Remembering PRESTAGS

'The Principles of War' - interesting website

The Principles of War website - https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ 

Australian content and contributions

 

An afternoon walk

hazy & cloudy.  but so green.

An afternoon walk

hazy & cloudy.  but so green.

Macro adventures on a ladder

There was an arachnid visitor to the extended web of the black house spider at my front door today (top of the wall where the eave joins). A large huntsman (I suspect a huntswoman actually) - sheltering from the heavy rain? Seemingly uninterested in the house spider further down the wall. (I might call her a pet, as I leave her big messy web in place above the door knowing she won't bother anyone unless they bother her).

A challenge for shooting, as she was behind the web on the wall - autofocus was almost certainly going to focus on the web in front not the spider.

I tried a couple of strategies - first a monopod with the foot wedged against the wall, and camera pointing up. I tried manual focus with live view (zoomed in), and there was sort of success but not stunning. (my eyes just couldn't pick focus or not through the 'normal size' optical viewfinder, especially as I was 'perched' and an odd angle).

Got out a tripod but realised that wasn't going to be high enough either. Then I thought about an approach I had contemplated for jumping spiders - using my travel tripod as a horizontal brace against the wall. This allowed be to have the camera positioned opposite the target rather than underneath. I imagine it looked weird to anyone driving along the street ...

So the set up was small 2 step ladder, tripod with all 3 legs against the wall with me pressing inwards to keep it stable. flash, manual exposure to get shutter speed up a bit, and live view with zoom in then manual focus to get focus on the spider not the web. Moderately pleased with the results. Had a go for the house spider but the web around her is too think and she is in a corner making bracing tricky - in the 'as shot' pic below you can see where she is though.

monopod shot - web in focus

As shot (size wise, minor process tweeks)

cropped image

The house spider hidden in her web. I was trying to focus manually but it was hopeless. She seems to have abandoned the big web further out from the door (her mother's from 3 or so years ago) and stays in the corner.

An unexpected visitor

yesterday I had the back door open, and was working in the lounge room at the computer.

suddenly there was a flutter of wings, and a silvery eye alighted on the windowsill, presumably having thought he could fly out the wide window. Luckily he didn't crash headfirst into the window.

Lexi had a half hearted lunge at him as he flew into the curtain corner and thankfully she came away when I called her.

I deposited her outside, took one quick shot with the venerable D60 which was right at hand.

It was clear he was going to stay put against the window so I then went and shut all the other internal doors and opened and wedged the front door & its screen door.

Came back and moved quietly and thankfully he let me grasp him without freaking out.

Then out to the door, and he was on the wing and gone hardly before I had let go of him.

2 shots - as shot for scale of how small they are, and then a pretty big crop.

I generally only see them around here in the Spring and early Summer, so they must migrate in then.

Peacock spider (Maratus pavonis ?), seen as a result of other opportunistic macro

iNaturalist suggests it is Maratus pavonis, the common peacock spider.

The lead up story - saw a little jumping spider on/under the handle on the shed door. Got the camera ...

here's a crop of one of those shots

as I was getting ready to take the gear back inside I quickly scanned the back wall of the house, and spied a little spider.

On a close look, it was a PEACOCK SPIDER !!!! It was such a thrill to see one in the flesh and to get to photograph him. A joy in the Creator's creation.

Here are few shots, all crops except the first one (for scale, beside the mortar line between bricks).

 

 

Farewell to Batemans Bay

Here is the dawn photo for Spetz. Although taken at 6:20am, the sun was up and behind clouds.

There is some pink in the clouds above the island. but drowned out by the other colours. There was one patch of red though, from a final visitor.

 

more accidental macro while preparing dinner

I was getting my dinner ready when I noticed a rather large moth on the cupboard above the stove ...

Beautiful red colour and so fluffly looking up close. Here are a few shots. A few contortions undertaken on a little 2 step ladder and against cupboard doors etc.

Would have been nice to be able to get a front on shot but it was facing upwards and was a long way up and I didn't want to move it and risk injuring it. I got it in a glass and released it in the bush outside. It also reminded me of a character from Monsters vs Aliens (see at the end).

with 18-55 as shot (downsized)

18-55 cropped - the gap on the left gives some scale - that is the edge between 2 cupboard doors.

