Meeting with Caroline Lucas MP

Well, I am glad to be able to report to readers that I will be meeting with Caroline Lucas MP to discuss with her the forthcoming same-sex marriage proposals to which the Green Party have so whole-heartedly signed up. I and a small contingent of people will be meeting Caroline Lucas on 19th October. If you are in Brighton and you are one of her constiuents then drop me a line and I'll give you the time of the appointment.

Will you be so kind as to keep the intention of this meeting in your prayers? Also, pray for me because I voted for her. Gulp!

Let's face it, readers, Caroline Lucas is so ideologically singing from the same hymn sheet as Stonewall that she could get away with being included in a local LGBT choir. It will be sure to be an interesting meeting. I would hope that I may be able to attract one or two people to the meeting who are not Catholics but who disagree with the proposals and am hoping to also attract others who have a same-sex attraction but who also disagree with the proposals.

It is important that Caroline Lucas at least has first hand experience of dealing with constituents who want to make their voice heard on this subject and that the majority of people who disagree with same sex marriage do not come at this subject from an angle of 'bigotry' or narrow-mindedness, but believe, quite simply, that marriage is something that takes place between one man and one woman.

Narcotics Anonymous March in Brighton

A friend told me a couple of days ago that there will be a Narcotics Anonymous march going from Hove Lawns to Brighton tonight at 7pm.

Imagine that. Finally, a parade that nearly all of Brighton can attend!

He said, "Yeah, its going to be just like Gay Pride."

Feast of St Michael and the Archangels

Green's Expulsion of Councillor Summers: The Plot Thickens

Jason, have a break from the Green Party for a while...

Recently, Brighton has been in the news on two or three fronts. First, we had the Liberal Democrats here in Brighton hosting their party conference. Then, a teacher of moral relativism in Brighton decided to flee the country with his school pupil causing the girl's parents to plea for her safe return. Say a prayer for all concerned. Before this, however, Brighton hit the headlines for Christian and Green councillor for Brighton and Hove, Christina Summers.

Christina, as we know, attracted the ire of the Green Party because she felt unable in her conscience to sign a Green Party pledge to support 'same-sex marriage'.

Thus did a hitherto fairly unknown Green councillor hit national headlines for defying the consensus of current British politics that the 'gay marriage' debate is over and that its attending doctrines are already sacrosanct.

The Green Party, swift to move to counter what could be considered a PR disaster, as it could be seen as somewhat authoritarian, then published a list of crimes committed by Christina Summers which also 'contributed' to her expulsion from the voting membership of the Party. These crimes included lending her support to a local campaign against abortion. Thus, the Green Party proves once and for all that standing up in defense of planet Earth is a moral good, standing up in defense of the union of sterile relationships in which bringing forth children is biologically impossible is great, but standing up for humanity and freedom of conscience is secular blasphemy to the Party.

Councillor Jason Kitcat 

The Kitcat Connection

All this readers may know. However, while it is heartening to read that another Green councillor, the Catholic in the middle of this farce, Jason Kitcat, did not sign to expel Councillor Summers for not going along with the commitment to same-sex marriage, we are left in confusion as to why a 'practising Catholic' has presumably signed the local Party's ideological commitment to same-sex marriage without a troubled conscience. We can, going by the fact that he is not in the headlines, assume that Jason, who has been seen worshipping at a Polish Mass held at a local Brighton Catholic Church in the recent past, has signed the commitment to support 'same-sex marriage'.

Archbishop Cranmer, on his blog, relates the story of the supposedly practising Catholic who has signed up to the Green Party's manifesto for the support of 'gay marriage'. So, how did a Protestant Christian get kicked off the voting panel of the Green Party councillors for obeying her conscience, but a practising Catholic manage to remain safe and secure in his party with the same voting rights as everybody else?

Pope Benedict XVI gave an address to a group of politicians 

It just so happens that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has today made it plain that Christian politicians have a duty to uphold true marriage - that is - the only marriage worthy of the name - the marriage of man and woman. Here are the words of the Holy Father, courtesy of a site with which Mr Kitcat is perhaps not familiar, Life Site News...

The different areas of interest for people involved in public life, the pope said, are not distinct from each other, but are “profoundly interconnected,” and are all “constituted by respect for the transcendent dignity of human beings,” Pope Benedict told a group of Christian politicians last week. 

The defence of human life, Benedict said, is not therefore separate from the defence of natural marriage. Rejection of abortion, euthanasia and eugenics, “is, in fact, interwoven with respecting marriage as an indissoluble union between a man and a woman and, in its turn, as the foundation for the community of family life”. “It is in the family, founded on marriage and open to life, that human beings experience sharing, respect and gratuitous love, at the same time receiving - be they children, the sick or the elderly - the solidarity they need.”  

 Pope Benedict XVI, in a speech to the European Christian Democrat movement, said that “authentic progress of human society cannot forgo policies aimed at protecting and promoting marriage, and the community that derives therefrom.” The family, based on the union of a man and a woman, he said, moreover “constitutes the principal and most significant place for the education of the person.” “Thus the family, the basic cell of society, is the root which nourishes not only the individual human being, but the very foundations of social coexistence.”

So, where does a Catholic councillor stand in all this and does Mr Kitcat wish to even be a Catholic in good standing with the Faith he, at least privately, professes? Perhaps I should email him and see if I can get a response, but in the mean time, we should ask the question as to whether Jason given a 'get out of Hades free' card by the Greens? Here he is on a politican blog, responding to the accusations flying around that Mr Kitcat has been neither wholly supportive of the religious liberty of his fellow councillor, nor faithful to those beliefs that a 'practising Catholic' should maintain in public life, as well as in the private sphere...

