Why Do Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Defend Abortion?

This is why they want to allay fears over whether or not a 24 week unborn child feels pain during an abortion procedure - because they are advocates of eugenics.

The dreadful and unabating attack on the unborn, in this particular instance known as the 'War on Downs Syndrome Babies and Unborn Babies with Other Abnormalities' is going to intensify.

There will be a lot more abortions in future for 'medical' or even 'cosmetic' purposes. Read this article to find out why. Somehow The Telegraph article makes it all sound so innocent.

We are not stupid. We know why this research is being conducted. We know why these blood tests are wanted by both sections of the public and the medical authorities. We know that this is about the 'screening out' of imperfect babies. We know that this is Nazism through the back door of the local hospital. This article says nothing about abortion, or even 'termination' and yet it is so obvious that abortion is exactly what the article is about!

Read John Smeaton's analysis. The press coverage of this news is sickening.

Could This Be What the England Team Are Lacking?

Talent. It is a vital quality for any successful World Cup campaign. Above is Lionel Messi scoring a sumptuous goal against Mexico a few years ago. He has improved since then. It is worth mentioning that Brazillian and Argentinian players, more often than not, make the Sign of the Cross at several key moments in the game and regularly give glory to God when they score.

They also pray to Our Blessed Lady that she will help them and so receive a shower of both talent and maternally bestowed footballing blessings from Heaven whenever they play. You can tell that when Brazil or Argentina believe, the team not only believe in themselves and each other, but believe in God and God, quite clearly, believes in them. There is no other explanation for it. Three lions? Give me strength! If ever a group of men needed throwing to three lions it is the England team!

With regard to England's display against Germany, a display so bad that St Paul would advise us never even to discuss it, I have had an idea. Instead of cutting incapacity benefit and hitting the weakest in society, like we all knew the Conservatives would, I think that the time is ripe to 'hand over' our national team to 'the secular arm' and use their millions of pounds to fund the NHS. Cuts. That's what we need. When do we need them? Now! We could start with £6 million-a-year Fabio "I like being England manager" Capello and work our way down from the top, through to Wayne 'Wake me up when the World Cup starts, boys...Oh, did I miss it, again?' Rooney and Co. Ltd. "I like being England manager", said Capello! Yes, of course you do, mate! You get paid £6 million pound for making the national team look quite miraculously worse than they did four years ago and with a defense so leaky that even BP are horrified! I bet you're being paid an extra £4 million by the Italians! Talk about falling on your feet!

Maybe, we could cut abortions as well, which cost the country quite a bit in terms of human life and money, maybe cut the transgender cuts and make similar incisions into IVF treatments, too. I mean, desperate times call for desperate measures. We're going to have to seriously cut back on the luxuries of child murder, bodily mutilation and embryo harvesting? What do you think guys? David? Nick? George? No? Well, I guessed not. Safer to just hit the poor in the nads and tell them to move to Bristol, eh?

I got back to my car today and the England flag that I had naively bought for 99p from a petrol station in an inexplicable fit of England World Cup hysteria was gone. Clearly some 'Angle' (or was it an 'Angel'?) ripped it off my car in an inexplicable fit of World Cup humiliation and alcohol-fuelled vandalism. I wasn't sad to see it had disappeared.

Mr Messi in younger days. Who would have thought he would make such a great footballer?

The great G. K. Chesterton famously said, "When people stop believing in God they don't believe in nothing...they believe in anything". That really does nail our country's transcendant and mysterious faith in the qualities and attributes of the England team quite nicely.

At every World Cup we appear to all begin believing in something that really does not exist, while the teams that actually win the World Cup, invariably believe in Someone who does.

Vatican Slams Belgian Cathedral Raids

The Belgian police raid on St Rambout's Cathedral is quite unprecedented and very worrying. I understand that the Church is being persecuted for all of the wrong reasons, but it does appear that the State in Belgian has gone way over the top in their methods of investigating the child abuse scandal there. Drilling into tombs and violating the dead is, well, uncalled for. Exactly what on earth did they hope or expect to find in the tombs of two dead Cardinals?! "We got the evidence! We found the papers documenting child abuse in his decaying hands! Talk about taking secrets to the grave. This stuff is dynamite!"

Courtesy of BBC

The Vatican has stepped up its criticism of raids by Belgian police investigating alleged child sex abuse, calling the detention of priests "serious and unbelievable". Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, said "there are no precedents, not even under the old communist regimes". He claimed the priests were held for nine hours without eating or drinking. Several buildings of the Belgium Church were searched on Thursday. Bishops holding a meeting there were barred from leaving the premises for several hours. "It was sequestration, a serious and unbelievable act," said Cardinal Bertone.

Police in Leuven seized nearly 500 files and a computer from the offices of a Church commission investigating allegations of sex abuse. They also searched the Church's headquarters, the Brussels archdiocese in Mechelen, north of the Belgian capital. Prosecutors have said the raids were over alleged "abuse of minors committed by a certain number of Church figures".

On Friday, the Vatican voiced "astonishment" at how the raids have been carried out, saying police had drilled holes in two archbishops' tombs. The Vatican said the raids had led to the "violation of confidentiality of precisely those victims for whom the raids were carried out". The Vatican has summoned the Belgian ambassador to the Holy See to voice their anger at the incident. The Catholic Church in Belgium has apologised for its silence on abuse cases in the past.

I sincerely hope this isn't the beginning of the 'best excuse for persecuting the Catholic Church since there was a big fire in Rome' being used for a good old Communist-era hounding, persecuting and crushing of the Church by an increasingly arrogant and strong-armed State. We know how many laws are made in Europe which affect all of us.

Bishops Plan for the Papal Visit Revealed

H/T Catholic and Loving It

Mengele Backs Royal College

The SPUC's John Smeaton's blog has published an excellent response to the Royal College's announcement yesterday. Here it is...

SPUC has responded to claims made today about foetal pain and disability by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).

Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, told the media earlier this morning:

"The RCOG supports the killing of 570 babies every day in Britain, at all stages of pregnancy, through the abortion policies it pursues and the lucrative activities of its members.

"The RCOG knows better than most people how marvellous, sensitive, complex and beautiful these babies are at every stage of development from conception onwards. Life does not start halfway through a pregnancy, it starts at conception.

"The RCOG suggests that its doctors don’t inflict pain on the babies they kill, but this is just a way of denying that what they are doing is evil and they know it. The RCOG is trying to find a comfort zone for its members. It is not concerned about the rights and the lives of the babies killed.

"The issue of the 24-week time-limit on social abortions is a red herring. The RCOG’s claim about babies not feeling pain before 24 weeks begs the question: Why do abortion doctors keep making this point when they support the abortion of babies up till birth?

"The government should act to recognise the rights of children at all stages before birth. It could begin today by asking why the Department of Health actively promotes abortion, which has no proven health benefits."

A Moral Minefield

Courtesy of Life Site News

'A man who caused great turmoil in the Catholic Church in Canada has been shown kindness and forgiveness by the very bishop against whom he launched a human rights complaint. 

In June 2009, Jim Corcoran, a man who self-identifies as 'gay', launched a complaint seeking $25,000 in damages from Peterborough Bishop Nicola De Angelis, after he and his homosexual partner were forbidden from continuing as altar servers at St. Michael's Church in Cobourg.

