Rosary Appeal

I have received requests from two people in Brighton asking for Rosary beads.

One is for a set of twins, the other for another lady plus she would like one for her niece.

If you have a spare Rosary, no plastic ones preferably, or would like to buy a Rosary for someone who wishes to have one, please send them to St Mary Magdalen Church, Brighton.

So, the appeal is for four Rosaries, if you could spare one, that would be marvellous. If they're already blessed, even better.

Brighton Rock

The recent adaptation of Graham Greene's 'Brighton Rock' is on BBC Iplayer.

Not edifying viewing, perhaps, but a Sunday movie to watch. I missed it when it came out at the cinema.

God, in Your Mercy...

We implore Thee to inspire Your Archbishop and the Archdiocese of Westminster's clergy to put an end to the Soho Masses. God, in Your Mercy, hear our prayer.

I've written reams and even written songs about the grave scandal and utter spiritual travesty that is the Soho Masses. The worst thing about it is that it is opportunity for catechesis and evangelisation wasted.  You would think that if the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church were going to provide a Mass for people with same-sex attraction, in this era in which homosexuality is so actively promoted, that the above video is the very last thing it would look like. Yet, there it is.

Never have I seen a Mass hijacked for an altogether different agenda than the promotion of the Faith or the good of the whole World than the evidence of the Mass above. There are so many depressing things about it, but one of the most depressing is that the Mass has been turned into a social gathering with a bit of spirituality added in.

No, that isn't the most depressing thing. The most depressing thing is that they are the most introspective bidding prayers I have ever heard. It is a community turned in on itself. And then, to cap it all off, a roll call is read of the poor men who have died from Aids, we guess from within their own community! I know that the Church saves souls, not bodies, but if there is any hint, any hint at all, in that video that the Catholic Church promotes chastity for homosexual men, those Aids victim bidding prayers are that advertisement. What about the people of the parish who weren't gay, lesbian or who didn't die of Aids?! Do they not get prayed for by the LGBT community? Does God only care about gay people or something?

I would not like to be in Archbishop Vincent Nichols's shoes right now because I have a feeling that video is about to go viral and in Rome too. Pray that His Grace will have the courage to end his unswerving loyalty to this organisation of dissidents who seduce men, women and people in between to believe that a change in Church teaching signifying God's desire to drape the Church and the World in one big heavenly rainbow flag is just over the horizon while encouraging them to believe and behave as if He has already done so!

Pray that His Grace will divert his Apostolic authority and support to Encourage, who are in need of Apostolic support. Last I heard, they were looking around desperately for chaplains. Sadly, their website (http://www.encouragetrust.org.uk) seems to be down at the moment. A convincing manifesto to combat 'gay marriage' this video is not, Your Grace.

See also: Fr Ray Blake, Fr Tim Finigan, Linen on the Hedgerow, Caroline Farrow

Destined to Die

I came across a really very moving article in a most unlikely source recently.

In the British Medical Journal, I read an article called Destined to Die, an article by a woman who was told that her unborn baby had trisomy 18, a condition which means that the babies who suffer it will not live for long outside the womb.

Pictured above is the title of a blog by a family who in 2010 started a blog raising awareness of their daughter, Lily, and the condition of trisomy 18, asking readers to pray for her. She was born on 4th July 2010 and died on December 15, 2011. The Pray for Lily blog is also a very moving account of a family's love for their child, unborn and born.

In the BMA journal piece, what really comes across is the 'raw love' as the doctor notes, of a mother for her unborn child. The lady is called Pauline Thiele and I for one was impressed with her and impressed that the BMJ actually published her account of her experience with the medical profession. What also comes across is the medical profession's astonishment that the mother showed no hesitation when asked if she wanted a 'termination'. The question is: how have we come to a point where a mother's refusal to turn down an abortion on an unborn child with a fetal condition is shocking?

What troubles me is that in the United Kingdom some of the leading people at the forefront of genetics, medical research and those at the scientific 'cutting edge' are so caught up in trying to 'eradicate' diseases, looking at genetic mutations and how they can be 'avoided', that they're not so interested in meeting the reality of existence for normal human beings.