85 micro uncropped.

85 micro, cropped a bit.

and reminded me of this character - Insectosaurus

Clever, but will irritate my mates no end

I noticed an odd flag flying on the walk home from the office earlier this week. It took me several seconds to deconstruct it.

I think it is a clever bit of fun, and, for me, symbolises pride in the past and the future. I think my mates will bitterly disagree and call for a homeland security visit. 

Vive la difference!

Let us never become unable to debate!

some flies from today

Accidental naturalist

Today I saw a little spider flitting very fast on the window & sill. I captured him (I think it was a male) with a glass. Very pretty markings. How to photograph? First I thought I would put some gladwrap over the glass and shoot through that. was worried that wouldn't be very stable. Then thought of a little shallow porcelain dish I could try - luckily virtually the same diameter as the glass so transfer wasn't a problem. Used a piece of hard plastic to 'seal' him in. Then had another thought - a clear lens filter sitting on the dish would not fall off and should not affect too much the optics.

Here is that set up:

then to attempting to photograph. lots and lots of shots. spider wouldn't sit still. getting light tricky (couldn't use flash as it would just reflect). Tried a couple of different tripod setups. Had the jar on the floor under the big lounge windows and was lying / crouching on the floor to get angles for shots. D7500 + 85 micro lens

This is actually one of the early shots. Google provided me with an identification this evening - Nyssus coloripes or orange legged swift spider. http://www.findaspider.org.au/find/spiders/509.htm  http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1807  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyssus_coloripes

From all the observations I did notice something really neat - he was cleaning his legs, one at a time by running them past the mouth parts. Depth of field proved an insurmountable obstacle to get a nice shot of that but I saw it nevertheless.  I also didn't register for ages that he was missing one leg.

A gorgeous little spider. I subsequently released him under the bushes outside.

 

In between changing tripods (teeny for small) I also noticed that a male blackbird was sitting quite still outside the lounge window. Grabbed the D3300 and wacked on the 70-300 AF-P and tried to get some shots through the (not very clean) window. The bird was also sitting in a patch of shade so lighting was tricky and trying focus on a black bird. I also noticed he had a grub or worm in his beak. The shot below is a moderate crop with some post processing but I don't think focus was nailed and that can't be provided after the fact. Might be a function of the dirty window too.

I like blackbirds - they have a beautiful song, and flit quickly about through the spring and summer. The hen bird is a drabber brown colour. Although an immigrant species they haven't gone nuts like Indian mynas.

Hoverfly

pseudo macro of hoverflies outside the backdoor. 8-10mm long. (70-300 AF-P lens but cropped a fair bit)

my one good 'hovering' shot - they wouldn't stay in stationary hover! (both crops)

 

 

Fly sunning itself in the late afternoon

I've seen these big flies doing this in the early morning and late afternoon - presumably warming themselves up.

This was the first macro shot using the little manfrotto tripod that was in a camera bag I bought - really helps with bracing against the brick wall. I hope it will help shots when the jumping spiders emerge too. a little sharpening and exposure adjustment.

big crop

lesser crop

view as shot (it was more or less upside down)

Inspired By Thygo - Aussie Chiko Roll

Following in Thygo's footsteps, I have tried the retro Chiko Roll. I'm pretty sure I haven't had one in over 20 years.

PRESTAGS era junk food.

I liked it but better half and #2 daughter were not particularly impressed.

We are spoilt now with lots of alternatives like spring rolls and numerous yum cha offerings I suppose.

More Lockdown Meals

What better way to celebrate Python's birthday than with some more food posts.

Bangers and Mash

Possibly my favourite comfort food.

Prawn Cocktail

Actually made by Yours Truely.

PRESTAGS ERA food!

Christmas Pudding

If Python can have Christmas in July I can have Christmas Pudding in lockdown.

I had a mad craving for Christmas pudding, and found some online that were delivered very quickly.

