That Neo should be going is a cause of great sadness, but not surprise. I have been out of action here, other things have had a greater call on my time, and I have appreciated the way Neo, and others have kept the flame burning. But we live in dark times. There is a passage in Lord of the Rings where Frodo regrets living in parlous times, but Gandalf simply responds by saying that so do all who live through such times.
Commenting upon Catholic matters is a parlous affair. Given that my own position is not adequately safeguarded by my pseudonymity, I have preferred silence to comments which would be bound to get those without the courage to comment openly, writing to my employer with whining complaints. We are where we are, and my one comment is that those who want an Anglican future for the Catholic Church should take that route for themselves and let the rest of us get on with the Faith once received by the Apostles.
But this is a post about Neo, who is the polar opposite of such people. He first came across my line of vision when I worked with the founder of this blog. I noted then what all his posts show. Firm principle, warm heart, and a loyalty beyond compare. That he and I were not of the same Church mattered not one whit. We were of the same timber. And through many years here, I never once saw him flinch, never once saw him waver, and never once saw him fail in the duty of a Christian gentleman. Kipling knew the value of a man by whether he was the sort of fellow you would go tiger-shooting with. Well, now that would get one ostracised in no time at all. But Neo is the sort of man with whom one would go on a tiger shoot, or any other activity which required a strong and loyal backer.
His words have stirred my out of my, well I won’t call it a reverie, but I will call it a reluctance to venture out. Neo, like Jess, is right, there is much in the blogging world which is touching pitch, but it is there whatever one does, and a small light in the darkness means that the darkness has not won.
Neo has kept the light burning. If, as has happened before, it passes now again to me, I shall do my best to keep it lit. Neo is in my prayers, as he has always been. Pray for him, and for all who in these dark times, do what they can to keep the flame alight. He fought the good fight, he ran the race. He encouraged others, and set an example of how those from different backgrounds and traditions can find an agreement. If he does go, we shall not see his like again.
I would thank him, from the bottom of my heart.
All Along the Watchtower 
Farewell Neo, I’ve always enjoyed your company. Can our conversations be terse? Sure. My recent comments have been, but at the same time there is wisdom in plain speak. What I do not care for is the sarcastic humor, but that is just not my style. Perhaps it is prudent to move on for is it wise for false ecumenism to exist? Neo plainly said Catholics are not Christians. I think he is dead wrong, but applaud him for his honesty. You also have to appreciate Bosco for the same, which is why I still talk to him from time to time.
I have been getting ready to begin blogging on my Nativity series, something unifying between Christians– Yes, Christians– even in my terseness my loyalty lies in Christ, but perhaps I’ve been a fool to think we can keep this going.
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I will miss NEO’s input.
I can’t quite credit the stated reason for leaving, namely the realisation that some Catholics here are hard-line. This seems to have come pretty late in the day. There must be more to it than this.
Different so-called churches exist, because of fundamental, irreconcilable differences of opinion. On any disputed question, either both sides are wrong, or one side is wrong.
Both sides can never be right when one is stating, “If you obstinately refuse to believe, this, you will go to Hell” and the other is denying the proposition.
I don’t see any point in pretending otherwise.
I note with some gratification the conclusion that NEO draws, that we hard-line Catholics are definitely going to hell. Perhaps a basis for more fruitful future dialogue.
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If you expect a Catholic to be anything other than Catholic then they might as well profess something else, but don’t be surprised when you find out a Catholic is Catholic.
The directness is refreshing. I wish he’d stay and we can continue this dialogue. Catholics aren’t Christians… let’s press it because what is the logical conclusion? After all, Bosco says Lutherans aren’t Christians either.
I believe Lutherans to be Christians, I would say even faithful Christians, but I do think there , irreconcilable differences in theology and we cannot both be right.
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The faith of fully paid-up Lutherans has the wrong motive.
If you believe because you reason it is so, or because a human being told you, not because God told you, that’s not Divine Faith.