'I withdrew from being on the panel ten days ago due to concerns over the process being used and because I felt my participation to be incompatible with my role as Group Convenor.
I did not vote as a panel member on any findings nor sanctions, I participated in a preliminary conversation over possible sanctions, that was all. I have not seen nor do I know the contents of their final report. So to suggest I was the minority vote is misleading as I never voted. To be absolutely clear, Cllr Christina Summers is still a member of the Green Group. The group will need to have a quorate meeting to vote on the panel’s recommendation before anything can happen to her membership of the group. Thanks, Jason.'

It was on the 10th of September when Jason penned that. As of 25th September, however, The Argus remains convinced that Christina Summers is banned from sitting with her Green party colleagues at Brighton and Hove City Council. Confused? Well, that's probably how the Green councillors would like you to remain.

In general, I find it deeply worrying that a Catholic who has been seen worshipping in a Catholic Church  in Brighton finds himself to be described thus...

'Despite his religious beliefs, he does not introduce them to his public political life. He doesn’t attend the prayers held in Brighton and Hove before council meetings. He voted in favour of marriage rights being extended to gay and lesbian couples.'

Councillor Summers said of this affair, “I’m accountable to God above any political party. Obviously whatever the cost, if there is a cost, then so be it."

Such a view as that expressed there by Councillor Summers was once fashionable among even public Catholics. It's kind of how the martyrs who shed their blood for Christ and His Church thought about things too.

Jason's email, if you'd like to ask him any questions about all of this is jason@jasonkitcat.com. If you're a Catholic living in the Regency ward of Brighton and Hove, then all the better since, after all, I guess, as a Councillor he's accountable to you, too, as well as the Lord.

Further Reading: Protect the Pope

Catholic School

It seems to be a well-documented fact that Catholic education has a problem in passing on the Catholic Faith to Catholic children. This isn't helped by the increased incursions by the State into the education of Catholic children in a more secular and 'diverse' world view.

 

With the prospect of same-sex marriage around the corner, with all that will bring to Catholic schools in terms of a child's moral formation in PSHE, how can Catholic parents who aren't keen on their child being presented with graphic gay story books prepare for what will be a lesson in love totally at odds with the Catholic faith.

I know a couple who aren't happy with what they have seen of Catholic education in the area of Brighton and Hove and who were unable to get their child into the Catholic school that they had wanted, so they are paying for a year or two to send their child to a private school which is C of E. Generally, already we have reached a point where it is likely that a child's faith will not be damaged by sending the child to a non-Catholic school because Catholic schools don't really teach Catholicism to children very well at all.

Over time, I expect, especially if the secular tide rises above the level of the playground and starts lapping up and spilling into classrooms more than it already does, Catholic parents will be looking for answers as to how they can give their child an education which is Catholic not just because of its 'academic excellence' but because of its catechetical excellence.

Homeschooling is one option but the couple I spoke with suggested that it is important to them that their child interacts with other children in the setting of a school. Perhaps, what we could see is more and more parents coming together to hire community centres in small groups to homeschool their children in concert. What would be the legalities of parents attempting to do this? Would the State object? Parents and laymen could educate children together in the same space. Logistically, it sounds very challenging and difficult, but I expect that in the coming years, more people will be looking for ways to give their children a truly Catholic education that is not diluted by the spirit of the age.

The parents I spoke with said that they have seen good Catholic schools. One story the father related to me (is that 'progenitor A'?) was that of a Catholic headteacher he met at one school who walked around the corridors all day with a Rosary in her hand praying for teachers and students alike. He said it was the most inspiring and wonderful school he had seen. Is the Rosary taught and said in Catholic schools? What would Bishops think if they knew that it was not? What can those with a duty to propagate the evangelisation and catechetical excellence of children do to promote prayer and other aspects of the 'Catholic ethos' other than simply 'justice and peace'?

Catholic schools have benefitted financially very much from their relationship with Government, but we have to remember that in these times when Government will insist on its 'curriculum' being taught to all children, regardless of the views of parents, Catholic children will be endangered spiritually and morally by new doctrines inimical and scandalous to the Faith. Catholic schools were started by the generosity of parishioners in the pews. Now, their revenue comes from the State, but at what cost?

These kinds of questions are already being asked but will, I am sure be asked even more in the coming years, as parents wonder how can they protect their Catholic children from the new amorality of the State?

Is this guy saying what people think he is saying?

Listening to 'Gregorian Chant' on Last FM

Just to let readers know that if you go to a site called Last FM and type in Gregorian Chant into the 'Radio' page, you can get some lovely music from chant to polyphony. At the moment I'm listening to Ave Generosa by Hildergard von Bingen. I had thought Last FM only did modern music, but I am pleasantly surprised. It reminds me rather of that Forest Gump quote in as much as this 'radio' site is like a box of chocolates. You never know which one you're going to get next...

Sorry, that's St Hildergard von Bingen!

Oh no, Amazing Grace has just come on with trumpets! That'll be the cherry flavour chocolate then!

The Civilisation of Love

'This message of Good News, and the civilisation of love it occasions, we Catholics must now communicate imaginatively, with confidence and clarity, together with our fellow Christians, and all people of faith and good will, to the people of England, this wonderful land, Mary's Dowry.

We must offer this salvific message to a people, sorely in need of new hope and direction, disenfranchised by the desert of modern British politics, wearied by the cycle of work, shopping, entertainment, and betrayed by educational, legal, medical and social policy-makers who, in the relativistic world they're creating, however well-intentioned, are sowing the seeds of a strangling counterculture of death.' 

There is so much in this small passage of Bishop Egan's homily at his installment at Portsmouth for us to ruminate upon.

First, we see the phrase 'civilisation of love' applied by Blessed Pope John Paul II to the Catholic vision of human society. Then we have Mary, the Blessed and ever Virgin Mother of God, as key to the conversion of the English to this vision. Recall that we English have been converted to it before and there is no reason why it should not occur again. We have the 'salvific message' - we have a message of Salvation. How wonderful it is to hear a Bishop mention it!

