As sure as day turns into night is the World going more bonkers with every passing day. Hardcore pagans are well and truly in the frame of the multicultural, politically correct society and the police are being given guides in how to 'deal' with them. Have they never watched 'The Wicker Man' or something? I guess we have to accept that living in a pluralistic society means that we have to respect wizards, warlocks, druids, witches and people who believe say things like, "I was lost once. I thought I was going to end up in Heaven or something, the way I was living, but thankfully 'old nick' introduced me to palm reading and tarot cards and I haven't looked back since, with loads of cash off the impressionable in this life and a nice warm place for me when I die."
The advice is contained in a 300-page "diversity handbook" which gives officers a range of "dos and don'ts" when approaching followers of a range of religions and other beliefs, from atheism to Zoroastrianism.
Instructions include avoid touching a witch's "Book of Shadows", which contains their spells, or handling their ceremonial dagger. The online handbook also advises officers not to jump to conclusions if they encounter a situation where a blindfolded, naked person is tied by their hands – they could merely have stumbled upon a pagan ritual, where such activities are normal practice.
You can imagine it, can't you. A couple of police are called to an 'incident' in a London road. They've taken a call from a distressed man crying and saying, "Hurry, she's got a massive knife and she's going to kill me! My hands are tied!" On arrival they crash through the door of number 666 Hades Street only to find a naked man tied up, blindfolded and praying for deliverance.
A woman dressed up as Kate Bush in the video for 'Wuthering Heights' comes in and says, "Can I help officers? I was just preparing my massive knife to perform a satanic ritual upon this man? Would you like a cup of tea?"
The officers respond, "No, madam. We received a distress call for this address and we can see now you're just going about your religious rituals. We won't disturb you any longer. We'll have your door fixed first thing tomorrow. Come on Jeff, fancy a pint?"
The man cries out, "Please God! Officers, please help me. She's going to kill me!"
The officers reply, "Sorry son, its not our job to interfere in religious practises. Lighten up! She's only practising her religion! Chill out! Is this man disturbing you, madam?"
"No," the witch replies, "but thank you for your concern. Night officers! Shall I see you out?"
Now, I'm waiting for the comments saying, 'Dear Mr England, you do a terrible disservice to witchcraft...'
I was in Brighton last night and stumbled across the former drummer of my now defunct, inactive 'folk-rock' band. We reminisced over our heady days playing the Hare and Hounds to four people and a barman. Oh, yes, those were the days! Outside of the pub, I found some undead people and interviewed them. Brightonians, eh?! You gotta love 'em! All Souls is Tuesday I'm told, by the way, not Monday!
I had an email from an Anglican friend of mine last night, telling me to stop banging on about homelessness and religion, to talk about other things and 'What on earth would your parents think if they saw your blog?'
It's too late, mate, they've already seen it and I've already taken the phone call!
With this in mind then, I thought I'd post up something totally inoffensive to all apart from people who hate Creedence Clearwater Revival. This song makes no sense whatsoever, it looks like the drummers on acid, in fact it looks like they're all on something, come to think of it, but it will put you in a good mood for the day.
"How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven! It would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle."
Reading The Telegraph, I saw that society's self-righteous war on vice (for some) goes on unabated.
The Catholic Church condemns vice in whatever form it comes. Holy Mother Church proclaims (well, in some 'eccentric', 'taliban stronghold' parish Churches dotted around the land) that we are poor sinners who can find happiness in Christ alone.
The Church, however, like Her Divine Founder, Our Lord Jesus Christ, can or should be able to smell relativist hypocrisy or indeed ecclesiastical hypocrisy a mile-off. Primarily, the Church is the Instrument of Salvation and forgiveness, the Ark of Truth and Dispenser of Mercy. She is here to save souls in proclaiming the Gospel. While ever conscious of the need to encourage us steadfastly towards holiness of life, She is as acutely aware now of our human weakness, our fragile, fallen human nature as ever She was.
And, if there was one vice Our Blessed Lord could not abide, it was the rank hypocrisy of those who followed the 'letter of the law' rather than its spirit. What Christ saw in the Pharisees was a false religiosity that honoured appearances before God, the law before Justice, sacrifices before Mercy. This is one very, very good reason why the Church should come to the defence of alcoholics and drug addicts whether homeless or not. Stay with me on this one, because, though it sounds terribly wet and liberal, I assure you, that in coming to the defence of drug addicts and street drinkers, we are ploughing very fertile ground for the Gospel and here is the reason.
We live in an age in which sin is glorified, promoted and embraced. We live in an age, and I just so happen to live in a town, where sodomy, abortion, adultery, divorce, all manner of sexual activity, pornography and, up to a point, drunkenness is accepted, promoted, condoned and defended. In this country, sin, even the sin of murder, is enshrined into legislation.
You would think, therefore, that in the United Kingdom, sin had had its victory and that Christ had never come. Everyone is free to sin and live for pleasure alone, for it is a lawless country of loose morality, immorality indeed, debauchery and excess and everyone is partying in a big city of vice and enjoying every minute of it. Or are they?
No, most certainly they are not! It is a case of one law for some and another law for others. This, this, is perhaps one of the profound and grave, secondary, or tertiary scandals of sin - that when the poor sin, they are punished, but when the rich sin, they are protected! So it is, that in media offices around the country, in police, in solicitors, or every level of 'respectable society' you will find all manner of vice, from drugs to the rest. Who is punished? Hardly anybody! If you are a drunkard or cokehead working for a respectable firm and you get wasted every weekend, who is punished? Very, very few. But if you are poor and honest, and you do not pretend to be that which you are not, if you are homeless or a hostel dweller in Brighton, and you sit on a green and drink all day, or you are entrapped by police and found with drugs, what happens then? You are brought before the judge and sentenced to a year and a half in Lewes Prison. When the poor do what the rich do, only in broad daylight, it is called 'anti-social behaviour' and results in jail sentences.
I will bet you what I've got, which is not very much, that the officer pouring a can away in St James Street pictured above is not half as innocent as he makes out. I'll bet you he's a first class sinner, because only a first class sinner would be so blind as to do such a thing to a poor man, forgetting his own sins and hating his brother enough to pour away his drink! I'll bet you that the judges who have judged my friend, Jason, so many times, are not half as respectable as they make out. I'll bet you what I have, which is not much, that half of the judges who have sent Jason down so many times for his offenses are not so clean as they have made out and as they have judged, so they too will be judged. The measure that they have given out will be returned to them!