I expect there are some within the Lutheran communities who take the Lutheran “church” to be the Church of Christ, and have the attitude towards its teaching that Catholics do.
The path such people are on seems like a Catholic one.
But it is as GKC said (I paraphrase). Some people believe in the Church of England because they believe it is the Catholic Church, and some believe in it because it is the Church of England.
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But they can be faithful to the Incarnation of our Lord. Regardless of my thoughts on not celebrating the reformation, I follow what the Catechism teaches that The Church most encompass many outside due to no fault of their own CCC 818. I do not accept the ultra-conservative interpretation of no salvation outside the Church, I accept the Catechisms take.
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Some draw it too narrow, that’s true. I’m not one of them. I’m just not very optimistic about the chances of adults who die outside the Church.
A theoretical possibility does not imply a practical probability.
Finding the post office without directions, and without knowing very well what a post-office is, is hard enough.
How much harder to get to heaven on a similar basis? Especially if some dead fat heretic has given you dodgy directions.
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Well, Gandalf was, as he usually was, simply correct. Living in the world has always been, is, and always shall be parlous. And here we have skirted not one but both of the main taboos of modern life, we discussed not only politics, but religion, and how they intersect (and don’t).
You, C., have become my dear friend as we went through perilous times not only on the blog, but in real life, and as you say, there is nobody in the world I would rather have on a tiger shoot with me. I remember Jess telling me, when she was still a part-time PA in the music department that you and I are the same man, separated by the Tiber and the pond. It was unwarranted then, and still is, but is the greatest compliment I have ever received.
I quoted elsewhere this morning my favorite quote from R.E. Lee, “Duty then is the sublimest word in the English language. You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more, you should never wish to do less.” I, perhaps because of who I am, feel that I have failed in my duty here, but as Lee at Appomattox Court House told his subordinates, “I am too old to go bushwacking”.
The last year has been very hard on me, and I, not so much fear, as dread the grayness of the future, but see little to do about it, as I survey the rubble of the “might have beens”. Nothing new in that either, it is the way of the world.
The memory of her post when she returned from Walsingham came to me last evening as I prayed the Rosary, meditating for a time on the medal of Our Lady of Walsingham attached to it. Another thing that she (and you) brought into my life. I will say this, my last post took more time than almost anything I have ever written, and cost me more tears than anything except the one that only you, Jess, and I have read, that we never published, and likely never will
And so, nothing in life is forever, except Christ, death, and taxes, and so I will not say, I will never return, perhaps I too simply need to retreat and regroup for a time, We will see, but at the moment, AATW is hurting my faith, which it did so much to help.
And so, I will leave with a few words that Jessica addressed me long ago when my spirit was troubled.
” I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher
The lines are repeated in a different context toward the end as Alfred gathers the Saxons for what will prove the last and successful battle
“And this is the word of Mary,
The word of the world’s desire
`No more of comfort shall ye get,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.’
Now it proves the flint against which the iron of resolve is sharpened, and the Saxons rally and they win, even though all had seemed lost. Alfred was not the most charismatic or dramatic of leaders, but he won, and this is why:
And this was the might of Alfred,
At the ending of the way;
That of such smiters, wise or wild,
He was least distant from the child,
Piling the stones all day.
Alfred has faith and he had patience, and he had resilience; he lacked the capacity to despair. In short, he possessed all the Christian virtues. He listened to Our Lady and he understood her advice, and so, at the height of the battle:
The King looked up, and what he saw
Was a great light like death,
For Our Lady stood on the standards rent,
As lonely and as innocent
As when between white walls she went
And the lilies of Nazareth.”
Soon she would add those that have become a touchstone between the three of us.
“And all shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be exceeding well.”
God bless, my dear friend.
