This is the spiritual journey of me, Eccles, my big brother Bosco, and my Grate-Anti Moly. Eccles is saved, but we've got real problems with Bosco and Anti.
This is me, Eccles
![This is me, Eccles](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WfF1At4g1Jw/Um_aJDocOWI/AAAAAAAAGHs/hXpyo533cis/s760/new-eccles-biretta.jpg)
This is me, Eccles
Saturday 20 July 2024
The best and the worst
Silver: Gather us in
Bronze: Shine, Jesus, Shine
Fourth Place: Kumbayah Sydney Carter, Marty Haugen and Graham Kendrick. BAD CARDINALS (I) February 2019 Gold: Blase Cupich
Silver: Reinhard Marx
Bronze: Walter Kasper
Fourth Place: Francesco Coccopalmerio BAD CATHOLIC JOURNALISTS October 2019 Gold: James Martin
Silver: Austen Ivereigh
Bronze: Massimo Faggioli
Fourth Place: Antonio Spadaro LITURGICAL ABUSES July 2020 Gold: Idols
Silver: Changing words in the liturgy
Bronze: Communion in the hand
Fourth Place: Consecrating ordinary bread UGLY CHURCHES November 2020 Gold: St Francis de Sales, Norton Shores, Michigan
Silver: Eglise Sainte Bernadette du Banlay
Bronze: Newman Hall, Holy Spirit, Berkeley
Fourth Place: Parroquia Santa Monica, Rivas-Vaciamadrid FRANCIS ACHIEVEMENTS September 2021 Gold: Pachamama worship
Silver: Traditionis Custodes
Bronze: Treatment of the church in China
Fourth Place: Rehabilitating Uncle Ted McCarrick INSTRUMENTS IN HELL March 2022 Gold: Vuvuzela
Silver: Bongo drums
Bronze: Kazoo
Fourth Place: Tambourine PATRON SAINTS OF ENGLAND May 2022 Gold: Thomas More
Silver: Thomas Becket
Bronze: John Fisher
Fourth Place: John Henry Newman BAD CARDINALS (II) October 2022 Gold: Blase Cupich
Silver: Arthur Roche
Bronze: Reinhard Marx
Fourth Place: Francesco Coccopalmerio UNCROWNED SAINTS April 2023 Gold: Pope Leo XIII
Silver: Thomas à Kempis
Bronze: Pope Pius XII
Fourth Place: G.K. Chesterton ROYAL SAINTS July 2023 Gold: Jadwiga of Poland
Silver: Elizabeth of Hungary
Bronze: Stephen I of Hungary
Fourth Place: Louis IX of France SYNODAL HORRORS September 2023 Gold: Abp Víctor Fernández
Silver: Fr James Martin
Bronze: Cdl Arthur Roche
Fourth Place: Dr Austen Ivereigh SYNOD JARGON December 2023 Gold: a new way of being Church
Silver: a kenotic de-centering
Bronze: a listening Church
Fourth Place: respects the protagonism of the Spirit BAD CATHOLIC WRITERS March 2024 Gold: Víctor Manuel Fernández
Silver: Austen Ivereigh
Bronze: James Martin
Fourth Place: Massimo Faggioli MISUSED CHURCHES April 2024 Gold: Borgloon (Belgium), Holy cow
Silver: New York, God is trans
Bronze: St Edmundsbury, Masonic dinner
Fourth Place: Rochester, Crazy golf GREAT CATHOLIC LEADERS June 2024 Gold: Cardinal Sarah
Silver: Cardinal Zen
Bronze: Bishop Schneider
Fourth Place: Cardinal Müller LATIN MASS LETTER-WRITERS July 2024 Gold: Sir James MacMillan
Silver: Princess Michael of Kent
Bronze: Tom Holland
Fourth Place: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Next (but not for several weeks): Bad Hymns (again), Synod Jargon (again), and Pope Francis insults.
Sunday 7 July 2024
Quick World Cup of Latin Mass Letter Writers
Robert Agostinelli Lord Alton of Liverpool Lord Bailey of Paddington Lord Bamford Lord Berkeley of Knighton Sophie Bevan Ian Bostridge Nina Campbell Meghan Cassidy Sir Nicholas Coleridge Dame Imogen Cooper Lord Fellowes of West Stafford Sir Rocco Forte Lady Antonia Fraser Martin Fuller Lady Getty John Gilhooly Dame Jane Glover Michael Gove Susan Hampshire Lord Hesketh Tom Holland Sir Stephen Hough Tristram Hunt Steven Isserlis Bianca Jagger Igor Levit Lord Lloyd-Webber Julian Lloyd Webber Dame Felicity Lott Sir James MacMillan Princess Michael of Kent Baroness Monckton of Dallington Forest Lord Moore of Etchingham Fraser Nelson Alex Polizzi Mishka Rushdie Momen Sir Andras Schiff Lord Skidelsky Lord Smith of Finsbury Sir Paul Smith Rory Stewart Lord Stirrup Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Mitsuko Uchida Ryan Wigglesworth A N Wilson Adam ZamoyskiAnd this was the letter (you can click to enlarge).