This, brothers and sisters, this is one of the reasons that Our Blessed Lord loves the poor and encourages us to do the same. He loves Justice. He loves Mercy. He despises all lies and pride. He loves sinners. He loves the honest, the humble, those within whom there is no guile or deceit, not those who live for show, the proud, the respectable, the conceited. He urges us to love the poor because He is in them, mysteriously. He urges us to love the poor because they are punished in this life for their sins, while the rich believe that their money will buy them favour with men, protect them from retribution for wrongdoing and all because they think not of God. He urges us to love the poor because the punishment that He received in place of all of us, the sufferings and the scourgings of His Blessed Passion are renewed or made visible in them. Our Lord Jesus Christ loved sinners. He died for sinners! He still loves sinners!
'How can you love God who you cannot see if you do not love your neighbour who you can see?'
This was the question posed by St John, the Beloved Apostle. Those who deny the humanity of the unborn, even in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, scans showing the development of the unborn child, still deny the humanity of the unborn because they cannot love that which they cannot see face to face. We are ploughing fertile ground in showing to society the sufferings of the Poor and the shameful way in which they are treated, since there can be little denying their humanity! They talk, walk, breathe, they are visibly human, and while the rights protected for the rich are so often removed from them, and they are so often treated like dirt, we can stand up and say, "No! These people have God-given dignity and you cannot deny that to them!" They can even say it for themselves. The Church, too, should defend them, since very few in society will do so. A Godless society will despise the poor for it will be blind. Even those who proclaim that there is no God, nor any objective reality, will turn around and condemn the very poor for their actions! Their hypocrisy rises up to Heaven!
Hypocrisy
We have found a great crack, a gaping chasm, a great weakness in the 'equal' veneer of secular society! Secular society prides itself on its 'equality' and 'fairness', imagining a brave new world in which religion has been overthrown and reason is supreme, of fraternal brotherhood. Yet, it is only equality for some! There is no moral reason, in a society in which there is no such thing as sin, objective wrong, to throw the poor man's drink away since he is only doing what everyone else is doing! How can secular society call itself just and fair, or equal, if society agrees with authorities that do what is reflected in picture above?
In a society in which sin is the certified norm, how can the authorities condemn the Poor whose only crime, in the eyes of the law, is not having the wealth to protect them from the force of the law. It is a supreme and diabolical irony that a post-Christian society, in which morality is arbitrary and relative, in which so much wickedness is excused and deemed acceptable, will quickly condemn the Poor for doing what the rest of society does, only in the open, in the streets. Beggars are routinely given ASBOs and if they breach them they are put in jail. Isn't it about time these aggressive beggars, those charity muggers who want our bank details on city streets were put in prison?! Don't give to these charity muggers because your money will only go on admin costs and their commission will get spent on booze, fags and possibly drugs.
She'll only spend her commission on booze and fags
How much has the 'voluntary sterilisation' charity shown that to us!? Yes! For when the rich abuse their children through adultery and that terrible scourge of society, divorce, nobody comes from the State to take their children away because it is obvious that these are not fit to be called loving parents! But when the Poor are deemed to 'neglect' their children, who is banging on the door with a police officer in tow!? That's right! Social bleeding services!
We, like Our Blessed Lord Who condemned Pharisees, can call these new Pharisees, the men of 'law' and the society that looks down on beggars, drinkers and drug addicts, that locks them away for their 'anti-social' crimes, 'hypocrites' and 'vipers', since those who judge them are no better than those who they unjustly condemn! We can say the same of social services, since in a society ravaged by divorce, psychologically abusing children, who are social services to judge the poor for not being 'perfect parents'!? Because it is a society that has forgotten God, it is a society that has enshrined human hypocrisy into the law of the land!
A lot of material has been written about Marriage Care, on the way in which, over the years, it has experienced a steady decline/freefall in reflecting Church Teaching on the Sanctity of Marriage.
I don't know too much about the background of that. I'm a new kid on the blog and all I can say is that, as someone preparing for marriage, and having paid up the £75 for the privilege of being prepared for something for which I am told that nothing can prepare you, it is a shambles.
Apparently, we will receive 3 sessions of pre-marriage preparation, after which I'll probably turn around and say, "Thanks for that. I'm still skint anyway so the marriage looks a long way off. Do you have 25p, please, I need some Rizla papers." I have been told by others who have gone through it that it really is a case of 'ticking boxes', that there's no real Catholicism in it. No wonder families are falling apart at a rate of knots, rather than the knots being actually tied!
I was shocked to learn that the Marriage Care organisation sends its 'clients' on to FOCCUS, an online questionnaire, for a 'Pre-Marriage Inventory'. Have these people no brains? Immediate questions that spring to mind are:
What if I didn't know how to use a computer?
What if I was too poor to own a computer and internet?
What if I had not been educated in online/internet shenanigans?
And, moreover, what on earth am I doing, filling in an inventory online for some company FOCCUS Inc, in the USA?! Am I an American? Who on earth is this company that Marriage Care have leapt into bed with just to do a psychological/compatibility questionnaire? What with being experts in marriage after God alone knows how many years, you'd have thought that they could think a pre-marriage inventory up themselves and have you fill it out at one of their sessions!
My fiancee has filled in hers online and my password has expired. I was about half way through. So, they've just emailed to say, that in order to reset my password, her password has to be re-set too, which means she has to do it all over again as well! Great! Well, isn't online technology just making everything so much easier!?
Surely, surely, Marriage Care could just send couples a preparatory questionnaire document that we can fill in or perhaps their own internet thing without assuming that EVERYONE uses the internet. There are still some trees left in the World, Marriage Care! Sack this US company off because they're a pile of balls! £75 for this crap and I was going broke at the time as well! Is this company just out to FOCCUS?!
Et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt.
And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
'No job, no career, no marriage, no sanctity, no vocation, no house, no children, no future. I'm a loser.'
If you have thoughts like mine, do not despair, for we 'lost causes' have a powerful intercessor and advocate in St Jude, even at the age of 33...for nothing is impossible to God, nor difficult...
Sweden: Famed for its meatballs, eugenics and 'strong welfare state'
I've had an email from a lady in the UK called Margaret. Thought it was worth posting. Everyone thinks Sweden is so great, forgetting its recent history in embracing the ideology of eugenics.
'I am the member of a group attempting to gain some publicity for a family in Sweden (one of many) who have been torn apart by the social services for no reason other than a difference of ideology .
The Swedish situation is extremely frightening, and actually more extreme than in this country, but serves as a warning for what can happen if these draconian powers, pitted against the rights of families, are not challenged. The undermining of the rights of families to bring children up according to their own beliefs is happening everywhere.