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And God bless you, Neo
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I am sorry to see you go too, Neo – even though, like, Philip Augustine, I believe Catholics can also be Christians i.e. like the first followers of Christ in the Church He founded. That said, integrity, generosity of spirit and courage are rare commodities. Only today I was writing to a friend about a ‘hero’ of mine: Nurse Edith Cavell, who remained a devout Anglican until her untimely death. That most Catholic of devotional books, The Imitation of Christ, was her favourite reading.
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Thank you, Francis. I suspect you know, that I am a great fan of yours, a large part of why I read the Herald is your columns. Indeed, Nurse Edith Cavell, is a hero of mine as well, one of the stories that we all should be telling the young. In truth, I do believe that most Catholics are indeed Christians, and a large part of that is knowing Catholics like you and C. Your Church, like mine, has the other kind, I don’t know what to do about it, but it distracts from our joint mission.
Do be well, and take care, keeping the faith, always.
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I feel humbled by your words, Neo. I know from my own experience that the only way to avoid being distracted (and indeed dragged down) by un-Christian remarks from wherever they come is to keep your eyes fixed on Christ – and of course, keep faithful to your Rosary.
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Well, Francis, as I used to tell Jess, you shouldn’t be, you’ve earned them many times over. Always important to do those things. For me the Rosary remains a refuge when I’m troubled, not an everyday thing, like prayer is, but that may be because it came to me late, through this site.
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If this site has given you the Rosary it has given you a pearl of great price. It is my favourite prayer – and a wonderful refuge from all the usual slings and arrows that I am sure you know well.
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It has, and yes, it is. It has sustained me in the times of troubles that have happened and will into the future as well.
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As a recent reader, I’m sorry to see him go. I appreciated and benefitted from his warm welcome, encouragement, and wisdom.
I have thought increasingly that perhaps I liked a few comments I shouldn’t have and may have added to the pessimistic atmosphere. It can be easy to send the wrong message and hard to send the right one. God holds us all, and He will be faithful. Sometimes those times when He seems most absent, we are receiving the greatest gift of grace we could receive at that moment.
Blessings, Neo.
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Thanks. I don’t remember any of your like that tripped my trigger, to be honest. We just got away from playing the ball and played the man a bit much, at a time when I was already troubled. It’s a tone that has come and gone here, over time. It’s easy to do (I have done it too) but it hurts the site, and sometimes the commenter as well. This time it has me, the old man’s skin isn’t quite as thick as he thought. 🙂
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I don’t know what is sadder, the fact that you have been driven off or the fact we did not register the tone that might have been calculated to drive you off.
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Thank you. That is something that I will leave each of you to contemplate.
God be with you.
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Regardless of anything, May God Blessings go with you Neo.
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Indeed, and with you, as well.
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No need to lay it on with a trowel.
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Ah well, that’s how one gets a good coat of mortar.
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Then consider me suitably mortafied!
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That would have worked better, if I had checked the spelling of my neologism before sending.
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Good brother Neo is a genuinely nice guy. I pray he invites Jesus in and gets saved from the wrath to come, just as I pray all of you dear readers do the same.
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I hate to see you go Neo. You always made me “think.”
As far as your belief that “Catholics are not Christian,” I as well leave that to you. In saying that though, I would never say, “You are not a Christian because you are a Lutheran.”
I do so thank you for your warm heart, kind words, and the wonderful thoughts you placed in my mind. I am still dwelling on some of them. 🙂
I know God loves you, and I have had moments such as this, where I quit blogging all together. Last time was for a year. I still struggle with it at times.
You take care Dear Brother in Christ. I will miss you. Most of all I will miss the love you gave to each and every one of us. Sometimes when I felt the world going to hell, I could read your words and know there is still love in it. God Bless, SR
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Good sister SR, im gonna insist you stifle the alligator tears. Good brother Neo doesn’t believe Mary worshipers are Christians just as much as your catholic policy is that non cathols are not Christians, or going to heaven.
