THIS IS A Catholic blog. I am a Catholic journalist and author. If you enjoy this Blog, you'll probably enjoy my books - so contact me (via a Comment to this blog) and ask me about them.
Monday, February 15, 2010
If you want to know...
...something of what makes Auntie tick, you could try looking here.
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Joanna, the harsh and unpalatable reality is that it was the men returning from the forces after the war that laid the foundations of the world we live in. They wanted little of the past because it had caused the outbreak of two cataclysmic world wars but a golden, mildly socialist, egalitarian future with equal opportunities for all. The post-war Labour government and the establishment of the welfare state embodied their aspirations.
Books galore have been written about this phenomenon and it is still the subject of conversation among the depleted body of survivors. True, none could have imagined the present, but that generation is responsible for bringing it into being. And it was the same generation that sat on the Wolfenden Committee and passed the Homosexual Law Reform Bill and much else that you deplore. Layer by layer they prepared for the present. No amount of self-indulgent, ersatz nostalgia can ignore this depressing reality.
It was also that generation which formed an influential majority of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council and implemented it so disastrously afterwards. For idealistic reasons they dropped the ball.
If you are about to swallowed up by Charbydis (the whirlpool) then the correct thing to do is to steer towards Scylla (the rocks). It's only when Scylla comes uncomfortably close that you have to put your hand again on the tiller, to steer your vessel safely between the dangers.
3 comments:
Joanna, the harsh and unpalatable reality is that it was the men returning from the forces after the war that laid the foundations of the world we live in. They wanted little of the past because it had caused the outbreak of two cataclysmic world wars but a golden, mildly socialist, egalitarian future with equal opportunities for all. The post-war Labour government and the establishment of the welfare state embodied their aspirations.
Books galore have been written about this phenomenon and it is still the subject of conversation among the depleted body of survivors. True, none could have imagined the present, but that generation is responsible for bringing it into being. And it was the same generation that sat on the Wolfenden Committee and passed the Homosexual Law Reform Bill and much else that you deplore. Layer by layer they prepared for the present. No amount of self-indulgent, ersatz nostalgia can ignore this depressing reality.
It was also that generation which formed an influential majority of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council and implemented it so disastrously afterwards. For idealistic reasons they dropped the ball.
If you are about to swallowed up by Charbydis (the whirlpool) then the correct thing to do is to steer towards Scylla (the rocks). It's only when Scylla comes uncomfortably close that you have to put your hand again on the tiller, to steer your vessel safely between the dangers.
I hope, dear Auntie Joanna, that you are well? It seems a long time since we had a post from you.
Post a Comment