A Wee Dram

OK. The Tavern serves the finest bevvies.  You know that. Spirit for the Spirit. But what of the poor pagans down in Hillary's Village down below? 

I am happy to say that even sinners can get something fine for the body - if not the Soul - in this fair Island; indeed possibly the finest in the world.

The Water of Life.

Temporal, not eternal. 

Yes, Tasmania makes Whisky, and not just any old ersatz stuff, but the Finest there is.

A fine lass, Emma Hope, stopped by to let me sample her wares, and to tell me about Bill Lark.

THE Godfather of Australian whisky, Bill Lark, has been inducted into the Hall of Fame at the World Whisky Awards in London, becoming the first distiller in the southern hemisphere to receive the honour.

Lark is an Australian single malt whisky, proudly unique in character and style, crafted in small batches exclusively from pure Tasmanian ingredients, matured in small barrels, hand-bottled by whisky lovers in Tasmania for whisky lovers world-wide.

Lark Distillery was the first licensed distillery in Tasmania since 1839. It was established in 1992 to produce  Australian malt whisky, rich in character with a big finish using Tasmanian ingredients. Lark Distillery is very proudly a boutique Tasmanian owned distillery dedicated to maintaining its proven high quality malt whisky and other unique Tasmanian spirits. 

Bill Lark, master distiller

Tasmania Distillery, which produces Sullivan’s Cove Whisky – winners of The World’s Best Single Malt at last year’s awards – won the Icons of Whisky award for Craft Distiller of the Year.

And Sullivan’s Cove took out the Best Australian Single Malt award for the third year in a row.

The Tasmanian distillery’s French Oak was chosen as the best single malt to come out of Australia in 2015.

Last year, the whisky claimed the ultimate prize and was named the world’s best single malt.

Speaking from the awards ceremony in London, Sullivans Cove general manager Patrick Maguire said he was thrilled to pick up another win.

“It’s still quite unbelievable that we keep winning these incredible international awards and it just goes to show the quality of Sullivan’s Cove as a truly world-class single malt whisky,” he said.

The Whisky Hall of Fame is international commendation and a permanent tribute to those who have made a lasting contribution to the world of whisky.

Mr Lark is only the seventh person outside of Scotland or Ireland to be inducted.

Mr Lark said when he established the Tasmanian whisky industry in 1992 he realised that everything needed for a world-class whisky was in Tasmania — “rich fields of barley, an abundance of wonderfully pure soft water, highland peat bogs and the perfect climate to bring all the ingredients together in a marriage of science, art and passion”.

Mr Lark was recognised for his humble and generous philosophy.

Willing to share his vast knowledge, Mr Lark has assisted more than nine start-up distilleries in Tasmania alone and has grown a hugely successful premium craft spirit industry in Australia.

He is often quoted as saying “a rising tide lifts all boats”.

“I thought people might think we were trying to teach the Scots how to suck eggs and they would think — ‘what are you doing, you silly colonial? We make whisky, you make beer!’ But in fact it’s been exactly the opposite. We have had tremendous support from the single malt industry worldwide, and from consumers.”

Lark Distillery is very proudly a boutique distillery dedicated to maintaining its proven high-quality malt whisky and other unique Tasmanian spirits.

Lark whisky is crafted in small batches and matured in small barrels, and five to seven years later bottled by hand.

Today, Lark Distillery is one of Australia’s leading distilleries, producing high-quality, premium single malt whisky using traditional time-honoured methods.

Tasmanian distiller, Patrick Maguire, owner of Sullivans Cove Whisky. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

Wouldn't you just love to own a distillery? I reckon  I could count on perhaps four hundred hands the number of chaps I know who would.

Sullivans Cove has had a dramatic turn-around since going into liquidation in 2003.

A pun there !! 

“Knowing the impact winning world’s best whisky last year had on the industry, I’m sure these two gongs will really cement Tasmania’s place on the world whisky map,” owner Patrick Maguire said.

“The award last year was for our product but this year it’s for our industry.

“Tasmania winning these two awards is really an amazing thing, particularly when you’re up against hundreds of other distilleries from around the world, so for us to even be mentioned is a major achievement.”

Tasmania’s whisky industry is on the crest of a wave with many distilleries unable to keep up with demand.

