It turns out that water is not H2O after all...

An individual molecule of H2O doesn’t have any of the observable properties we associate with water. A glass of water, pure as water can be, is better understood as containing H2O, OH–, H3O+ and other related but less common ions, and even this is a vast oversimplification (if we could get truly pure water, which we cannot). Our current best understanding of the electron transfers that give water the properties we observe is a statistical average of ever changing interactions so complex as to be quite literally unthinkable. Indeed, the problem is “not that we are unsure which (distribution of types of) microstructure is the correct one. The point is that there is no one correct microstructure, because the microstructure depends as much on the context and functions just as another nominal essence would” (van Brakel, 2000b, 80–81).

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This isn't a new discovery by the way, proper chemists know that water isn't H2O because they went on to study proper chemistry at degree level and beyond. So why do you and I think water is H2O? Because that's what our teachers told us.

Why did our teacher tell us that water is H2O? Because the truth is far too complicated to teach little children, so they gave us a simplification of the truth to give us something to work with until we are old enough to understand things better.

This happens a lot in science. Lots of what you were taught at school isn't strictly speaking true, it's a simplification of the truth. But did you know that also happens with religion? Much of what you were taught at school is simply not true. It was a simplification somebody gave you to work with until you were old enough to understand things better.

The main difference between science and religion seems to be this: When people discover that water isn't really H2O they don't say "gasp! science has been disproved!" but rather, they understand that they were taught a simplification when they were younger and that their knowledge and understanding of the subject is limited.

Yet when people discover that the simplified explanation of religion they learned when they were young doesn't quite match up to their experiences in the real world, they decide that religion must be broken, not their understanding. When somebody tries to give them a more grown up explanation of God they say things like "but religion is supposed to be simple!"

You can have a simple religion if you want, just like you can have simple technology. You can buy a computer and use a computer and never ask questions about how it works. But, if you are an adult and if you like to ask questions and if you like to understand what is going on then you might want to develop your understanding a little bit.

h/t Mark Shea

I don't know if you watch Doctor Who but the latest series included a human sized robot filled with tiny people. The robot had the ability to kill an individual and then take on it's form so that people would think they were speaking with the deceased when in reality they were speaking only with a robot imposter.

You may think there is a Birmingham Oratory, you may have been there and seen the buildings, read the newsletter and even had a cup of tea after Mass. What you actually saw was a lot like the robot from Doctor Who. The appearance of the Birmingham Oratory is there, but the Oratory community is gone.

The Birmingham Oratory community has been torn up and spread (literally) to the far corners of the earth. What remains are buildings and a few fragments of what once was, all held up on artificial limbs to look like it is still alive - it is not. Do not confuse the buildings with the community.

What remains is a puppet manipulated from afar by cynical politician Bishops, hell bent on bringing the legacy of Cardinal Newman under their control and silencing the dangerously outspoken Oratorians. Oratorians who once forced Clare Short to abandon her speaking gig at a local school, who criticised Tony Blair in the national press...

Are you blind? The press releases are coming from Eccleston Square! Yes, that would be Eccleston We're not really keen on an 'archbishop versus the politicians' headline' Square!

The same Eccleston Square that was paying Jack Valero to "act" as spokesman!

But it's okay, you keep blaming Fr Guy Nicholls - I'm sure he arranged everything.

Just as it is easier to recognize ill health in someone you haven’t seen for some time rather than in someone you meet daily, so a visitor coming into a society from elsewhere often can see its character more clearly than those who live in it. Every few months, doctors from countries like the Philippines and India arrive fresh from the airport to work for a year’s stint at my hospital. It is fascinating to observe their evolving response to British squalor.

Welcome to England....

Bloggers are the problem.
Bloggers are the problem.

But like much of the establishment, Britain's senior clergymen have surrounded themselves with legions of press advisers whose jobs it is to make sure their paymasters don't put their foot in it – predominantly by keeping their heads below the parapet.

"I'm not sure he'll say much on that," says the press man for Archbishop Vincent Nichols when asked whether the leader of Catholics in England and Wales will broach the topic of abortion. "We're not really keen on an 'archbishop versus the politicians' headline'."

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Bloggers are the problem.

I published this blog entry this time last year but I think it is worth posting again...

In 1535 St Thomas More and St John Fisher were executed, but the Archbishop of Canterbury would remain the Archbishop of Canterbury until 1555. While the king was cutting Catholic heads off, prelates like Archbishop Thomas Cranmer were making cosy arrangements with the government and helping to build the new religion.

Sound familiar? In 2010 the government no longer cuts heads off but so called "equality legislation" has closed the Catholic adoption agencies and once again, Catholic teaching on human sexuality threatens to become the flashpoint. Asked whether the Church might bless same sex partnerships, Cranmer's successor, Archbishop Vincent Nichols answered "I don’t know. Who knows what’s down the road?"

Like Cranmer, Nichols is waiting to see which way the wind blows. If the government makes Catholicism illegal, the Bishops Conference of England and Wales will simply adapt Catholicism...

