April 13, 2008
"Not one moment's wavering of trust"
My hero, John Henry Newman, rarely answered the many attacks made on him in his lifetime. But when he did, it was "shock and awe!" (One of the greatest books of both English literature and religious biography, is his Apologia Pro Vita Sua
This letter was written to The Globe, in response to the printing of a rumor that he was planning to return to the Anglican church...
I have not had one moment's wavering of trust in the Catholic Church ever since I was received into her fold. I hold, and ever have held, that her Sovereign Pontiff is the centre of unity and the Vicar of Christ; and I have ever had, and have still, an unclouded faith in her creed in all its articles; a supreme satisfaction in her worship, discipline and teaching; and an eager longing, and a hope against hope, that the many dear friends whom I have left in Protestantism may be partakers in my happiness.
This being my state of mind, to add, as I hereby go on to do, that I have no intention, and never had any intention, of leaving the Catholic Church, and becoming a Protestant again, would be superfluous, except that Protestants are always on the look-out for some loophole or evasion in a Catholic's statement of fact. Therefore, in order to give them full satisfaction, if I can, I do hereby profess ex animo, with an absolute internal assent and consent, that Protestantism is the dreariest of possible religions; that the thought of the Anglican service makes me shiver, and the thought of the Thirty-nine Articles makes me shudder. Return to the Church of England! No; 'the net is broken and we are delivered'. I should be a consummate fool (to use a mild term) if in my old age I left "the land flowing with milk and honey" for the city of confusion and the house of bondage.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
John H. Newman
I'll second all that. "The city of confusion and the house of bondage." Geez, that sounds like San Francisco...
I found the letter quoted in Louis Bouyer's Newman an Intellectual and Spiritual Biography, which i give my highest recommendation
Posted by John Weidner at April 13, 2008 05:04 AM
Semi off topic, but I was driving around in San Francisco quite a bit last week and the thought foremost in my mind was "I want out of here, now!". I probably broke traffic laws every block or two, it's such a mess. And I couldn't trust other drivers — I'd follow someone, thinking "it must be OK", only to discover I was in a "Bus Only" lane. I am so glad to be back here, where almost everything is rectilinear and there are an arbitrary number of alternate routes so you aren't doomed if you miss the one magic turn.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at April 14, 2008 09:59 AMThat's funny.
My own (very prejudiced) feeling is that if you know the layout, and the fast routes, driving in SF is faster and less frustrating than driving in the suburbs. (But parking is, of course, much worse.)
In the burbs everything is expanded and stretchhhhhed out to accommodate torrents of cars, and vast parking lots. Every little errand means driving miles, (all of them ugly) with many many huge intersections where one waits and waits for all the different turn lanes to get their turn.
And once you get out of your car you are like an ant traversing a skillet, trudging across acres of parking lot...
Charlene usually takes the underground to her downtown office, where most of the business and shopping she needs to do is located within a few blocks. And even if she has to drive there through ugly traffic, she parks the car in an underground lot, and forgets about driving until the end of the day.
Well, by "here" I meant "Midwestern farm country". I'm not a big fan of driving in California suburbs either :-). Personally, IMHO the best city for driving is Indianapolis. That's a nice street system.
But "city of confusion and the house of bondage" is definitely how I felt driving there.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at April 14, 2008 12:54 PM
