Please note that I will not be able to post any pictures or opinions from tomorrow until 22nd or 23rd October 2013.
During this period I will be back home in Canada....
Toronto, Stratford on Avon, Algonquin Park, Niagara on the Lake, Kingston, Vancouver and then back in Toronto.
I hope that I will have taken many pictures and a thought here or there and that I then will be back to my old activities.
In the meantime don't forget: "Always walk on the sunny side of life."
Bertstravels...
Monday, September 16, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
...and that's the truth
...religious fanaticism and hatred are a world-devouring fire, whose violence none can quench...
Baha'u' llah
Baha'u' llah
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Celibacy: ..... Not a Doctrin
Now, I read in the Newspapers, the Catholic Church suggests that it will be possible to "discuss" Celibacy.
Well, isn't this precious...
What a crock: It was, in any event, a paper prohibition, which few priests followed. In fact, studies suggest that approximately half of them lead an active sexual life.
Many have a "house keeper" who does more than cooking and cleaning.
Some priests hereabouts make absolutely no secret of the female company they keep and the highest levels of the Catholic Church know it.
It is, as someone put it, better than abusing little boys and girls - another transgression well known right up to the Vatican - a transgression from the trauma of which the victim likely never fully recovers and the criminal perpetrator simply gets transferred to another parish, there to find new child victims.
The past Pope, Benedict XVI , in fact, issued an "apostolic letter" instructing the church Hierarchy not to report cases of child molestation to the authorities, but to deal with such issues (crimes would have been a better word) in private. Such cases, he ordered by decree, must be dealt with "subject to pontifical secret"...they must not be reported to the civilian authorities.
Let me come back, however, to this new wrinkle, whereby "Celibacy" may now be discussed.
Let us first define the word:
"Celibacy" is, so Wikipedia tells us, "a state of being unmarried and sexually abstinent."
If "unmarried" means that they are not in liaison with a woman, such liaison having been officially blessed by the Catholic church, then I venture to say that 100% of Catholic Priests are indeed unmarried (although many share their life with a member of the opposite sex) but, so various researches show, some 50% are not sexually abstinent.
And quite frankly, one cannot blame them. They, having been imbued by Nature with the second strongest drive of any animal, including the human animal, the drive of procreation, must find it most difficult to fulfil this second requirement of "Celibacy".
So now the RC church suggests that, since Celibacy is not a Doctrine, it might be open for discussion.
I am waiting with baited breath for the start of such discussions....
No, on second thought:
Bertstravels will not hold its breath.
Well, isn't this precious...
What a crock: It was, in any event, a paper prohibition, which few priests followed. In fact, studies suggest that approximately half of them lead an active sexual life.
Many have a "house keeper" who does more than cooking and cleaning.
Some priests hereabouts make absolutely no secret of the female company they keep and the highest levels of the Catholic Church know it.
It is, as someone put it, better than abusing little boys and girls - another transgression well known right up to the Vatican - a transgression from the trauma of which the victim likely never fully recovers and the criminal perpetrator simply gets transferred to another parish, there to find new child victims.
The past Pope, Benedict XVI , in fact, issued an "apostolic letter" instructing the church Hierarchy not to report cases of child molestation to the authorities, but to deal with such issues (crimes would have been a better word) in private. Such cases, he ordered by decree, must be dealt with "subject to pontifical secret"...they must not be reported to the civilian authorities.
Let me come back, however, to this new wrinkle, whereby "Celibacy" may now be discussed.
Let us first define the word:
"Celibacy" is, so Wikipedia tells us, "a state of being unmarried and sexually abstinent."
If "unmarried" means that they are not in liaison with a woman, such liaison having been officially blessed by the Catholic church, then I venture to say that 100% of Catholic Priests are indeed unmarried (although many share their life with a member of the opposite sex) but, so various researches show, some 50% are not sexually abstinent.
And quite frankly, one cannot blame them. They, having been imbued by Nature with the second strongest drive of any animal, including the human animal, the drive of procreation, must find it most difficult to fulfil this second requirement of "Celibacy".
So now the RC church suggests that, since Celibacy is not a Doctrine, it might be open for discussion.
I am waiting with baited breath for the start of such discussions....
No, on second thought:
Bertstravels will not hold its breath.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Monday, September 9, 2013
The Family Melon came to visit.
The parents, Jack and Jill and
the children, Hansel and Gretel
pose for a group photo....
...then they took their place
at the dinner table.
What a lovely family....
Sunday, September 8, 2013
The more things change......
The more things change, the more they stay the same!
A few Blog entries ago I talked about some Israelites fraternizing with the women of the Midianites.
For this "transgression", according to the Old Testament, the good, all forgiving God ordered Moses to kill the sinners.
Much has changed since those biblical days, but the sameness expressed itself very recently in a group of Israeli soldiers on patrol in the divided city of Hebron who, hearing loud and happy music and party noises coming from a Palestinian club, entered and, in full gear, with rifles slung over their shoulders, commenced to dance with some of the Palestinian women there.
As reported in the "Kurier" of the 30th August 2013 the army prosecutors charged and the army punished the soldiers stating that they unnecessarily placed themselves in danger. The actual punishment was not revealed. I venture to guess, however, that the soldiers' heads were not chopped off.
One can say, that the Israeli Military Court was more "all loving and all forgiving" than the God of the Old Testament.
Bertstravels.
A few Blog entries ago I talked about some Israelites fraternizing with the women of the Midianites.
For this "transgression", according to the Old Testament, the good, all forgiving God ordered Moses to kill the sinners.
Much has changed since those biblical days, but the sameness expressed itself very recently in a group of Israeli soldiers on patrol in the divided city of Hebron who, hearing loud and happy music and party noises coming from a Palestinian club, entered and, in full gear, with rifles slung over their shoulders, commenced to dance with some of the Palestinian women there.
As reported in the "Kurier" of the 30th August 2013 the army prosecutors charged and the army punished the soldiers stating that they unnecessarily placed themselves in danger. The actual punishment was not revealed. I venture to guess, however, that the soldiers' heads were not chopped off.
One can say, that the Israeli Military Court was more "all loving and all forgiving" than the God of the Old Testament.
Bertstravels.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Wiesenmarkt Bands entrance
Just some of the bands
in the procession.
The number of truly good and some great musicians
in Carinthia, and generally, in Austria
is truly remarkable.
The "Drummers"
From the Wiesenfest.....
The sales ladies of our favourite
coffee shop, in traditional "Lederhosen".
The Mayor reading from the
proclamation of some 600 years ago,
wherein the Duke gives permission
for the "Festival in the Meadow"
Three lady- reporters-photographers...
One of many bands, playing traditional music
mainly Walzes, Polkas, Marches and "Ländlers".
The Mayor of Bleiburg
welcoming all guests and officially
opening this years Festival.
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