There is obviously a necessary desire among the medical and scientific community, certainly among the scientific elite such as, say Professor Steve Jones (formerly of UCLU), to launch a war on disease. Aside from the closed, hidden and dark world of human 'embryology', there is an obvious hatred of disease. None of us exactly like diseases. The problem is that the scientific men of the world have a difficult time separating the 'disease' from the 'disease-carrier'. So, for instance, a scan of a mother's womb would reveal to medical experts that the fetus has trisomy 18. Then, when a mother says that while she knows that the disease will result in a child who will not live too long, she doesn't wish to abort, they are flabberghasted.

See, what comes across in the 'Destined to Die' article, mostly written by the mother herself, is the 'raw love' that drives a mother to love this unborn baby with every fibre of her being, to the very end, no matter what it costs her in tears and heartache. And its pretty obvious that when a mother shows 'raw love' to an unborn child, that 'love thing' receives mixed responses from the big-brained medical 'experts' with huge brains but often 'heart impairments'.

The medical and scientific community have always had a problem with miracles, we know, but perhaps modern day miracles aren't necessarily about cures and healings. Sometimes they are about something as simple and as beautiful as love - maternal love - the simple and profound love of a mother for her unborn child.

Quite simply, what the article demonstrates quite powerfully is that love is what the Church says it is, in as much as She proclaims that there is nothing so powerful as love. Apart, that is from God, but then God is Love Itself. What, very often, the most intelligent, scientific and empirical people in the world just don't get is that it is love that makes us truly human. Obviously, the vast majority of the medical profession find love actually quite intimidating. Love is not what society was told it was in the 1960s. It isn't 'free'. It hurts.

Men of modern science and medicine, so many of them at any rate, don't stop to count the cost, the very real cost to humanity that their effort to eradicate trisomy 18, downs syndrome or cleft palate or any medical condition which could make a baby or fetus less than perfect, though, of course, babies are always perfect in their mothers eyes.

The cost is that these men of science deprive the World of the very raw and beautiful power of love. They forget that they will never eradicate downs syndrome, cleft palate, or trisomy 18. They will most likely only ever eradicate the babies with these conditions. They are like the American and English eugenicists who wanted to eradicate poverty in the 1920s. The only way they felt you could do it was by decreasing the number of poor people. That is, by killing poor and often unborn black babies or throwing 'birth control' at poor, often black mothers. Modern day men of science, men like Professor Steve Jones, live in a mythical genetic utopia in their minds, divorced from real life human bonds of love - even the simplest, like the love of a mother for a child no matter what his or her 'defects'. These modern men of science think their war is against disease, when it is obvious to those who look at their research and the statistics on abortion for 'fetal abnormalities' that their war is not against disease, but against people with diseases.

People like Pauline Thiele defy the scientific and medical orthodoxy that assumes that all mothers with babies who suffer fatal diseases which mean their life on earth, if at all, will be brief, should not see the light of day. Not only is this community defied by women of such courage and natural compassion, but the simple truth is that many of them don't even understand why someone would want to love their baby unconditionally until their baby's natural death. That's the really frightening thing! The thought seems not to enter their heads! They key quote in the Destined to Die article which really horrifies me is the response of the hospital when Pauline tells them she wants the hospital to deliver the baby.

'With new awareness I drove to the hospital to see if I could receive some support from the paediatrics department. Stopping at the midwifery ward first I was dismayed that my first visit had not been communicated to them. To me this spoke volumes about what some people thought of my son, but I loved him to my very core and his life was just as important to me as that of any other baby. Surprised by my news the midwife told me that the hospital didn’t actually provide care for babies with spina bifida.'

Er...What are hospitals for, again?

Many doctors and perhaps a proportion of nurses too nowadays obviously have their heads so far up their own behinds that they forget the simple truth that none of us are perfect, all of us have in our lives various conditions and that we are all 'destined to die'. The modern day scientific and medical profession are beyond parody - many are maniacal professors from old Hollywood movies seeking the Elixir of Life. They will never find it. Not in a petri dish at any rate. May God bless Pauline Thiele and indeed all mothers who show such tender love to their unborn children. What a saddening thing it is that these women of courage should be considered exceptional.

Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma Meeting Reminder

Breast Cancer Charity Pulls Funding from Planned Parenthood

Courtesy of Tim Stanley of The Telegraph

'The breast cancer charity Susan G Komen for the Cure will no longer be awarding grants to the abortion provider Planned Parenthood. This is a sad story because it has injected the culture war into charitable giving in a way that will have terrible long term consequences. But Komen’s decision was inevitable and correct. You might call it a “morally necessary termination.”