Tuna Patties

Trying out Thai Chilli sauce and Thousand Island Dressing to see which was better with the patties. Thai Chilli won.

Bubble and Squeak

Another comfort food classic.

Chicken Parma and Baby Potatoes

The clubs might be closed but you can have Chicken Parma at home. Tinned baby potatoes nice and easy.

New toys. Food. Old toy. Birds.

NEW TOY

So I got a poor man's RX100 - a used Canon S120 (for $120 incl post) with the teeny 1/1.7 inch sensor.

I'm pretty impressed. Solid build - metal top and bottom. Lot to learn to drive it though.

Should be good for quick photos.

Dinner last night.

Carl: spring rolls, chicken things, wedges


Thygo - stir fry / satay + kanga bangas

Packet cake made by Carl & Thygo last night, iced today, tastes good.

Lexi enjoying the sun

selfie of Grumpy old Man

 

Another NEW TOY - old binoculars (Gumtree special, $30)- object d'art

image quality good and much more comfortable to hold than the new-bought Olympus.  Both 8x40. Dad had/has a pair like these older ones when I was young.

thi

 

OLD TOY - D7500 + (stellar little) AF-P 70-300 DX VR - Crested pigeons from the clothes line. No cropping.

Lock Down Meals

Coffee and Cardamom Cake:

Salmon and Noodles:

Salami, Anchovies and Olive Pizza:

Dinosaur Pasta in Lamb Soup:

Raw Honey from Collector on Crumpets:

Easter Sunday Under Lockdown

Good Friday Brunch

Hot Cross Buns under lockdown.

Lockdown Bakery Delivery

Bakery delivery arrived early.

In time to make ham and cheese croissants for breakfast.

Where Are Our Shepherds?

Orroral Valley fire

saw plume while driving. went back to take some photos.

wish that ice age would hurry up and arrive ....

Mystery spider

Thought he/she was a dead insect in a daddy longlegs web in the corner of the ceiling in the loo at Dad's house in Toowoomba.

Then I noticed it had moved position, and then noticed it move ever so slightly and indeed a spider - 8 legs visible. Probably body about 1.5 - 2 cm long so not very big.

Took some pics on the last day there, and upon internet searching it is a rufous net-casting spider - Deinopis subrufa.

These images are only of the top view of the spider so the characteristic 'dual headlights' big front eyes were not visible.

crop of shot above. the very front of the body you can see the 2 curves of the 2 front eyes.

Boxing Day jumper

Looking for something near the back door with a torch as preparations for the northward trek continued.

Noticed a spot on the wall, and thought 'what insect, or spider, is this?'

Well it was both. Jumping spider with, relative to her size, a big fly, still flapping a bit so I guess capture was only a tens of seconds before. Quick, quick find the camera, macro, flash. A couple of hand held shots, she didn't seem to be going anywhere, so quick get the little tripod.

This is one of the better captures. Together with its final flappings she kept turning it over so the aspect kept changing. I was a bit surprised to see this is in the night, as I thought jumpers were diurnal. 

size as shot, exposure adjusted (+0.5ev), sharpened a little.

cropped

on the radio last night there was an interview about a spider exhibition at the QLD museum - I might have to see if I can go while I am up there. https://spiders.qm.qld.gov.au/

Brunch - A Victory for Sausage Rolls

Thygo knows why I chose this.

Health star rating of 1. What would they know.

 

Advent

One week until Christmas.

Our decorations are up.

Christmas tree, Sir Lance's bird cage and a Christmas wreath on the door.

The world needs Christ more than ever, but there is so much rejection of Christ and hostility to Christ in the world. Our Saviour is betrayed everywhere, even by some in His own Church.

Sound Recording 1 - Solving a Mystery

It's time I experimented with loading some sound files instead of photographs.

I will decrease the quality a bit so they are not huge uploads, but this might mean turning the sound up to hear the files.

First attempt - solving the great mystery of the Cotter River moving recorder.