There are currently 11 operating distilleries in Tasmania with four more to be established by the end of the year.

http://www.larkdistillery.com.au/

THE WINNERS:

Best Single Malt – Kavalan Whisky (Taiwan) Solist Vinho Barrique

Best Flavoured Whisky – Master of Malt 40yo Speyside Whisky Liqueur

Best Grain Whisky - Darkness North British 18yo Oloroso Cask Finish

Best Pot Still Whisky – Redbreast Pot Still 15yo

Best American Whisky – Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Straight Rye Whisky

Best Scotch Blended Malt – Wemyss Malts’ Velvet Fig

Best Blended Malt – Nika Whisky Taketsuru Pure Malt 17yo

Best African Blended – Three Ships Bourbon Cask Finish

Best European Blended – Black Mountain Whisky Selection BM no1

Best Irish Blend – Tullamore D.E.W Phoenix

Best Japanese Blend – Suntory Hibiki 12yo

Best Blend – That Boutiquey Whisky Company Blended Whisky #1 Batch 1

Best African Single Malt – Three Ships Single Malt 10yo

Best American Single Malt – Balcones Distilling Texas Single Malt

Best Irish Single Malt – Teeling Whisky Single Malt

Best Australian Single Malt – Sullivans Cove French Oak Cask Matured

Best European Single Malt – Mackmyra Whisky Iskristall

Best Japanese Single Malt – Suntory Yamazaki 18yo

Best Lowland Single Malt – Highland Harvest Single Malt Sauternes Wood

Best Highland Single Malt – The Glenmorangie Extremely Rare 18yo

Best Campbelltown Single Malt – Longrow 11yo

Best Spreyside Single Malt – BenRiach 16yo

Best Islands Single Malt – Ledaig 10yo

Best Islay Single Malt – Ardbeg Kildalton

 http://www.themercury.com.au/lifestyle/tasmanias-whisky-king-bill-lark-simply-unstoppable/story-fnj64o9j-1227269950731

I can recommend a visit to the distillery. You can buy your own 'starter' barrel and special (quite large) !! bottles. Of course.  Mind you they will cost an arm and a leg even for a small amount. 

A fine way to get legless.

But, be in no doubt. It is wonderful for the mortal spirit but won't do much for the Immortal.

Drink up of both.

Pax.

The Sky at Night

Updated.

Some good views can be had from the Tavern, especially when so many friends are watching out. I have shown views before but not night-time ones. Tonight was rather special.

The sun put on a show, sending particle wossnames hurtling our way which lit up the skies over the Tavern.

My good friend Araya Sunun managed to gather some fine photos some time after getting back from the market.

OK, the sun had gone down and she had taken her sunglasses off, but only to get her better lenses in action and some snaps from her busy mates too.

The Aurora Australis is not uncommon down here. We often get glimpses, but this evening was a show-stopper - at least through sensitive lenses. My old eyes do not see the fainter colours.

Enjoy the view from the Patio.

And one from Steve Leeper

Seven Mile beach just after 10:30, during a gap in the clouds. Chuffed to get a couple of in camera beams after missing out on yesterdays show

OK. I'll put my hand up. That last one was from New Zealand.

But heck. I am not jealous. Because THIS is what we get in Tas. 

Thank you Araya. I shall add more as I get them.

Keep Looking Good.

Update. (Plus more photos below)

It is happening all over and the 'news' is catching up with some explanations.

http://www.wfmynews2.com/story/weather/2015/03/17/solar-geomagnetic-storm/24901903/

A severe geomagnetic – or "solar" – storm hit the Earth on Tuesday, producing gorgeous auroras and sparking concerns about power disruptions.

The storm, which hit the Earth at around 10:00 a.m. ET, is a "G4" on the five-point scale, according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. Spaceweather.com reports that it's the strongest so far in this solar cycle, which occurs about every 11 years.

These types of "storms" are part of what's known as space weather, when energy that blasts off from the sun interacts with the Earth's atmosphere and geomagnetic field.

The electric power grid, and the power to homes and business, can be disrupted by solar storms like this, NOAA said, though there have been no reports yet today.

And another...