Then the Bishop closes in on those in power and influence - the politicians and the architects of a inauthentic kind of society and lifestyle presented to us in the media - all materialism and artifice - the sad and despairing vision of society perpetuated by those in education, law, medicine and 'social policy' to create a 'counter-culture of death'.

As a Catholic, I sometimes find writing a blog depressing because what we read in the newspapers is so depressing. It's so depressing and all encompassing on human society - this 'counterculture of death' - that it is easy to forget to present the salvific message - the new and wonderful vision of man and his relationship with God that is at the heart of the Catholic Faith.

Those scars on society that we blog about a great deal - such as abortion, assisted suicide proposals, gay marriage proposals and the rest have a single thread in common that runs through them all. It is not just the 'culture of death' but the cult of self.

We hear it so much - "If you don't like abortion, don't have one", "If you don't like assisted suicide, don't have one", "If you don't like gay marriage, don't have one". It is as if we are inhabiting a society that really believes that if one person, or two persons, refuses another person's right to be born, we should not be alarmed, even though one of the human family is being destroyed. It is as if we inhabit a society in which if one person commits suicide, nobody should be alarmed even though one of the human family - a member of society - is being destroyed by himself or another.

We are, we are told, to enter into a new society in which if one man or woman 'marries' another of the same sex and builds a family with that person, nobody should be alarmed because this is a valid 'lifestyle'. We are told we should keep out of this state of affairs because this is a private matter between loving persons of the same-sex. This is despite the fact that such a state of affairs has widespread implications for the health of marriage as an institution, widespread consequences for the children involved in these relationships and for the moral education of all children taught by the State. We are told not to worry about IVF and embryology despite that little human beings are being turned into commodities and destroyed if they are not needed or found to be imperfect!

What links all of this is the idea that there is no such thing as the human family. There is no such thing as society. Society is just made up, in this fantasy world, of individuals whose decisions, lifestyles and choices have absolutely no impact upon others inhabiting that society, so 'deal with it'. Yet this is patently absurd. If people behave selfishly and think of only their own happiness and that of their 'partner' and to hell with the common good of society then of course it has implications for everyone. In such a society, of course there will be many, many victims!

Despite what people say of the Church, we care about the victims (and the perpetrators) since we too are wounded by sin and selfishness. We know that it is Christ who is alone able to set us free and bring us true liberation from the tyranny of self. This He achieves through His One, Holy, Catholic Church - the instrument of His forgiveness, mercy, redemption, salvation, healing and love. He does it through the Sacraments. He is able to offer us an intimacy greater than any merely human relationship because He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we need and knows that we need Him, far far more, in fact, than He needs us!

Despite the fact that the wisdom of all ages and all religions suggests that man cannot be happy when thinking of his own happiness and contentment in isolation from his brothers and sisters, this is exactly the agenda advanced by so many today.

The 'culture of death' advanced by so many in influence in society is marked by this terrible deceit that doing what is best for yourself is doing what is best, despite the fact that selfishness brings misery and disenchantment upon the selfish individual. Living for the pleasure principle does not bring man or woman happiness. Taking loads of drugs do not make happy people. Hedonism does not make people happy. Divorce does not make people happy. Abortion does not make women happy. Homosexual acts do not make homosexuals happy. Even sex does not bring about a deep and lasting satisfaction to individuals because serves a particular two-fold purpose of bonding and procreation. Time and again it is shown to us that money does not make us happy. The truth is that an inordinate love for anything either not rooted in God or not of God Himself cannot make man happy. Only Jesus Christ can make people happy. Everything else that is presented to us as bringing happiness is either fleeting, transitory happiness or a deceit from the father of lies himself!

That is why society, and indeed we Catholics, too, since we, too, are wounded in our nature by our own sins, can never find happiness in this life outside of God. For as St Augustine said, we are made for Him, by Him and can find no rest until we are in Him. He is our destiny and our end! How could we be truly happy in exile!? For, as long as we are not perfect and in Heaven we are not wholly happy. What we do have is the spiritual joy of knowing our Creator and Redeemer, of being forgiven by Him and of sharing in the life of the Blessed Trinity.

It is evident - truly evident! - that those who deny that we inhabit a 'desert' created by politicians and social policy makers to be a 'counterculture of death', are not living in the real world to a degree that far outstrips the 'sky-fairy myth' of which we are so often accused. People are miserable because their worlds are cold and bleak while society fragments into a billion pieces.

There is a way to happiness and to salvation for all mankind that the Church puts forward as the great antidote to the desperation of our age. It is nothing other than Jesus Christ. It is the way of Jesus Christ for He is The Way. It has nothing to do with selfish desires being fulfilled. It has everything to do with seeking and desiring the good and benefit of everyone but yourself. We may not or may never achieve this vision of self-sacrificial love in our lives to the extent that we should, but even we, mediocre lovers as we can be can point to others the way, for we point to Jesus Christ Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life! This is the love that builds the 'civilisation of love'. It is the love that comes from God!

We can say boldly that same-sex marriage will not make children happy. It will not make society happy. It will not make teachers happy, nor the Church, nor even the politicians who craft the legislation happy. It will not make the Queen happy and it will not even make the homosexuals who 'marry' happy because it is false marriage. It is, of its nature, a lie, a deceit, and as the homosexual community always are at pains to point out, living a lie makes nobody happy! They say if you really love someone set them free. We must convince the English that nobody loves us like Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ can set us free!

New Bishop of Portsmouth Challenges the Culture of Death

Bishop Egan's homily at his installment as the new Bishop of Portsmouth...

'Dear fellow pilgrims on life's journey, we inhabit a remarkable century, the 21st, which despite the current economic distemper, is witnessing momentous advances in every domain of human knowledge and endeavour, with new discoveries and new applications in science and engineering, in computing and cybernetics, in medicine and bio-technology, in the social sciences, arts and humanities, all of which manifest the limitless self-transcending reach of human experience, understanding and judgement and the cloud of burgeoning possibilities for human deciding, undreamt of by those who've gone before.

