David Hume said:

"Generally speaking, the errors in philosophy
are ridiculous, those in Religion are dangerous."

somebody else said:
Going to Church does not make you a Christian, any more than going to a garage makes you a car.

Fox and a Squirrel

Red Fox in the Morning Sun

Squirrel meets the Fox

Trbonje on the River Drau

Drau shoreline near Trbonje, Slovenia

Fisherman.

The Railroad Station at Trbonje.

Is there anything left?

Late Harvest!

A bee trying its luck on a thistle

Are you due for a change ?

If you are tired of my complaining about certain things and you are just about due for a change, try and have a gander at my pictures on photo.net.

Follow these simple instructions: Go to Google and type in:

Bert Reitter@photo.net

I hope you like some of the pictures there.

Bertstravels

When will it end ?

Pope Franciscus accepted the resignation of the Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl who stands accused of, while he was Bishop of Pittsburgh, having  transferred Priests in his jurisdiction, of whom he knew that they were sexual predators, to other Dioceses without even informing the leadership of this new Diocese.
And this misdeed, this crime, was performed by Mr. Wuerl not only once or twice, but over 200 times.  Over 200 times he protected criminals from prosecution, and allowed the predators to repeat their crimes on new victims.  Not once, it seems, did Mr. Wuerl ask himself which agony, which despair he engendered in young boys and/or girls who were victimized by these low-down perverse hoodlums.
Is it possible that Wuerl in his own comparatively small group encountered over 200 criminals, but  never wondered what is happening in other Dioceses? Did it never occur to him that similar criminal activities are likely to happen other places, where Catholic Priests had influence and authority?
Now, standing accused of "aiding and abetting"  in this series of crimes, he comes up with the lamest of excuses imaginable: 
He had, so he told the Pope, in each case consulted renowned Psychiatrists to ascertain if there existed a likelihood of the offenders to reoffend in their new locations.
Obviously these "Renowned Psychiatrists" assured him that there was no danger of them repeating their crimes. This must be the absolutely lamest, unbelievable excuse he could have offered.

These Sex Scandals, which are now being revealed and reported from all over the world are, so critics maintain, the "Greatest Crisis" in the Roman Catholic Church since the Reformation  (500 years ago).
The mistrust harboured by the Congregation, by the individual members of this Organisation, extends not only to the ordinary Priest, but to the Bishops and Cardinals. and, unless Pope Francis cleans his house with an iron broom, this mistrust will engulf him too.

When a defender suggested that the Good which the RCC creates in this world surely outweighs these problems, a wise philosopher, whose name escapes me for the moment, replied that when you place into the scales along with the sexual crimes the anxieties, fears and despair created by the teachings of the RC Church, all the Good disappears into insignificance.

The promoting of two high ranking R.C. officials to Sainthood (now I understand there are four of those lucky people) provides a good, but temporary diversion from this Super Scandal.
Did Pope Francis know of the threatening bursting of this scandal and therefore rushed into this Sainthood "Punch and Judy show" to divert the praying population's attention from this serious crisis?

Bertstravels
just wonders
about so many things.

TWO MORE ?

Today, Pope Franciscus will announce the creation of two more Saints!

The first will be Archbishop Oscar Romero, the second, Pope Paul VI.
I believe that both these gentlemen have done great things during their lifetime.
Romero spoke up for the Poor and the Exploited, as did Paul who, in this way laid the cornerstone for the "Liberation Theology", a movement which at the time was heavily criticized by the R.C . Church.
Pope Paul, it must not be forgotten preached against the use of "the Pill" or a condom, since, in his "enlightened opinion, Sex was for procreation only. But otherwise he was Okay.

Now the Punch and Judy show begins, during which the Vatican has searched for, and evidently found that both these gentlemen have, after their death, performed at least two Miracles.
What will you bet that they'll find a woman here and a man there, who both had incurable diseases, which were cured miraculously by either having prayed to one or the other of the dead Men, or having positioned a picture of the deceased upon the body of another incurable person...  and see there..instant cure...

Some time ago I wrote about the children of "Fatima", two of whom also received Sainthood. Just for helping you to remember this posting, I shall repeat it hereunder.
I would love to know which 4 miracles they found for the two new ones.
Remember, 2 for each.

FOR YOUR MEMORY ONLY.

 The Lady of Fatima.:

I am really disappointed. And how !

I was beginning to respect Pope Franciscus. Many of the things he said and did made some sense and I honestly believed that they had a Pope, clever, honest and respectable.

And then he goes and does something like this:

He bestows Sainthood on two children, Jacinta and Francisco Marto. Two of the three Portuguese children, ( the third was one Lucia Santos ) who, in 1917,  claimed to have seen Maria, the mother of Jesus, while they were in the vicinity of their home town of Fatima caring for their families' sheep.

They described the apparition in words which sound to me not at all like words 9 and 10 year old children would use, but rather like words taught to them by an adult, possibly a priest:

“the angel ( who only later became Maria, the mother of God ) was brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light, clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun.”