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/strong-solar-storm-hits-earth-pull-northern-lights-29699916

A severe solar storm smacked Earth with a surprisingly big geomagnetic jolt Tuesday, potentially affecting power grids and GPS tracking while pushing the colorful northern lights farther south, federal forecasters said.

So far no damage has been reported. Two blasts of magnetic plasma left the sun on Sunday, combined and arrived on Earth about 15 hours earlier and much stronger than expected, said Thomas Berger, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado.

This storm ranks a 4, called severe, on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 1-to-5 scale for geomagnetic effects. 

It is the strongest solar storm to blast Earth since the fall of 2013. It's been nearly a decade since a level 5 storm, termed extreme, has hit Earth.

Forecasters figured it would come late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning; instead, it arrived just before 10 a.m. EDT. They had forecast it to be a level 1.

"It's significantly stronger than expected," Berger said. Forecasters had predicted a glancing blow instead of dead-on hit. Another theory is that the combination of the two storms made it worse, but it's too early to tell if that's so, he said.

The storm seemed to be weakening slightly, but that may not continue, and it could last all day, officials said. It has the potential to disrupt power grids but only temporarily. It also could cause degradation of the global positioning system, so tracking maps and locators may not be as precise as normal.

Often these types of storms come with bursts of radiation that can affect satellite operations, but this one has not, Berger said.

But the most noticeable effect is usually considered a positive. The Aurora Borealis or northern lights that usually can be viewed only in the far north will dip south, so more people should be able to enjoy the colorful sky show. Forecasters were not sure just how far south it would be visible.

Forecasters said early Tuesday, before sunrise, auroras were already seen in the northern tier of the U.S., such as Washington state, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Space Weather branch chief Brent Gordon said if the storm effects continued through Tuesday evening, there was a "very strong possibility" that the northern lights could be seen as far south as the middle United States, even Tennessee and Oklahoma. That also means much of Russia and northern Europe, as far south as central Germany and Poland, had the potential for the sky show.

The sky has to be clear of clouds but the crescent moon will appear small enough it shouldn't interfere with viewing of the aurora is in the sky, Gordon said.

 I still prefer the pictures from my friends.

This one is from Raymond Hoffmann, of the 'Northern Lights' over Iceland. Pretty spectacular !

And this from Franklin in the Huon Valley 

Keep them a'coming.

More Update.

Steve Ward .... below...taken at Huonville. 

There are more views at a specific Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/auroraaustralis/

This one from Rob French. (20/Mar/15)

And another from Andy Page, taken at Seven Mile Beach (near the airport) last night (19th) 

Pax.

Killed on the Road

People walk to the tavern. At least as far as from the car-park. Pretty well everyone over 18 drives these days. And the conversations sometimes start off with 'how did you get here'. Clearly they arrived here without crashing into anyone. I wonder just how.

If you see the nightly news on the TV or spend any time with a TV on in the background, you will see reports of motor vehicle accidents and adverts against 'bad' driving.  They can be devastating. The accidents, that is, not the ads or reports. 

The ads are a waste of time. The reports just sad facts. 

The 'bad' driving adverts usually focus on drinking and speeding: occasionally about drugs. I often wonder who they think takes note of them.

I do not want to make light of the incidence of accidents. But I would like to see some semblance of perspective used by the 'safety' authorities and the news people.

In Oz, as in many countries, we have a large number of road accidents. Some 30,000 people are injured on our roads annually.  

In 2013 those who died on the roads in Oz numbered 1193. 

http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/files/RDA_Summary_2013.pdf

This is a horror for the families involved and puts some pressure on our hospitals.  We are reminded of the latter fact often, despite our doctors being employed, of course, to deal with injuries. Its their job.

But again, I do not want to make light of family catastrophe. 

The police go on the tele to remonstrate. They sometimes get quite angry; certainly terse and threatening. It is our 'fault' of course. We are terrible. We do not care enough. 

WE.  Us. You and me.

And of course we pay little attention. We are apparantly oblivious to facts, busy as we are dealing with the traffic every day. Just ask any motorist who’s been caught in a peak-hour traffic jam lately: they’ll tell you that Australia’s roads are crowded. You have to keep your wits about you.