I know you will be aware of the attempts to enforce anti-Christian sex education policies in this country, together with the rights of parents to know what 'health' advice and 'treatment' is being given to their children.
My homeschooling friends report that there is also hostility in some quarters to their rights to educate their own children. This Swedish family are now appealing to the European Court of Human rights to have their child returned, but unless they get some more support the case might not even be heard. Many people are praying for them (including Tyburn Convent), but they could really do with a powerful voice(Powerful? Loud, maybe!) from the church militant, such as yourself, to spread the word. I am posting a link so you can check the case out for yourself: There is a link on the facebook group to an excellent website with more detailed information and heartbreaking 'before and after' photos. You may not feel that the case is relevant to your readers, but please check it out and see what you think.
So, there we go. In the words of Bryan Adams, in that hit that spent ages at number one, "You can''t tell me its not worth fighting for". Click here for a link to the Facebook campaign to have Domenic Johansson returned to his parents. Click here to sign a petition against his unwarranted seizure from his parents. We could see more of this happening in the UK, Europe and the US also, over efforts at parents to have their children homeschooled. Click here for a blog set up to raise awareness of the injustice suffered by Domenic and his family at the hands of the State.
On another note, if you look up the word 'Eugenics' on Wikipedia, Sweden feature strongly in the entry.
In Sweden, the Sterilization Act of 1934 provided for the voluntary sterilization of some mental patients. The law was passed while the Swedish Social Democratic Party was in power, though it was also supported by all other political parties in Parliament at the time, as well as the Lutheran Church and much of the medical profession. From about 1934 to until 1975, Sweden sterilized more than 62,000 people, with Herman Lundborg in the lead of the project. Sweden sterilized more people than any other European state except Nazi Germany. However, it is more reasonable to compare numbers per capita. If so, Finland has sterilised the most and the Nordic countries and the state of California sterilised about the same percentage. More people were sterilized in 1948 than any other year.
Sweden's large-scale eugenics program targeted the deviant and the mentally ill. Most sterilizations were voluntary (though voluntary does not necessarily mean free from persuasion or exhortation). The Swedish government inquiry found that about 30,000 of the 62,000 were sterilised under some form of pressure or coercion. As was the case in other programs, ethnicity and race were believed to be connected to mental and physical health. The Swedish government inquiry denied that the Swedish sterilisation program targeted ethnic minorities but did not provide any evidence for this and the government´s claims are contradicted by the experiences recounted by Swedish gypsies and travellers.
There is proof that the program targeted women. The goal of the program was to decrease deviant offspring. If one member of a family was considered deviant the whole family became the target of an investigation. It was perceived to be easier to persuade a woman to be sterilized than it was to persuade a man. For this reason women were more often sterilized than men, despite the fact that the medical procedure involved in the sterilization was simpler to carry out on a man.
Even as far as 1996, social democrats rejected paying compensation to those who had been sterilized. No one in Sweden raised the issue of compensation to the victims until there was international attention to Swedish eugenics following a 1997 series of articles in by the Polish-born journalist Maciej Zaremba, in Sweden´s largest daily, Dagens Nyheter. In 1999 the Swedish government began paying compensation to the sterilized and their families an equivalent to 21,000 USD to those who had "not consented" and who applied for the compensation.
The real 'pay day', of course, will come at the Last Judgment. Aside from the blatant strand of eugenics that runs through arguments for those who wish to offer drug addicts cash to cut their tubes, this information on the case of Sweden, as well as the obvious examples from history in the US and Germany should serve as a warning to us not to repeat their errors. Say a prayer for the victims of the tsunami in Indonesia too.
Yesterday was a breath of fresh air for me on a personal basis. I taught at the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project (BUCFP), Adobe InDesign, a desk top publishing software to a class of six. So much more rewarding and so much less exasperating than teaching a class of 33 six year old children! Also, it feels good to be able to use a talent God has given me in a positive way, rather than just arseing about like I normally do.
One lady has been asked by the BUCFP to design a 'Rough Sleepers Guide to Brighton', the contents of which have been drawn up with the help of Paul and Neil, regular users of the Soup Run.
There is a life-affirming atmosphere at the BUCFP. At lunchtime, the children come out of the creche and it feels like a proper family centre with people chatting and eating a cheap meal. Over the next few years it is likely that due to cuts and the resulting public sector unemploymed, this place will get even busier. Brighton has always been a bit of a graveyard for jobs, reliant on tourism and a great deal of seasonal work. The Council, Amex and Lloyds TSB have, in recent history, been the largest employers and all will surely be shedding staff in the near future, though the Spending Review did seem to let banks off rather.
A rough sleepers guide to Brighton is a good idea. It aims to set out the homeless services in Brighton from the perspective of someone arriving on the train. People without a 'local connection' usually get shafted. "Brighton's full," the Council will say, while leaving hundreds of properties boarded up and empty. St Peter's Church, the Soup Runs in Hove and Brighton, the First Base Day Centre and others will be featured, providing the homeless with a detailed booklet of all available services.
The level of social exclusion in Brighton is appalling. Jason related to me a couple of stories that I think are worth sharing. His rough sleepers worker, Harvey, accompanied him to a homeless hostel in Brunswick Square, Hove. He walked a particularly long route to get there with his worker. He was still wearing his heavy winter clothes and so was sweating profusely. When he finally arrived at the door of the hostel the proprietor opened the door, took one look at him and said he recognised him from other hostels and told him that he was "barred", summararily closing the door in his face. Either the hostels talk to each other or the proprietor judged Jason there and then because he looked unwashed and was sweating profusely so suspected he was on drugs. I don't know the owner's real motivations but Jason felt rather let down, as you can imagine. I can't help feeling that if St Francis was accompanying Jason he'd have gone mental and kicked the door in, only to quote the Gospel to the proprietor.
Another bad experience followed at an evangelical church in London Road when he walked into the room early while some of the volunteers were saying a prayer. He interrupted and asked them a question, which was answered by the "vicar", in Jason's words, coming over to him and grabbing him by the neck, pushing him up against a wall, chucking him outside and barring him from the Church meal, apparently permanently! I'll bet that vicar didn't expect news of his reaction to Jason getting online but, hey ho, there we go. Jason is also barred from the evangelical Christians '[MFI warehouse', Church of Christ the King, near where I live. They'll give him a meal but he is not allowed inside to be preached at and encouraged to say a 'Jesus prayer' to make his and all the homelesses' sins and misfortunes magically disappear, as so often these evangelical Protestants believe that it will. You could argue it is a Godsend to be excluded. It only sends him back to the One True Church more aware of the evils of Protestantism. I know Jason can be 'hard work' at times, but I really do think there is something diabolical in the way in which he is treated as 'sub-human' by so many. Landlords, hostels, probation, the Council, even 'vicars' don't know how to handle him and believe me, I've lost my rag with him on more than one occasion, thoughby the Grace of God I've never laid a finger on him.
