it.

So there you have it. You can have the scholarly German Bible Society edition, without punctuation. Or you can have the Spanish edition which I'm told has muchos patristic citations and references to Denzinger, and luxuries like full stops and things. (I still maintain that the publishers BAC don't bind their books terribly well though.) If you want a leatherbound, high quality version (albeit with a facing page Douai-Reims-Challoner text) then you'll have to ask Baronius Press nicely!