Logistically, Komen is no great loss to Planned Parenthood. They donated $700,000 last year, a grand total of 0.058 percent of Planned Parenthood's annual revenue. This is nothing compared to the $360 million that the US government gives the organisation every year (33 percent of their total budget). By the way, many branches of the Girl Scouts are donors, too – something that Democratic Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi describes as a “very valuable” relationship. Indeed it is. In return, Planned Parenthood has distributed a pamphlet among Girl Scouts called, “Happy, Healthy and Hot.” This section seems particularly valuable: “Play with yourself! Masturbation is a great way to find out more about your body and what you find sexually stimulating. Mix things up by using different kinds of touch from very soft to hard. Talk about or act out your fantasies. Talk dirty to them.” Will the Girl Scouts be designing a badge for this, I wonder?

But even if Komen’s withdrawal doesn’t make a big financial impact, it has been a PR nightmare for everyone involved. Komen’s efforts to keep its move quiet proved to be a mistake; by not making a public statement for 24 hours it allowed speculation as to its true motives to run rife. Two theories emerged – both incredibly damaging to Planned Parenthood. The first was that Komen had wised up to the relationship between abortion and breast cancer. There is no direct, medically proven link between the two, but a woman who undergoes a termination procedure is statistically 40 percent more likely to develop breast cancer later in life. Komen regards the link as pure hypothesis. Nonetheless, the prolife groups that insist it is real have gained some precious exposure.'

[Full article here...]'

UPDATE: Komen have reversed their decision. Strange...

Deconsecration

Courtesy of The Catholic Herald...

A spokesman for Dominic Winter auctioneers has said that all of the religious objects from St Augustine's Abbey, Kent, ready to be sold off at auction have been 'deconsecrated'.

Oh. Well, that's alright then.

Did he mean desecrated because I've never heard of deconsecration?

Read the full story here.

'Here, take my card...'

I've been reading responses to the Catholic cards initiative pioneered by our own Rt Reverend Bishop Kieran Conry.

As it happens, I quite like them, design wise and there is a nice quote from Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman on the back.

But...and there was always going to be a but...

As other commentators have pointed out, lay persons don't 'celebrate the sacraments'. Only Catholic priests can 'celebrate' Sacraments. Others have suggested that this calling card has the feel of a bus replacement service for the train to Heaven that is the six precepts of the Catholic Church.

The issuing of these cards by the Bishops does raise other questions, questions such as, 'Why has no previous generation of Catholics required these 'reminders'? The answer would perhaps be that the 'Catholic identity' was so knitted into parish, family and personal life that cards like these were not necessary. Catechesis in childhood and youth was simple, direct and understandable enough for young people to 'get' the Catholic Faith. In addition, the ancient liturgical rite of the Church does or did a heck of a lot of teaching also.

I liked Mac McLernon's suggestion that the cards could, as well as stating the request to call a Priest in an emergency, include the 'patient's desired wish not to be put onto the Liverpool Care Pathway. My only other suggestion would be to have the word 'unceasingly' after 'Pray' (How much should we pray? When?).

Aside from that, I like the cards, while trying to hold back the feeling that they are a little patronising and babyish. Give thanks to God, though, that His Lordship is doing his best to restore a sense of Catholic identity. It still worries me though that previous generations, for whom the Mass was so sacred and so holy, did not need them.

'But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'   

 Jeremiah 31:33

Fundamental Principles

Christians using the right to freedom of speech: But how long will it last?

The reason why the State and the Church cannot co-exist happily in an era of liberalism is that fundamental principles mean very little to liberals.

In fact, fundamental principles mean nothing to liberals. Firstly, because they do not believe they exist and secondly, because even if they do believe they exist, they are there to be destroyed.

In the 1960s, the fundamental principle of freedom of speech won liberals the freedom to promote abortion under the banner of 'women's rights'. Now that abortion is all across the West and it has been accepted by Parliament and society for a long time, liberals wish to do away with the fundamental principle of freedom of speech for those who disagree with it. UCLU is a microcosm of this dynamic taking place on a broader scale in the future.

I don't believe that, in any way, liberals 'won' the argument in the 1960s and 70s. The fact of the matter is that when perfectly reasonable moral, ethical, even medical objections were raised to the legislation, that these objections were summarily dismissed. That isn't winning an argument. That is just beating or ignoring the opposition.

The idea that legalised abortion was the answer for society was sold not based on any fundamental principle at all, but instead the idea that the fundamental principle of the right to life was worth forsaking in order to improve maternal health for women. It all began with the destruction of a moral principle.