Ideally, I'd like to start a magazine here at the BUCFP in which contributers can learn the design skills, write for the magazine or simply tell their stories and dispense some good old fashioned written justice to those in positions of power and responsibility who have crapped on them from a great height. The next post will also be a post along these lines! Bloody Swedes!
Firstly, thank you to a very generous Catholic priest in Bradford who has sent me a cheque for £200 for Jason to be used 'at my discretion'. So, obviously, I've given it to Jason to go and get sterilised...Joke!
No, seriously, I've spent some of it on food and tobacco for him because I don't think I can really start handing over ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty pounds to someone with an addiction to heroin. It would be on my conscience if I ever found him dead. Christ asked us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and shelter the homeless. He didn't say, 'I needed some smack and you gave me the hit that killed Me.'
So, I'm asking advice about whether I should invest the money in some winter warm clothing for Jason, thermals, gloves, hat, sleeping bag and a set of bongos or something (he can play the drums, you see) until the Council get their act together or the Police have decided to put him back in the slammer for walking on the wrong side or the road, or put him in the Travelodge Hotel for 3 nights of business class executive luxury. Any advice? Disappointing that they don't have a sauna, swimming pool and jacuzzi. I could just do a runner and flee to Rio, I suppose. Alternatively we could set up a 'Save Private Evans' fund and save enough to help him rent a studio in Brighton?
Thankfully, George and Diane are putting him up tonight after he's been fed by St Peter's Church in London Road, a former 'Hi, Anglicans!' church now ran by those superclean evangelical Protestants. Apparently, he was turned away from a homeless hostel in Brighton after it was arranged by the Rough Sleepers Team. I was told that it was obvious Jason was 'on various substances' so the proprietor slammed the door in his face. I don't know whether Jason was or wasn't 'on various substances', all I do know is that everyone in that hostel is 'on various substances', so I can't understand why the proprietor, who does very nicely out of the homeless's housing benefits thank you very much, was too concerned. Every second person in his hostel is on smack!
While on the subject, I've been asked to write a piece on the diabolical voluntary sterilisation programme controversy caused by the presence of Project Prevent on UK soil by The Catholic Herald, which, assuming it will be printed, will be the first piece I've ever had published in a national. Woo-hoo! I've written it already, an exclusive interview with Diane Brennan of Brighton, but obviously the copyright belongs to The Catholic Herald, so you'll have to buy the only Catholic weekly that hasn't sold its soul to Cardinal Bugnini and that consistently outsells The Catholic Times, The Tablet and The Universe, in order to read it.
Brighton Early Music Festival
For Brightonians, the Brighton Early Music Festival is kicking off soon. The most attractive evening of music seems to be Victoria's Requiem on Wednesday 3rd November at the 'Hi Anglicans!' church that enjoys sacred music more than the idea of full communion with the Holy See, to which you can listen below.
Devil's Dyke
Today, I went to Devil's Dyke, where I obviously went around asking people, 'I can imagine selling your soul for the World, but for Sussex?' There are some truly stunning views and beautiful rolling hills.
There were no microgliders today but one family flying a kite. The pub is nice too. We tried going for a walk but the wind was too strong. So we went back to the pub.
Going by the legend that has brought the National Trust owned massive portion of land a proportion of local fame, the Devil dug a massive dyke, presumably because he was bored and had nothing better to do. From this high point, you can see Box Hill, Cissbury Ring, Chanctonbury Ring and the Isle of Wight on a clear day, though it has to be said, the Isle of Wight just looks like a low dark cloud.
If you look at the photograph, you will see that in the United Kingdom, at least, overpopulation is a myth. There's still loads of land on which people could live. Its just that 99.9% of them choose to live in Brighton, Lewes, Haywards Heath and other densly populated town centres, so keep that piece of information in mind for when the eco-fascists come round to tell you to stop breeding and sterilise you because you've got more than two kids.
'Obedience to the magisterium and the demands of the natural moral law are not only important for salvation, but are especially required of Catholics if a culture of life is to be advanced in today’s world. Man is tempted to view the magisterium in relation to his individualism and self-pursuit.'
Of bishops: "When shepherds of the flock are obedient to the magisterium entrusted to their exercise, then surely the numbers of the flock grow in obedience,” he said. “If the shepherd isn’t obedient, the flock easily gives way to confusion and error.” Quoting the Prophet Zechariah, he said the shepherd can be “especially tempted” by the assaults of Satan who, “if he can strike him, the work of scattering the flock is made easy...Where there are problems of chastity, there are problems of obedience.” Rebellion against the moral truth, Archbishop Burke noted, “is a rebellion against God and all that he teaches us.”
The archbishop also stressed that today’s culture “teaches us to believe what is convenient and to reject what is difficult for us or which challenges us,” thus leading to a “cafeteria Catholicism” which “picks and chooses which parts of faith to practice.” He noted how this happened even among some bishops when they dissented from Paul VI’s encyclical “Humanae Vitae.”
Did you get that? I think he just mentioned the words chastity, salvation, Humanae Vitae, error, Satan, obedience and magisterium in just three paragraphs. Gosh! All sounds a bit extreme to me! Anyone would have thought he was a Catholic Archbishop with zeal for souls or something. He sounds like just the kind of Cardinal The Tablet would absolutely love! Go on, stick him on the front cover, why not?! I'll bet Mgsr Basil Loftus is over the moon as well. Oh yes! The litigious prelate of the Church, I'm sure, would be the first to want to congratulate Cardinal Raymond! Look, here he is celebrating Solemn Pontifical High Mass in the Usus Antiquior at St Peter's...
Social Services:"Hello. We've decided to take your child into care. We have to protect children because you're a drug addict/alcoholic/mentally ill person/too poor. Your newborn will be adopted to a wealthy, gay couple in Chelmsford. You'll only be able to have contact when she's 18."
Drug addict: "You evil bastards!"
In another part of the same town...
(Ring, ring)
Young lady: "Hello, is that the BPAS?"
BPAS: "Yes."
Young lady: "Hello. I'd like to kill my unborn child, please. I'm up the duff after some random shag and, anyway, it might have a foetal abnormality because I'm on medication for depression. I think the condom split."