Background: in September Thygo (aka Bastard) and I went to the Cotter river to take some photos. I left a small sound recorder near the river to record 20 minutes or so of nice bubbling brook sound. Just a small pocket recorder (Tascam DR-05) not some of my better equipment. I left the recorder on a log facing the river. When we returned, the recorder had been moved and was facing the opposite direction.

It wasn't our imagination - the photos confirmed it.

So who or what moved the recorder? No humans were about, but a person who may have picked it up out of interest would probably put it back in the same position facing the river. There was an emu nearby, but the scrub to get to the log was fairly thick and probably not an emu. That left a small animal or a bird.

The whole incident was recorded so I checked the sound file. I put the file into WavePad sound editing software to see if the sound pattern gave any clues. It did - a big noisy spike 5 minutes into the recording. This indicated a loud noise very close to the recorder's microphones or the recorder itself being knocked. 

The incident lasted about 1 minute. Here is a WavePad close up of the sound pattern for the incident.

OK now for the recording. Click on the link below to hear an MP3 of the incident. Please wait about 15 seconds for the MP3 player to open up and the recording to start. You hear bubbling brook ... then the recorder being knocked around a few times ... then the culprit revealing itself ... and quite proud of the handiwork as well.

Cotter Creek Recorder Moved

This seemed to work. I'll upload some other sound files in the future.

Who recognizes the species?

Good news is that the recorder was not knocked into the river.

Checking through my photographs later I found this one with a blurred moving object. Interesting.

 

Jacaranda Season

A few from the dog park this afternoon

took Lexi to the dog park (dustbowl) and tried out the Tamron 70-200 f2.8. Some in focus ...

Three attached. Lexi loves to chase and be chased. One of these is reminiscent of Hairy McClairy :-)

 

Grilled Cheese on Muffins

Sunday breakfast.

Simple But Effective

Saturday morning after a long stressful week.

A treat breakfast is warranted.

Grilled cheese on Greek bread. Mozzarella on the top half, cheddar on the bottom.

A sprinkle of black pepper and dried basil.

 

Father's Day Treat for Dad

Breakfast, but not too much because need to keep room for special lunch.

Preparations for Dad's favourite meal - Roast Lamb.

The feast arrives. Spoilt and Contented Dad.

Star photography - part 2 - stars, kit, moon

one of the first ones, 15mm, complete with airplane or chopper ... Note that this is not what my eye saw - these are long exposures between 10 and 30 seconds. The trees are all fuzzy because it was quite windy and they were flapping about.

shot settings: manual focus (preset before dark), manual exposure - f2.8 & between 10 and 30 seconds, ISO between 2000 and 3200.

11mm showing the ingress light from the late arrival campers ...

20mm, after moving a bit further up the hill. Can you see the Southern Cross?

There are a few more. I was reasonably pleased with this for a first go.  Here is the set up as shot by my phone

Off to bed reasonably early but didn't sleep so well. Very windy through the night. Got up at 3am for a call of nature ...
and lo, the waning moon was evident. 300mm and cropped a lot. manual exposure about 1/500 sec and f8, ISO 400 (from memory)

 

next time I think I will search for a spot with a rocky outcrop in the foreground. Orroral valley would be great but I think it is shut off at night.

Star photography - part 1 - setup and packup

After soccer Saturday, I thought - sky is clear, moon is waning, not too cold - I should pack up some gear and try to shoot the stars.
Did a quick google and you tube swat for the settings ...
So after a frantic whipping up of the easy-up tent, sleeping bag etc, and requisite camera gear and some camping gear and food, off I went with Lexi to Wood's Reserve.
I forgot a few things - stretcher, G-shock, battery lantern ...
Took a focus setting shot and set lens to manual. Got the tent up before dark then pottered around getting some food, having a shower [the indulgent luxury of Wood's].
focus shot facing west-south-west. D7500 + Tokina 11-20 f2.8

star photos in part 2 ...

Sunday morning

my 'little' Coleman Lakeside 4 tent - I can put this one up on my own without any trouble as the height of the poles means you can reach everything. The quid pro quo is you can't really stand up in it except in the very centre.

home in time for choir practice & Mass

(Slightly) Healthier Weekend Breakfast

Poached egg and fried egg, on rye bread.