Indeed, even as we speak, Curiosity is roving among the sand-dunes of Mars, in anticipation of a manned space-voyage to the Red Planet. With all these exhilarating developments, the Catholic Tradition must engage, the old with the new, in a mutually-enriching critical-conversation.

Yet the ordination of a Bishop, as Successor of the Apostles, in communion of mind, will and heart with the Pope, as the chief Shepherd, Teacher and High Priest of the diocese entrusted to him, who, like the Master, must lay down his life for his flock, reminds us that human needs ever remain essentially the same: the need to love and to be loved, the need for a purpose and vocation in life, the need to belong to family and community, the need for mercy and forgiveness, for peace and justice, for freedom and happiness, and most profoundly, the need for immortality and for the Divine.

All these fundamental desires, hard-wired into the human heart: theology expresses in the word 'salvation,' and we profess that every child, woman and man on this planet can find that salvation. There is a Way - and it's the Truth! It's the true Way that leads to Life, real life, life to the full, a life that never ends. There is a Way, and it's not a strategy, a philosophy or a package-deal. This Way has a Name, because it's a Person, the only Person in human history who really did rise from the dead, a Person alive here and now: Jesus of Nazareth, God the Son Incarnate. He alone can save us. He alone can give us the salvation our spirits crave. He alone can reveal to us the Truth about God and about life, about happiness and humanism, about sexuality and family values, about how to bring to the world order, justice, reconciliation and peace.

This message of Good News, and the civilisation of love it occasions, we Catholics must now communicate imaginatively, with confidence and clarity, together with our fellow Christians, and all people of faith and good will, to the people of England, this wonderful land, Mary's Dowry. We must offer this salvific message to a people, sorely in need of new hope and direction, disenfranchised by the desert of modern British politics, wearied by the cycle of work, shopping, entertainment, and betrayed by educational, legal, medical and social policy-makers who, in the relativistic world they're creating, however well-intentioned, are sowing the seeds of a strangling counterculture of death.

My brothers and sisters, today, the Feast of Our Lady of Ransom, of England's Nazareth, let's go forth from this Mass with joyful vigour, resolved in the Holy Spirit, to help bring about the conversions needed - intellectual, moral and spiritual - for everyone-we-meet to receive Jesus Christ, the Gospel of Life.... Please pray for me to the Lord Jesus, whose Heart yearns for us in the Blessed Sacrament, that I might be a humble and holy, orthodox, creative and courageous, Bishop of Portsmouth, one fashioned after the Lord's own.'

One Man, One Woman

If only I had a voice like Freddie Mercury. Here is a re-post of 'One Man, One Woman', a song I wrote a while back. Will Archbishop Vincent Nichols sing along to this one? Unlikely, and certainly not while he is presiding over Soho Masses and Marriage Care?

The Rosary

US Church Uses New Media to Campaign Against Same Sex Marriage

I think these videos are quite impressive. Perhaps English Bishops could come up with a YouTube video in defense of marriage that we could send viral?

Totus Tuus: Gorecki

I saw this performed this evening at St Bartholomew's, an Anglican Church in Brighton. Beautiful. Whenever I pop in there I always pray for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and an increase in their members.

Lib Dems Release Conference Promo Poster

Watch Out for them there Bigots!

This weekend welcomes the Lib Dem Party Conference to Brighton.

Delegates - Watch out for them there bigots!

There be bigots in Brighton!

In pubs...

In churches...

In shopping centres...

Under rocks...

If the Whole World Were Catholic

Melinda Gates

Tony Blair

If the whole World were Catholic, it wouldn't make the World a better place unless those Catholics truly believed and submitted themselves to the Magisterium of the Church.

For as we are aware, many public Catholics today speak as if they were atheists.

Busker in Brighton in Police Altercation

As someone not entirely averse to a bit of busking myself, I find this a little disturbing. One guy busking is a 'menace to society'.

Reminder: Here is some footage of Gay Pride 2012. One law for some, another for others?

No licence for this kind of licence needed...

I thought Brighton was meant to be a 'diverse' and 'musical' town!

Pro-Life Update

The pro-life movement in the United Kingdom is gaining in strength and vigour. Thanks be to God.

The controversial Abort67 group were found not guilty of public disorder in their grizzly and graphic anti-abortion campaign outside various abortion clinics, including Wistons Clinic Brighton. Whatever you think of this new evangelical pro-life movement, you have to say that the ruling is a victory for freedom of speech.

By the way, as an aside to this story, I read in The Argus on Wednesday that another reason the Green's got rid of Councillor Summers was because not only had she held onto her public beliefs concerning the nature and meaning of marriage, but had also publicly supported a vigil against abortion outside Wiston's. Pro-life and pro-marriage? Try UKIP, love.

I have far more sympathy, however, and support, for the work of The Good Counsel Network, who are to commence a massive pro-life campaign for 40 Days for Life outside the Marie Stopes Clinic on Whitfield Street, London. You can join the Facebook group for this event here.

The 40 Days for Life 24 hour a day prayer vigil will start on 25th September at 7pm at Bedford Square but moves onto 8:00pm at Whitfield Street outside Marie Stopes. If you can, do go along and lend your support and prayers to the work of 40 Days for Life. Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham will kick the latest in a series of vigils off with opening prayers, so get your Rosaries at the ready for what will, doubtless, be a 40 day spiritual war of the highest order. You can sign up to pray at the vigil at 40 Days for Life, here.

