Hardcore Letter to the Bishops of England and Wales...
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'Dear Bishops of England and Wales,
Many of us so-called Taliban Catholics have been severely disappointed in your over-willingness to negotiate with the state about how our Catholic adoption agencies should be allowed to operate, and how our schools should explain the facts of life to our children.
Like many millions of people in this country and around the world we are very proud and happy at how the British people have taken The Pilgrim from Rome to their hearts.
We are prepared to, metaphorically-speaking, bury the hatchet and truly welcome the words of Archbishop Vincent Nichols this weekend following our Holy Father's visit.
Furthermore, we would like to offer our services to you, bishops, to assist you in a renewed effort to bring the message of Christ to all. Many of us are people who lost our way in the past, lured by the "freedom" of the 60s and the decadence of the decades which followed. A few of our number have knelt patiently in the pews during the last five decades saying Rosary after Rosary, never giving up hope that England would be saved.
In practical ways we would like to help you.
Please let us know how you would like us to organise: open prayer days in our local churches, where we pray the Rosary, have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, facilitate our priests to be openly available to hear confessions, sing prayerful hymns, and attend Holy Mass devoutly.
We could easily have reruns of the TV clips of the UK Papal Visit in our parish halls, engage discussion groups on what the Pope has said to all his audiences: the children, the teenagers, the politicians, other faith groups, the teachers, the population at large, the Faithful, the priests, the bishops.
All this, along with inviting all (Catholic and non-Catholic) to join a choir learning Gregorian Chant. Even if we don't know it - we can learn. We can set up home groups for learning how to say The Rosary, and Gregorian Chant with all the facilities that are available on the internet.
Benedict has beautifully called us to be happy and praise God. He has shown us that hatred can be turned into respect in the space of four days!
Most especially we speak to the Anglican bishops who are leading their people back to Rome, we welcome you with open arms and look forward to receiving the wealth and beauty of your spiritual traditions into our Church.
Let us sing together and be happy despite our different poverties! And may God Bless us all!
Neither let us forget the great work being done right now and endeavour to swell the number of those praying at a vigil in London for the 40 days for Life and/or adding our name online for praying at home if we are unable to get to London.'
We remain your humble and obedient servants. Great letter. I'm signing!
Comments
Hmmm?
Hardly a sentiment befitting a catholic apologist.
I'd be all for a programme of traditional devotions throughout the country. One of the many mercies of living in Poland is that they've never stopped communal parish devotions :) Unpretentious, straightforward, excellent claptrap:prayer ratio, no special resources needed, communal, inclusive, accessible, ...
But this letter is rude.
I'm sure the bishops would be more charitable and accept it as a handshake of peace.
Epsilon is the author of the letter not Laurence.
Where has she ridiculed the bishops?
She is trying to be part of the solution.
Could we start with the shepherds leading from the front, as the flock goes about its business among the wolves of secular Britain?
Let the clergy and religious, who give their lives to serving God and His Church, resume their distinctive clerical dress and/or religious habit, and forgo the anonymity of secular clothing completely. That will hearten every Christian who sees them in the street or public places.
If they do this always, even on their "day off," it will show how seriously they take their vocation as a state, rather than as just a job.
you haven't been so up to now so how are you remaining so?
Hopefully it would prompt him to get all your blogs monitored more closely.
I don't think you are being very fair to Laurence: I have seen no evidence on this blog of his disobedience or dissent on any issue of Catholic teaching. On lesser issues, such as the best way of arranging a Papal visit, for example, Catholics are entitled to disagree with their bishops, and, indeed, have a canonical right to make their views known to their bishops.
On your reasoning, the Popes would still be living in Avignon, because St Catherine of Siena would never have dared to nag Pope Gregory XI into returning to Rome.
I think that, as Ecclesiastes nearly says, there is a time to complain and a time to pipe down. This seems to me to be a time for the latter, to enable the impact of the Papal visit to be felt, by us and our bishops together. At this time, it seems to me perfectly reasonable to write to them, offering our willingness to respond to Archbishop Nichols's call to live our faith more visibly, while at the same time offering our support in the work of acting on the Holy Father's exhortations.
Catholic Postman: do you encourage people to write to Father Christmas at his North Pole address? Postcodes were introduced in my lifetime, as was the extinction of PHG's and many working practices, which has now left us with a rump of our once efficient GPO.
The internet is more efficient for conveying information, although I would have wished my thoughts to reach His Grace directly, and would have awaited his answer with interest. Mgr Nichols is deliberately protected from this by the absence of his address from his diocesan website.
Re the suspicion of impertinence towards bishops in the letter:
The bishops hold their position because of their appointment by the Holy See, whose incumbent styles himself " The Servant of the Servants of God". This should be enough to remind every Roman Catholic, that the bishop - if he follows Our Lord - is come among us as "One who serves".