Placed near green things to absorb 'greenness".

 

Aussie Breakfast

Can't go wrong.

When you're on to a good thing stick to it.

Three weekend. Three breakfasts.

Wherefore By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

 

Today at Mass, the Seventh Sunday After Pentecost, was one of my favourite Gospel readings, Matthew 7:15-21:

 

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: [15] Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

[16] By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? [17] Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. [18] A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. [19] Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. [20] Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.

[21] Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. 

 

This reading is so very apt in today's Church, with heresy and perversion everywhere. Right up to the highest levels of the Church. 

Indeed, ever since Vatican II, has the fruits of that Council manifested.

Here is a great summary from the late Michael Davies, who I was privileged to meet many years ago and who was such a faithful son of the Church. The following is from the Appendix to his work "Liturgical Time Bombs" which can be purchased from Amazon. It is important and sobering reading.

 

The Incredible Shrinking Church In England and Wales

   The most evident characteristic of the Catholic Church in England and Wales is that it is shrinking at an incredible rate into what must be termed a state of terminal decline. The official Catholic Directory documents a steady increase in every important aspect of Catholic life until the mid-sixties: then the decline sets in. The figures for marriages and baptisms are not simply alarming, but disastrous. In 1944 there were 30,946 marriages, by 1964 the figure had risen to 45,592-----but by 1999 it had plunged to 13,814, well under half the figure for 1944. The figures for baptisms for the same years are 71,604 (1944), 137,673 (1964), and 63,158 (1999). With fewer children born to Catholic couples each year, the number of marriages must inevitably continue to decline, with even fewer children born-----and so on. Nor can it be presumed that even half the children who are baptized will be practicing their Faith by the time they reach their teens. An examination of the figures for a typical diocese indicates that less than half the children who are baptized  are confirmed, and a report in The Universe as long ago as 1990 gave an estimate of only 11% of young Catholics practicing their Faith when they leave high school.

     Apart from marriages and baptisms, Mass attendance is the most accurate guide to the vitality of the Catholic community. The figure has plunged from 2,114,219 in 1966 to 1,041,728 in 1999 and is still falling at a rate of about 32,000 a year.

      In 1944, 178 priests were ordained; in 1964, 230; and in 1999 only 43-----and in the same year 121 priests died.

      In 1985, twenty years after the Second Vatican Council, bishops from all over the world assembled in Rome to assess the impact of the Council. This gave them the opportunity to admit that their implementation of it had been disastrous, and that drastic measures must be taken to give the Faith a viable future in First World countries.

     Cardinal Basil Hume of Westminster insisted, on behalf of the bishops of England and Wales, that there must be no turning back from the policies they had adopted to implement the Council. A report in The Universe of December 13, 1985 informed us that the Synod had adopted Cardinal Hume's position without a single dissenting voice. The final sentence of this report must be described as ironically prophetic: "In the meantime the people of God have a firm mandate to further Exodus along the route mapped out by the Second Vatican Council." Change the upper case "E" of Exodus to a lower case "e," exodus, and this is precisely what has happened-----and the exodus will continue until Catholicism in England and Wales vanishes into oblivion within thirty years, if not sooner. Without a Divine intervention, the "Second Spring" of the Catholic Faith in England predicted by Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) will end in the bleakest of winters.

The Incredible Shrinking Church In the United States

     In March 2003 there was published in St. Louis what is certainly the most important statistical survey of the Church in the United States since Vatican II: Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II, by Kenneth C. Jones. ₁ It provides meticulously documented statistics on every aspect of Catholic life subject to statistical verification, and it is illustrated with graphs which depict in a dramatic visual manner the catastrophic collapse of Catholic life in the United States since the Council. With the publication of this book, no rational person could disagree with Father Louis Bouyer that, "Unless we are blind, we must even state bluntly that what we see looks less like the hoped-for regeneration of Catholicism than its accelerated decomposition." ₂