You often hear a phrase when it comes to vulnerable adults, the poor and people that society consistently fails, gives up on or actually, wants to fail. It goes something like, "A lot of people fall through the cracks in society" or "Some people just slip through the safety net." Here we have a classic case in which Brighton and Hove City Council have opened up a crack and pushed a man down it.
I've just received a phone call from the office of Caroline Lucas MP for Brighton. Ms Lucas met Jason Evans, a friend of mine, recently. Having seen the video interview with Jason from over 3 weeks ago, she wanted to meet him and learn his story. He was honest with her and she was very receptive to him. Impressively (and I do believe this is genuine), she affirmed that she would do all she could within her power to house Jason as an emergency. Let's face it, she did not have to meet him in the first place, but she was quite shocked by my video interview with him. He might be 'trouble' in the eyes of the authoriries, but he is still a constituent. She seemed to warm to him.
I was then told more recently by the office of Caroline Lucas's Green Party, that Brighton and Hove City Council were 'waiting' on 'medical records' before housing Jason, to see whether or not they have a duty to house him. As far as I know, they have never done this before. Jason's vulnerable status is well-known to the authorities of Brighton and Hove. He has a record of mental health problems, a record of drug addiction and, yes, a record of 'anti-social behaviour' for street drinking and begging which runs until 2012.
Brighton and Hove City Council have consistently placed Jason in hostels in Brighton for a long time. So why, suddenly, the change of heart? Could it be that hostels have decided that Mr Evans is not 'welcome at the inn'? I know that he has got kicked out once or twice because he drinks. I received a call 20 minutes ago from the office of Caroline Lucas from an assistant who has told me that the Council have decided that, on the basis of Jason's 'medical records', the Council have no duty to house him, not even to place him in a hostel. Suddenly, very suddenly, Jason, who currently sleeps in my car in the absence of any State help, has been dropped by the authorities. I will not shut up about this. I will not stop until Jason Evans is famous in, at very least, Brighton.
There are a few reasons why this should be so. Firstly, although around 1,977 years may have elapsed since Our Blessed Lord taught during His Ministry on Earth, since He healed lepers and 'ate and drank with sinners' to the disgust of the self-righteous authorities of His time. Yet, what has changed? Nothing! Jason's ASBO has made him a prisoner in this town. If he could access the only nightshelter in Brighton, well, he couldn't because he's banned from that road. In a very real sense, Jason is a modern day 'leper', an outcast of society.
Since Jason Evans was released, nearly a month ago, he has had a shower or two. Where? My flat and the flat or another addict. He has had accommodation. Where? My car and at George and Diane's flat who have taken him in a few times. He has been fed. By who? George and Diane, me, other heroin addicts of the London Road and the churches, both Catholic and Protestant denominations of Brighton. The temperature is dropping day by day. Soon it will be very cold and Jason has now been informed that the Council have 'no duty' to house him. In fact, he has told me that the fact that he has no fixed address is, quite bizarrely, in itself, a breach of his probation licence, so that in fact he could be returned to jail for the crime of being homeless, when, in fact, he has done nothing than be released from jail only to find no help from the council in terms of accommodation.
I do not know how much pressure Caroline Lucas MP can put on the Council to house him. She will apparently put in a strong appeal for him. I have been told that she has a genuine concern for Jason. Ironically, even if Caroline Lucas wanted to put Jason up for a night, well, she couldn't, because he is banned from that road. If St Mary Magdalen's Church wanted to put Jason up for the night, well, the Priest couldn't because he's not allowed on that road. If Jason wanted to come to the Gregorian Chant workshop in Bognor Regis, well, he isn't allowed in Brighton Train Station. The main reason that I blog about Jason is that somehow, while he himself like all of us would admit he is 'no angel', somehow the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ is contained within him.
We are called, as Catholics, to keep our Works of Mercy hidden, so that we may give glory to Our Father in Heaven. We should not let our right hand know what our left hand is doing. This, however, counts as an exception because while Jason is a very troubled 40-year-old man, with a heroin addiction and drinking problem, Brighton and Hove City Council are crucifying him, and Christ, mystically as well and they do have a duty to house him. What he needs is love, warmth, friendship, support, discipline, loyalty, care, a listening ear, compassion, spirituality, mercy and to be granted a measure of humanity and dignity that most of us just take for granted day in and day out. He finds it only in parishioners of St Mary Magdalen's, other Christians and other addicts and other people who understand addictions and homelessness. If there is one thing I have noticed with Jason it is that only the Poor take in the Poor.
Jason is, if nothing else, a fighter, but this is something of an emergency. This is the first time the Council have relinquished any responsibility towards him. Jason only every receives bad news. Nothing good ever happens for him or to him. Starved of love as a child and young man, he has always had to survive, alone. So, frankly, if you are a journalist and you are reading this, then, yes, I have got a homeless man sleeping in my car and if there are any national or local reporters out there who want to ask me and, more importantly, ask Jason Evans exactly why, then you, my friend, are most welcome to do so.
For Heaven's sake, the last time he was in prison it was for walking on the wrong side of the f***ing road! If you're a journalist and you don't think that's a news story then you're in the wrong job because it is just one small step from it being '1984' for him to 1984 for whoever is deemed to be 'anti-social'! Keith Richards starts blabbing about his excessive drugs use and the World bends its ear! Hey, Keith, you understand drug addiction! Maybe you could take Jason in for a while because, last I heard, you weren't in prison for your offenses. Let's face it, you've got enough rooms! If you are a recognised journalist and you inteviewed Jason Evans, you would be doing Christ Himself a favour, more of a favour than Brighton and Hove City Council will ever do for Him, because the Council has just condemned a poor, homeless man to poverty, homelessness and a life with no sanitation or accommodation as we begin to enter winter! Third World country, Cardinal Kasper?! Yes, indeed, but I can tell you now that you will find that in Africa, there is, at least, a degree of respect for the human dignity for its poor!
Please say prayers for Jason and send him, if you like, some messages of good will and support. I can assure you he will read them and be most grateful.
I am greatly heartened that the dogma of scientific reductivism has not yet convinced the majority of the people in the United Kingdom and that most people recognise Nazism when they see it. Still, our beloved BBC has decided to 'open the debate' on the 'sterilisation of the unfit'. Oh, hang on, then again, commenters on the Telegraph article seem overwhelmingly in favour of it...
'A BBC Inside Out special follows a highly controversial American charity that wants to pay drug addicts cash to be sterilised. Drug addicts across the UK are being offered money to be sterilised by an American charity.
