Apparently, I'm the 1000th!!!

My favourite Lady tells me (and incidentally the rest of the world) that I'm the 1,000th visitor to the Lowdenclear blog. The prize for this is (happily for me) lifelong matrimony!!

So by way of a compliment to my intended this is what she gets for putting up with me for a lifetime.

In the absence of a proper post ...

Here's some silly nonsense instead!!

$3975.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

69% Geek

John Harris OP, God bless him!

Anyone who knows the Irish Dominican Province knows Fr John OP. Come to that anyone who has had even peripheral contact with that fine bunch Youth 2000, will have seen or heard him. (Actually when he is at his cheerful booming best, you'd hear him from about three miles away!) Anyway courtesy of Miss Dawn Eden here are the Friars of the Dominican House of Studies, Washington DC putting up a welcoming banner for the Holy Father. And the encouragement from the left hand side is indeed in the mellifluous Munster tones of Fr John!

Books but not as we know them ...

For a real book lover, there is no substitute for having a solid, well-bound and long-lasting volume in your hand. So while Perseus' version of Lewis & Short is welcome, what is really indispensable is an actual print copy. (Mine came at the miniscule price of IR£20 in the Blackrock Market in 1992!)

However, it's not always possible to get every book you want, or even to afford the ones you want most. Here's where the Internet Archive comes into play, more specifically their Text Archive. They will give you flip books i.e. readable facsimile images of the book concerned which you can look at online. Or you can get full colour PDFs of many texts.

The two books I've wanted for some time but could never find were the Stowe Missal in the Bradshaw Society edition and the original critical edition of A. M. S. Boethius' Opuscula Sacra by Rudolf Peiper. (Leipzig: Teubner Verlag, 1871)

In both cases, I still don't have them and may not for many years. What I do have are colour PDFs so that I can read the texts I need to, and get the research done! It's not perfect but it's a whole lot better than no text at all. Now if only someone would put Lewis & Short up there; that way I could carry a copy around in my laptop!

The Holy Father in flying form, in two languages!

The Holy Father is about to make an Apostolic Visit to the USA and he prepared the above deeply spiritual message in advance of the trip. As with anything else he says we can expect that this will be misunderstood by many journalists with little knowledge of, and even less interest in, his teaching. However, an excellent American organisation the Pew Forum held a briefing for journalists so that they could put il Papa's visit in context. They had two speakers, John Allen of the infamous National Catholic Distorter (who is despite that and his execrable biography of the Cardinal Ratzinger, a fair-minded and decent commenter) and George Weigel a solidly orthodox Catholic, if a bit too neo-Conservative for my liking.

The whole transcript of the discussion, including questions and answers afterwards can be found here; particularly interesting though is one quote from Allen, showing the Pope's sharp even slightly barbed sense of humour.

There is a custom in the Vatican press corps that when one of us publishes a book about the pope, we typically inscribe a copy to him and then give it either to his private secretary or to his spokes[man]. [...] But when the Holy Father was elected, I published one of these insta-books about the conclave and the new pope. And I dutifully inscribed it to the pope, and I gave it to his spokes[man Joaquin Navarro-Valls] ... this was in June. In August, I got a call on my cell phone from Navarro-Valls [who] said, look John, I want you to know that I’m on vacation with the Holy Father, and the pope came down to breakfast this morning with your book in his hands... So Navarro says to me, ... the pope has a message for you ... would you please thank Herr Allen for having written this book, particularly the last part about the future of my pontificate because it has saved me the trouble of thinking about it for myself.

If you answer to Lowdenclear ...

... then you'd probably better not read this!

My long suffering fiancée puts up with my cooking, sense of humour and funny moods (which she even says aren't grumpy) but some of my first-aid related stories she can do without. Fair enough; if you're her, then, maybe darling, you might prefer to skip this short entry. Someone suggested that chest-compression only CPR (in suspected cardiac arrest patients i.e. neither paediatric nor drowning) might be of more benefit than mouth to mouth and compressions. So far so good, especially as I wouldn't do mouth-to-mouth if you paid me! (Mouth to mask, that's a different, no vomitus in my oral cavity sort of game!!)

However, the American author of the above-linked article suggests aiming your compressions between the patient's nipples. That's just silly. The sternum or breastbone is a fixed point, running from a hollow at the top of the stomach up to a hollow at the bottom of the neck. But just you try to aim "between the nipples" of a 55 year old woman carrying a few extra pounds. Then try it when you've cut her clothing away to facilitate placing AED pads. (Remember ILCOR 2005 says 1 shock then CPR for 5 cycles or 2 minutes, then another shock.) You'd be trying chest compressions somewhere around her waist! Then try it on an obese 75 year-old male with man-breasts!

Finally if you haven't had any training in CPR don't expect to able to do anything at all - no training tends to mean lots of fear, some panic and a total freeze. If, on the other hand, you want to know what to do and how to do it in such a situation, follow the link in my sidebar!

A last word, for now anyway.

Angelo left a comment on this post below referring to the post on his own blog in Italian about Thomas Kelly. I tidied up the Google language tools "translation" and re-publish it here by way of a last word on Thomas's untimely death. It's not that I won't talk about it again but I won't blog about it for a while. It's still a bit too weird and objectionable to make sense of. (To all those who have prayed for Thomas and for his grieving family go raibh míle maith agaibh - a hundred thousand thanks, and please keep up the good work.)

Thomas A. F. Kelly

I have participated in these days, for the first time, in two celebrations in the Tridentine rite after the sudden disappearance of Tom Kelly. Kelly was professor of philosophy and head of the department of philosophy at Maynooth, and died in the night between Wednesday and Thursday at the age of 51 years.

I had met Tom Kelly in 2005, when he was invited to speak of Saint Anselm of Aosta for the association Atlantis. I went to meet him at Maynooth, and we spent a couple of hours together and I visited the National University of Ireland [Maynooth] and the Pontifical University. (The department of philosophy in Maynooth belongs to both institutions.)

I remember him as a kind person, a brilliant mind, full of interest.

He studied first at UCD and in Freiburg [Schweiz] and returned to UCD as assistant to Teresa Iglesias, my supervisor. He moved to Maynooth, where for twenty years he has trained generations of students, many of whom were seminarians. (Here some remember him.)

As Eamonn Gaines said on his blog ... Tom Kelly was President of the Irish Philosophical Society and founded three academic journals. He was a big fan of St. Thomas Aquinas and at this time I read about the conference programme that he was arranging for the month of April, dedicated to analytical Thomism. The sudden disappearance of Tom Kelly is a great loss for philosophy in Ireland, particularly Christian philosophy.

Tom attended the Tridentine rite parish, which has recently established, and the funeral today has been particularly touching. During my visit to Maynooth, Tom showed me the little cemetery that is located inside the campus, a cemetery which is almost entirely occupied by university professors and students. Now his mortal body rests among them, pending the Resurrection.

The Spanish comment on the previous post ...

Professor Martinez very kindly left a comment in Spanish which Kevin O'Reilly equally kindly translated. For those who would like to know what it said:

I was upset on learning of the death of Prof. Kelly. In
October he invited me to Maynooth and treated me to a
generous helping of warm Irish hospitality. I attended
the traditional Mass with him, his wife, Marian, and my
wife, on the Sunday of Christ the King. He was moved by
the verses of St John of the Cross that I recited to
him: 'Where have you hidden Yourself, my Beloved, and
left me groaning? Like the deer you fled, leaving me
wounded. I went forth after you calling out aloud but
you had gone.' Now he has met the Beloved, Jesus
Christ. May he rest in peace. R.I.P.

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!