But even they might be surprised at the latest figures from Roy Morgan’s automotive data, which reveal that there are almost 15.5 million drivers on our roads nationwide, driving an average of 15,530km each per annum. 

http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/australian-moterists-drive-average-15530km-201305090702

And here is the perspective. In Oz we drive some 237 thousand, million kilometres every year.

237,000,000,000

That's a lot.

And ONLY 1193 are killed, and ONLY 30,000 are injured.

The likelihood of being killed on Australian roads is so small that it barely makes a creditable showing on the 'causes of death' lists.

Your chances of being seriously injured:  0.00196

Of being killed: 0.0000779 

Vehicles from half a ton to 20 tons hurtle around at 50 to 100 Kmph and the accident rate is miniscule.

When do we ever get some praise?

The vast majority of people DO CARE.

But we are berated.

The vast majority are instinctively self-protective. They drive to the conditions. They are skilled at driving. They are 'automatically' careful. Our lives matter to us.

It is not as though accidents are deliberate. No-one goes out with the intention of having an accident. 

Granted, there are incompetent, irrational people around: there are immature, thick, stupid people with little grasp on reality.  They will get drunk. They will go too fast for the conditions; they will take drugs.

What those folk will NOT do is take any notice of adverts about drinking and driving or speeding.

You and me are not those few; that small proportion to whom adverts will not speak at all, because the 'safety' authorities have no idea how to get through to them. Instead they berate you and me.

No wonder we do not take notice either.

Of course, there are countries where a much larger proportion of people are complete lunatics. But Oz ain't Russia.

Take care out there, and thank you for being such splendid drivers.

Pax

A House Divided against Itself

Update. Video at end.

The old adage stands most of the time. A House divided against itself will fall. But there is one case in which it shall not.

The customers in the Tavern find many rooms, some 'general' (like the main bar, the Pin and Balloon, where all sorts of mild arguements erupt and favourite ideas get pricked by the point of a pin - a bowl of pins is on the bar, ready !), or to the taste of particular activities or groups.

But the main business is constant and the same. The pulling of pints of Grace for the customers. Most of them get to know that deep below, in the cellars, is a small and hidden room wherein the Holy Grail sits. I am charged (emeritus) with its safety. Most customers get to realise that they too have a cellar and a crypt deep within themselves. 

This Tavern is not divided in that fundemental sense.

Customers also know that I am an old man: a man of Tradition. I scrub the flagstones in the Crypt. On my knees.

So I was pleased today when a new customer dropped by. He was almost immediately tasked by others to explain a few things. And those things were quite close to me, too. 

You see, as some know I attend Mass on Sundays, in the 'old rite': the Latin Mass. When in the Crypt, even when mopping the floor, I play 'Gregorian' or slightly broader 'classical' hymns and music. I admit freely to Loving the Tridentine Mass.

In the Hilary Village below the Tavern there is a very small 'Latin Mass Community' which I count as 'safe' ground amid all the heathens.

You can see signs here: https://www.facebook.com/TasmanianLatinMass

Anyway, back to the customers, one of whom asked the newbie, who is, by the way, a Priest: Since His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has allowed the Latin mass to be celebrated by Priest without special per mission, many younger Priest and young Catholics have been celebrating the Latin mass more often. Do you think this is a comeback of the Latin mass? 

Do you the Novus Ordo may eventually be outnumbered by the Latin mass sometime in the future?

Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (Fr. Z)  (his blog is now on the Wall at right) was pleased to get the question and took some pains to answer.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2015/03/ask-father-will-the-extraordinary-form-outlast-the-novus-ordo-wherein-fr-z-rants/

Good question.

It seems almost like a war of attrition, doesn’t it? Whose churches or Masses will empty faster?

I know, this seems like a pretty negative assessment, but I don’t see anything to be gained by false optimism.

In the short term, no, the Traditional Latin Mass or Extraordinary Form is not going to outstrip in numbers the use of the Novus Ordo.  There are many obstacles to the TLM, including the near complete ignorance of Latin among clergy of the Latin Church.   

The destruction of integrated Catholic education and formation at levels before major seminary saw to this, despite the fact of St. John XXIII’s Apostolic Constitution Veterum sapientia.  

Enemies within the Church knew that they had to destroy the foundations, so Latin had to go.