Project Prevention is offering to pay £200 to any drug user in London, Glasgow, Bristol, Leicester and parts of Wales who agrees to be operated on. The first person in the UK to accept the cash is drug addict "John" from Leicester who says he "should never be a father". The move has been criticised by some drug charities who work with addicts.
Project Prevention founder Barbara Harris admitted her methods amounted to "bribery", but said it was the only way to stop babies being physically and mentally damaged by drugs during pregnancy. Drug treatment charity Addaction estimates one million children in the UK are living with parents who abuse drugs.
Pregnant addicts can pass on the dependency to the unborn child, leading to organ and brain damage. Mrs Harris set up her charity in North Carolina after adopting the children of a crack addict.
Speaking to the BBC's Inside Out programme, she said: "The birth mother of my children obviously dabbled in all drugs and alcohol - she literally had a baby every year for eight years. "I get very angry about the damage that drugs do to these children."
After paying 3,500 addicts across the United States not to have children, she is now visiting parts of the UK blighted by drugs to encourage users to undergo "long-term birth control" for cash.
John, a 38-year-old addict from Leicester, is the first person in the UK to accept money to have a vasectomy after being involved in drugs since he was 12. It might work in America but Great Britain is a very different country” He said: "It was something that I'd been thinking about for a long time. "I won't be able to support a kid; I can just about manage to support myself."
Simon Antrobus, chief executive of Addaction, said while no-one wanted to see children brought up in a drug-using environment, there was no place for Project Prevention in the UK. "It exploits very vulnerable people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol at probably the lowest point in their lives," he said.
The Reverend Robert Black, of Victory Outreach, which works with former addicts in east London, said he thought Project Prevention's aims were "very devious". Maria Cripps, project manager at the Hackney Dovetail Centre which works with drug users and their carers, said: "I think Barbara uses some very extreme examples to get her point across. It might work in America but Great Britain is a very different country."
But Reverend Martin Blakebrough, director of Camden's Kaleidoscope Project in north London, said sterilisation was "worth considering" if it was right for the individual. A spokesperson at the British Medical Association said: "The BMA's ethics committee does not have a view on the charity Project Prevention. As with all requests for treatment, doctors need to be confident that the individual has the capacity to make the specific decision at the time the decision is required. The BMA's ethics committee also believes that doctors should inform patients of the benefits of reversible contraception so that the patients have more reproductive choices in the future."
Sterilising The Addicts is on Inside Out London, East Midlands, West, and Wales on 18 October on BBC One at 1930 BST and in Scotland as BBC Scotland Investigates:
What is heartening is the comments on the BBC 'debate' with the large majority of people condemning this 'charity' outright. Here are some that I like:
'What a government .. from 1984 to 1933 in 6 months.'
'Its a poor man's Eugenics. Sick thinking by any standard. The group should be prosecuted.'
'As a child of two former drug addicts I am disgusted by this 'charity' and the posts here supporting this scheme. Myself, brothers and sister are all productive members of society. I have never been in trouble with the police and I have no addiction issues. I am happily married and I have worked and paid taxes for almost twenty years serving this country, are you saying I shouldn't have existed? This is nothing short of eugenics, if we support this, where do you propose we draw the line? This isn't a stance from a moral high ground, this is my life you are debating here.'
'Does it include tobacco and alcohol addicts?'
'End your bloodline for £200 [Or a 2-day drug binge].'
'It's scandalous. What kind of Charity would hand money to a drug addict, KNOWING what it will be spent on? '
Of course, in a country in which abortion rates are still shockingly high, the United Kingdom is yet to truly throw off the yoke of industrial scale killing of the unwanted and inconvenient. I, for one, however, am thrilled that the hearts of our brothers and sisters in the United Kingdom have not grown so cold as to go along with this wicked plan. We fought a war against Hitler, we fought against this kind of insidious evil and Pope Benedict XVI commended us for it while he was here. Just as a thought, what do you think Richard Dawkins and Professor Steve Jones would make of this idea? I mean, they're the ones who are always worrying about the quality of the 'gene pool'. It strikes me that ideas such as this one espoused by the woman who's promoting it in the UK are the result of atheism's default position. In the absence of any belief in Redemption, this can appear wholly logical.
Yesterday was a quite breathtaking day all round for the Holy Faith. Fresh from the jubilation of faithful Chilean miners being released from the dark recesses of the Earth, so too the Bishop of Fulham and the congregation of St Peter's, Folkstone left a sinking ship to grab onto the life raft offered by the Holy Father to join the True Barque of Peter.
So, too, there was joy on the streets of London as over a thousand pilgrims prayed the Holy Rosary and sang hymns to the Great Mother of God on the Rosary Crusade of Reparation, from Westminster Cathedral to Brompton Oratory. I've posted a couple of clips for readers to get a taste of the atmosphere of the solemn, but profoundly joyful walk.
On the way there I was sat opposite a young man with Rosary beads on. He was listening to his I-pod or whatever all the way there, but all the way there I was gagging to ask him if he was going on the Crusade, but of course, it is more likely that they may have just been 'fashion' Rosary beads. Someone had left a copy of The Guardian where I read that Tony Blair divulged in his memoirs how he and Cherie made love on the night when he decided to bomb Iraq. 'On the night of 12 May 1994', he writes, 'I needed that love Cherie gave me selfishly. I devoured it to give me strength...' which just conjoured up horrendous images in my mind of Mrs Blair saying, "Oh, give it to me, you mass murderer, you!"
I met Once I was a Clever Boy and All the Little Epsilons there and also saw familiar faces from the happy if combative wait to see Pope Benedict XVI arrive and leave at His Holiness's Westminster Hall speech, though no Protestant protestors, thank God. We were even promised that plenary indulgence on the conditions of Confession and reception of Holy Communion for which we campaigned while waiting for the Holy Father!
That the Mother of God rejoices at the prayers of her children in this vale of tears is undeniable, but when one reads stories like this one about social services involvement in the life of a Ugandan Catholic mother and her children, we realise how much we are not just in need of making reparation for our sins, but the sins of the whole World too, that wound her Immaculate Heart. It is truly shocking. If there is one thing (and we know that there is more than one thing) that cries out to Heaven for Vengeance, it is stories like this. Our Blessed Lady knows all about the heartbreak and agony of mother's who have their children ripped away from them by a band of the wicked. How much pity and sorrow she must feel for mothers who suffer like this! May those in the career of 'child protection' learn justice, mercy and the dignity of all those with whom they come in contact! The homeless woman actually asked Social Services for help! What did she get? Crucifixion! Vipers!
Moved by the mouthwatering prospect of a British Heresy Trial, I realised that the Church has, down the ages, experienced times when things that people have said about other people have led to some extraordinary trials and outcomes.