   Mr. Jones has given me his permission to quote from the introduction to his book, but before doing so, I must quote: from a news story in the March 23, 2003 issue of the London Universe. Under the headline "En SuiteMonastery," it reports: "A former Irish Carmelite monastery is expected to 
be turned into a country-club style hotel after its sale to a property developer. The Carmelite order had shut their house in Castle Martyr, Cork, last year after 73 years because of the downfall in vocations." This is but one of thousands of similar examples of the actual, as opposed to the fantasy, fruits of Vatican II. On page 100 of Mr. Jones' book there is a graph revealing that the number of Carmelite seminarians in the United States has decreased from 545 in 1965 to 46 in 2000-----a decline of 92 percent. This figure seems positively healthy when compared with the graph on page 99, relating to the La Salette Fathers, which reveals a decline in the number of seminarians for the same period from 552 to just 1. Figures and graphs for every major religious order are set out in the book, and it would be hard to disagree with Mr. Jones that "The religious orders will soon be virtually non-existent in the United States." In the introduction to his book he writes:

         When Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council in 1962, the Catholic Church in America was in the midst of an unprecedented period of growth. Bishops were ordaining record numbers of priests and building scores of seminaries to handle the surge in vocations. Young women by the thousands gave up lives of comfort for the austerity of the convent. These nuns taught millions of students in the huge system of parochial and private schools.

The ranks of Catholics swelled as parents brought in their babies for Baptism and adult converts flocked to the Church. Lines outside the confessionals were long, and by some estimates three quarters of the faithful went to Mass every Sunday. Given this favorable state of affairs, some Catholics  wondered at the time whether an ecumenical council was opportune-----don't rock the boat, they said.

        The Holy Father chided these people in his opening speech to the Council: "We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand." Forty years later the end has not arrived. But we are now facing the disaster.

        Even some in the Vatican have recognized it. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said: "Certainly the results [of Vatican II] seem cruelly opposed to the expectations of everyone, beginning with those of Pope John XXIII and then of Pope Paul VI . . . "

        Since Cardinal Ratzinger made these remarks in 1984, the crisis in the Church has accelerated. In every area that is statistically verifiable-----for example, the number of priests, seminarians, priestless parishes, nuns, Mass attendance, converts and annulments-----the "process of decadence" is apparent.

        I have gathered these statistics in the Index of Leading Catholic Indicators because the magnitude of the emergency is unknown to many. Beyond a vague understanding of a "vocations crisis," both the faithful and the general public have no idea how bad things have been since the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Here are some of the stark facts:

• Priests. After skyrocketing from about 27,000 in 1930 to 58,000 in 1965, the number of priests in the United States  dropped to 45,000 in 2002. By 2020,₃ there will be about 31,000 priests-----and only 15,000 will be under the age of 70. Right now there are more priests aged 80 to 84 than there 1 are aged 30 to 34.

• Ordinations. In 1965 there were 1,575 ordinations to the priesthood, in 2002 there were 450, a decline of 350 percent. Taking into account ordinations, deaths and departures, in 1965 there was a net gain of 725 priests. In 1998, there was a net loss of 810.

• Priestless parishes. About 1 percent of parishes, 549, were without a resident priest in 1965. In 2002 there were 2,928 priestless parishes, about 15 percent of U.S. parishes. By 2020, a quarter of all parishes, 4,656, will have no priest.

• Seminarians. Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700-----a 90 percent decrease. Without any students, seminaries across the country have been sold or shuttered. There were 596 seminaries in 1965, and only 200 in 2002.

• Sisters. 180,000 sisters were the backbone of the Catholic education and health systems in 1965. In 2002, there were 75,000 sisters, with an average age of 68. By 2020, the number of sisters will drop to 40,000-----and of these, only 21,000 will be aged 70 or under. In 1965, 104,000 sisters were teaching, while in 2002 there were only 8,200 teachers.

• Brothers. The number of professed brothers decreased from about 12,000 in 1965 to 5,700 in 2002, with a further drop to 3,100 projected for 2020.