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Hey Bosco,
I do not believe non-Catholics are not Christians. I believe we are going to see many in heaven, from many different denominations. I hope and pray as well I get to meet you there. (That is, if I get there myself.) 🙂
The only “alligator tears” I had was laughing so hard at the “hell fodder,” they were running down my face! That one got me, Bosco!
You take care Dear Brother, and I look forward to “you not being stopped!” You always make me smile! Don’t know why, but you do! God Bless, SR
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Good sister SR brings up a good point for discussion. She believes folks from all denominations will be in heaven, while the CC says heaven is the exclusive domain of the catholic church. Lets look at good brother Paul. he was a rabid San Hedron. Once he met the Lord he wasn’t a anything any more. He was just another person born again. What im saying is that, in heaven, one wont find Baptists and Congregationalist or budhists or catholics. One will only find the saved. The reason you don’t have any born again folks in your church gatherings is because the Lord moves them out of there to find gatherings of other fellow saved. I still hung around my church for a month after I got born again and then the Lord used the pastor to lead me to a gathering. he didn’t do it on purpose. He was asked to send a rep from his church to a big meeting of Congregationalists, a convention if you will. He called my mother and told her he wanted me to be that rep. My mother told me she was taking me there. I told her I wasn’t going to no gad danged church what ever it was. Ruin my weekend? No freakin way. I figured that was the end of it. The morning of the event, my mother said…get dressed , youre going. I said…are you nuts..i already told you I aint going. She got up in my face and said im going the easy way or the hard way. She would grab me by my ear and drag me into the car or I can get in peacefully. So I went and met young people that had the same thing happen to them as me. I was led to gathering in my area and never went back to that dry unsave church again.
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Mr Bosco, there is an ‘episode’ of Called To Communion from 10/27/2017 that is available on YouTube, during which the commentator does a masterful job of explaining the Biblical idea of justification. I recommend it to you or anyone. I’ve listened to and watched it several times now.
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I may have been rash in recommending this video to everyone. There are some thoughts shared about Luther that might be seen as ‘jabs,’ though I did not see them that way myself. I certainly do not mean to inflame things further, here, amongst friends.
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Bosco, tell me where the church says only Catholics are in heaven
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The “church” doesn’t say anything. Church is an abstract idea. It only lives in the mind. But what clerics and pundits of the CC say is this…….
The Catholic Church teaches infallibly, “extra ecclesiam nulla salus,” or, “outside the Church there is no salvation.” But as with all dogmas of the Faith, this has to be qualified and understood properly.
Now we see an attempt to water down what the “church” officially taught. In modern time, when people are sick of wars and intolerant violent religions, the biggest most violent religion is backpeddling on its original hard line. Closing the barn door after the horse has wandered off.
1. There is no salvation apart from Christ and his One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Again, this is an infallible teaching and not up for debate among Catholics
Then it goes on to say that the CC didn’t really mean that. Its impossible to deny it ever said that, so a deny campaign is launched.
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/is-there-really-no-salvation-outside-the-catholic-church
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In other words, as usual, the fact fail to confirm your prejudices
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Written by Pope Boniface VIII in 1302, this papal bull concludes with a shocking dogmatic definition:
We declare, say, define and pronounce, that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.
https://www.catholicity.com/commentary/shea/00059.html
Then good brother Mark Shea, who is an old acquaintance of mine, goes on to muddy the waters with a bunch of talk that seems to go nowhere. At once, he asserts that this statement might not be true, and then he has the moral dilemma of contradicting what his beloved church says. Well, that’s a false religion for you. It leaves its devotees the task of cleaning up the madness. I say …just get out and go religion shopping or something.
The damned of god Jehovas had a little prob not long ago. They had been teaching that they are the 144000 mentioned in Rev. But when their ranks swelled to near a million, they had to come up with something, and fast.
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Good brother infiniterlly , ill go give the video a look. Thanks.
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I’ll look at your information as well. I will not despair of getting to the bottom of it, though. Sunday always follows Fridays and Saturdays.