Here are a few of the famous ones...
The Case of St Stephen Vs Some Jewish Priests
St Stephen, famed proto-martyr of the Church, honoured by the whole Church reportedly said some defamatory things about some Jewish priests of his time. Here is what he said.
"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him - you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it!"
The Libertines (not to be confused with the band of Pete Doherty and Carl Barat) were greatly affronted by Stephen's words, knowing that his words may have damaged their public reputations and replied, more or less in unison, "We'll see you in court, mate!" The court was established within about 20 seconds and the verdict of 'guilty' was reached just 10 seconds later. In the case of St Stephen Vs Some Jewish Priests, then, it is hard to see who was the victor, since although Stephen was sentenced to immediate death by stoning, his face became as an angel and having forgiven those who he had libelled and defamed, saw Christ welcoming him into Eternal Glory.
St Anthony of Padua Vs Some Heretics and then Some Fishes
The Little Flowers of Assisi (1476), a Church-recognised document on St Francis and the Early Franciscans cites a case between St Anthony of Padua and some 'heretics'. According to the document...
'St Anthony being at one time at Rimini, where there were a great number of heretics, and wishing to lead them by the light of faith into the way of truth, preached to them for several days, and reasoned with them on the faith of Christ and on the Holy Scriptures. They not only resisted his words, but were hardened and obstinate, refusing to listen to him.'
They cited that because of St Anthony's words that their public reputations had been damaged and replied, "We'll see you in court, mate! You'll be hearing from our solicitors in the morning!" At least one of them wrote for a Rimini publication on matters pertaining to the Catholic Faith entitled 'The Rimini Times'.
The case, however, was thrown out of court by the judge relatively quickly when these heretics heard that St Anthony, realising that his words were lost on the heretics began to preach to some nearby fishes. The Little Flowers of Assisi continues...
At last St Anthony, inspired by God, went down to the sea-shore, where the river runs into the sea, and having placed himself on a bank between the river and the sea, he began to speak to the fishes as if the Lord had sent him to preach to them, and said: "Listen to the word of God, O ye fishes of the sea and of the river, seeing that the faithless heretics refuse to do so."
And so preach to the fishes he did. One of them was affronted, claiming that he had been libelled and said, "You'll be hearing from my solicitor in the morning! This matter is now in the hands of my legal advisors!" Extraordinarily, however, the rest of the fish, more less in unison told that fish to "Shut up! We're listening!" Anthony continued to preach and the document reports that...
'At these words the fish began to open their mouths, and bow their heads, endeavouring as much as was in their power to express their reverence and show forth their praise.'
According to the document...
St Anthony, seeing the reverence of the fish towards their Creator, rejoiced greatly in spirit, and said with a loud voice: "Blessed be the eternal God; for the fishes of the sea honour him more than men without faith, and animals without reason listen to his word with greater attention than sinful heretics."
And so the giant Saint of the Church eluded the justice of the civil authorities and was never again threatened with legal action by either man or indeed fish.
Our Lord Jesus Christ Vs 'The World, the Pharisees, the Devil, the People, Sin and Death'
Having upset the religious authorities of His time, Our Lord Jesus Christ was slain unjustly upon a Cross. His only 'crime' was that of being the Innocent and Holy Son of God and for proclaiming His Love for poor sinners and His desire to reconcile all men and women to the Eternal Father.
"We'll see you in Court!" cried the Pharisees and indeed the sinners of the whole World called out for his blood and my, did we get it. The trial of Our Lord Jesus Christ was the most extraordinary trial in the story of the human race. Our Lord Jesus Christ was put to death by Crucifixion following some of the most unprofessional judicial proceedings in the history of the World.Cited by judicial historians as another example in which human justice failed abysmally, the Devil, the World, Death and the sins of the World obtained but a phyrric victory, since Christ conquered sin, the Devil and death, ransomed sinners with His Blood and obtained for sinners pardon and the Hope of Eternal Life.
Damian Thompson has outrageously suggested that Bishop Kieran Conry was annoyed by the amount of Latin in the Westminster Cathedral Papal Mass during Pope Benedict XVI's joyously successful visit to the UK.
According to a correspondence, dated 23rd September 2010, that he has obtained between a 'traditionalist' and His Lordship, Bishop Kieran wrote...
'Thank you for your letter with regard to recent papal liturgies. Your experience seems to be different from mine. I have heard voices expressing dismay at the amount of Latin used. Moreover, the choice of Latin was not necessarily the Pope’s. So, for instance, it had been agreed that, at papal Masses, were the Kyrie to be in Latin (or Greek, of course) then the Gloria would be in English. However, it seems that the Director of Music at Westminster (and not the Pope or Archbishop) chose to ignore this and insisted on singing both in Latin.'
I have responded to Damian's scandalous suggestion and shameless quoting out of context by defending His Lordship against the slur that he was not happy with the use of Latin for large parts of the Mass.
'Well I am just shocked that anyone should suggest that His Lordship wanted less Latin in the Mass, even though its abundantly clear that His Holiness is trying with every liturgical action he makes to reassert the need for the whole Worldwide Church to embrace the holiness of the Church's tradition.
Outrageous. Scandalous. Everybody knows that His Lordship and our Beloved Pontiff are of one mind, and one heart, indeed, on ALL issues, moral, doctrinal, theological and liturgical. There is not a hair, even, between the theology of these two men.
You're reading the letter of the letter, rather than the spirit of the letter. The spirit of the letter from His Lordship clearly reveals his profound love of Latin and love for Pope Benedict XVI.'
Go over to Damian's blog and give him a good telling off for this total misreading of His Lordship's letter. Scoundrel!
On The Telegraphor the BBC. Not often we get good headline news. It's all very heartwarming stuff.
This bit is particularly satisfying.
'08:06 The authorities initially said the 33 men might not be out by Christmas. They could now all be out in 24 hours.'
Prayer works and certainly helps!
According to the BBC...
'Correspondent James Read says the number 33 has taken on a special significance for the miners, who are known to be superstitious: there are 33 miners, it took 33 days for the drill to complete the rescue shaft and Roman Catholic Chileans believe Jesus Christ was 33 when he died. Even President Sebastian Pinera mentioned the "magic number" in his triumphant speech after the first miner emerged from the shaft. The date of the rescue 13/10/10, adds up to - you guessed it - 33.'