It is believed that this was the first case in Canada to be accepted by a human rights tribunal relating to the internal governance of the Catholic Church. The case led to fears of serious repercussions for the Church's freedom in Canada. Throughout the public scrutiny of the case, which gained international attention, the bishop remained firm in his resolve not to permit the human rights mechanism to interfere in Church matters.

But in May, Corcoran dropped the complaint without terms or conditions after meeting with the Bishop and praying with him. Last Sunday, Bishop De Angelis said Mass in the troubled Cobourg parish and afterward went to the home of Jim Corcoran where he had supper with Corcoran and his mother.

In previous conversations with LifeSiteNews, Corcoran explained that he felt the situation at the parish was uncharitable toward him. He noted that while he did live with his long-time homosexual partner, they maintained celibacy and his mother lived with them in the home.

In his homily at the Mass, Bishop De Angelis spoke of the "sad and avoidable division" in the parish. He recalled the Church's teaching against slander and spoke about respecting "the dignity of each person, regardless of our differences in language, colour of our skin, religious belief, sex, sexual orientation, marital status."

However, the Bishop also preached on the Church's teachings on "faith and morals" coming from the authority of Christ. "The Church proposes it doesn't impose," he said. "Nobody is forced to be a Catholic. If you choose to be one, you cannot pick and choose what to believe."

Both Corcoran and the bishop have decided not to speak to the media about the case. However, the bishop's office provided LifeSiteNews with a copy of the notes from the homily. Corcoran and his partner, who were originally asked to serve at the altar by parish priest Fr. Allan Hood, are no longer permitted to serve in that capacity as the bishop previously explained it was causing scandal in the community. However, at the Mass on Sunday, Corcoran and his mother were asked to bring the gifts (the bread and wine used) up to the altar.

In the final analysis, the alarming aspect of the controversy was seen to be the possible involvement of the Human Rights Tribunal, rather than Corcoran's attempts for a satisfactory resolution to what he believed was an injustice suffered by his partner and himself.

Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Catholic told LifeSiteNews last month, "We're very thankful for the resolution of this case." Dominic added: "From the outset it had much less to do with Jim Corcoran than with the Human Rights Tribunal thinking it could tell the Catholic Church how it should run itself. I pray we don't see more of that, but given the direction these Tribunals have been going, I would not be surprised to see it again."'

A moral minefield indeed. What a bizarre fiasco. My main concerns are:

1. Why did the layman/laymen 'come out' as gay 'partners', with all the connotations that that brings, to the whole congregation, if they are indeed chaste friends while being Altar Servers? Do they have an 'agenda'? If they are chaste then surely they are just ' very good friends'. Don't 'rock the Barque' boys!

2. Why did the Priest walk into this minefield and assume that just because the two men are 'gay' that they are sexually active? Our Blessed Lord warned us to beware the 'yeast of the Pharisees' who judged by appearance. Sexual orientation is not the same as sexual activity. That is indeed a sin of detraction. Just because the rest of the congregation are thinking it too, does not make it not a sin of detraction and a gross slander of the just. Church teaching makes clear that while the orientation of homosexuality is an objective moral disorder, the orientation of itself is not a matter or sin either mortal or venial. Slander is not made less sinful because of the number of people thinking it at the time or making the unfounded allegation.

3. Why did the layman seek damages in the first place? Being an Altar Server is not a job, but a vocation. It's not like he's working for American Express. Surely he should just have shaken the dust from his feet and walked away from this parish, if, indeed, he is innocent of wrongdoing with his 'partner' (such a horrid phrase) in the eyes of God?

4.  Why did the bishop preach on not picking and choosing articles of faith in respect to this case? Is he calling the gay chap an heretic on account of his sexuality alone? Has the bishop not read the Catechism of the Catholic Church which explicitly asks for compassion, respect and dignity to be accorded to homosexual persons? Has he not read the bit about homosexuals being called to embrace the Cross and there being no reason why they should not advance in the love of Christ and grow in holiness while acknowledging that they find their condition a trial?

5. Why am I gossiping? Have I nothing better to do? I know nothing more of this case than what has been published, but is it not possible that these two men were aided and strengthened in their celibacy because they were Altar Servers? I know and I understand why and how this happened and I understand about the danger of giving off scandal on the Altar, but really, could this whole situation not have been handled a lot better!? Perhaps it is all a part of the modern re-definition of relationships that is to blame. Once you admit your orientation nowadays, people are bound to assume you act on it. Then they find out you're living with a guy so they assume you're shagging him even though you are both looking after your dear old mum. Initial suspicions for the fiasco must fall upon the congregation, some of whom will have been holy, some of whom will be liberals who don't give a toss and some of whom will be pious frauds. You'll find all three in every congregation. Anyone would have thought it were a baptist church!

6.  We are all, all of us, rightfully, expected to accept the Teaching of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church in its fullness. This Teaching can never be diluted or changed, but that goes for those who are Guardians of it, as well as those who are its recipients. The Teaching of the Church is that homosexual acts are gravely immoral and mortally sinful. The Teaching of the Church is that homosexual persons are called to chastity. The Teaching of the Church is that homosexual persons are treated with compassion, dignity and respect.

Foetus 'cannot feel pain before 24 weeks'

The Telegraph online leads with the story that according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the human foetus cannot feel pain before 24 weeks. The inference is therefore that abortion is acceptable up to this limit.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists were commissioned to produce a report  by the Department of Health. According to the article...

The report said: "It can be concluded that the foetus cannot experience pain in any sense prior to this gestation." Professor Allan Templeton, president of the Royal College, who chaired the review, told The Times that research put forward by anti-abortion campaigners that the human foetus did feel pain at or before 24 weeks was based on evidence from premature babies. This did not apply to the foetus in the womb, he said.

A second finding is that the foetus is naturally sedated and unconscious in the womb, leading the panel to advise that anaesthetics for the foetus are not needed when it is terminated.

"There's nothing in the report that suggests any need to review the upper limit," said Prof Templeton.

The review would appear to remove one strut of the argument by pro-life campaigners that the current abortion limit needs to be lowered, although they are likely to challenge the Royal College's findings.

The central 'strut' of pro-life campaigners upon which hinges all other arguments is not whether an unborn baby feels pain during an abortion. The central 'strut' of pro-life campaigners is that abortion is a direct intervention by medical authorities, indeed an invasion, into the womb wherein dwells a living human being which science has verfied is indeed human and indeed alive. This intervention is conducted with the aim of ending a human life which, without their direct intervention would be born alive and enjoy all the rights enshrined in civil law that we enjoy, like the right to life.

As a society, do we really believe that a graphic, brutal (and abortion at 24 weeks is both) and torturous murder is that much worse to shooting someone in the head at point blank range? We might find one murder more ghastly and be horrified at the sadism of the individual who committed the outrage, but the end result is the same. A life has needlessly been ended by an act of gross evil.

I mean, the infamous Dr Harold Shipman, who went around 'terminating' his elderly patients without actually asking their permission probably gave the old dears enough barbiturates to ensure they died in relative peace. Does that mean we should never have put the man inside because he inflicted not pain on his patients, but merely death?

Ironically, the same publication has also ran with an article concerning those terrible Romans, whose brothel site has been discovered in Hambledon in Buckinghamshire along with the skeletons of 97 infants.