The fundamental principle that we shouldn't take life in the womb was discarded because the abortion lobby and its supporters believed that it could and should be abandoned for the sake of decreasing risks to women in pregnancy and by improving (or dare I say sanitising) the abortive 'treatment' process.

At every stage of the liberal dismantling of the legislative moral order it was believed by them that 'might = right'. The fundamental principle of the right to life was overridden by a spurious argument that in this situation 'might is right'. That is why objections raised by many at the time were dismissed. That is why when objections are raised today they too are dismissed. You can see this for yourselves on the comments section of Christina Odone's blogpost on the subject of the Catholic Society at UCL. The objections were dismissed because to liberals and moral relativists 'might is right'. To many commentators, it doesn't matter that the Student Union of UCL have decreed that the Catholic Society must now always have a pro-abortion representative, should any pro-lifer come to talk (presumably to the Catholic community and anyone else who wants to listen), because Catholics and pro-lifers are obviously talking 'gibberish' anyway.

Do you see what they did there? What they are saying is that the fundamental principle of freedom of speech is worth destroying for Catholics and pro-lifers because they don't agree with Catholics and pro-lifers. Now we see how quickly and easily the fundamental principle of freedom of speech can be abandoned!

It goes without saying that the unborn child is the necessary and easibly forgettable victim when 'might = right'. The unborn child, however, is not the only victim. The women who procure abortions are also victims because the injustice done to the child is also an injustice done to themselves - to their own flesh and blood. The other victim in abortion is the fundamental principle itself - that we all have the right to life.

Having abused the first fundamental principle of freedom of speech, distorted it, twisted it and used it to evil ends, that fundamental principle loses value. The second fundamental principle of the right to life is not just twisted or distorted, but destroyed. It only makes perfect sense that in a society in which the first and most natural fundamental principle of the right to life is destroyed, that the second principle, freedom of speech, will too be destroyed for those who oppose the first. This is what is being witnessed quite brazenly at the UCLU.

Presumably, also, one of the reasons why the UCL is so against pro-life speakers is because at the UCL is a 'Fetal Tissue Bank' which receives 'fetal material' from all over the country. Where is a great deal of the 'fetal tissue' from? Let's guess...

Finally, I do hope that the Archbishop of Westminster will soon speak out publicly, since this Catholic Society is in the Archdiocese and lend His Grace's considerable weight and authority to supporting the students whose fundamental right to freedom of speech is being destroyed at UCLU. As one commenter on Christina Odone's blog said, 'When the Labour club meets, a representative of the Conservative club must always be present.' That is how ridiculous this ruling is.

Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto

The blogs of Fr Ray Blake and this blog have been quoted in yesterday's news on Gloria TV.

Yesterday I was sent an email from Neil Addison of the St Thomas More Legal Institute informing me of news services and sites which have covered the disgraceful restrictions placed on the Catholic Society at UCLU.

The Catholic Herald have covered the story here.

Neil Addison has blogged on the controversy here.

The motion itself can be read here.

'Archbishop Cranmer' has written about it here.

Christine Odone has blogged on it here.

Am I Being Hypercritical?

I know that Catholic Voices's brief is wide because the Church's mission and message affects every aspect of human life and that the project has become...

'...a school of a new Christian humanism; and a laboratory of a new kind of apologetics'...

But I can't help wondering whether the 'Academy' is a being a little complacent in the upcoming battle with the Government.

Don't get me wrong. The Church has plenty to tell the Government and society about Catholic social teaching and how it can be employed to make society more just in the work towards what has become known as the 'common good'. My personal opinion is that markets could possibly be made moral but that rich people who are more influential in the markets than poor people do not want them to be. It's one of the outcomes of Original Sin, as is homosexuality.

And last I heard, the Government wanted to redefine marriage over the next year or two and the 'common good' will, in this area, not be served. If I were leading the Catholic Voices (obviously I'm not trying to usurp anyone's job here - such a venture would never be successful anyway and besides, everyone can tell how shy I am) I would drop the beard-stroking session on whether 'capitalism can be made moral' and stick to your guns on making the Church's position on 'gay marriage' and, indeed, homosexuality in general, 100% crystal clear.

In fact, does anyone have a timeline of when marriage is going to be redefined by the State to contradict the very essense of what the word 'marriage' means? How long do we have until this demolition ball is in full swing? If you know drop me a comment because I'd like to know how much time we have before the Government resets the date of the United Kingdom to year zero.

