Oremus pro Antistite nostro Alexandro. Stet et pascat in fortitudine tua, Domine, in sublimitate nominis tui.
(Let us pray for our Bishop Alexander. May he stand firm and shepherd his flock by Your strength, O Lord, in the majesty of Your name.)
It is not unusual to see this type of ad here in the US. These are two roadside ads I saw in Wisconsin on my way to and from La Crosse. Nothing like this exists in the UK.
I will know that there can be healing here in the UK if ever I see anything like that.# Hope you've settled to ex-pat life. I get the impression that Christianity as a whole and Catholicism in particular is stronger and more authentic in large parts of the USA. Am I imagining things?
Yes Father, not at all an uncommon sight here in Wisconsin – and elsewhere in the US! One of the things which I’m sure you’re finding here in the US is that people are not shy about either their faith or their convictions. While we do run on a bit about ‘separation of Church and State’ on a national level, individuals and organizations are not reluctant or embarrassed to demonstrate their faith in public.
Quite different from my experience of England many years ago where religion was viewed as a ‘private matter’ if it existed at all for most people. The closest one came to any public expression of religion was the ‘wayside gospel’ found on the notice boards of assorted non-Catholic churches. But even they were pretty anodyne and tended more to a ‘feel good’ aspect of religion – a kind of “primum non nocere” as in the Hippocratic Oath (sadly lacking in much of the medical profession today).
Growing up in an Ireland where religion was part and parcel of everyday life (alas, less in evidence in modern Ireland…), the American ‘way of religion’ suited me better. While we have militant atheists and anti-religionists aplenty, I have found ‘more faith’ in America than most other places I’ve lived.
I will know that there can be healing here in the UK if ever I see anything like that.#
ReplyDeleteHope you've settled to ex-pat life.
I get the impression that Christianity as a whole and Catholicism in particular is stronger and more authentic in large parts of the USA.
Am I imagining things?
Yes Father, not at all an uncommon sight here in Wisconsin – and elsewhere in the US! One of the things which I’m sure you’re finding here in the US is that people are not shy about either their faith or their convictions. While we do run on a bit about ‘separation of Church and State’ on a national level, individuals and organizations are not reluctant or embarrassed to demonstrate their faith in public.
ReplyDeleteQuite different from my experience of England many years ago where religion was viewed as a ‘private matter’ if it existed at all for most people. The closest one came to any public expression of religion was the ‘wayside gospel’ found on the notice boards of assorted non-Catholic churches. But even they were pretty anodyne and tended more to a ‘feel good’ aspect of religion – a kind of “primum non nocere” as in the Hippocratic Oath (sadly lacking in much of the medical profession today).
Growing up in an Ireland where religion was part and parcel of everyday life (alas, less in evidence in modern Ireland…), the American ‘way of religion’ suited me better. While we have militant atheists and anti-religionists aplenty, I have found ‘more faith’ in America than most other places I’ve lived.