Apparently, the Romans only considered people to be human beings from the age of 2 years upwards, so it goes to show just how arbitrary we can be about the definition of human life. According to Dr Simon Mays, a skeletal biologist at English Heritage's Centre for Archaeology, “There is no other site that would yield anything like the 97 infant burials."

So, what did the Romans do for us, again? It looks very much like they gave us roads and abortion clinics.

Richard Dawkins interested in setting up 'atheist free school'

Richard Dawkins, according to The Telegraph is interested in setting up an 'atheist free school'.

Great idea. The sooner our schools are freed from atheists the better.

Please, Mr Dawkins can you help to remove the atheists from Catholic schools as well?

Don't Let Children Breathe Your Smoke...Don't Let Children Breathe...

"That's my boy! Go on son! Enjoy life, you only get one!"

It must be so confusing being an unborn baby in modern times. I mean, at one moment people are saying its alright for you to be killed to the point that babykillers are advertising on Channel 4 and then the next they're saying you should be defended from your mother's cigarette smoke because its not healthy for you. I'm 32 and I can't figure out that one!

Perhaps the Government could clear up the confusion for us, but I wouldn't bank on the Clegg-Cameron Show doing a good job of it. "Remember guys, smoking while pregnant = bad, a social taboo. Killing your baby while pregnant = Fine."

Our beloved BBC report that...

'All pregnant women should be tested for smoking so that they can be given quitting advice if necessary, a health watchdog says.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said carbon monoxide tests should be carried out on every expectant mother. If implemented, every woman would have the breath test at her first ante-natal appointment. Midwives criticised the test, saying it could make the women feel "guilty". NICE (Nice? They don't sound very nice!) said the guidelines were not aimed at penalising smokers but were designed to help women and their families give up smoking during and after pregnancy.

"During pregnancy, smoking puts the health of the women and her unborn baby at great risk both in the short and long-term, and small children who are exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to suffer from respiratory problems," Professor Mike Kelly, Nice director of the centre of public health excellence, said. One of our recommendations is for midwives to encourage all pregnant women to have their carbon monoxide levels tested and discuss the results with them. This isn't to penalise them if they have been smoking, but instead will be a useful way to show women that both smoking and passive smoking can lead to having high levels of carbon monoxide in their systems."

What a 'Nice' society in which we live. If these ridiculous 'health' institutes sincerely cared for unborn babies they'd put the anti-smoking crusade on the back burner and demand that all abortion clinics be closed down today. They don't of course. I mean, what could be a graver health risk than being chemically attacked in the womb or having some surgical scissors jabbed into your skull? Do these amateurs care about unborn babies? No, they're just health freaks!

Jesus Did Not Die on a Cross Says 'Scholar'

"Read all about it! Controversial, headline grabbing assertion made by unknown university academic questions Gospel accounts of the Passion of Christ!"

A 'scholar' from a Swedish University has suggested that Our Lord may not have died (which is a somewhat different construction on his view than the headline makes out) nailed to a Cross because there is 'no evidence' that the Romans crucified prisoners two thousand years ago.

According to a rather ropey report in The Telegraph, with my comments in bold...

'The legend (King Arthur, Robin Hood, Atlantis, Our Lord Jesus Christ) of his execution is based on the traditions of the Christian church and artistic illustrations rather than antique texts, according to theologian Gunnar Samuelsson.

He claims the Bible has been misinterpreted (Something always gets lost in translations...) as there are no explicit references to the use of nails or to crucifixion (Oh, really?) - only that Jesus bore a "staurus" towards Calvary which is not necessarily a cross but can also mean a "pole".(Perhaps He did, but does it actually say that Our Lord carried a pole in any of the Gospel narratives, or, actually, anywhere?)

Mr Samuelsson, who has written a 400-page thesis (Is this 'thesis' intended for sale, by any chance?) after studying the original texts, said: "The problem is descriptions of crucifixions are remarkably absent in the antique literature (Is this guy an antique dealer or a theologian?). The sources where you would expect to find support for the established understanding of the event really don't say anything." (Did he think of asking a theologian from, say, the Vatican for some pointers? I sink not!)

The ancient Greek, Latin and Hebrew literature from Homer to the first century AD describe an arsenal of suspension punishments but none mention "crosses" or "crucifixion." Mr Samuelsson, of Gothenburg University, said: "Consequently, the contemporary understanding of crucifixion as a punishment is severely challenged. And what's even more challenging is the same can be concluded about the accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus. The New Testament doesn't say as much as we'd like to believe."

('...And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh; but he took it not. And crucifying him, they divided his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.  And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.', Gospel of St Mark, Douay-Rheims)

The article continues...

Any evidence that Jesus was left to die after being nailed to a cross is strikingly sparse - both in the ancient pre-Christian and extra-Biblical literature as well as The Bible.

It is actually a rather misleading headline for the anonymously penned article since the author of the 'thesis', a 'theologian', suggests that Our Lord may have died upon a staurus or pole. It is plausible and many respected theologians, I think, hold the view that Our Blessed Lord carried a staurus or pole to the site of His Crucifixion, but it is unlikely that on his arrival there that He was not crucified as the Evangelists make plain. All of the Gospel narratives, I think, testify to Our Lord's Passion and Crucifixion. The Gospel of St Matthew further testifies...

'And they put over his head his cause written: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38 Then were crucified with him two thieves: one on the right hand, and one on the left.' (Douay-Rheims)

What is more, proper historians rather than opportunistic chancers are in little doubt as to the use of crucifixion by the Roman authorities in putting down Jewish rebellion while also using it as a off-putting punishment for a range of crimes, like those of Barrabas who got let off only for the Son of God to take his place. Seneca the Younger, Josephus, Cicero and Tacitus all wrote about crucifixion as you will see by this nicely written Wikipedia article. How did this guy miss them? He needs to go online more!

What Gunnar is saying is that despite the Gospel accounts of Our Lord's Death on the Cross and the historical evidence at our disposal for crucifixion being a common form of torturous execution by the Romans of the time, all of which he has chosen to ignore totally, Our Blessed Lord may have died on a pole. Well, the man is welcome to his opinion but where is his evidence? Anyway, I'm off now to bash my Bible some more! Everything the Catholic Church understands about the Life, Ministry, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ has been passed down by the Apostles to their Successors to their Successors to their Successors unto today and that includes the Holy Gospels which include narratives of the Passion of Our Saviour. If you ignore the Holy Tradition of the Church then everything is most certainly in doubt and I mean everything. Any thoughts?

St Alexander Nevski Cathedral, Sofia, Bulgaria

A friend of mine has just recently come back from Bulgaria. Apparently you can buy a house there for about £5,000. This video starts off tamely, before taking you through St Alexander Nevski Cathedral, Sofia, before going trippy and meditating on the cosmos, before going into a meditation on Heaven and Hell. Do not watch this video if you are on any hallucinogenic medication of any kind.

In Praise of Pressure Washers and Dragonflies

I used one of these today on a gardening job. If you have a patio that gets dirty I recommend you get one of these. Take the fun you had with a garden waste shredder and multiply it by ten!



