One of my pet dislikes is people using irrelevant or emotive arguments in public debate, and getting away with it. Sure, it is annoying to see stupid policies get public support because the politicians have, once again, dusted those same sob stories off and dared any other politicians to risk being seen as uncompassionate and judgemental, to oppose them.

The Greens, Australia's own extremist left wing party which campaigns on an environmental platform but then actively campaigns against a fair range of moral teachings and specifically against the Catholic Church, have been masters of this game for years.
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It has always irked me that people allow themselves to be brainwashed into thinking that being a walking billboard advertisement for a brand name is cool. What is more, they charge you obscene amounts of money for you to advertise their brand name! It is a marketers dream.

Apart from a unit or two on Evangelisation and Christian Leadership, everything I teach is directly related to Sacred Scripture, so I have a keen interest in discussion of the various Bible translations out there. I enjoyed reading some very sensible comments on Evangelical Catholicism about choosing a good translation, even if I would add a caveat about the NAB tanslation. The earlier editions were servicable enough.
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Even though I believe I've been thinking 'catholic' for many years, I am still a relative newcomer to Catholic culture. So I have a soft spot for Catholic kitsch. This isn't really that bad, but I still have enough memories of Protestant 'missions' to shudder a little when I saw this.

At least it isn't as bad as those hideous statues of Mary we were given soon after our conversion. I think it was the little flashing plastic heart that tipped my opinion there.

After posting such a cheeky reference to Fr Stan's rap tribute to Bach, I found this amazing clip hidden in Stephanie's old posts. If think this is impressive, try even one bar of this Bach prelude the way Bobby McFerrin does!

Stephanie's has become one of my "go to" blogs for chuckles, challenges and some good Churchy stuff too.
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After commenting on two books on Manhood I thought it might be worth talking about an excellent book on womanhood.

Of all the attempts to reclaim a genuine womanhood, with all its mystery and majesty, I rank Wendy Shalit’s A Return to Modesty as among the best.

Wendy Shalit is young, modern, professional, smart, witty, well read and, as one reviewer insists, drop-dead-gorgeous. Most importantly of all, Wendy is a woman.
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Having a chuckle over the Guilty Pleasures post on Amy Wellborn's blog "In which we share the titles of liturgical music we're not supposed to like....but do", I began speculating what my confession would be. Having come to the Church from an evangelical background, via Lutherans, I have a fair range to choose from. I can't think of a single 'song' those horrid 'song books' that I miss. I make a point of singing Brethren Hymn Behold the Lamb of God every holy week.

Having given Mitch Finley's book on being a Catholic man such a bad rap in my previous post I thought I should propose a better read on the topic of manhood. One of the problems of advocating 'manly' behaviour is that it is difficult to find two people who agree even on how to define or measure such things. Finley and many others seem to define manhood as an attitude or psychological disposition.
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Asked to review yet another book on manhood, For Men Only - Strategies for living Catholic by Mitch Finley I sat up and took notice when, by way of introduction to his topic, he quotes novelist Ron Hansen,

"Despite our all-male clergy, Catholicism is becoming a religion that too often has too little relationship to the day-to-day activities of ordinary men.

I had a chuckle over this, posted on The Confused Papist today.
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Married with eight children, I read for work and recreation which results in the current combination of G.K. Chesterton, Orson Scott Card and Terry Pratchet in my backpack. I'm not always certain which is work and which is recreation!
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