Now you see why I started this with reference to a House Divided and find his answers so helpful. 

Many countries are finding that the 'enemy within' tries hard to dismember the foundations of language for people although these days it is on an Industrial scale. Our Universities and Political parties, Media and even songs distort meaning and in some cases even reverse it. Nations cannot survive this. 

By the way, the Code of Canon Law in can. 249 requires… it doesn’t suggest… it requires that all seminarians be taught both Latin to the point that that they are very proficient (bene calleant).  They are also to be taught any other language useful for their ministry.  As far as the law is concerned for programs of formation, this is not an either/or question, this is a both/and issue.

The problem is, by the time men come to seminary, and men are often older today than once upon a time, it is a little late to bring them from zero to 60 in four years.  So, what do we do?  Add a couple more years of formation?  Have a couple propaedeutic years for Latin and Greek, other basics of a classical liberal education which they ought to have had and which a Catholic seminary formation presupposes?  What do we cut from the curriculum to make room?

I know of one school in Rome which has determined – with great courage – to reform their 1st Cycle to include a propaedeutic year including Latin and Greek.  This is absolutely necessary.   But the fact remains that men have to have a foundation in Latin before they get to major seminary.  This simply has to happen.

I digress.

Another obstacle to the TLM is the hatred that squishy-identity Catholics have for it, because of its emphases on sacrifice and it’s clarity about the Four Last Things.   

When you start experiencing Mass in the older form, you begin hearing “No!” to your baser passions and you begin to encounter something transcendent and, indeed, frightening. 

 It is a harder path.

In the longer term, will the TLM survive and the Novus Ordo die out?  I suspect it won’t look like that.  I suspect that something along the lines of what Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI thought would happen will take place.  That is, having jump started the more organic path of liturgical development, with the greater frequency of the older, traditional forms alongside the Novus Ordo, some tertium quid will eventually emerge, wherein the two forms have influenced each other in a process of “mutual enrichment”.  They will exert what I call a “gravitational pull” on each other and the Roman Rite will organically develop.

What is clear to me, however, is that we urgently, desperately need a renewal and revitalization of our sacred liturgical worship.  Without a solid liturgical base, no initiative of evangelization (or of “New Evangelization”) will bear lasting fruit.  Every aspect of the Church’s life flows from and back to our worship of God, which we owe by the virtue of Religion.

Therefore, we need more and more celebrations of Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

Just to help, here are the main differences, not just in 'Form' but in attitude. 

One of the reasons we need wider use of the Extraordinary Form is because of the knock on effect it produces through the priests who learn it.  When young priests learn the older, traditional form, it shapes their priestly identity in a way that the Novus Ordo simply cannot.  The deepening and strengthening of the identity of the priest at the altar will in turn produce effects among the people who are entrusted to the priests pastoral care.

Meanwhile, I suspect that we will see a more and more divided Church.

Far and wide we will see a deemphasis on doctrinal clarity that will, coupled with vague liturgical worship, produce weak and vague Catholic identity among a majority of those who self-identity as Catholic.  A sort of Immanentism Lite will continue to enervate Catholic identity.

On the other hand, there will be some Catholics who are fortunate enough to have solid priests and bishops who maintain sound and reverent sacred worship, who teach with clarity true Catholic doctrine without watering it down under the pressure of the world, the flesh and the devil.   

I fear, however, that they will be isolated in enclaves, oases, ghettos.  Through the Church’s history, in times of trouble, there has been a temptation to isolate, to preserve the core by separation.  This tendency, human as it is, in part brought about the rise of monasticism.   

In the modern world, however, in which is nearly impossible to isolate oneself on a mountain top, (Amfortas: Oh, I don't know. There is much to be said for a Hermit's life, especially when he has a pub ) I fear that strong identity Catholics may disengage from other Catholics and from action in the public square.  This is why I am always nagging traditional Catholics to be active in their parishes, to be the first to get involved with parish initiatives and, especially, corporal works of mercy.  Strong or hard-identity Catholics simply must be more engaged with their parishes and active in the public square.

We have to be willing to suffer and make sacrifices.  That’s the path of the traditional, faithful Catholic.   

All else is … something else, maybe even another religion.