The couple for whom I do gardening also have a pond and at the moment they have absolutely loads of dragonflies. Beautiful creatures. There were red ones and blue ones and they were all having sex all around the garden. So delicately built and light. During their life cycle, they point to Christ, as you can see from this video above of their life cycle. They appear to 'resurrect', leaving behind them a shell of their old body and emerging in radiance and beauty. Stunning creatures. I believe they use natural family planning.

Papal Visit Organisers Need to Learn from the Pagans

Woodstock 1969












Glastonbury 2009










The pagans can organise a gigantic event seemingly at will. Why can't we do it for the Holy Father? The Last Knight of Noise of the Crusade has quite rightly lamented the organisation of the Papal Visit.

'Damian Thompson has suggested that: “talk of ‘participating’ by watching the Pope on television or online has irritated ordinary Catholics who are also being asked to fork out for the cost of the visit”. That is an understatement. To tell the faithful to participate by television is an insult. We are expected to behave ourselves, to stay indoors unless we have specific permission to be out, as if this were a time of national emergency instead of celebration.'

It isn't easy being an individual passionate about the Catholic Faith in 2010 in England, especially when one gets the distinct impression that those in Office just don't 'feel that way' about it at all. However, the Last Knight goes on to make a suggestion, namely, that we imitate what people definitely did at Woodstock and what people used to do at Glastonbury festival before it went corporate and decidely unrock. Referring to the Gospel reading on the miraculous draught of fishes, the Last Knight says...

'Why should fishing for men be any less dangerous and chaotic than catching fish? Does the Successor of Peter really want to come to this country to see a handful of carefully controlled faithful, selected by Monsignor Summersgill, dutifully clutching their official booklets and safely penned in? Or does he want to come here and do some fishing? If Monsignor Summersgill were asked to take the Pope fishing it would probably involve a barrel full of carp and a shotgun, and certainly no broken nets or sinking boats.

It is clear that the official organisation of this visit is going to let us down. The proposed small and safely controlled contingent of sanitised, ticketed faithful is going to be no match for the secularists’ desire to obscure the rare light which will visit our shores in September. We need to get onto the streets, and make ourselves the story. On Saturday 18 September, just get on the train to London. Go to Hyde Park. It’s Hyde Park for goodness' sake! If they won’t let you in, fill the streets around it and stop the traffic. Make some noise, and drown out the few boring secularists who will bother to turn out. You can watch the Pope on TV any time you like: now is the time to show him you love him. The Catholic faithful of England must make themselves into a miraculous draught for Peter, because the world needs to know that he is God’s Fisher of Men.'

Fantastic. Flood Hyde Park. That's the answer. Health and safety can go spin. We've come to see the Rock and nothing and nobody is going to stand in our way. Let's sleep in Hyde Park overnight and then hitchhike up to Coventry for the Beatification of Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman!

No. Those who are organising this event won't fool the 'Children of the Revolution'.

Well Done, Sir Bob Geldof!

Christopher Brooker of The Telegraph has brought to the readerships' attention two instances of forced adoption, one, incredibly, of an unborn child. Families now appear to have a prominent and vociferous campaigner in the form of Sir Bob Geldof. Well done, Sir Bob!

Thank Heaven for small mercies, because even small mercies are rarely forthcoming for poor families under attack from Social Services. Social Services is the diseased arm of the State. It should be cut off for the untold misery that they cause children and parents. They are vipers. The article reports...

'On June 3, a 17-year-old Staffordshire girl, living with her parents and seven months pregnant, was horrified to receive a letter which began: “Dear Corrinne, I am the new allocated social worker for your unborn child. We have serious concerns about your ability to care for your unborn baby. We are so worried that we intend on going to Court to apply for an Order that will allow us to place your baby with alternative carers.” This so shocked the family that they raised what money they could and, like many others faced with similar threats, escaped abroad, where they now live in circumstances hardly conducive to a happy delivery of their new child.

Staffordshire social workers were also involved in the tragic case of Maureen Smith, the mother so desperate at the prospect of losing her two children that she fled to Spain, where she killed them before attempting suicide. As she wrote in her suicide note: “Social Services In Staffordshire and their policy of forced adoption are responsible for this.”

These are just two instances of the vast, long-running tragedy which Bob Geldof, launching a report last December on the “barbaric” chaos of our family law system, called “state-sanctioned kidnap”, whereby social workers, abetted by family courts and an army of complicit lawyers and “experts”, routinely snatch children from loving parents to feed the maw of the adoption and fostering industry.

Yet contrast this with last week’s report exonerating Kirklees social workers from any failings in the case of Shannon Matthews, the Yorkshire girl made subject, after years of neglect and ill-treatment, to a fake kidnap by her mother (described by local police as “pure evil”). Even though no fewer than 22 agencies had been involved with this dysfunctional family over many years, the report found that Shannon’s treatment did not justify taking her into care.

If ever there was a scandal which called for the full glare of publicity it is the highly secretive system which allows thousands of children to be sent for forced adoption, often on no proper pretext. Meanwhile the list of cases where social workers ignore all evidence in allowing the abuse of children to continue, grows ever longer.

It is not generally appreciated how adoption and fostering, organised by social workers, have become big business – quite apart from the fees charged by those lawyers and experts who are part of this corrupt system. Adoption payments and access to a wide range of benefits can provide carers with hundreds, even thousands of pounds a week. Still to be found on the internet (see the Forced Adoption website) is an advertisement by Slough Family Placement Services headed “Balloons and family fun to promote fostering”. This promised that Slough’s town square would be “bustling with activities including face painting and balloon modelling”, complete with a “David Beckham lookalike” (“bring a camera”), to launch “a new fostering allowance of £400 a week”.

I have recently reported the harassment and repeated arrests of Mauren Spalek, the devoted Cheshire mother whose two younger children were taken from her in 2006, and who faces trial on June 29 on a criminal charge of sending her son a birthday card. Last week it emerged, from an official register, what the occupation is of the woman who adopted her stolen children. She is a social worker.'

10 Reasons Why This Self-Checkout Madness Must Stop

1. We are buying our shopping from machines instead of people. They damage society. Anyone who uses one is a misanthrope. These self-checkouts are therefore inherently anti-Christian. They should be banned.

2. They don't sell you cigarettes. Why not? Because they don't have arms or legs. They can't communicate like a human being, even if they do remember to ask whether you've 'swiped your Nectar card' before coughing and spitting out your change in an ejection of metallic phlegm.

3. They remove any remaining feeling of shame about buying condoms. People should be ashamed about buying condoms. When a man buys a packet of condoms he should feel like he is placing his immortal soul in jeopardy. He should feel like a man living life on the edge.

4. If we tolerate these machines taking the place of human beings even in small numbers, Sainsburys and Tescos and other stores owned by Sainsburys and Tescos will make moves towards sacking all their staff and replacing all their checkout staff with machines including the shelf-stackers. Can you imagine the cacophany of irritating, noisy machines? The warmth and humanity that we generally find in supermarkets would disappear overnight.

5. These machines could turn against us and start WWIII, just like in 'Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines' starring Arnold Schwarzeneger, especially if, in future, food becomes more scarce and there are wars over food and spring mineral water, the Brecon Beacons becoming a potential nuclear flashpoint.

6. They are too loud. No human being talks that loud. They don't smile or have an 'off-day' when they just can't be arsed to be friendly. These machines make people aggressive and unnecessarily angry and I don't think it is just me who feels this way.