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Good brother Chalcedon, what your church teaches is in black and white.. No salvation outside the CC…that is plain. You are trying to beamish me by saying that the denials are the truth and not the original dogma. Live with it. Don’t fight it. If youre gonna be catholic…..be catholic
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I am following the teaching of the Church, which unlike you, I understand
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Do note that isn’t all inclusive, nor is it restricted to Catholics. It is what happens when we put our churches in the place of Christ.
There is a lot of love in the world, the real kind, not what they try to sell us. It really is as C’s comment from Gandalf indicates.
Be well, and keep the faith, my friend.
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You as well, my friend. God Bless, SR
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I understand what you mean. It’s hard for all of us (identifying here with the offenders), depending where we’re at with our walk at the moment. Insecurity regarding faith can be a struggle, and is not a loving center to operate from. Thanks again.
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Well, you know what….one can take it only so long. Ive been telling good brother Neo for yrs that these Marys smile in his face while they consider him hell fodder. Those of you fortunate to have visited my unfortunate blog know that I have no intention of buckling under. No one who belongs to a religion that has its followers on their knees befor the works of their hands is gonna upset me with any insult they hurl at me. The mistake the Marys make is thinking that I, Bosco, have some special bone to pick with the CC. Their conceit matches the height of their arrogant religion. I treat atheists the same as Marys. Jehovas and Mormons and little old ladies. I treat all the unsaved the same way.
Every now and then good brother Neo would take a shot across the bow of the catholic cult of personality. It was refreshing. But at the same time he found common cause with them for the most part. That being that they are both members of a religion, and both are unsaved. Two false religions arguing over whos is the best. The saved have no fellowship with darkness. But the saved are ordered to witness to all men, religious or not. We don’t care what you call yourself. We share the good news to everyone, great and small.
Im sad to see good brother Neo hit the road. But as always….
Don’t let the doorknob hit you
where the dog shoulda bit you
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“Hell fodder, Bosco?” LOL!!!! I will give you this, you can come up with them! There is not one soul that can deny that!
Well, I have to run, and go “worship my husband,” cause he is taking me out to dinner tonight. Have a great weekend and God Bless, SR
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Im going to the Golden Coral Buffet tonight. They are gonna have to roll me out of there.
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I love Golden Coral. We go there often. “Roll me out of there!” LOL!!! Gluttony is a sin too ya know???? Have a great feast and think about me when you have so much on your plate you cannot stand it! God Bless, SR
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Ill do just that sugar cakes.(;-D
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Okey-Dokey! God Bless, SR
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All things change, the prophet says, but prejudice remains
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As Bosco’s little brother (my first memory of him is when he tore my teddy-bear to pieces as he said it was an idol), I can confirm that he does honestly believe that he is saved. Especially after a few pints at the Jack Chick bar, the “Lake of Fire”.
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Bite Me!
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Good brother Chalcedon, I have missed you and have asked about you. I want to do a hard headed….ooops, I meant hard hitting post. Not the namby pamby bunch of nothing that you get here regularly. Ill put it together tonite and submit. That’s if its OK with you.
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I don’t know why but Bosco puts me in mind of Caliban’s final speech in The Tempest: something about turning over a new leaf and starting to pray. (I have always had a soft spot for Caliban, I should add.)
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Well, thanks I think. I never heard of Caliban.
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You wouldn’t have – he is in Shakespeare’s Tempest
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Shakespear….oh jeeze.
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Let’s see shall we?
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OK good brother, I submitted a post. Thanks in advance.
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Bosco, it is libellous – you have not one shred of evidence to support the allegation about human sacrifice in the Vatican. I can’t publish libel here.
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These people don’t leave evidence except for the eye witnesses. And there are eye witnesses. I wouldn’t say that this site publishes only things that have evidence. What you should say is that you don’t like the implications.
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No, I say there is no evidence. You provide none. Typical conspiracy theorist – – if there is no evidence that is because there was a conspiracy.
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