Some web browsing.....

This weeks web browsing is a little shorter than normal but never the less have a browse and see what you think:

• To get us started, a quote of the day that we came across during the week:

"The man who fears to be alone will never be anything but lonely, no matter how much he may surround himself with people. But the man who learns, in solitude and recollection, to be at peace with his own loneliness, and to prefer its reality to the illusion of merely natural companionship, comes to know the invinsible companionship of God." Thomas Merton

• A study in contrasts; the Catholic Herald's headline is "Visitator will tell Pope that Irish Church is near to collapse’ where as the National Catholic Reporter takes the view "Irish priest says Vatican visitation offers hope"
• A sad story from Limerick city - Damage caused to 400-year-old statue Virgin Mary statute in Limerick.
• Is the West in decline because it has lost touch with its Christian roots?
• A man recounts his return to the Church after his 40 years of wandering in the wilderness
• Laity near the top?
• A Catholic contribution to Egypt
• The English Dominican students have been doing a series of reflections on the Litany of Lorerto, probably more familiar to Irish people as  the "trimmin's on the rosary". 
• The Importance of Doing Nothing
• You've got to have proper context to really understand anything well. It's a lesson we seem to have to learn repeatedly. Julie Davis discusses how sometime we can be blind about the Eucharist and reviews a new book about the relationship between Eucharist and Passover - For I was blind but now I see.
• Brutally Honest describes the video below as follows:

"We live in an entertainment age where we are easily bored or distracted unless nearly all of our senses are engaged.  It's a sad fact.What follows is a talk given by a young man dying of brain cancer.  I can't call it riveting.  At least not like that today which is too often called riveting. What I can call it is enlightening.  I can call it wisdom.  I can call it a dose of reality that we need to hear.  I can call it that which we should all listen to because the fact is that if you live long enough (and for this young man, not so long enough), you're going to suffer. Set aside 30 quiet minutes and listen to what he has to say.  It may just prepare you for something you'll appreciate later in life.  It may give meaning to that which you're experiencing now. No, it's not riveting.  It's just necessary."

• Max Lindenman ponders the reckless genuine piety of nuns, the mysteries of discernment, juicy turkeys, and where the spattered blood of martyrs may lead - Houses and the Holy.
• "Let there be light" - the new Saskatoon cathedral will have stained glass that are also be solar panals!
• The New York Times has a very negative view of the meaning of the term Irish Catholic and regards it as being "The Irish Affliction"
• And to finish up, a more positive view of the youth and vibrancy of the church with a video about the World Youth Day's with WYD 2011 being held in Madrid in August 2011.