7. They break. I've seen them fail, only for a human being in an orange fleece have to come over with a key and start playing around with it like its some kind of vintage fruit machine. Human beings can be annoying, but, generally, are more interested in helping you and less likely to break than a machine and more reliable. Human beings may both die and fall critically ill, but rarely while serving you at the checkout.

8. If these self-checkout machines are allowed to continue, unemployment in the retail sector will double or treble. In general, the idea that robots and technology can cause an improvement in the lot of the working man and humanity in general is a huge utopian myth. If robots took over from all human work and endeavour, we wouldn't have street parties and distribute wealth around society. No, we'd sit at home watching Jeremy Kyle, on the dole, being hated by the robots who would regard us as a workshy underclass. If all the machines took over all human work, we would be bored, there would be more crime, more poverty, more unemployment and a proliferation of sin. In other words, the Devil makes work for idle hands.

9. The poor staff who are not machines have to listen to them all day. All day! They banned smoking in pubs partly to protect staff from smoke pollution. Now that noise has been upgraded to a pollutant, we should have mercy on them! It must be a living hell to have to work all day in those awful 'Express' shops installed for the sole purpose of knocking Mr Patel's corner shop out of business, listening to that self-checkout machine talking with that earnest, customer sales representative voice that in human terms does not exist. Nobody talks like that! Nobody!

10. They're not attractive. You cannot fancy them. They can't fancy you. There must be some people who have met their future wives/husbands at the checkout. The retail sector should be ashamed of itself for ever having introduced these things. We should, as a society, be ashamed that we ever tolerated the 'pilot schemes'. Ban them! What next?! All local buses being driven by remote control from a mega-computer grid in Luton?!

How the Bishops Can Raise More Money for the Papal Visit

Some Ideas...

Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Posters
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Mugs
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit T-Shirts
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Spoons
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Placemats
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Badges
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Ties
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Dinner Plates
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Pencils
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Erasers
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Temporary Tattoos
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Guitar Picks
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Postcards


Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Three Flying Ducks People Used to Put on Their Walls in the 1970s
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Pencil Sharpners
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Hats
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Whistles
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Tins of Boiled Travel Sweets
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Cushion Covers
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Duvet Covers
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Curtains
Pope Benedict XVI 2010 UK Visit Sofa Throws

(Breath)

Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman Beatification Posters
Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman Beatification Mugs
Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman Beatification T-Shirts
Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman Beatification Spoons
Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman Beatification Placemats...

Whatever you think about Medjugorje, the organisers and multi-million pound marketing firm hired for the Papal Visit could learn a few tricks from the 'visionaries'. Given that it is unlikely that the organisers will think of this, get your Pope Benedict T-Shirts and other merchandise here.

Chris Patten To Urge Government to Ban Vuvuzelas

The Telegraph reports that Archbishop Vincent Nichols is concerned that vuvuzelas, blamed for ruining the usual respectful silence of football matches, could be used during the Papal Visit to the UK. Tatchell, Hitchens, Fry and Dawkins have apparently all responded by letter to the Archbishop, saying, "Thanks Archbishop! Great idea!"

'Although himself an avid football fan, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, is worried that the forthcoming Papal visit could be marred by vuvuzelas. "I have had enough of them already," says the Archbishop of Westminster. "I hope they stay in South Africa. Personally, I think the football would be more enjoyable without this constant cacophony."

He is concerned that some people have got into the habit of using the plastic horns during the World Cup in South Africa and might not be able to resist using them when Pope Benedict XVI, pictured, addresses crowds in Britain. The Pope is due to arrive in September for a state visit when he will meet the Queen and beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman. He is scheduled to visit Glasgow, Edinburgh, Coventry and London during his four-day visit and address a number of crowds. Archbishop Nichols has often spoken of his love of the beautiful game, and, in particular, his devotion to Liverpool Football Club. He recently named Kenny Dalglish as his sporting hero.'

Tu Es Petrus!

I have written the following piece for the Unofficial Papal Visit Website set up by James Preece.

Let me know if the pictures are naff, or its too wordy, layout is atrocious, its too lengthy or obsessed with carbon reduction initiatives and other people's faiths.

It hasn't taken me long to write, about an hour at best. It is far from perfect, of course, but I am still wondering how, if I, who am a gardener by trade, can bash out a half-decent effort on the background to the Papal Visit, does it seem such a hard task for the organisers of the visit itself, who are probably paid rather well for their services?

Somebody responsible for this aspect of the Papal Visit needs a serious 'heart speaks unto heart' with his employee...

'The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI is to come in September to visit the UK. While here he will beatify the Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman. It is a truly historic occasion both for the country and the Church, at the prospect of which the whole Church should rejoice greatly, even if the whole country cannot bring itself to do so.

Despite numerous setbacks (the magnitude of which should embarrass the whole Church in England and Wales) in the planning of the visit so far, with the venue for the Beatification Mass in Coventry still yet to be confirmed, excitement is palpably building at the prospect of His Holiness arriving on these isles.

Pope Benedict XVI is the direct Apostolic Successor of St Peter and if St Peter could rouse a crowd without millions of pounds being squandered by the other Apostles, then it is perhaps possible for the Catholic Church in England and Wales to look after a Papal Visit here in September.

The timing of his visit is providential but it is a brave Pontiff who comes here. The United Kingdom is beset by a host of problems stemming from a largely secular mentality. Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in a country which has severed itself from its traditional Christian roots, first established by St Augustine of Canterbury at the request of another Supreme Pontiff, Pope St Gregory the Great, and the country now suffers the grave consequences of that severage.

 Abortion rates in the UK consistently average at around 200,000 innocent lives lost a year. The Labour Government passed legislation in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act which made commodities of human persons, embryos to be tested upon, experimented upon and used, only to be destroyed in a vain attempt to further scientific enquiry. The Government continued its assault on human dignity by refusing to lower the upper limit for abortions.

The Labour Government passed legislation attacking the institutions of Marriage and the Family, by passing the Civil Partnerships Act, creating, in law, a new kind of relationship recognised by the State set to rival marriage between one man and one woman. The Labour Government also enshrined in law an Equalities Act which threatens to be used in a new and viscious assault upon religious liberty and human freedom with several high profile cases suggesting that those who hold firmly to their Christian beliefs and practise them in public are vulnerable to persecution.

The UK, while remaining a country of many faiths and where the practise of religion is established in communities across the Union, is becoming increasingly and aggressively secular. Prominent figures have gained a great deal of attention in the mass media and popularity, most notably and most vociferously, the atheistic biologist and author of ‘The God Delusion’, Richard Dawkins.

The Church has not been immune to the atheistic zeitgeist and the culture of moral relativism now taking hold of the UK. The Church is suffering a decline in the Priesthood and many parish Churches have paid the ultimate price of the decline of the Faith by having been shut down by Dioceses, often to the great protest and anger of the lay Faithful. The abuse scandals which rocked the Church in 2010 have threatened (if you read the press and believe the hype) to overpower those who lead Her and lead the Faithful in the 21st Century, most notably in Ireland and the US.

Yet, while there is much over which the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom can mourn, there is hope. Christ may not have promised that the Gates of Hell would not come near the Church, but He did promise that the Gates of Hell would not prevail against Her.