Good Counsel Network are also having a fundraising ball on 10th November at the Ognisko Polish Club in London in November. Click here for the Facebook page. You can email for more information at info@goodcounselnetwork.freeserve.co.uk

Meanwhile, sticking with pro-life news, what is going on with Tina Beattie? Tina has recently attacked a new publication from CTS entitled Divorce: Explaining Catholic Teaching on Marriage, Separation and Divorce' by Jane Deegan. In the comments section of The Tablet, following an blogpost Gerald Loughlin rubbishing the Deegan book, Beattie rants:

'As a mother of four who has been married for thirty seven years, I am absolutely bewildered by claims such as 'the contraceptive act is an act of irreverence for God as father and creator, and an act of irreverence by husband and wife towards each other.' Or how about, 'the father of lies is still active, seeking to deceive, seeking to divide and separate us from the love of God and also from truly loving each other. Blessed John Paul II, when speaking about these issues, describes the marital bedchamber as the place where the forces of good and evil meet and do battle.' I can only conclude that anybody who can write this kind of nonsense has either never been married, or is in urgent need of marriage counselling. It may well be that some unhappy couples experience such low levels of love, affection and care for one another that they must tether their sex lives to absolute functionality lest their contempt for one another destroys them. 

To assume that all of us are so deficient in our capacity for love and respect really tells us far more about the person writing the article than about the rich, complex and often very lovely reality of non-procreative sex. Loving and being loved is just as 'natural' for human beings as procreation, and for many, many couples reliable contraception enhances our capacity for mutual self-giving without the fear of unwanted pregnancy. I have known far too many Catholic couples of a certain age whose capacity for sexual expressiveness and enjoyment was permanently blighted by faithful adherence to Humanae Vitae to see this booklet as having any claim to truth. Procreation is a very great gift, but so are intelligence, reason and common sense, all of which seem markedly absent from this view of marriage and sex. If the Church is to offer any wisdom or truth in the area of human sexuality, then it has to start listening to and engaging with the experiences and insights of sexually active Catholics who know what they're talking about. This is a perverted publication written by and for people with a perverted understanding of the meaning and reality of sexual love in all its joys, struggles and ambiguities.'

Is that a theological house of cards falling down somewhere in The Tablet offices that I can hear? All it takes is a feather, Tina, love and it looks like you're the one supplying it. This lady teaches at University of Roehampton and is on The Tablet Trust board of trustees. Someone ought to tell the Nuncio that there is a woman claiming to be a Catholic who attempts to launch written surface to air missiles as soon as a Catholic teaches the truth about the Church's vision of marriage, love and sexuality.

In other pro-life news, pray for peace in the Holy Land and the Middle East in general. It looks like these guys mean business...

Follow the Transalpine Redemptorists' advice and pray the Rosary.

The State on the Retreat and Rise

Closing down in the cuts: The Allen Centre, Hove

While Mitt Romney attempts to defuse an electorally explosive video of the candidate talking with wealthy private donors and writing off half the population as 'dependents' who will not vote for him, here in the UK, the State is retreating in its role as 'carer' of the vulnerable. Yet, in other areas, such as the definition of marriage, it is on the march. It is a curious juxtaposition.

Benefits are perhaps to be 'frozen' in an effort to save money, at a time when it is likely unemployment will continue to rise in the UK amid rising costs of living. People who are 'dependent' on various services are being thrown to the dogs. Here in Brighton, two NHS services to those with mental illness are to close in the forthcoming cuts. Disappointment among service users is palpable.

The Allen Centre, Hove and a drop-in centre for those with mental health issues in the city centre in Buckingham Road are to close. These services may not be used by all people with mental health problems in Brighton and Hove, but act as a good and healthy service for mental health service users to access advice, build relationships and learn new skills.

So, we have a strange situation here in the UK, where the State is retreating from 'care' and beginning its abandonment of its role as an indifferent father to the poor, disabled, sick and infirm. Yet, on the other hand the State is taking on new competences which it had hitherto eschewed as beyond its remit. So, for instance, the State is attempting to redefine marriage. It is apparent that there are forces at work in the State that believe the same State that withdraws from supporting the sick could be the same instrument with which to end the lives of the sick. So, in fact, the State's role becomes wider and deeper than before, but instead of being a 'welfare' instrument, it becomes an instrument of life, or rather death.

Perhaps, in harder economic times, the true face of the 'welfare state' begins to show. Marxists, like Ed Miliband, are talking of a 'new relationship' between the citizen and the State. Exactly what kind of relationship is this? Can it be anything other than 'Big Brother'?

One thing that convinces me that the same sex marriage legislation is sinister is that the proposal not only redefines marriage but also defines who has a voice in society and whose voice is to be crushed. Not just the voice of the Church, but the voices of mothers, fathers, families and children would be silenced once the proposed legislation to be successful. Those, whether Christian or not, who did not like the idea of the school teacher teaching homosexuality to children as a 'marriage option' would have no redress to the State with which to voice their grievances. This has been proven in Massachusetts and in Canada, I believe.

In other areas, like surveillance and civil liberties, there seems little news that suggests that the State will be anything but pernicious and over-bearing in the lives of its citizens over the next few decades, in an increasingly unstable and 'insecure' world. Same-sex marriage, as well as redefining the institution itself, sorts for the State the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats as to who will be pliant and compliant in the Brave New World in which the 'new relationship' between State and citizen becomes ever and ever more a relationship of master and subservient citizen, or even slave.

The New Doctrine: Who is 'in' and who is 'out'?

What will happen to those who do not accept the Cameron-Clegg-Miliband-Lucas Doctrine? What will happen to the old-fashioned? Those with traditional views? What will happen to the non-conformists? What will happen to the bigots? What will happen to the heretics? What will happen to the unconvinced? What will happen to the dissenters? What will happen to those who, having feared from speaking out before the legislation, discover that they are in the dock if they do speak out afterwards? 'Gay marriage' is a watermark, a 'crossing the threshold' moment for the State of who will be 'in' and who will be 'out' once marriage is redefined. It divides the acquiescent and malleable citzens from the incredulous and suspicious.  It seems that entrance and participation in the 'Big Society' will have, as a central plank, the total acceptance of the LGBT agenda.


More worryingly still, what is going on with our Bishops? Will the sleeping giant that is the Catholic Church awake and roar like an angry encircled Russia, or will the voice of the Faithful have to come from a small minority in the pews of different Churches and in the Sanctuaries of the Houses of God, who have the guts and courage to speak out and loud?