I know that according to the web page that 'on Monday 5 March there will be a talk on same-sex marriage and the threat to (religious) freedom and that the details of the speaker will be confirmed shortly,' but I personally consider that the 'gay marriage' issue is the hottest issue (literally) of the day, week, month and year and I know I am not the only one.

Of course, the CV project doesn't want to be a 'single issue' organisation, but when it comes to the media, what they want to know is the Catholic Church's position on what is about to unfold in the United Kingdom. The media doesn't give two fig leaves for what the Church in England and Wales says about capitalism. You can tell that because when the Holy Father released 'Caritas in Veritate' you could see tumbleweed blowing past every newspaper's office doors. His Holiness only has to breathe a word about the threat to society from gay marriage and newspapers go wild with frenzied excitement. Let's face it, sex sells, even when the Pope discusses it. Besides which, nearly everyone agrees that banker bonuses in the midst of deep recession are bad. It is on this issue, this threat to 'human ecology' in the words of His Holiness, caused by the legislative onslaught of 'gay marriage' that the Holy Father wishes to see the Church in those countries where it is being considered, spring to life and to action.

Like I say, whether markets can be made moral is an important discussion and perhaps I am being hypercritical, but it just strikes me that the publicity for this Academy talk makes it look like the Church is treating the issue of 'gay marriage' as it might 'capitalism and markets'. It makes it look like we are still discussing it, trying to work out the answer and also, at this time, makes it appear that we are ambivalent as to how things will turn out when Parliament goes into motion on the marriage of two men or two women. It makes it appear that we don't care passionately about marriage, or that the Bishops don't care passionately about marriage. Or maybe not. I just saw it and thought, 'The Government are about to do this and you're talking about that?' Keep talking about this because this is where the fight is going to be! This is not a time for navel-gazing.

Bloggers are peripheral to the media. We are not passive in as much as we blog and communicate through the internet but we are also not so active that we are on BBC or quoted in The Guardian. Among the thousands of words that have been said about the CV project, some nice, some not so nice, has been perhaps lost the sense that all Catholics should want uppermost the success of the Catholic Voices project in communicating the Church's teaching and explaining it to the United Kingdom. Further, I don't know any Catholics who do not want Catholic Voices to be a resounding success. Where I do think some bloggers and the leaders of the CV project might differ is in the interpretation of 'success'.

After all, Catholic Voices are there to represent the whole Church, Bishops, Priests and lay faithful, even His Holiness himself, I guess. What they do over the airwaves over the next year either reflects well on us, the Body of Christ, or not. Also, just a thought. Have Catholic Voices recruited anyone who is willing to talk about the fact that they are both a homosexual person and a Catholic loyal to the Magisterium to defend the Church's position in the media? If you want to give Catholicism a human face, that seems to me like a good idea. Otherwise, you'll be open to the accusation that 'the Church just hates gays'. Anyway, I'm sure Austen's got all bases covered. Finally, if you want to attend Academy sessions, get in there quick, before the Academy 'membership scheme' comes in. Obviously, its not my job to tell Austen Ivereigh how to run Catholic Voices. With all his experience he has far more knowledge of the media than I. But then, if that's true for me, then its must also be true for those bloggers who think they could do John Smeaton's job so much better than John Smeaton with all his experience in the pro-life field.

Liberalism and the Last Chance Saloon

University College London

Life Site News today carries a report that 3/4 of British Christians believe that anti-Christian discrimination, though perhaps a better word is 'sentiment', is on the rise in the United Kingdom.

The same site informs us that the University College of London is to force the UCLU Catholic Society to invite pro-abortion speakers should any pro-lifer give a talk to their Society.

The same site carries a report that in Barcelona, peaceful pro-life demonstrators had insults, food and then rocks thrown at them for demonstrating against abortions being carried out in Catholic hospitals.  In the US, we have news that President Obama is doing all that he can to force the Catholic Church to burn incense to the emperor in a new and more open phase of his administration's desire to silence, divide and then rule the ability of the Catholic Church to proclaim Her faith in Her hospitals and institutions.

We are beginning to see that liberalism's true colours are anything but liberal, but it is also likely that 'we ain't seen nothing yet'. The ongoing spread and rise of liberalism coupled with the State's dominance and frightening control over every sphere of human activity is a one-way road to firstly dividing the Church and then, if She is not pliant, or indeed compliant, crushing Her freedom.