• Pope Benedict XVI has been at the forefront of the renewal of the Church, liberating the Traditional Latin Mass which has seen many rediscover the beauty of the liturgy and enabled men and women to find a renewed sense of faith in the Risen Christ.

• Pope Benedict XVI has been at the forefront of the drive to cleanse the Church, to rid Her of ‘filth’, to remove from positions of authority those who seek to betray the mission of the Church and abuse those who are most vulnerable in Her care.

• Pope Benedict XVI remains resolutely faithful to the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Deposit of Faith with which he is charged with defending while others in positions of authority in the Church seek to modernise the Faith to reflect the values of the World, exhibiting in his writings and in his public proclamations great holiness and insight into the truths of the Most Holy Faith.

The Franciscan Friars and Nuns of the Immaculate are one new Order faithful to their holy father, St Francis, devoted to both the Traditonal Mass and the Pope, while living radical poverty for the love of Christ. The Dominicans, too, are enjoying a renaissance. Their members are growing and their new members are young. Young people are rediscovering, in the Sacrament of Marriage that True Love never dies, nor shies away from sacrifice. The liberation of the Latin Mass has been instrumental in inspiring men to offer their lives as an oblation to God in the Priesthood. Young people are discovering that Love is not what the media tells it that it is, but something that is Holy, that comes from God.

It is against this backdrop of a Church wounded, but still very much alive, shaken, but still sanctified by the Holy Spirit, embattled, but aided by that holy joy that comes from witnessing that same Spirit at work in the fresh growth evident upon the Vine, that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will be welcomed by hundreds of thousands (if permitted) of Catholics in the United Kingdom on his arrival.

The flame of Faith, given and handed down generations ago by a holy Pope and his holy but reluctant emissary, with his missionary monks in tow, is still very alive and it shall not be snuffed out, not even with all the bad will in the World (or even within the Church). The visit of Pope Benedict XVI will, God willing, be a huge success and increase the faith of the Church in the United Kingdom.


Tu Es Petrus! You are Peter, Your Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, and we welcome you with open arms to the country once named Our Lady’s Dowry. We love you, Holy Father!'

Official Papal Visit Song Released by Bishops Conference of England and Wales

Hot on the heels of the release of 'Heart Speaks Unto Heart', the official Papal Visit to the UK booklet by the Bishops of England and Wales, Starship, at the request of the Bishops Conference, have re-released 'Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now' in preparation for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.

A source close to the Bishops Conference said, "This is wonderful news. This song really sums up everything we feel about the Papal Visit to take place in September at venues at least one of which is still yet to be fully confirmed. It also encapsulates Cardinal John Henry Newman's spirituality and mentions his wistful, prayerful maxim in the line, 'Baby we can make it if we're heart to heart.'"

"The 80s feel of the song, the mullets, the moustaches, leather jackets and massive perms also chime quite nicely with the front cover of the 'Heart Speaks Unto Heart' Papal Visit Guide Book, upon the front cover of which appears a candle, evocative, perhaps deliberately, of Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind'."

However, critics of the organisation and planning of the Papal Visit have slammed the re-release. One traditional Catholic layman said, "This is appalling. The front cover of the Papal Visit guide book was naff enough, but just when I thought things could not get worse, the Bishops Conference thrust this song on the Catholic community. 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now', eh? Yeah, that sounds about right! Nothing's gonna stop our Bishops from manufacturing disaster from what should be a triumph. Nothing's gonna stop their stubborn efforts to block the Benedictine project of liturgical renewal! Nothing's gonna stop the infection of liberal theology and moral relativism from undermining the Catholic Church in England and Wales, seemingly espoused by our Shepherds. Nothing's gonna stop them...not even the visit of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI to these once Christian isles!"

The Papal Visit Guide has caused consternation among the Catholic Faithful. One lay woman said, "Whoever designed that awful Papal Visit guide needs sacking if not shooting. The layout is terrible and after having read one article, which was a challenge I can tell you, I thought I was going to suffer a relapse of my epilepsy which cleared up when I was 14. They've managed to create a document which says in 32 pages what could have been said in 12. How much money did this atrocious document cost us!? All the images inside reflect the Bishops Conference's ongoing obsession with ecumenism and environmental concern over and above the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Salvation of Souls to say nothing of their obvious disdain for the penetrative and profound theological mastery of the Successor of St Peter. After you pick up the Guide, you really do just want to put it down, when, in truth, it is the designer and creator of the terrible document who needs putting down. Honestly, anyone would have thought that the Bishops of England and Wales feel very little enthusiasm for the Papal Visit at all! How many Bishops does it take to change a lightbulb, mate? I dread to think!"

The Vatican were unavailable for comment, but one high ranking Cardinal said to be close to the Holy Father was reported to have been taken ill just seconds after hearing the news of the re-release of the Starship hit. The two incidences, according to our sources in the Holy See, are not related.

Pope Benedict XVI: Why We Need Aquinas

Courtesy of Zenit

The moral theology of St. Thomas Aquinas is timely even today, says Benedict XVI, who pointed to the saint's emphasis on natural law.

The Pope took up the teachings of Aquinas today, continuing his catechesis on the Christian culture of the Middle Ages
after a several-week break to focus on other themes.

He explained how Thomas managed to show the "independence of philosophy and theology and, at the same time, their reciprocal rationality."

The saint's emphasis on the dignity of human reason correlates to his teaching on nature and grace, the Holy Father illustrated. And he noted how reason, with its power, has the important potential of "discerning the natural moral law."

"Reason can recognize [this law] considering what is good to do and what is good to avoid to obtain that happiness which is in each one's heart, and which also imposes a responsibility toward others and, hence, the search for the common good," he said. "In other words, the virtues of man, theological and moral, are rooted in human nature.

"Divine grace supports, sustains and drives the ethical commitment but, on their own, according to St. Thomas, all men, believers and non-believers, are called to recognize the exigencies of human nature expressed in natural law and to be inspired in it in the formulation of positive laws, that is, those issuing from the civil and political authorities to regulate human coexistence."

Benedict XVI emphasized the importance of natural law and the responsibilities it implies, saying that when these are denied, "the way is opened dramatically to ethical relativism on the individual plane and to the totalitarianism of the state on the political plane."

He cited his predecessor, Venerable John Paul II, who affirmed: "It is therefore urgently necessary, for the future of society and the development of a sound democracy, to rediscover those essential and innate human and moral values which flow from the very truth of the human being and express and safeguard the dignity of the person: values which no individual, no majority and no State can ever create, modify or destroy, but must only acknowledge, respect and promote."

The concept of human reason proposed by Thomas is "trustworthy," Benedict XVI affirmed: "because human reason, above all if it accepts the inspirations of the Christian faith, is a promoter of a civilization that recognizes the dignity of the person, the intangibility of his rights and the strength of his duties."

The Holy Father observed that it is "not surprising" that the doctrine about human dignity "matured in realms of thought that took up the legacy of St. Thomas Aquinas, who had a very lofty concept of the human creature." The Bishop of Rome concluded, however, with a reminder that St. Thomas' profound thought and teaching stemmed from his "lively faith and his fervent piety.

He was a thinker and a saint, the Pope recalled, who prayed to God in ways such as this: "Grant me, I pray, a will that seeks You, a wisdom that finds You, a life that pleases You, a perseverance that waits for You with trust and a trust that in the end succeeds in possessing You."

