I have come across few men in my life of now 90 years whom I have so instantly warmed to and liked. —Philip Trower on Pius XII
On *Trower on the Epistles*
I was in my father’s study looking for something to read and for the first time I noticed a book called Trower on the Epistles. It was by an ancestor who had been Bishop of Gibraltar in the early 19th century. In those days the Church of England had two bishops to look after the members of its flock living on the continent. One was Bishop of Gibraltar, the other Bishop of —–. Anyhow, on opening the book almost the first passage my eyes fell on read something like “as the Church of Rome so wrongly maintains……”
With a suddenly intense feeling irritation I snapped the book shut and put it back on the shelf saying to myself, “If all you can talk about is what’s wrong with the Church of Rome. I’m not interested in anything else you have to say.”
—Philip Trower, at that time not yet a Catholic
“Cousin Curly” is the only person I have known to have a devotion to John the Baptist. —Philip Trower
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and the Levites, said to all the people, “Today is holy for you to the LORD your God. Do not mourn and weep,” for they were weeping when they heard the words of the Teaching. Nehemiah 8:9, Robert Alter (HT Philip Trower)
Offer it up.
The only specifically religious idea or practice I remember getting from our Nanny was that of “offering things up” when something went wrong. “Offer it up darling,” she would say, “offer it up.” It is not of course a specifically Catholic idea. But I have never heard it referred to except among Catholics. —Philip Trower
What would Nanny have said? —Lord Carrington, quoted by Philip Trower
Holy Communion at Eaton College before World War II
With the other boys in my group I remember discussing what we had been told about not going to Holy Communion if we had done something seriously wrong until we had told God we were sorry and made a resolution to do our best not to repeat the sin. I can still recall the sense of awe we felt and how it was reflected in our voices. In those days Anglican children didn’t receive Holy Communion until they had been confirmed. —Philip Trower
Only Christianity can confront this. —Sir William Gosselin Trower, father of Philip Trower
Faith is a gift from God to those who will accept it.
I can best perhaps describe it as a holy light-heartedness which I have often since noticed in Catholics who have lived and loved their religion since early childhood. —Philip Trower, “How I Became a Catholic”
Catholics are catholic, not ideologues.
Welcome
Who art in Heaven,
Our Father is in heaven; heaven is our home. We are not necessarily far from heaven. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, and perhaps, within us. But heaven is not earth. “Meaning in the Our Father”
The office of the US presidency has been hijacked in the most cynical, undisguised, arrogant, unprincipled, often dilettante, and sometimes thuggish manner imaginable. —John Harris, New Year’s Day, 2021
Semper Lux Mundi ("Always the Light of the World")
Mr. Trump excelled at chaining a name to an epithet during his mercurial political career: Lying Ted, Crooked Hillary, Sleepy Joe. It was effective in a childish way. What if we, as unplayful adults, insistently link our nation’s plunderers to the evidence of their plunder? “I won’t support Mr. Biden’s bills, whose presidency is illegitimate… our nation’s policy with China will remain in free fall until we have a legitimate president… I’m not surprised by the bid to pack the court, since it reflects the bullying anomy which brought this illegitimate regime to power.” Always, every day, speak the horrible truth out in the open. —John Harris
Chief Nolo considers idle chatter a great corruptive of sacred mission. John Harris
We leave a purely theological discussion and move on to a question that is more prudential and disciplinary. —Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández
You speak for men and not God. Sc. 53, Matthew 16:23, Mark 8:33
Unfortunately, “enslavers” has come to include all slave owners.