I recently found this map, which gives readers the lowdown on where LGBT rights have been embraced to the point of marriage, where homosexuality is accepted and where it is punishable, obviously in Muslim countries. It's interesting that the vast area of the World in which 'gay marriage' seems not to be on the cards are the former Soviet bloc and the currently Soviet bloc. Download the map for viewing here.

I post this to remind readers that what we're up against is a global new World agenda (let's call it Agenda 21 for argument's sake). It is at once global and local, but for some reason, Russia, parts of the Middle East and Africa aren't keen. I guess that's just half the World that'll be 'bigots' then, Nick?

So, take comfort that, if you don't go along with the new doctrines of the State, that it is not just the poor, the disabled, the mentally ill, terminally sick and 'unproductive' who are being thrown to the wolves. It's you and me, too, baby, because I don't like the State too much as it is. I don't want it to come any closer into my life than it already is. My new relationship is with God, the Blessed Mother of God, the Saints and Angels, the suffering souls in Purgatory, all my brothers and sisters on Earth, family and hopefully wife-to-be. As the poor and the mentally ill in Brighton are discovering, a relationship with the State can leave you feeling rather bereft. Do Marxists like Ed Miliband care about that? No, I doubt it. To Marxists, its just the relationship that matters - not the people themselves.

Perhaps Brighton's Church community centres can build an initiative to give the mentally ill a space to relax and have a cup of coffee when the NHS services stop. I guess that's what Cameron sees as the other plank of the 'Big Society'.

Politician Discovered to be Not Terribly Sincere: Widespread Shock

Who'd have thought it?

A Republican hopeful is running a cynical electoral campaign aimed at grabbing the votes of those floating voters.

The Obama team are going to make Romney's 'I don't give a fig about the poor' speech prime time repeated viewing over the coming weeks.

Looks like the Obama dictatorship will be re-elected in November.

God help America.

Marriage

Good Old British Double Standards

Does this court ruling make any sense?

Today, a married woman, a mother, who aborted her own baby has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for the destruction of her child in the final week of pregnancy.

The language used by the authorities is really very strong and condemnatory. According to The Telegraph's report:

'Passing sentence, Mr Justice Cooke said the seriousness of the crime lay between manslaughter and murder.

He told Catt: "What you did was end the life of a child that was capable of being born alive by inducing birth or miscarriage. What you have done is rob an apparently healthy child, vulnerable and defenceless, of the life which he was about to commence."

The judge said Catt would have been charged with murder if the baby had been born a few days later and she had then killed him. "

The child in the womb was so near to birth, in my judgment all right-thinking people would think this offence more serious than unintentional manslaughter," he said.'

Call me dumb, but can someone explain to me why this woman's offence is so terrible in the sight of the authorities when it is 100% legal to kill an unborn child up to birth in the case of 'defects' such as the kinds of disabilities displayed during the Paralympics?

Paralympian Ellie Simmonds

Obviously, I don't support what this woman has done in the slightest, but in an age in which the law of the land says you can take innocent human life in the womb up to birth if the child is disabled, it is a little rich for authorities and society to condemn her!

Of course, it is important to welcome any ruling that defends the life of the unborn but the hypocrisy surrounding this case surely stinks to the highest Heavens when any woman can walk into a clinic and get a disabled unborn baby killed in the final days of pregnancy on the NHS!

In the light of current UK abortion law, what sanctimonious garbage the judge was coming out with!

'What you have done is rob an apparently healthy child...'

So, if the child wasn't 'apparently healthy' then I guess its destruction could be justified, right? No case to be heard there, I guess, because even disabled persons are apparently not real persons when they're in the womb a day before birth!

Abortion, from conception to birth is either the destruction of human life or it is not. Judges, politicians, police and social services cannot have it both ways, because if you don't get an abortion at any time between 0 and 23 and a half weeks, then, you know, it is most likely that the child would be 'capable of being born alive'. All you've got to do is not kill it and look after yourself and the child will probably live!

If abortion is evil and wrong, as the Catholic Church maintains that it is, then it cannot be simply evil and wrong for this woman, but simultaneously right and just for the third of all British women who will have had an abortion by the age of 45, nor can it be right and just for the disabled to suffer the same penalty as the unborn child destroyed in this case. People may not like the teaching of the Church in this area but at least the Church is consistent.

Unless some genius can come up with the exact time that a 'potential life' becomes a 'human life' between the age of 0 to 9 months, I will remain baffled because most scientists remain convinced that life starts at conception.

What an horrendous thing for a mother to do to a child. May God have mercy on her, but given that the majority of men and women in the United Kingdom have the blood of the innocent on their hands, I hardly think the condemnatory remarks from any authorities hold water in this land.

Rosary Crusade of Reparation 2012

Saturday 13th October sees this year's annual Rosary Crusade of Reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Do go. I hope to be able to attend this beautiful procession with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima from Westminster Cathedral to Brompton Oratory as well.

Click here for more details.

This is video from a year or two back...

Spiritual Health Warning

Tabula Delenda Est!

Do read Protect the Pope's post today...

34 Million Bigots

How to change opinions...

Liberals and the Church

Liberals

After The Gold Rush

You can watch a BBC documentary entitled 'Cash Britain' here.

The documentary looks at what is happening on the ground in the UK as pawnbrokers, knowing that the price of gold has escalated upwards sharply in recent times advertise that desperate customers can get cash for their gold, as your average Joe tries to make ends meet at a time of rising costs.

I'd like to know where all this gold goes once the public have been fleeced into selling it in exchange for paper money which could soon be worthless. China? The vaults of central banks?

Personally, I've seen, here in Brighton, an explosion of advertisements, stores and even stands in and around Brighton station of dealers advertising to buy your gold. I expect that investors somewhere are buying it all up because the dollar's days are numbered - they know a storm is coming. There are even stands in the station distributing envelopes in which you can send your gold to companies who will send you cash in return.