• Religious Orders. The religious orders will soon be virtually non-existent in the United States. For example, in 1965 there were 5,277 Jesuit priests and 3,559 seminarians; in 2000 there were 3,172 priests and 38 seminarians. There were 2,534 OFM Franciscan priests and 2,251 seminarians in 1965; in 2000 there were 1,492 priests and 60 seminarians. There were 2,434 Christian Brothers in 1965 and 912 seminarians; in 2000 there were 959 Brothers and 7 seminarians. There were 1,148 Redemptorist priests in 1965 and 1,128 seminarians; in 2000 there were 349 priests and 24 seminarians. Every major religious order in the United States mirrors these statistics.

• High Schools. Between 1965 and 2002 the number of diocesan high schools fell from 1,566 to 786. At the same time the number of students dropped from almost 700,000 to 386,000.

• Parochial Grade Schools. There were 10,503 parochial grade schools in 1965 and 6,623 in 2002. The number of students went from 4.5 million to 1.9 million.

• Sacramental Life. In 1965 there were 1.3 million infant baptisms; in 2002 there were 1 million. (In the same period the number of Catholics in the United States rose from 45 million to 65 million.) In 1965 there were 126,000 adult baptisms-----converts-----in 2002 there were 80,000. In 1965 there were 352,000 Catholic marriages, in 2002 there were 256,000. In 1965 there were 338 annulments, in 2002 there were 50,000.

• Mass attendance. A 1958 Gallup poll reported that 74 percent of Catholics went to Sunday Mass in 1958. A 1994 University of Notre Dame study found that the attendance rate was 26.6 percent. A more recent study by Fordham University professor James Lothian concluded that 65 percent of Catholics went to Sunday Mass in 1965, while the rate dropped to 25 percent in 2000.

The decline in Mass attendance highlights another significant fact; fewer and fewer people who call themselves Catholic actually follow Church rules or accept Church doctrine. For example, a 1999 poll by the National Catholic Reporter shows that 77 percent believe a person can be a 
good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday, 65 percent believe good Catholics can divorce and remarry, and 53 percent believe Catholics can have abortions and remain in good standing. Only 10 percent of lay religion teachers accept Church teaching on artificial birth control, according to a 2000 University of Notre Dame poll. And a New York Times/CBS poll revealed that 70 percent of Catholics age 18-44 believe the Eucharist is merely a "symbolic reminder" of Jesus.

It is the same incredible shrinking Church in Australia. Declining Mass attendance, and rampant erroneous belief. Modernism triumphant.

I grew up in the liturgical and heretical horrors of the 1970s.  The dark side of the PRESTAGS era. There were glimmers (brief and limited) of sunshine under Pope St John Paul II and Benedict XVI. However any hope of a restoration has faded with the resignation of Benedict XVI and the installation of the St Gallen Mafia's Pope, supported by the Lavender Mafia.

The lightening strike on the day Pope Benedict announced his resignation has turned out to be symbolic. Since then, the accellerator is down and the destruction of what remains of the Church is underway.

I don't think the Church has had such perversion and moral corruption at the highest levels for 500 years. I don't think the Church has had such heresy and doctrinal corruption for 1,700 years.

And now both together.

There are two really good books that describe what has happened to the Church, with each book still managing to encourage hope.

A history of the plot, largely successful, to infiltrate the Church and the consequences is Taylor Marshall's "Infiltration, The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within". Available on Amazon. I have just finished reading this book.

Another book is Michael Voris' "Resistance, Fighting the Devil Within". Also on Amazon. I'm reading this book now.

Here are some extracts from the forward to Michael Voris' book. Spot on. 

Whatever happens, we are each called to remain faithful.

And Christ has won the victory and nothing can change that.

 

Autumn shooting

A sample of pics

from today - opportunistic shots at Weston Park. Nice afternoon light.

I love Gang-gangs - I was trying to get close as I only had the 17-50 with me. These are cropped pretty heavily.

early this month - ornamental pears (?) in the neighbour's front yard. About as big as a small grape. Nice afternoon light.

Tree in my front yard.

and one of the moon, also cropped a lot, some sharpening. 70-300 AF-P DX VR

 

 

Democracy Pie

When the politically correct Maoist vegans take over after the election they'll probably ban meat pies because they contain meat and cows fart.

 

Easter Feasting