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Showing posts with the label France

Same-sex 'marriage' and 'The Emperor's New Clothes'

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I posted this yesterday on Bangor to Bobbio. I've simply copied and pasted. The British Parliament  yesterday voted in favour of a bill  that would legalise same-sex 'marriage' in England and Wales. A majority of the Conservative Party that governs in a coalition with the much smaller Liberal Democrats, voted against the bill which still has a few hurdles to jump over before it becomes law.  Three days earlier the French Parliament voted in favour of a similar bill, though it too has some way to go. Hans Christian Andersen It might be good if those who voted in favour of the absurdity of same-sex 'marriage' would either read Hans Christian Andersen's  The Emperor's New Clothes  or listen to Frank Loesser's musical rewriting of the story [video above] for Danny Kaye to sing as he played Hans Christian Andersen in  the 1952 movie  of the same name. Illustration  by Vilhelm Pedersen, Andersen's first illustrator.

A Saint for a Rainy Day

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Reposted from Costing Not Less Than Everything Because it just keeps raining….a formidable female saint. The patron saint of excessive rain is Saint Genevieve.  As a young girl, she was singled out by Saint Germain of Auxerre for her sanctity and she averted the sack of Paris by Attila the Hun through prayer and fasting. Acting as an intermediary between the city and Childeric I when he conquered Paris, she ensured the supply of grain to the inhabitants and persuaded him to release prisoners of war.  She was responsible for the conversion of Clovis I, Childeric’s successor. After her death, she worked many miracles; in her life, she was noted for her piety and asceticism. The Pantheon in Paris was originally designed to be a fitting resting place for the saint – but her relics were publicly burnt in 1793. To this day she is invoked as the patron saint of Paris, against fever and against flood, drought and disaster.

"A Tale of Two Cities" and the Paradox of Sacrificial Love

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My sons and I returned home the other night from a long, wonderful day trip to New York State to see my parents, my brother and his family. My husband and I settled in to watch a movie: "A Tale of Two Cities," a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production from 1935. The film, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale, is the story of men and women who become caught up in the bloody aftermath of the French Revolution. If you are expecting instant payback for your time, this is not the movie for you. The film builds its characters and its suspenseful plot methodically. Be patient. By the end of the movie, I promise you will be on the edge of your sofas. The movie's sensibility is profoundly Christian and seeks to answer the question: What is one's purpose in life? Read more here.