Is it licit to take a Pill that alters one's perception of reality?

Following in the footsteps of Timothy Leary, Joseph Shaw of the LMS muses on a Pill that can induce radical disconnection with reality. Well worth reading.

Just say no!

Heartwarming Catholic photo of the day...

My just-turned-four-year-old setting up his "altar" to "say Mass"

Conclave to convene sooner than thought, oath of secrecy extended,excommunication for breaches of security

Some exciting news just in from the Vatican Radio English News Service: the Holy Father has amended the rules governing the sede vacante period to facilitate a sooner start to the Conclave than would have traditionally been allowed under the previous rules which required that 15 days elapse before a conclave could begin.

Even more interestingly, particularly in the light of stories of potential leaks and tweets from the conclave (see Mulier Fortis on this here and here) is an amendment which extends the oath of secrecy to those technical personnel who are present to ensure that no recording or electronic "leaking" of the Conclave occurs.

And on the off chance that somebody wouldn't take the above seriously, one last change underlines the gravity of the solemn secrecy of the Conclave: the Holy Father has clarified that the "punishment for any violation of the oath of secrecy is to be excommunication
latae sententiae".

So there - utterly clear, no excuses for breaching the rules.

It sounds as though we may see the conclave convene sooner than expected. Pray! Pray! Pray!

Original text from http://www.news.va

2013-02-25 Vatican Radio
(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI issued an Apostolic letter motu proprio on Monday, in which he introduced a series of modifications to the laws governing the period sede vacante and the election of a new Bishop of Rome. The new Motu proprio replaces certain of the numbered paragraphs and/or sections of the text of the governing document, Universi Dominici gregis (UDG). Below are the principal highlights of the legislation.
By a modification to paragraph n. 37 of UDG

: Pope Benedict XVI allows for the College of Cardinals to begin the Conclave before fifteen days have passed from the beginning of the period sede vacante, provided that all voting Cardinals are present. The modification also provides that the Conclave must begin no more than twenty days after the beginning of the sede vacante, even if all the electors are not present.

By a modification to paragraph n. 48

: The oath of secrecy is extended to the individuals mentioned in Paragraph 55,2, among whom are the two "trustworthy technicians" who have the task of assisting the competent officers of the College in assuring that no audio-visual equipment for recording or transmitting has been installed by anyone in the areas mentioned, and particularly in the Sistine Chapel itself, where the acts of the election are carried out.


By a modification to the text of paragraph 55,3

: The punishment for any violation of the oath of secrecy is to be excommunication
latae sententiae
(the old text provided for “grave penalties according to the judgment of the future Pope”).

Heartwarming papist photo of the day

The Keys of Saint Peter flying in full view of King Henry VIII's childhood home.

Oi Fatboy, we're still here!

Bonfire of the vanities

This winter I will be warming my home using books that I wouldn't deign to send to a charity shop in case somebody else might read them. With former lives in academia and the media, my husband and I have an inordinately large collection of books, many of which were sent as freebees by publishers seeking reviews, and have never been read. Others were picked up at the wonderful but defunct Galloway and Porter in Cambridge which sold remaindered academic (and other) books for peanuts. Decades on these are cluttering up our bookshelves, loft and garage, many unread. Whilst I've sent lots to the charity shops, and put some up for sale on Amazon, I was perplexed about what to do with a small number which I felt wrong about putting out into the world again because of their subject matter, or bias. Some are books that I'd bought in my teens and twenties: feminist revisionist history books that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. I happened to have a pile of these next to me as I was filling the woodstove this afternoon, and discovered the joy of freeing myself of troublesome material while heating my home in the most ecologically way.

Bad books: just burn 'em and make space on your shelves for more of the good stuff.

The BBC and the Gates of Hell

Listening to Edward Stourton's hatchet job Radio 4 programme "In search of the real Pope Benedict" I wondered whether the BBC would afford similarly slipshod journalism to another subject. Imagine coverage of the next Conservative conference commented on by spokesmen from Militant Labour, the Socialist Worker, the Fabian Society and, to show real "balance and fairness", Alan Rusbridger. Remember this next time the debate about the Licence Fee rolls around.

Hearing Tina Beattie shrilling her way though the programme was more than I could bear. It was a roll-call of dissenters, and could have been written by dear saved brother Eccles as a parody of "wot sum unsaved and unedykated pussons mite fink". Hubby and I stood in the kitchen in slight shock listening to the broadcast, neither of us recognising the descriptions of our beloved Holy Father, nor of the slant on the last eight years, which, if one we to believe the programme, had been one of utter devastation for the Church. "Why" my husband wondered "do all these people seem to think that the Church should be moving forwards? What makes them think that the Church should be 'moving' at all?" There's an odd modern orthodoxy that movement - or change - or progress - is by definition a good thing. It's an argument that has been used frequently in the debate about changing the definition of marriage, and is one that I suspect we will be hearing frequently from now on. It is used to build sophistic arguments that suggest that if one does not agree with a particular point of view, it is simply because one has not caught up yet with the inexorable tide of change. Thus Holy Mother Church is simply behind the curve when it comes to fashionable sexual and moral views, and will eventually "get with the times". There is no understanding that Truth is eternal and unchanging: this is utterly inconceivable to the modern thinker.

There is no doubt that political liberals who self-identify as Catholic (whilst rejecting all that the Church teaches) are running scared, and that is at the root of the current mania of Pope Benedict bashing. There is also no doubt that the father of all lies is gleefully doing all in his power to seed chaos and confusion: whilst we need to trust the Holy Spirit, we also need to storm Heaven with our prayers for not only a good Pope, but a good and holy Pope, and a good and holy Pope who will lead Christ's Church on earth with the same courage and determination shown by Pope Benedict XVI.

This Lent we have been given the gift of an immediately tangible and intelligible intention towards which our prayer and privations can be directed. Pray and fast, pray and fast.

The gates of Hell shall not prevail.

Meal options for Lent...