The Member for Rome did not leave the building with his tail between his legs. He has a life which is devoted to other purposes than lurking on other people's discussion boards claiming to show how clever he is by jeering at people who disagree with them and pretending that he has answered them by reiterating his initial claims and ignoring the answers he has been given - he leaves that to ezigbotutu.
However, since he may possibly give scandal by ignoring Ezigbotutu's latest effusions, as they deserve to be ignored, he will reply that Catholicism does indeed promote voluntary suffering. Our Lord voluntarily suffered for us, and we voluntarily suffer for one another. To live is to suffer. For us this has meaning and purpose; this helps us to bear it, and even to take it up voluntarily to lessen others' suffering. For Ezigbotutu, on the other hand, all suffering is meaningless and his chief concernns are to avoid it himself and to inflict it on those of us who have to read his posts.
Let us take an example of Catholicism promoting voluntary suffering - St. Damien of Molokai, recently canonised by the Pope (and, what seems more important to many including some so-called Catholics, praised by Barack Obama) who went to live among the lepers of Hawaii and nurse them even though it meant accepting death by slow and lingering disease. Clearly, for a mind such as that of Ezigbotutu, this marks him out as a pervert.
I will begin by reprinting a post from the traditionalist blog Rorate Caeli, which gives extracts from the agnostic Robert Louis Stevenson's open lette to a Presbyterian minister who had publicly criticised the recently-deceased Fr. Damien in the vilest terms, and appears to have possessed a mind very like Ezigbotutu however much he differed from him in formal belief.
At the bottom of the page I attach a link to the full text for those who are interested. It should be borne in mind that the Presbyterian minister who thus slandered fr. Damien was not representative of all Protestants; Fr. Damien received much aid from Protestant sources during his lifetime for hsi charitable work, and the Anglican Communion reveres him as a saint. Justice compels me to add that Fr. Damien had a certain anti-Protestant bias to begin with; Stevenson recounts how he initially wished to favour Catholci over Protestant lepers in the distribution of aid, but was persuaded that all should be helped equally, and notes that the fact that he overcame this prejudice ads to his merit.
rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2009/10/saint-of-molokai.htmlSunday, October 11, 2009
The Saint of Molokai
Damien was COARSE.
It is very possible. You make us sorry for the lepers, who had only a coarse old peasant for their friend and father. But you, who were so refined, why were you not there, to cheer them with the lights of culture? Or may I remind you that we have some reason to doubt if John the Baptist were genteel; and in the case of Peter, on whose career you doubtless dwell approvingly in the pulpit, no doubt at all he was a ‘coarse, headstrong’ fisherman! Yet even in our Protestant Bibles Peter is called Saint.
Damien was DIRTY.
He was. Think of the poor lepers annoyed with this dirty comrade! But the clean Dr. Hyde was at his food in a fine house.
Damien was HEADSTRONG.
I believe you are right again; and I thank God for his strong head and heart.
Damien was BIGOTED.
I am not fond of bigots myself, because they are not fond of me. But what is meant by bigotry, that we should regard it as a blemish in a priest? Damien believed his own religion with the simplicity of a peasant or a child; as I would I could suppose that you do. For this, I wonder at him some way off; and had that been his only character, should have avoided him in life. But the point of interest in Damien, which has caused him to be so much talked about and made him at last the subject of your pen and mine, was that, in him, his bigotry, his intense and narrow faith, wrought potently for good, and strengthened him to be one of the world’s heroes and exemplars.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Open Letter to the Rev. Dr. Hyde of Honolulu
[Letter by the Protestant writer in response to
the accusations of Dr.C. M. Hyde, Presbyterian minister in Honolulu]
Sydney, February 25, 1890
posted by New Catholic at 2:22 PM
8 Comments:
Raymond said...
Please read this letter by RLS. You can find it at CCEL or on manybooks.net. The letter must have made Rev. Hyde crawl, as well he should have. Ray from Essex, Ct
11 October, 2009 17:46
Gideon Ertner said...
Sounds like my kind of guy.
Coarse, dirty and bigoted
Could also be an apt description of St. Jerome.
11 October, 2009 19:28
Hugo Mendez said...
Ahh! You forgot the most pertinent words of Stevenson today to Dr. Hyde:
"If that world at all remember you, on the day when Damien of Molokai shall be named a Saint, it will be in virtue of one work: your letter to the Reverend H. B. Gage."
That day is today (!). Over a century later, we continue to honor the works of St. Damien, who gave his entire life for the healing of the diseased and outcast. As for Dr. Hyde, the world cannot remember a significant work of mercy, act of charity, or lasting gift to humanity, he provided. Instead, his entire legacy is a footnote in history... for slandering St. Damien with false accusations. This is his only legacy in the year 2009.
web.archive.org/web/20050207115024/http://praiseofglory.com/rlsdamien.htmWelcome to the history books, Rev. Hyde.
11 October, 2009 19:38
New Catholic said...
Oh, you noticed!
I tried to do my part to "fulfill" Robert Louis Stevenson's prophecy! We remembered Dr. Hyde today...
Saint Damien, pray for us!
NC
11 October, 2009 20:02
Anonymous said...
The funny thing is that Stevenson's best-known works involves Dr. Jekyll and *Mr. HYDE.* That work was published before this debate with the real Mr. Hyde, if I recall correctly. I think that there's some point in the letter where Stevenson seems to be playing with the similarities in name.
~Bonifacius
11 October, 2009 21:10
John (Ad Orientem) said...
St. Damien was a truly great man who's life was like an open window for the love of God. I am very pleased with his glorification.
In ICXC
John
11 October, 2009 21:21
Anonymous said...
Amen.
Our priest's sermon at Divine Liturgy was Damien of Molokai. He hailed from Belgium, when was then a solidly catholic nation. Today, Belgium has reverted to paganism and only a small percentage of the population attends church on Sunday. Damien was not a lukewarm sort. We should pray to him for the reconversion of Europe.
12 October, 2009 00:17
bedwere said...
I also find wonderful that a writer like Stevenson, who was not Catholic, should recognize the holiness of St. Damien. I hope God had mercy on RLS's soul, who defended the reputation of His servant.
12 October, 2009 00:49
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