In the US, only an orthodox-believing Catholic president will be able to reverse the tide. It is unlikely the Republican party will elect Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich. In continental Europe, hopes that traditionally Catholic nations would defend the institution of the family and marriage, or defend the unborn child and the freedom of the Church are proving ill-founded, aside from Eastern European states such as Poland and, as Fr Tim Finigan reports, Hungary. 

And without wishing to state the blatantly obvious, liberalism's dictatorship is grotesquely unjust. This is not least because the Catholic Church has, in Europe and the United States, as well as the United Kingdom, been the 'salt of the earth' for those nations. In all of these nations, the Catholic Church has provided for those countries relief to the poor in terms of soup runs, soup kitchens and organisations working within communities, doing the kinds of things the State would never dream of doing.

The Church has also provided schools which give education to children - and not all of these children, as we know, are Catholics. The Church has provided hospitals and hospices which have cared for and treated hundreds of thousands of people. Yet, the huge benefit that Church-owned institutions have brought to the Western states is not the only reason why forcing them to go against the Church's own teachings is unjust.

After all, here in the United Kingdom, the Catholic Church continues to be relatively mute concerning the raft of legislative insults to the Christian Faith that this country has seen, even to the point of allowing the State to bring its own liberal ideology into Catholic schools.

In the UK, the Church has been worryingly compliant with Government. Dr John Senatmu's recent defense of marriage was more impressive than anything we have yet heard from the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. How refreshing it was to hear that he believes that the truth about natural marriage is more important than wanting to be 'popular'. We hear little from the Hierarchy in terms of defending the unborn or against human embryonic research. We hear a lot about the danger of cuts to welfare, but little on the right to life. Bishops here are not in the habit of speaking out in ways which embarrass the Government and even when they do, it might have been from a speech from Ed Miliband. In the US, more Bishops are becoming bolder but that is because the Government is removing freedom and liberty from Catholic institutions.

By and large, although liberalism has become the adopted, default position of most Western states, the Church has tried to maintain moral standards in Her own institutions, but has by no means given the Governments of the West a particularly difficult time over its immoral decisions concerning human society.

This is because although the Church has authority over its own institutions, She cannot force adherence to the moral law upon the rest of society. The Church shows a great deal of tolerance, even towards those things which are morally evil. The Church does not, nor cannot, force societies or Governments to accept the Gospel. The Church also understands that her own members too are in need of forgiveness and purification and that there is plenty of sin to be found in the Church itself.

Yet, in the US, and surely over the next few years in Europe and the UK as well, the Church will come under renewed pressure to accept in Her own institutions that which goes against what She believes in terms of both the natural law and the law of Almighty God. The Church forces nobody to believe. Like God, She leaves to men and women within and without the Church free will in choosing God and true freedom, or sin and slavery. The liberal State, however, cannot tolerate those who contradict liberalism. Liberalism, by its very nature, is aggressive. It cannot tolerate 'dissent'. It cannot abide the opposing viewpoint and it sure as heck cannot tolerate Christianity for long. Eventually, it throttles those who are not convinced by its own very arbitrary and narrow definition of freedom.

While in Spain (and England, we are told) Catholic hospitals are only too willing to forget their founders' moral convictions and provide abortions, abortion referrals and abortifacients, in the United States, the power of the Executive arm of Government is forcing Catholic hospitals to go against the conscience of its own workers, benefactors and the Church which laid those hospitals foundations and maintains them. How long before that becomes the situation in Europe and the United Kingdom? How would our Bishops react when, after all the back-room negotiations, consultations and social gatherings, the State decided that the drinks were nice, the chats were friendly, but it is now time to force the Church to do those things that She does not want to? We still have conscience clauses, I believe, for health workers in the United Kingdom. These clauses are, I believe, on their last legs.

Since liberalism began its open assault on the Church in the 1960s, the Church has been nothing but kind to the State and to those who really are Her sworn enemies. Undoubtedly, in some countries, such as ours, the Church has been 'too kind' to these enemies. In the United States, we are beginning to see that co-operation and kindness means nothing to those who seek to destroy the Church. To liberals, kindness is a weakness of which to be taken advantage. Sadly, it will not take too long for the doctrinaire liberalism, the inquisitorial liberalism of President Obama, to be adopted in Europe and the United Kingdom as well. Freedom to worship means nothing if Catholics do not have the freedom to live according to our consciences. I hope and pray that the Bishops do not discover too late that the niceties of dialogue with liberal Governments means nothing and that your freedom to worship means little, when the State removes your right to live according to your sacred Conscience.