QUALIFIERS FOR THE SUPER SIX, AS THEY COME IN.
FINAL RESULTS LISTED AFTER THE PHOTOS. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Sir James MacMillan Princess Michael of Kent Lord Alton of Liverpool Tom Holland Lady Antonia Fraser
Group 1: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa 28.2 Princess Michael of Kent 42.7 Tom Holland 29.1 Group 2: Sir James MacMillan 60.8 Lord Alton of Liverpool 21.6 Lady Antonia Fraser 17.5
FINAL Princess Michael of Kent 45.5 v Sir James MacMillan 54.5 So congratulations to the new Agatha Christie, Sir James MacMillan!
Saturday 6 July 2024
The Book of Numbskulls 2 - after the fall of Bosis
Wednesday 3 July 2024
A letter about the Latin Mass
Tuesday 2 July 2024
Zen and the art of Michael Lofton maintenance
Sunday 30 June 2024
The Pope needs some common cents!
Friday 21 June 2024
How to conduct a trial for schism
Nothing to do with the above (or is it?), but the AI program Copilot kindly produced a picture of the famous Annibale Bugsbunni, to whom we all owe so much. It would be a pity not to use it here. What's up, Holy Father?
Wednesday 19 June 2024
Pope Francis decides to reform all masses
Sunday 16 June 2024
The Synod of Comics and the Synod of Despots
Sunday 2 June 2024
It's Sloth Pride!
We are lazy, and we are proud of it! For too long the Catholic Church has persecuted those who share our orientation towards work (we turn our backs on it). However, we in the LBDN - Lazy Blighters Doing Nothing - Community are now ready to take action - although obviously we won't do very much.
Posters like this will soon be seen everywhere. Or maybe we won't bother.
Is it really right in this post-Vatican II era that Sloth should be a deadly sin? Why do the Catholics refuse to marry people who won't make the effort to go to church? Why should lazy people be prevented from taking communion, just because they stay in bed all day? For too long the Church has shown institutionalized Acediaphobia! Well, times are changing, and we slobs are coming out of the closet, although we'll probably be having a lie-down soon!
London's Sloth Pride March! Unfortunately, nobody turned up.
We have the support of many senior clergy. We got someone to write a letter to Vincent Nichols, asking if he would give us a special church in the Westminster Archdiocese, where Sloth Masses could be held (we could watch them on television, of course). Cardinal Nichols showed true Sloth Awareness by not bothering to answer us. Likewise, in America we approached Cardinal Dolan; he was on a "Gluttony Pride" march at the time, but he did make us feel welcome.
See! Sloth Masses are just like any other!
We even asked the Holy Father to dash off an encyclical for us, perhaps to be called Panem Otiosa. (I must look that up sometime, I'm told it's from Proverbs 31:27.) If he doesn't do it, we'll know he's supporting us by his actions! Indeed, Cardinal Grech has already told us that we have the full support of the Pope, and that the 2024 Synod on Synodality will welcome spokesmen for the lazy, the idle, the slothful and the work-shy. Not that any will be turning up.
Equal rights for the Lazy!
Sloth Pride!
This is an updated version of a piece originally published in 2015.Wednesday 29 May 2024
Paul the Apostle accused of using offensive words
Monday 27 May 2024
The eight greatest Catholic leaders
QUARTER-FINALS Robert Sarah 81.2 v John Zuhlsdorf 18.8 Joseph Strickland 33.6 v Gerhard Ludwig Müller 66.4 Athanasius Schneider 51.6 v Raymond Burke 48.4 Carlo Maria Viganò 21 v Joseph Zen 79
SEMI-FINALS Robert Sarah 66.1 v Athanasius Schneider 33.9 Gerhard Ludwig Müller 31.6 v Joseph Zen 68.4
THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF Athanasius Schneider 58.9 v Gerhard Ludwig Müller 41.1 BRONZE for Bishop Schneider!
!!! FINAL !!! Robert Sarah 61.7 v Joseph Zen 38.3 GOLD for Cardinal Sarah, SILVER for Cardinal Zen!
Sunday 19 May 2024
Pentecost Special
(N.B.: we didn't this time.) One example: an African in traditional costume read the bit from the Acts of the Apostles. Actually, not a great loss, as he has such a heavy accent that I cannot always follow him when he reads in English, either. The other languages used were easier to identify. "What traditional English costume was Eccles wearing?" You may ask. I had several possibilities, but I won't reveal which one I eventually chose. Option 1. Option 2. Option 3. I did my bit for diversity by putting some left-over Swedish kronor in the collection, rather than the usual 5p. I've been trying to get rid of them for several years. Anyway, we come to the bring-food-and-share-it. What traditional English foods would appeal to everyone? Tripe and onions? Black pudding? Jellied eels? Eccles cakes (of course)? And what traditional foreign foods will they offer in return? Frogs' legs? Snails? Sheep's eyes? Korean hot dogs? Yummy! In the end we were blessed by food from the New Hebrides / Vanuatu, where traditionally they ate missionaries. Delicious!