Spain Chastised?

On March 5 2010, King Juan Carlos as the Spanish Chief of State signed a new abortion bill approved by the Parliament, putting today's Spain right in step with the socialist abortion policies of the rest of the European Union.

More than 60,000 people had asked the King to veto the bill, but he approved it, and it was published in the Official State Bulletin.

The natural law suggests that Spain should beat Switzerland, but if we mess with the natural law and begin enshrining child murder into the fabric of our society, we are asking for trouble and we have to live with the consequences...



Spaniards! As you have sown so shall you reap! And to think you guys launched an armada to try and rescue us from a murderous Protestant witch on the throne! Spain could be excommunicated in the first round!

Meanwhile, The Good Counsel Network have produced some excellent prayer cards for devotion to St George during the World Cup. According to the Maria Stops Abortion blog...

'The 2010 world cup is a great opportunity to end abortion in England. We will have at least two weeks of the country, cars, vans, people and anything and else (that moves or not) being bedecked with the flag of St George. One of our supporters, Pat Sammon, has for a number of years suggested that we take advantage of this and use it as a powerful reminder to pray for the Conversion of England and the end of abortion here. Readers from other countries could no doubt apply the same idea with their own national flags. Pat's idea is that we say a short prayer every time we see this flag. We would therefore ask you to say the following prayer wherever you see the St George Flag...'

All together now...

"Great St George, Patron of England, slay the dragon of abortion and give Mary back her dowry."


Good Counsel have printed the small prayer cards, copies of which can be sent to you if you email them your address at info@goodcounselnetwork.freeserve.co.uk

I've received the delightful cards myself and keep one in the car. It just goes to show that praying for an end to abortion in our country can also be fun, because everytime you see an England flag, you can lean out of the car window and shout...

"Great St George, Patron of England, slay the dragon of abortion and give Mary back her dowry!"

...because not only is a prayer to St George efficacious, but the prayer sounds as if St George nicked Our Lady's dowry and has hitherto refused to give it back. So, to add more urgency to the prayer, say it like this...

 "Great St George, Patron of England, slay the dragon of abortion and give Mary back her dowry! Now!"

This prayer could, in all seriousness, save human lives at risk from abortion and as a reward for England's fidelity to Our Lady, help us win the World Cup.

"Is there a Preece in the house?! Get me a Preece now!"

 ...Is what Catholic Voices should be saying. But they won't and why? Because he speaks up for Christ and speaks up for Truth, since there is no distinction between the two.

Unfortunately, in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, speaking up for Truth and being on the side of Truth in the 21st Century can get you into trouble, or, perhaps worse, leave you on the 'sidelines'.

It's a bit like the England team deciding to leave out Wayne Rooney because during training he decided to tell John Terry that when he paid that money to have his love-child aborted, he had literally hired an assassin to kill someone.

That is kind of what is happening with the Catholic Church in England and Wales. The CES sell the Faith and the sanctity of life down the river, the Bishops play pooh-sticks. Catholic hospitals are sold down the river and begin providing abortiofacients and start murdering unborn babies, the Bishops have a picnic. The Holy Father asks very politely for the liberation of the Traditional Latin Mass to remind the Faithful of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the Bishops put headphones on and listen to 'The Best of Paul Inwood'. Meanwhile, one young man, (and more than a few other men and women) remind the Bishops consistently of their duties for which they will answer to Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Last Day.

Finally, when the Holy Father is set to set foot on our own soil and real 'Catholic voices' are required to represent the Faithful and to speak in defense of the One True Faith, real Catholic voices are found to be too 'challenging' or 'difficult' or 'dangerous'.


The problem with James, you see, is that he is just 'too Catholic'. The reason that I am mentioning all of this is because he has written a very good article on The Tablet's penning of an article in defense of abortion in those 'difficult circumstances', when all of a sudden an unborn child's life is deemed to be less than sacred, less than human and less worthy of being sustained than that of a mother which really is against Catholic Teaching, that all life is sacred from conception to death and we really shouldn't be killing at all. I think it was all summed up quite nicely by the commandment, 'Thou shalt not kill', but that is terribly unfashionable nowadays.

If you really want to know the reason why James Preece was not chosen for 'Catholic Voices' as a core member of their team and got dropped, you will realise after reading his article and others penned by him that he is deemed 'too hot to handle'. He is too loyal to the Magisterium, too loyal too the Holy Father and too loyal to the Truth and when it comes to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in England and Wales nowadays, that is just not welcome. Have they decided to postpone the visit until the Glastonbury Festival, yet?

Happy St Anthony of Padua Day

Fish: "...Yes, yes, yes, Anthony, I understand all that, but the question I have is...Have you seen my lighter?!'"

Write to Your MP to Support Jim Dobbin's Early Day Motion

Fr Ray Blake has posted on an e-mail he has received concerning an Early Day Motion to be presented by Jim Dobbin MP, expressing concern over Marie Stopes International's cosy relationship with China, a country in which forced abortions, sterilisations and even infanticide outside of the womb are practised routinely.

While Marie Stopes International recently had an advert on Channel 4 promoting their own barbaric answer to pregnancy dilemmas, Ms Bin Lin, the Chinese Family Planning Minister, met the Board of Marie Stopes International to discuss the so-called charity's further involvement in abortion in China and Tibet.

As today's Telegraph story makes abundantly clear, our country has its own crisis relationship with abortion. News is filtering out of Government today that dozens of teenage girls in the UK have had 3 abortions by the age of 17. The article shockingly reveals that...

'Across all ages, more than 1,000 women or girls were on at least their fifth termination, including 214 on their sixth, 70 on their seventh and 48 who underwent the procedure for at least the eighth time.'

To lose one child to abortion is a tragedy. To lose eight children to abortion is a massacre and it is one supported and promoted by the likes of Marie Stopes International. The abortion industry in the UK, which now wishes to advertise its 'service' to the consuming public, repeatedly stresses that it exists in order to promote women's 'reproductive choices', yet Marie Stopes International clearly has absolutely no ethical concerns whatsoever about doing the dirty work of a Chinese Government for whom 'choice' is an alien concept, especially when it comes to the lives of mothers and their unborn chiildren. 

Pictured right is Jim Dobbin MP (Lab). His Early Day Motion reads...

• That this House notes that Marie Stopes International (MSI), the international abortion provider, listed as a charity, is held in such high regard by official bodies in the UK that it has been permitted to break the law and advertise abortion on national television;
• further notes it has received millions of pounds from the Chinese government to carry out abortion programmes in China, where the one-child policy has caused untold suffering and misery to millions, including forced abortions and sterilisation with imprisonment for those fighting against the law;
• further notes as an example a 20-day campaign in April in Puning County, where 9,559 adults were required for compulsory sterilisation with doctors working 20 hours a day to achieve the numbers;
• further notes that some 1,300 people were confined by force because their relatives refused to submit to the surgery;
• further notes that Marie Stopes claims to disapprove of force and seeks to discourage it, yet gave a red-carpet welcome in their London headquarters to Ms Lin Bin, Minister of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, which is responsible for the one-child policy and its implementation;
• further notes that although MSI sought and achieved enormous publicity for its television advertising it was strangely silent regarding the visit of their honoured guest;
• further notes this was exposed by Tibet Truth, a human rights organisation protesting about the barbarities inflicted on the people of China and Tibet;
• and calls on the Government to withdraw its funds from MSI and to take steps to require the cancellation of its television advertising.