We cannot abdicate “Catholic identity” to the squishy, to the “Olympian middle” that we see on the rise in the blogosphere these days.  In a way, I think that is more pernicious than the obvious radicals of the Fishwrap and America and The Pill, who are really feeling their oats these days.

Okay, I’ve ranted enough.

On that note, I saw today, thanks to an alert reader, this piece in USA Today:

 http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/03/12/catholicism-latin-mass-resurgence/70214976/

Latin Mass resurgent 50 years after Vatican II

VATICAN CITY — Fifty years after the traditional Latin Mass was abandoned by the Roman Catholic Church, it is making a comeback.

The Second Vatican Council ruled a half-century ago this month that the Mass could be said in local languages while the priest faced the congregation. The longer Latin Mass involved elaborate choreography, and the priest’s back was toward the pews. [That old canard?  No, everyone was facing the same direction!]

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI formally allowed the majestic Latin Mass to be more accessible to congregations. Since then, participation has mushroomed.

“Interested Catholics now realize it’s not some peculiar thing tucked away in an embarrassed corner,” said Joseph Shaw, chairman of the Latin Mass Society based in the United Kingdom. “Once they’re in the door, the Mass speaks for itself.”

Many enthusiasts of the Latin Mass are too young to recall when it was the standard for Catholic churches.

“There is a movement among young Catholics to know, discover and preserve their Catholic heritage, and the traditional Latin Mass fits in with that,” said Joseph Kramer, a Rome-based priest and longtime advocate of the Latin Mass. “I think they are drawn to the liturgical richness of the past.”

Though figures on attendance at Latin Masses are not available, there is evidence interest is growing. The International Una Voce Federation, lay groups associated with the Latin Mass, said member organizations are growing in all parts of the world.

“I think people are drawn to the Mass’ beauty and depth and its internal coherence,” said James Bogle, president of the federation.

Churchgoers who attend the Latin Mass say the seriousness of the service is appealing.

I have to say, I am fully with Fr. Z on this.

In Hobart our small community of 'old, traditional' Catholics has grown in number and you would be surprised at the youth of many. The Altar Servers are 'managed' well and we now have a Latin Mass every week, from a monthly position just a year or two ago. 

We have a splendid choir who accompany the litergy, never overpowering or 'taking over', but allowing and enhancing those  contemplative 'silences' between prayers and readings. And we have a dedicated Priest in Fr Suresh to lead us, along with our own trusty servant Fr Gerald Quinn. 

The Tavern is blessed by being near such people.

The Catholic Church is going through tough times. Calumny and direct attacks from outside are ongoing. 

Some criticisms are well deserved. 

Inside the Church some clergy have been awful. It does appear to be divided. There are many fine protestant people who look upon it and shake their heads and thank themselves, erroneously I have to add, that they 'follow' some other 'way', started by some self-professed pastoral people.

But let us be clear. The Catholic Church was established by God Himself in Jesus Christ and He make a very firm promise. Despite it being the Prime Target for Satan's ire, 

"The Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it"

I will let an Archbishop end this with a short sermon.

Pax Dei

On the knees, Scrubbing.

Yes, even Knights scrub floors. As we saw yesterday, heroes and warriors have a duty to rid themselves of hubris. Singers can as well.

The last of this small trilogy of Good people. Perhaps it is a Lenten thing, although not deliberate. It's just the way conversations in the bars go.

I hope he was scrubbing as he crawled !!

I was moved by the young woman's account of a Lord and Victoria Cross man on his knees, scrubbing the floor. I usually use a mop, but as it is Lent, I was down on my knees in the Crypt today while some ladies were upstairs in the Music Room rehearsing.  It was an apt accompanyment and stirred my soul.

These two sing like Angels. Elina Garanca can sing for me any day. Anna Netrebko, few may know, actually worked as a cleaner, scrubbing floors, while she was training to be a singer. She could teach an old Knight so much, I am sure.

But there was more going on upstairs. Taking a break I watched a rehearsal with Placido Domingo and Sissel Kyrkjebo. It promises to be a Grand Evening tonight.

It is an admission I am almost reluctant to speak but I was in tears listening. There are some sacred moments one is rarely able to observe.

For those who do not know the words or perhaps think that to be just another beautiful song by a 'classical' composer, think again.