Do relatively uneducated children of about 10 years of age really talk like that? Or does this sound more like the language of a Priest who told the kids what to say?

Mary, the mother of Jesus, the story continues, gave the children three secrets.

The First, so-called Secret, is a vision of Hell. Of a mighty fire seemingly under the earth, in which there were “demons and souls in human form”. There were, throughout, shrieks and groans of pain and despair.

Goodness Gracious Sake...  Imagine:  what a big secret …  a vision of Hell ! As if Hell had not been described in the Bible, and in innumerable books and paintings before, ad nauseam.

The kids saw those pictures many times before this vision of theirs revealed the “Big Secret”.

The Second so-called Secret predicted the end of World War I and the beginning of a new, more devastating war, should mankind continue offending God and should Russia not convert.

This “Secret” was revealed in 1941, when WWI had long since come to an end (1918) and WWII was well under way. (1939 - 1945)

One wonders why this secret was not revealed earlier, so that somehow mankind could prepare itself and maybe even avoid WWII?

I suggest that nothing is easier than to reveal a Big Secret after the issues it contains have happened and, in fact have been concluded.

I, Bertstravels, can be the greatest of all Soothsayers, all Prognosticators about the past.

Throughout all of it the need for prayer for peace is emphasized: And we all know, of course, how much good all the praying for peace has done. The contrary result is the more likely:

The more people pray, the worse the killing in warfare gets.

And now we come to Secret # 3.

It, along with Secrets # 1 and #2, was given to the children in 1917, but was not revealed by the Vatican until June of 2000.

Lucia Santos, the surviving member of the three children, insisted that Mary, the Mother of God, firmly instructed her not to reveal this secret until 1960.

Elsewhere, however, she allows that this specific year 1960 was not given to her by Mary, but was her own idea, because, she said, it was only after this year that the meaning of the Secret would be understood by people.

The wording of this 3^rd Secret is a bit convoluted and speaks of people, among them Bishops, Priests and other religious people, ascending a steep mountain, while trudging through a destroyed city.

It allows many different interpretations until finally, Pope Ratzinger, came up with a wonderful explanation:

The third secret, he said, “has a permanent and ongoing significance” and that “its significance could even be extended to the suffering the Church is going through today as a result of the recent reports of sexual abuse involving the clergy.”

He, of course, makes no mention of the suffering the abused children have gone and still are going through as a result of this abuse by members of the clergy.

It is most interesting to note that this same Mr. Ratzinger, when he still was Pope Benedict the 16^th, suggested in an internal letter, that such abuse, when discovered, must not be reported to the authorities, but must be dealt with within the Church.

Now he suggests that the 3^rd Secret of Fatima may deal with the suffering of the Church, not of the victimized children.

What a scoundrel he is, what scoundrels they all are.

Poor, hallucinating Lucia Santos told how the three children would tie tight ropes around their waists and flagellate themselves, inflicting pain upon their bodies to pay for their own and the world's sins.

She added that about this, the apparition Mary told her “God was pleased”.

Can you imagine this? Three children whip themselves with burning nettles and inflict pain upon their bodies and “God” does not send them to a Psychiatrist, but tells them that “He is pleased”.

And now, to top it all off, Pope Franciscus declares two of the children,  Jacinta and Francisco as Saints.

The more you read about “The Lady of Fatima” the greater must be your revulsion about this entire swindle, likely created by, and now certainly supported by the Catholic Church.

Bertstravels

does not dare even think about

the even greater nonsense of Lourdes.

Tea for Two

or Two for Tea

and never

 too old to enjoy a shot of good Cognac alongside!

...or a double "Gin and Tonic"

An unusual concert

A most unusual concert with 4 Saxophones ( Baritone-, Tenor- Alto- Sopran-) and a Tenor vocalist,
all performing "Schubert Lieder" in the Werner Berg Galerie in Bleiburg.

Unusual? 

Yes! Because Franz Schubert died on 19th November 1828

while Adolphe Sax registered his patent for the Saxophone in 1846.

Schubert's "Lieder" (songs) were written for Voice and Piano

or string instruments.

The classical sound of the Saxophones sounds somewhat strange to ears

which are used to these instruments in the genre of Jazz.

I kept wondering what this music would sound like 

if the Baritone was being played by Gerry Mulligan, 

the Tenor by Stan Getz 

the Alto by Cannonball Adderley

the Soprano by Sidney Bechet

and the vocal by Ella Fitzgerald.

Since these 5 performers were excellent musicians in the classical style

it was still a wonderful musical experience.

Bleiburg at night

Bleiburg, after the concert!

Not Niagara

One half hour by car from where I live in Bleiburg,

to the "Wildensteiner Waterfalls"

and another "killing" half hour , hiking, to the foot of the falls.

always uphill. Absolutely "murder", when you are 86 and

no longer fleet on foot.

Certainly not Niagara Falls, but very pretty nevertheless.

The last of our roses