Pawnbrokers are not the only ones making money off the back of the plight of the poor, however. Voracious and rapacious new companies are selling loans at a interest rates which exceed 400% interest.

One company, Wonga. The owners of Wonga, who apparently advertise in commercial breaks of the Jeremy Kyle Show on ITV, have made £50 million through giving short term loans to cash strapped families at exhorbitant interest rates.

The Church's condemnation of usury has been, since Her beginning, stark and plain. Popes down the ages have issued warnings against the practise of usury - lending money at interest.

Since 1830, the year in which the Vatican turned to NM Rothschild and Sons for a hefty loan, the Church's proclamations on usury have been quieter and softer, acknowledging that in a new financial system, a new approach is required.

The truth, however, does not change even if, on this issue, the hands of Holy Church and indeed the whole world were tied long ago.

Down's Syndrome Patients: Not Invited to the Equality Party

God alone now can 'save' the NHS

Mind you, I don't think Catholics are invited to the Equality party either.

Courtesy of BBC News

Chilling...

'A man with Down's syndrome is suing an NHS trust over a hospital's decision to issue a do-not-resuscitate order giving his disability as one of the reasons. 

The instruction not to attempt resuscitation in the event of a cardiac or respiratory arrest was issued without his family's knowledge. Their lawyers describe the order as "blatant discrimination".'

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust says it complied fully with guidance from professional bodies. The family of the man, who can be identified only as AWA because of a court order, remained unaware of the do-not-resuscitate (DNR) decision until he had returned from hospital to his care home.
The DNR form, issued while he was in hospital in Margate a year ago, was listed as an indefinite decision, meaning it would cover the duration of his stay in hospital, with no provision for review.

The reasons given were "Down's syndrome, unable to swallow (Peg [percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy] fed), bed bound, learning difficulties". AWA, 51, has dementia and was having a special tube fitted to help him with feeding.

The form says there was no discussion with his next of kin because they were "unavailable", but the family say they visited him in hospital "virtually every day" - and a carer from his home sometimes attended too.

One of AWA's close relatives, who is pursuing the legal action on his behalf, said: "Until his dementia started three years ago, he had a really hectic social life. He loved parties, discos and going to church.

"He was looked after at home for as long as possible, but then we got him into a nice care home. His health deteriorated a bit - he had eating problems and couldn't swallow - so the decision was taken to have a Peg inserted so he could receive medication, foods and liquids.

"He was admitted to hospital for a fortnight. When he was discharged, one of the carers at his home was unpacking his bag and found the DNR form, to their horror. "We weren't aware of the DNR until then. We were very angry and quite distressed, especially as he'd been re-admitted that day because he'd got pneumonia.

"Since November last year, he's been right as rain. He has a specially adapted chair, takes part in various activities and is conscious of everybody around him most of the time. "He has a good way of life now, but somebody wasn't prepared to give him the time of day."

AWA and his family are represented by solicitor Merry Varney, from Leigh Day and Co.

She said: "This is definitely one of the most extreme cases we have seen of a DNR order being imposed on a patient without consent or consultation.

"To use Down's syndrome and learning difficulties as a reason to withhold lifesaving treatment is nothing short of blatant discrimination. "If an individual was physically preventing a doctor from administering life-saving treatment to a disabled relative, it would undoubtedly be a matter for the police, yet we see doctors taking this decision without consent or consultation regularly."

For full story, click here.

See also, Catholic and Loving It

Money and Marriage

Gay marriage.

It's all about money, isn't it?

The 'pink pound' is 'vital' to the economy.

Homosexuals and lesbians can't have children by natural means.

Give them 'gay marriage' and, hey presto, you can sell them babies on a larger scale than before.

Top of the range babies too, not your 'damaged goods'.

They might be 'damaged goods' by the time they reach adulthood, but, hey, by then, you've made your money and the 'parents' are happy.

For a blond haired baby you could get £50,000 and for a baby with blond hair and blue eyes you could sell for £100,000.

Mind you, what with hyperinflation breathing down the neck of the West, those figures might have to be adjusted.

Before long, nobody will be able to 'afford' children...

Apple: Do they know about forced abortions for workers in their Chinese plants?

And why do the mainstream media ignore this?

Equality and Diversity

"All people should be treated equally."

"Diversity should always be respected."

Hang on.

If everyone is different then why should everyone be treated equally, since their needs and abilities are different?

Facebook News

Facebook.  Either it is a massive government surveillance project or it has the potential to be. As you can see, either Mark Zuckerberg doesn't like interviews, or he is genuinely a dodgy geezer running a massive citizen spy network for the CIA.

As Catholics, we understand that if Facebook is to be used as a tool in the process of rounding up dissenters to the new State morality before gassing or starving us to death, then that's just the way its got to be and that we should rejoice because martyrdom is a passport to Heaven.

It is in this spirit that, while we understand just what a potentially evil thing Facebook is, we should enjoy it because it is actually a great deal of fun and while we still have a modicum of free speech, we can use it to spread the Gospel.

Without further ado then. There are a few Facebook groups which you may wish to join.

Transalpine Redemptorists have just set up a Facebook page (They're safe from the New World Order, by the way, because they are in the Orkney Islands...)

There is a Rosary Crusade Facebook page dedicated to the Holy Rosary.

There's a Catholic group called The Inn Catholics.

There's a group called The Catholic Youth.

Last, but by no means least, I've joined a group called Catholic - Universal, which, I must say is excellent.

If you know of any more great Catholic Facebook groups, pop them in the comments box and I'll run along and join them. If we are to face the lions in the arena, better to face them together, right? There is strength in numbers.

CCTV in School Toilets

The Telegraph today reports that over 200 schools in Britain have had CCTV installed in the toilets and changing rooms.

It looks like Big Brother isn't just into surveillance for adults, but is into kids too. Who, exactly, is going to be watching these images of children in the toilets and changing rooms of schools?