Tabula Delenda Est!

Thanks to my friend Lawrence who played harmonica on this song and to the Blessed Virgin and the Saints who inspired me. If you like it then Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. If you don't then, sorry. I chose a car park for recording because the acoustics are good and we are the Catholic underground.

Tabula Delenda Est

Well I walked into the Mother Church of England and Wales

To light a candle, say some prayers and confess

Took a stroll around and found a magazine

Enigmatically titled, ‘The Tablet’

So I read a couple of the articles and the more that I read,

The more it dawned on me this mag once had Catholic zeal

Now its a vehicle for dissent

So I said:

‘Tabula Delenda est!’

Now I know why so few Catholics genuflect

They're so comatosed by this infernal, liberal journal

They don’t believe in the Real Presence

‘Tabula delenda est’

The barely beating heart of the Catholic Establishment

Surely its days are numbered

If their faith is so encumbered by liberalism’s foul-smelling stench

Domine exaudi orationem meam

Et clamor meus ad te veniat

When will the axe fall upon this moribund magazine

And its liberal editrix?

No subject is taboo, no line can be drawn

Nothing's sacred, no Teaching unchallenged

And if you dare to tell them they’re writing into oblivion

They’ll say you’re a fundamentalist

Tabula delenda est!

The intelligensia ain't that intelligent

 Because they’re losing readers by the weeks, months, years

And its obvious they’re best years are spent

Tabula delenda est!

And we wonder where all of the Catholics went

They either lapsed or died of boredom readin' this nauseatin'

Excuse for the Catholic press!

An insult to the energy Cardinal Vaughan spent

On a Catholic journal called The Tablet

That would explain Catholicism rather than end up in schism

That would be loyal to Christ to the end

Now we get articles by Bobby Mickens wishing that our

 Beloved Pope was dead

But who'll be Bobby’s successor?

And who's a rank outsider?

Have a word with Archbishop Vincent

Living proof for the Doctrine of Original Sin

But at least in Adam and Eve’s defence

Although they picked from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

At least they knew the difference

More than we can say for…

Tabula delenda est!

The barely beating heart of the Catholic Establishment

When will the Archbishop of Westminster tell Catherine Pepinster

 She's non dignus of her monthly pay cheque

Tabula delenda est!
What kind of Catholic does this weekly represent?
Not the ones who adhere to the Magisterium
 You'll find them all on the internet

Tabula delenda est!

Are you wondering where all of the Catholics went?

Their faith collapsed, possibly, when they swallowed the Suppository

 Implausibly, bitter Tablet


Tabula delenda est!
Why not consider reading the Herald instead?

The Pill's dwindling readership's still cryin’ over Humanae Vitae

So they read The Tablet

Tabula delenda est!
Let's burn copies of The Tablet 'til there's no Tablets left
And then return to the Church to adore Our Blessed Lord
In the Most Holy Sacrament

Tabula delenda 
Tabula delenda
Tabula delenda est! 

Tabula delenda
Tabula delenda
Tabula delenda est!

Why Do They Keep Banking?

Daniel Knowles today writes...

'Since starting at RBS in 2008, Mr Hester has been paid something like £4.8 million in basic pay, before we even consider his bonuses. Surely he has something better to do with all that money than carrying on working as a banker?'

I think I'd consider retiring after £4.8 million as well, but then I guess I don't have the Protestant work ethic.

The Church does provide us with an actual answer to the question of why no amount of money is ever enough for Mr Hester, but it would be uncharitable to say it. Sorry, I should correct that. It's not just any money. It's your money. RBS was bailed out by the taxpayer in the financial crisis. We must keep reminding ourselves that the economic crisis was caused by men and women on disabled living allowance in council estates. I need to fix my van and start a small business. Any chance of a loan, Mr Hester? No? Thought not. You see, no amount of money is ever enough for these guys. Also, important to remember that the huge welfare bill is the fault of those claiming housing benefit. It has nothing at all to do with the rent prices themselves, which are by no means inflated by landlords asking for £170 a week for a 1 bed flat in Brighton in which you can barely swing a cat. That's just the 'market rate', much like there exists a 'market rate' for Mr Hester.