But... but... Cranmer was a protestant! Was he indeed? Was he a protestant in 1533 when he was appointed a Catholic Archbishop? Interesting.

Anyway, I mention all this because today was the anniversary of the start of the Pilgrimage of Grace. On 13th October 1536, Robert Aske lead nine thousand who were joined by priests and forty-thousand men from York, Durham, Lancaster and other areas. The insurgents and took York and arranged for the monks to return to their houses and Catholic observance was resumed. No doubt at the time people referred to them as Taliban Catholics and wrote articles asking "What is it about riots that make people so angry?". Just as today people seriously think it is blogs that make people angry and not, you know, all the stuff there is to be angry about.

Robert wrote to the King "In all parts of the realm men's hearts much grudged with the suppression of abbeys, and the first fruits, by reason the same would be the destruction of the whole religion in England." Today, the suppression of the Birmingham Oratory is a similar step. Eventually the King sent a Jack Valero type character to make a load of promises so the protesters went home and, once everybody was dispersed, the promises were broken and the leaders arrested.

These days the dissolution is more subtle, institutions remain standing in name only while individuals are bundled away. Has anybody heard the Birmingham Oratory say a single thing in defence of Catholic teaching since the three left? I haven't. Has heard Catholic Bishops on the radio scoffing at Catholic teaching? I have.

For our part, we don't need to march on York, we can (thank goodness) march virtually across the web. Nobody is going to cut our heads off, though they might force my wife to stop blogging...

You can find out more about the Pilgrimage of Grace here.

Good to see some of the more moderate blogs are finally catching on...

The Archdiocese of Westminster won't answer Ches's questions about Quest booking a diocesan venue for a Conference, and now Mass is to be celebrated publicly for Quest.

The dioceses of England and Wales are asked by a blogger how many exorcists there each have and the Communications Officer for the Diocese of Middlesborough not only refuses to asnswer him but tells him that blogging should be made a serious criminal offence.

The Catholic Truth Society has issued an instruction which accompanies just about every copy of the new translation available to Catholics in parishes that says that Holy Communion is to be received standing.

Add to this the ongoing Catholic Voices brouhaha (a good Humptydumptyish word), some remarkable examples of secular priests being moved about, and you don't need to see albino monks to think that something might be afoot.

In Austria and Ireland, the rebellion is being led by priests inn parishes.  In this country it seems to be being led by apparatchiks in Eccleston Square and diocesan curiae.

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The people who run the Church in this country are not simply incompetent - they are doing it on purpose...

Last year readers of this blog donated generously towards helping young people from West Hull get to World Youth Day in Madrid. One of them was captured on film (so to speak) by the Bishops Conference photographer (below) and the photo even made it to the Catholic Herald.

[Photo Credit: Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk]

Jessica writes...

I would like to briefly thank those who made it possible for Josh, Nathan and I to attend “World Youth Day”.

For those who do not know about WYD, let me give you a little information. WYD was started by the late Blessed Pope John Paul ll in 1986. WYD does actually happen every year, however once every two or three years young people from across the Earth come together for a weeklong event, we come and celebrate our Faith with the Holy Father, the successor of St Peter in Holy Mass.

The three of us went with the diocese for two weeks, although we didn’t go straight to Madrid. Firstly we travelled by coach to Valladolid; home of the Royal English college of St Alban. We had a tour of the seminary led by Bishop Terry and attended Mass at the college most days during our stay here.

While staying at Valladolid we also travelled to Avilla famous for its association with St Theresa. We visited the monastery where she was for some time based. We also visited the monastery at Duenas where the relatively new Spanish Saint Raphael had lived. Both these saints were patrons of this WYD.

In the second week we travelled from Valladolid to Madrid. Most mornings we had Catechesis followed by Holy Mass. Some of the talks during the catechesis sessions were really inspiring and helped us to understand the teachings of the Church. This is really important for young people, as sometimes it is difficult to defend our beliefs if we do not understand it ourselves.

At the main the events the atmosphere was amazing, at the vigil alone was over a million people. Everyone was really friendly, we had loads of photos taken with other people from around the world and we had small badges with our Diocesan name on which we swapped with various trinkets from fellow pilgrims – I came back with a little koala from Australia and a bag from Italy, among other things.
When the Pope arrived the atmosphere was electrifying; everyone singing and cheering – it made you proud to be a Catholic.

To anyone thinking of going to the next WYD in Brazil (2013) – Go for it. It will be well worth going and you will meet lots of other Catholics the same age as you and make lots of great friends who share the same Faith you do. It shows you are not alone.

Do not be afraid, you are not on your own, your one in a crowd of many who share the same beliefs, be proud of your Faith.

You can keep up to date with the various things Catholic youth in West Hull get up to at the Do Not Be Afraid To Be Saints! blog.

It's always nice to have a bit of Chesterton on a Saturday afternoon...

Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If he is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head… Man is always something worse or something better than an animal; and a mere argument from animal perfection never touches him at all. Thus, in sex no animal is either chivalrous or obscene. And thus no animal ever invented anything so bad as drunkenness — or so good as drink.

All Things Considered (1908).

h/t The Hebdomadal Chesterton