Wednesday 11 February 2015

Trolls...


It's suddenly dawned on me that other people in blogdom think I'm a troll. No wonder this once popular little blog is scarcely read anymore and I am reminded of the e-mail I sent to Ray Blake.

How horrid!

15 comments:

  1. I can see partly why you dislike old Zully as I call him (FrZ) as he's a little pompous at times, but Fr Blake in Brightelmstone is a diligent parish priest, and all he has done to you is to not bother to reply to your letter; perhaps he had better things to do.

    Have you ever been to his church? I did go on his patronal and it was delightful ordinary, by which I mean it wasn't just a display or a special event, but a parish's patronal. Have you ever been? And what evidence do you have for the 'queen' remark. I know you people can't make your own but do you really have to assume everyone else is?

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    1. I think I've said before that, comparatively, Blake is a decent man. One can certainly disapprove of his illiteracy (is he dyslexic or something?) and obvious prejudices but at least he has a parish in his care. Having said that, it's telling that he'd spurn a conversation with me but would quite happily go out for lunch with the Fat Man. As a "priest" I thought he'd have a better judge of character.

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    2. No, I've never been to Blake's church but I have been to Brighton many times. I remember his silver jubilee. Some people from Blackfen (to which I was then attached) went down to join the festivities. My friend was the organist for the occasion and said it was a travesty, and told me that he thought it strange that a priest would celebrate his jubilee by offering Mass in a rite with which he was clearly not familiar.

      As for the "queen" remark; you might say I make that judgement with exactly the same perception as I do with the pope-emeritus. Homosexuals just tend to be horrible people so I can just tell! (Although my friend the organist thinks that Blake isn't queer).

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  2. No, Patricius, I do not think that you are a troll. There are times when I think you to be a twit, and others when I think you are the Sebastian Flyte of the blogosphere. Mostly, though, I find you to be a quirky but good writer, when you're not on an anti-semitic or anti-Papistical bender. I suspect your low readership to be a result of those latter rants of yours. You may want to consider that.

    In the main, though, I pity and pray for you. You appear to be born out of your time, and are struggling to find a place in this bitter and post-Christian world. I pray and hope that you succeed. The world would be a far less interesting place with you not in it.

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    1. Thank you, bernard. I didn't want to reply on Opus Publicum as I thought that would be inappropriate (it's not all about me!).

      I've been compared with a few people, some real (albeit dead), others fictitious. One person, a few years ago, said to me in an e-mail that I reminded him of some characters from Barbara Pym.

      I tend to assume too readily that people understand exactly what I mean. Did you read Saints and Fables? If so, what do you think?

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    2. With the exception of Jeanne D'Arc, I'd say that "Saints and Fables (Parts I and II)" was 'true, but unhelpful." This is to say, I'm tending Eastward in my tendencies and sensibilities, as there appear still to be priests and bishops there who know the Faith, and are willing to teach and to live it, quite unlike this shipwreck-in-process otherwise known as the Roman Catholic Church.

      That said, though, it is not reasonable to cheer on or to applaud that shipwreck, or to take issue with the ship's dinnerware or design problems. I believe that, to continue the metaphor, it would be wiser to get one's self to a place of safety, and to help others who are in the waters to do the same.

      This is why I think it a waste of time and effort to point out the inadequacies of Western devotions. It does not help those poor traddie souls who are clinging to them like wreckage from the above-mentioned shipwreck. In a Church where few if any priests or bishops know anything about Scripture or Tradition, or have the intellectual or spiritual tools which would enable them to benefit from a study from the same, the traddies are at least sticking to what they know.

      Far better than that would be to find some Western rule of life (maybe Benedict of Nursia's Regula or the Sarum us), and to stick to a reading and a praying of it. You know, something like "work out your salvation in fear and trembling, knowing that it is the Lord who is working with and for you"?

      Just a thought.

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    3. Regarding your last paragraph, I'd love to form a community dedicated to a rule with the Sacred Liturgy at the heart of the rule, in some remote place far away from modern life. Where two or three are gathered in my name, etc.

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    4. As with the Blessed Benedict, St. Pachomius, or the many other eremites, it starts with one. To paraphrase a line from a recent movie, "if you pray it, they will come."

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    5. I enjoy your straight forward approach to heresy and the ultimate of abominations......the papacy. I needs to exposed. It is the Whore of Babylon in every respect. To Hell with peoples delicate sensibilities, if they cannot handle the truth then so be it.

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  3. "...quite unlike this shipwreck-in-process otherwise known as the Roman Catholic Church."

    Sage words indeed. I suspect the worst is still yet to come with regards to Western Christianity.

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    1. Alas, Rubricarius, I fear that you are correct in your suspicions. To quote the poet, "...You ain't seen nothing yet."

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  4. I have written my comment on my own blog - https://sarumuse.wordpress.com/2015/02/13/patricius-on-trolls/

    You are not a troll! I appreciate the comments in this blog post, and I have many kind and good comments from Bernard Brandt in my own blog. We don't always agree, but I have no problem with his freedom of expression.

    Be good and I wish you a holy Lent.

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    1. Thank you, Fr. Anthony, for your kind words, both for Patricius and on my own poor behalf. As those highfalutin' Greeks are wont to say: kalo taxidhi Pascha: may you have a good journey to Pascha.

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  5. "We don't always agree, but I have no problem with his freedom of expression."

    Yet Chadwick has problems with other commenters freedom of expression, he even makes all sorts of nasty accusations. This is what I call Anglican Double Speak or just plain old hypocrisy.

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  6. This is exactly the example of the troll who claims freedom of expression on other people's blogs, but goes far beyond the limits of human decency. Before the days of internet, this kind of heckler used to be limited to Hyde Park Corner on Sunday afternoons. Oh well...

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