It is one of the most personal prayers and possibly the second every Catholic child learns. The 'Hail Mary'.

Here is Sissel by herself, with the words.

There are some who reach perfection in their art. 

Would that we would put as much effort into reaching perfection in our character and Soul. 

Just think of the 'sound', sound humanity would make.

Pray for us. It is Lent. Give up something that holds you back.

Ora pro nobis peccatoribus.

Pax Dei.

Can Warriors be Good Men ?

The question was asked quietly in one of the bars yesterday, after we had been talking about actors.  The discussion was about really Good men. Holy men.  And a film actor.  But as I was down in the crypt washing my sins off the falgstones, upstairs the conversation broadened the range of 'jobs'.

A young woman sneaked past the bar-staff and down into the cellars and quietly asked me if I would please consider a 'case' study she had conducted.  I did. It was of a man of whom I already knew much but who had slipped from my mind many years past.

Let me digress just a little and mention the awful experiences that Warriors go through. In the USA there is outrage at the way their 'Vets' are treated. Their already woeful health system, a disgrace for most citizens and made even more of a minefield by President Obama's 'Obamacare' (an oxymoronic word), is almost tolerable compared to the tardy and neglectful Veterans Administration system. Brave men are often left to fend for themselves despite having served their country and done their 'best'. Can such men as lead and Command those soldiers ever show themselves to be 'Good and Holy' men if they so egregiously abandon their men?

It is not a problem confined to America. In the UK there are homeless ex-soldiers in despair. Abandoned. In Oz too. A recent effort in Oz has seen the establishment of a fund to house a large number of ex-servicemen (as we call them).

Another thing Americans often fail to acknowledge is the role of Aristocracy. They eschew it, make fun of it and generally deride the idea of Lords and Ladies. Mind you they do like to name their children 'Lorde' or Duke, or the ubiquitous 'Earl'.

So, this rather pleasant young woman,  Siobhan Reeves, who interrupted my tasks brought one such to my attention. A Lord from the second world war.  A Warrior. A thoroughly Holy man. I invited her to go back upstairs and tell the guys in the bar about Leonard Cheshire.

Almost exactly 23 years ago, in her 1992 Christmas Message, Queen Elizabeth II paid special tribute to Leonard Cheshire, who had passed away six months before: 

“Perhaps this shining example of what a human being can achieve in a lifetime of dedication can inspire in the rest of us a belief in our own capacity to help others.” 

Cheshire was an extraordinary individual whose legacy should not be forgotten.

Group Captain Lord Leonard Cheshire of Woodhall, 

VC OM DSO DFC (1917-1992), 

....was the youngest group captain in the RAF in 1944 at the age of 26. 

For the Americans here, a Group Captain is an RAF Rank equivalent to full Colonel. 

By the end of the war he had so much combat experience that statisticians estimate he should have been killed four times over. 

He completed over 100 missions, and in 1944 took command of the legendary 617 Squadron, the Dam Busters.

He received the Victoria Cross in 1944. 

Field Marshal Sir William Slim (who served as Australian governor-general from 1953 to 1960) considered Cheshire’s VC to be the finest awarded during World War II, as it was earned for remarkable courage over a great number of missions rather than for one battle.

Cheshire was also the official British observer for the dropping of the nuclear bomb on Nagasaki on August 15, 1945. As well as the VC, Cheshire received three Distinguished Service Orders (DSO) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), making him the most highly decorated British airman of World War II, at just 28 years of age.

So, we have a Warrior. Proven in Battle. Effective. A Leader who inspired. 

And he was to become a Lord. A member of the Aristocracy that we have largely done away with, what with them being snooty and posh and looking down their noses on 'ordinary' people, (according to our new non-judgemental, tolerant society).  

He could have dined out on his exploits for the rest of his life. Feted and applauded. But.... 

In 1948 Cheshire took into his home a terminally ill man, Arthur Dykes. Dykes was a Catholic and his faith had a deep impact upon Cheshire. After Dykes’s death, Cheshire converted to Catholicism and was baptised on Christmas Eve, 1948.

By the following year, Cheshire was caring for 28 patients in his home, and thus started the Cheshire homes for the ill and disabled. 