Write to your MP and ask him or her to support this Early Day Motion. So far, only 3 MPs have signed the motion. It is vital that our MPs, notorious for stubornly refusing to stand up to the abortion lobbyists in the UK, do take a stand against both Marie Stopes International and the brutal regime in China for whom MSI now appear to work with such enthusiasm. I would appeal to everyone who doubts the validity of this motion to look at this picture of victims of China's one child policy, but, be warned, it is a truly sickening image.

Is it a Mortal or Venial Sin to Take The Tablet to the Sick?

I am paid, and generously at that, for care work and odd jobs by a gentleman in Brighton and a gentleman he truly is.

The gentleman is a subscriber to The Tablet. Yes, he is very elderly and we all know the reputation of The Tablet for being a Catholic version of Saga Magazine, only with less Catholicism, but he's been very ill in hospital for a while and now he is recovering his strength, so I've been taking the magazine to him because he likes it and that's his free choice. I haven't been hospitalised myself much in adulthood but I remember when I was little my mum and dad bringing my favourite magazine to me while I lay in hospital.

Obviously, I don't feel very happy when I hand over his weekly copy of The Tablet because I know, having read it through a few times recently, that its about as spiritually edifying as a big bag of porn.

Nevertheless, hand it to him I do, so that he can read it, because, at the end of the day, it gives the man a little happiness and that's that. He's ill, for Heaven's sake, seriously ill and he deserves to be able to read through his favourite Catholic weekly even if the majority of the magazine questions Church teaching, doctrine and practise pretty much maniacally and obsessively, week in, week out. Perhaps even the crossword is suspect. The question is, when I hand over the latest copy of a magazine that makes 'The Watchtower' seem like a doctrinally sound piece of religious journalism, am I committing a mortal or a venial sin? Readers of The Tablet will struggle with that question, I know, but my opinion is that it is mortal because reading The Tablet kills the life of the soul and separates the soul from God and His Church.

South Africa World Cup 2010 Reality Check

The World Cup kicked off yesterday. This is, officially perhaps, the only time we are allowed to have St George's flags on our houses and cars without being accused of being massive racists, so enjoy this period of national pride while you can.

Over the next few weeks we can look back to 1966 and think of how things used to be, when our national team was good, because, however this current bunch of absurdly paid ballerinas do in this event, let's say, for example, that they actually won it, we know full well that they would only have won it by some flukey last minute piece of accidental brilliance by the lanky centre-forward who upsets defenses because he is tall.

Yet, there appears to be more to this event than just football. The event is taking place in South Africa. Some organisations and individuals will be making absolutely shitloads of money out of the World Cup, meanwhile those who are living on $2 a day are getting shafted good and proper. Rio Ferdinand might be disappointed that he can't be there playing for his country, but at least he isn't eating out of bins. The video above makes the commercial razzmatazz of the World Cup seem more vulgar and grotesque than usual.

Meanwhile, this evening England are taking on USA. So far there's been no gigantic oil spill on the pitch, but BP have been working with the England team on how to produce them during set pieces. England are aware of just how vulnerable the US are to these spills and even the US President, usually so 'cool in a crisis', is crapping his pants, but then, the game currently stands at 1-1 so, let's face it, England's pants are filling too. That's our national team, by the way, not me.

Update: The oil spill tactic backfired...

The Unofficial Papal Visit Website

There is an unofficial Papal Visit to the UK website. You can't buy tickets to see the Holy Father on his visit to these isles here either, but at least you will get news on the visit of His Holiness that hasn't come from the team said now to be considering Longbridge's disused car plant as a venue for the Beatification of Newman.

Well done to James Preece for getting this website up and running. There could be quite a few Catholic voices contributing to the unofficial Papal Visit site, which should always be encouraged. So far a good piece on Newman and a highly relevant piece on the 'Birmingham Three'.

That The Bones You Have Crushed May Thrill...

...brought to you by Lambrini.

The choice of a generation who don't have much money.

I tell you what. I'm hooked on this stuff.

Can you imagine a wedding reception in which well-dressed waiters came around filling champagne flutes saying, "Madam? More Lambrini? And for you, sir? The peach flavour? Right away!"

A guest says, "What year is this, waiter?" Waiter says, "2010". Guest says, "No, I mean the Lambrini. What year, my man?" Waiter says, "Yes. 2010. Check the best before date, mate, if you don't believe me."

A commenter, Clare, has asked how Lambrini makes me feel like dancing. It has to be this one.

Everything You Need to Know About Diane Abbott

 From the Parliamentary Functions and Events pdf published in the wake of the MPs expenses scandal.

Abbott, Diane
25/02/2009
Womans Right to Abortion in Northern Ireland
Reception
30
Dining Room B

Enough said.

England Still Stand a Chance...

But we're going to need more Rosaries than that to win the World Cup.

Dragonfly Escapes Frog Attack

Everytime you watch this, you just feel sorrier for the frog.

Come on Boys!

Don't let this Papal Visit go to waste.

This is more important than the World Cup.

Do us proud, boys.

We're relying on you. We know you can do it.

Don't look back in years to come and think of what mitre been.

Protesters Camp Outside Brighton Church

In stunning scenes in Brighton yesterday, protesters gathered to voice their anger that Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament has this week been cancelled.

A large crowd outside St Mary Magdalen's Church, Brighton, led by campaigner Peter Tatchell demonstrated throughout the night over plans by the parish Priest not to have Benediction this week.

Tatchell, who has recently been involved in a controversial Channel 4 programme on the Papacy, was a surprise member of the demonstration, having campaigned for years for gay rights.

Tatchell, speaking yesterday, said, "It's about time Our Blessed Lord came out of the 'closet' and was exposed for the worship and adoration of the faithful Catholic community. The fact that this Priest wants, this week, to keep Him in the closet is a disgrace."

With chants of 'Our Blessed Lord: Out, Out, Out', and 'What do we want? Benediction. When do we want it? Now!' the crowd consisting of young and old men and women, united in their grief that there is to be no Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament this week, held a peaceful vigil outside the Church throughout the night.

The Priest was unavailable for comment but Fr Ray Blake, no stranger to controversy in Brighton, did issue a formal statement: 'Can you keep the noise down out there, I'm trying to get some sleep. Benediction will be back on next week, for goodness sake. I will hear your Confessions then and yes, Our Blessed Lord shall be placed on the Altar for adoration, I promise.'



Hit 1970s band, Village People, added their voices to the chorus of disapproval. Felipe Rose, the 'native american' said, "Where can a 'young man' find refuge in the stormy seas of Brighton, amid the choppy waters of vice, temptation and sin, if not in God's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church?! To those men I say, 'Young man, there's no need to feel down,' for the Lord Jesus Himself is waiting for you at Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, where you can pour out your heart to Him and find refuge in the shadow of His wings. Also, it is a truth of the Most Holy Faith to say that in the Sacrament of Penance you can 'get yourself clean'. I'm dedicating YMCA to these brave protesters at our next gig in Cologne."