No, don't tell me. G4S?

Deo Gratias...

Bishop Lang of Clifton Diocse

Courtesy of The Catholic Herald...

The Diocese of Clifton has cancelled a lecture which was due to be delivered by the Catholic Professor Tina Beattie as a result of her support for legalising same-sex marriage.

The professor at the University of Roehampton was scheduled to deliver a talk on “Mary: Mother of God and a model of a pilgrim people – Lumen Gentium’” but a recent update to the online programme stated that the talk for later this month was cancelled without elaboration.

A statement from Clifton diocese clarified Professor Beattie would no longer be speaking on behalf of the diocese. A spokesman for the diocese said: “Over the course of the last year, Clifton diocese has put on a series of different lectures to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Controversial dissident Catholic: Beattie

“Subjects have included among others; ‘A Word for life – Dei Verbum’, ‘For the life of the world: Vatican II and the mission of the Church today – Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes’ and ‘A Church reaching out to other faiths and to people of good will – Nostra Aetate and Dignitatis Humanae’.

“Speakers have included Bishop Declan Lang; Fr James Hanvey SJ, Fr Timothy Menezes, Professor Paul Murray and Professor Gavin D’Costa. “In September 2011, Professor Tina Beattie was invited to speak on ‘Mary: Mother of God and a model of a pilgrim people – Lumen Gentium’.

“In the light of the controversy over a recent letter which appeared in the Times, signed by Professor Beattie and 27 others, about proposals to extend marriage to same-sex partnerships, in discussion with Professor Beattie, Clifton Diocese has decided to cancel the lecture.”

Thanks be to God! For full story click here.

Building Families Show 2013

Yesterday I nipped into a nearby shop to buy a lighter and decided to have a quick flick through Gay Times magazine. I wondered, 'Exactly what does this magazine write about every month' and decided to have a gander. Despite the fact that its pricey, at £4.20, I decided to buy a copy. Above, in the pictures of a double-spread advert emblazoned on pages 4 and 5 of this month's edition, is the reason why.

It is disturbing, this advert, on many levels and for different reasons. Firstly, we know that it IVF, surrogacy and fostering does already occur within gay 'partnerships', so, nothing new there. However, this event, The Building Families Show, is targeted explicitly at the gay community - a gay day in which gay people can come and explore the avenues for 'building families' with surrogacy groups, IVF groups, fertility groups and fostering and adoption groups.

The second reason it is disturbing is that the vast majority of the public do not read Gay Times. The only readers of the Gay Times are, in fact, the gay community themselves. Therefore, this event is not something advertised in your average magazine or newspaper. I have a feeling that if the vast majority of Telegraph readers saw this advert, they would begin to wonder what the World was coming to.

Third, while the gay marriage legislation is evil for so many reasons, this constitutes one of those reasons. In the same-sex marriage legislation that is proposed, children, or the interests of children appear nowhere. The one thing that those who support same-sex marriage never talk about is children because firstly, gay couples cannot achieve pregnancy by natural means (injuring their argument for marriage) and secondly, because I expect they know that the vast majority of British people, while conceding some aspects of gay 'partnerships' in terms of rights, do not want to see the rise of the 'Gay Family' as a rival to 'THE Family'.

In fact, if the militant gay community were honest and said, 'Well, actually, what we see for our future is bringing about a society in which hetersexual and homosexual families live side-by-side in a kind of parallel vision of the family, but which always exist in a certain tension', most British people would drop the political correct dogma and be 'really rather concerned'.

Fourth, exactly where are the interests of the blond haired, blue eyed, genetically almost perfect, adorable bundle of joy served in all this? As far as I can see, the baby pictured in the nappy is being presented as something of a pawn in a game and is most certainly being presented as a commodity. You're in a gay relationship, you want children, you can't have them, we can help and you should come to our event. Yep, you can basically buy a baby from us!

Fifth, let us make no mistake. The idea being presented to the British public that the package of 'gay rights' that lead to 'gay marriage' do not constitute a threat to all of society is garbage - a malicious deception. What is being presented above constitutes a radical rupture from what has constituted the idea of the family down the centuries. The same fundamental idea of the family is still in place today. It is the structure that binds together society, still. What is being destroyed in the homosexual agenda is not just marriage, but also the family. It has been said that if 'gay marriage' comes into force, we need a new word for marriage, but it looks like we would also need a new word for 'family'.

Of course 'gay marriage' affects all of us, because whether you are 'straight' or 'gay', your marriage and your family are affected by the destruction of the meanings of these institutions. Your children in your school will be indoctrinated with the propaganda of the gay community. You, as a parent, will not be able to protest if your child's sex education suddenly becomes a graphic exploration of homosexuality. If you want your child to believe that marriage is between one man and one woman, your rights to teach your child this will no longer exist and who knows what, in the future, the penalty for your 'heresy' might be?


And, finally, as liberalism makes its triumphant march through society and considers invading Poland, recall that the hallmark of liberalism is its intolerance of the opposition. Therefore, as any kind of thought, speech or action which denies the Homosexual Magisterium becomes more and more condemned as 'bigotry' - a trend that could escalate into more legislative 'hate speech laws', then the prospect of an Orwellian 'thought police' ruling society becomes more likely.

Therefore, I don't consider it scaremongering to alert readers to the possibility that, in truth, if this gay marriage proposal is not shown the back door pronto, opponents of 'gay marriage' could have their children taken away from them and given to couples who will educate them in the ways of the State's emerging religion of liberal fascism. It sounds absurd and it sounds frightening, but the inherent logic of liberalism and its trend towards the crushing of all opposition suggests that it may be so. We can't have bigots raising children to be bigots, so let's give the children to a nice gay or lesbian couple who will not indoctrinate the children with bigotry. Should we all just emigrate to Poland or stay and fight?

My thoughts...Fight and pray! Fight for true freedom and liberty! Tell the World what is truly at stake here! Freedom itself!