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Letters from 10 to 16 September 2007

Like all letters to the editor everywhere, these letters are the opinions of the writers and not Anglicans Online. We publish letters that we think will be of interest to our readers, whether we agree with them or not. If you'd like to write a letter of your own, click here.

A brave old prayer

I grew up in the Episcopal Church during the 50's and 60's. At Advent, we used a pamphlet of prayers/readings for the wreath cerimony at home. A favorite prayer of mine spoke about "a brave new candle to make the darkness light..." We don't have the pamphlets anymore. I am hoping that through your website I might find the full text of this prayer.

Linda Keller
Gesu Catholic Community
Toledo, Ohio, USA
lghk@bex.net
10 September 2007

(Ed: You have stumped us; we have not been able to turn up anything worded similarly, except in the case of some Jewish Hannukah prayers. If you know the name of the parish that might have supplied the pamphlets, it's entirely possible that there could still be a copy of the pamphlet around, or that someone else who attended then might have a copy or remember the name of the pamphlet. Tract racks can be fairly dusty places, and it is not unusual for pamphlets to linger there for many years.)

Magical creatures or dark arts?

The other necessary element in conquering a boggart is to be able to look at your worst fear and still conjure up amusement and laughter. Those who have no sense of humour are those most likely to be paralysed by a boggart. Considering the demeanour of those most afflicted by your 'Type 2' ignorance seems to bear this out.

There is of course one other remedy for fear: cf. 1 John 4:18. (Yes, contrary to the assertions of some, we do have copies of That book in the Hogwarts library, and it's not even in the Restricted Section. You might have noticed multiple references to it in the latest volume of Mr Potter's biography.)

Minerva McGonagall
near Hogsmeade, Scotland, UNITED KINGDOM
head@hogwarts.ac.uk
10 September 2007

(Ed: The actual author of this pseudonymous letter is known to Anglicans Online, so it does not fall under our 'no anonymous letters' rule.)

Information fosters ignorance

That was a very interesting article on the Dark ages and Type II ignorance. My personal feeling on the topic is that the information age has fostered this type of ignorance. If I happened to hold the belief that the common loon was the embodiment of evil, I would probably be the only one in my town of 4500 to think so. However, in this electronic world, I could get to know thousands of people who think the same way. We would be our own community, very close, and in constant contact, totally independent of our geographic separation.

We are still at the stage where our village is “safe”, but the village on the other side of the mountain is “evil”. But thanks to the electronic world, my village is comprised of thousands of people from all over the world (it was probably formed and continues to exist based on these shared fears and prejudices). In this sense, the village on the other side of the mountain may very well be my next-door neighbour, my co-workers, and my fellow churchgoers.

The original Dark ages left Europe because (1) a “real” evil, the plague, had come, ravaged and finally receded, and (2) people actually started to open markets, talk to strangers and travel to that other village, and slowly the Renaissance bloomed in place of the Dark ages.

However, the electronic media and its infinite level of sub-cultures and pseudo-societies will perpetuate our current Dark ages for a long time to come until something real happens to force people to talk with each other once more.

But hey, it’s a beautiful day out today.

Michael Mavis
St. Paul's Anglican, Almonte
Almonte, Ontario, CANADA
10 September 2007

Social networking, anyone?

Any chance that AO will start a Facebook group anytime soon?

Tony Hitsman
St. Philip's (part of the Mission Parish of St. Clement's West)
Kegaska, Quebec, CANADA
tonyhit@globetrotter.net
11 September 2007

(Ed: No, but there's nothing stopping you nor any other person from starting one.)

Earlier letters

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