HRH the Duke of Edinburgh described these homes as 

“one of the greatest acts of humanity of our time”. 

Humanity AND Humility. 

Cheshire himself took care of the patients and the upkeep of the home, from scrubbing floors to cleaning bedsores. 

For his works he was invested with the Order of Merit by HM the Queen in 1981, and eventually accepted a peerage in 1991.

You see, Aristocratic rank is not always just a matter of 'inheriting' or being born with a silver spoon in a mouth. It is not even about money.  

It is 'award'; reward; acknowledgement; recognition. 

It is Honour.

Cheshire’s remarkable wife was also a great humanitarian in her own right. 

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw CMG OBE (1924-2000), at the outset of World War II, joined the first aid nursing yeomanry at the age of 15. She later became part of the Polish section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE).

Witnessing first-hand the sufferings of refugees and wounded soldiers, Ryder after the war set about establishing homes for these people. Immediately after the war she also worked tirelessly for the former inmates of concentration camps, many of whom were then tragically in prison. 

She herself was also a convert to Catholicism. 

Cheshire and Sue Ryder met in 1954, and were married in India in 1959, spending their honeymoon establishing a home for sufferers of leprosy. 

Cheshire and Ryder continued with their respective charities and also created a new charity, the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation. In the three charities, there are now nearly 400 homes in more than 50 countries.

I had the privilege of reading some of Cheshire’s private letters, and was touched by his warmth, generosity and tireless work ethic. Both Cheshire and Ryder were extraordinary individuals who, after seeing first-hand the trauma of war and “man’s inhumanity to man”, dedicated their lives to relieving the suffering of those neglected by society.  

When Cheshire died in July 1992, having been diagnosed with motor neurone disease in January of that year, and when Ryder died in November 2000, the world mourned the passing of .... 

two true servants of humanity. 

Characteristically, Cheshire commented upon his own grim diagnosis, “Now I am one of them (the disabled) too. At last I can fully begin to understand their problems, and know exactly what still needs to be done.”  

Here in Australia, the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation runs three homes: in Mount Gambier (SA) and Singleton (NSW) for the care of people with physical and intellectual disabilities, and in Ivanhoe (Melbourne) to provide accommodation for patients from rural areas or interstate who are receiving outpatient treatment at Melbourne hospitals. Overseas the Australian Foundation supports the Ryder-Cheshire homes Raphael, at Dehra Dun in northern India, and Klibur Domin, at Tibar in East Timor.

The president of Ryder-Cheshire Australia, Air Commodore Peter Newton, AO RAAF (Retd), is one of many Australians who have been inspired by Cheshire’s remarkable life and who continue his work today. He says: “From the most highly decorated British airman of World War II to one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century, Leonard Cheshire was indeed a remarkable individual. He and his wife Sue Ryder have inspired generations of people who continue to help those who are sick and disabled in nearly 400 homes in 50 different countries. His legacy is ongoing.”

I was more than pleased to pull a pint of fine Ale for a fine gal who told the timely tale. 

The conversations in the Tavern will no doubt pass on from Holiness and how we, as individuals might achieve it. I am still not at all sure that it is not thrust upon us. Well, onto the shoulders of some people.  But for today it is something we perhaps need to pause and consider.

Read again the selflessness of Len Cheshire. And of his wife. These were to GOOD people. I look at my own past actions and achievements, and, yes, even some of the good works that I have done. Mine  are piddling in comparison. 

Their Humility shows me how much more I have to go down on my old, knarled knees.

An end note. Soibhan slipped in almost without being noticed and counted. But coming back up the stone steps into the bar for her tale, a small present was being prepared. 

She is our 100,000th customer.

Siobhan Reeves is studying for a masters degree in international relations at the University of Melbourne. In 2013 she will be assisting at Klibur Domin, the home established in East Timor by the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation in 2000.

http://newsweekly.com.au/article.php?id=5423 

A Warrior MUST have Humlity. 

He MUST hone his warfare skills and be rightfully proud but.... he must purge himself of hubris and be PURE.

Few of us ever achieve that.

Cheshire, VC, scrubbed floors. 

His Peerage is a sort of earthly equivalent of Sainthood. I am as sure of his place in the Communion of Saints as I expected for the other chap the other day.
Pax