Now that is freaky! There are also 33 degrees in freemasonary, so I hear. Let's hope the Chilean President isn't into that kind of diabolical wickedness! I'm 33 myself now, having had a birthday on the Feast of Our Lady of Victories. For us and these Chilean miners, Christ died and descended to the 'belly of the Earth' Himself. There is no human experience that Our Blessed Saviour did not share. Even sin, He knows it, since though He was without sin, He took it upon Himself upon the Cross and in the Agony in the Garden sweated blood over its horror. God bless and protect these miners! They're going to make a movie out of this I'll bet.
It's called Operation San Lorenzo named after the patron of miners! The rescue that is, not the film.
I wouldn't have posted up the video above but Providence has struck, or perhaps just one of those freaky co-incidences that happen in this totally accidentally-formed place called Earth somewhere amidst a gigantic Universe, especially in the realm of the Internet. This evening I watched a TV programme on the BBC I-Player called Before the Big Bang, concerning the efforts of brain-box scientists to decipher what existed before the Big Bang. 'Crikey', I thought. 'Now that is what I call ambitious!' You can watch it by clicking the link.
Some suggested that the Big Bang didn't happen and that it was a Big Bounce or something, one said the Universe was a multi-verse and another said the Universe exists inside a big membrane or between two massive membranes and another said the whole thing is like a massive block of cheese with holes in it. Of course, all the theories are all very interesting, none of them remove God from the 'equation', but they are all just theories. Somehow, if we found out how everything came to be, I don't think it would make us that happy. Unfortunatley, the details of whatever they all said have gone right over my head. I'm happy to leave these scientists to make futile attempts to explain how and to do the thinking for me because if I make it to Heaven, perhaps I'll find out then. As far as I can see, Creation is the biggest Miracle ever save for the Incarnation and the Resurrection and I was present to none of them. For now, I'm happy to live and play my smaller than the smallest ant's part in God's inexplicably huge creation and to try, feebly, to do His Will.
As far as the Church is concerned, the field of science is a noble pursuit in which learned men learn even more about the laws of nature, physics, astronomy, cosmology and the rest, probing God's creation and marvelling at the wonder of it all by writing endless mathematical sums and equations on blackboards, hoping to go down in history as the man who 'worked God out', as if, somehow, the Blessed Trinity, just before the dawn of Creation had a blackboard and the Eternal Second Person of the Trinity looked up at the Eternal Father and said, "I don't know...Ah, this is frustrating. Holy Angels, turn the music down will you! Enough already! We have to get this exactly right! Father, did you say 10 to the power of 7 or 7 to the power of 10? Okay, magnetism, check. Gravity, check...Okay, I think this baby's ready to blow! Are you ready, Holy Ghost? Let there be...Hang on! How did those black holes get there!?"
Anyway, so I've watched this programme and I am looking at other blogs and I read from Damian Thompson about the fact that the Archbishop of Westminster deserves a 'red hat' for rescuing the Papal Visit, despite a public record of 'misguiding the Faithful' and that 'US doctors have begun the first official trial of using human embryonic stem cells in patients after getting the green light from regulators', which goes to show that scientists really can 'probe' God's creation just that one step too far, when I see that one of the physicists I've just this evening seen talking about a Multiverse of cheese or something also has been talking about the future and what he thinks will come and this time, he really does sound like a fruitcake!
Of course, the idea that there is an 'Illuminati' of 'elites' planning a sinister global Government or a 'New World Order' under the head of the Antichrist is nonsense, but then, hey, its just a theory...
According to The Telegraph, the heroic 33 Chilean miners trapped in a deep shaft mine following a terrible collapse, have beenarguing among themselves in their conversation with the Health Ministry "...were fighting with us because everyone wanted to be at the end of the line, not the beginning," he told reporters.
The Chilean miners have been trapped at a depth of 2,300ft for more than twice as long as any other known survivor of a mining accident.
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI prays the Rosary in Fatima...
Worries, worries, worries. I worry a lot about friends of mine, some more than others, family, unemployment and my own in particular, what with hoping to marry and all, the way the World is going to the dogs and appears very much to be ravaged by them, the state of the Church in the UK and all that, but if there is one thing that keeps me awake at night it is my End, which is in one sense rather selfish, but in another, er, not, because, after all, God doesn't want me to burn in Hell for all Eternity and be separated from Him eternally either, or Our Blessed Lady or any of the Saints.
If there was one thing those who have gone before us worried about at night, it was their Salvation. If they didn't worry about it, I guess, then they wouldn't have prayed so much, often at night, loved God so much and become Saints. When I am in grave and mortal sin, I ponder on my bed and am fearful. 'Come, Lord Jesus!' we say at Mass, yet I find myself crying out, 'Please don't come, Lord Jesus, because I am not in a State of Grace!' or 'What if the Lord should return tonight?!' or 'Perhaps if I hide under my duvet, he won't see me upon His Glorious Return?' or 'What if a massive tsunami came and decimated Brighton, since how long can the Lord hold back His Just Hand from this town?'
"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God," said St Augustine and how right he flippin' was! Yet the psalmist says, "From all my terrors, He set me free." It is easy to fall into presumption, if we are in a State of Grace. It is just as easy to fall into despair when we are in mortal sin. Both are sins against the Holy Spirit. Fr Tim Finigan recently posted on St Francis's Canticle of All Creatures, in which he prays...
Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.
No second death can do them harm.
"Fear is never a good motivation. The whole point of the Catholic journey is that it is a journey, and we try to hold together high ideals and understanding. That is the same for people who struggle in whatever way with their sexuality. It's an aim."
Now, I am but a poor and sinful layman, but I would like to take issue with the Archbishop on this comment. I would rather say that fear is never the best motivation, but in the absence of the best motivation, which is contrition for our sins and the firm purpose of amendment not to sin again out of pure love for God because He is Infinitely Good,it will do. The hope is that in preparing for our Confession that we pray that we are sorry for the right reasons and that we will resolve not to sin again for the right reasons and that our motivations will be good. For a starter, however, the fear of the Lord, which we are told is the 'beginning of wisdom' is not quite the 'misguided motivation' or nasty demon on our shoulder that the Archbishop rather concerningly suggests it is.
Yes, the Catholic journey is indeed a journey, a pilgrimmage indeed, and we do try to hold together 'high ideals' (of sanctity and holiness) and 'understanding' (of human failure and weakness since it is a fallen, though redeemed World, though we should concentrate on excusing others, rather than ourselves), but we are not to know when and indeed where that journey ends! We shall have to give an account to God for our words, deeds and actions and that Account could be in 5 minutes time or in 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years or at any point in between or after. We simply do not know, nor should we dare to presume that the Lord shall not call us to account tonight. While euthanasisa enthusiasts may protest, the right to take human life is, after all, God's alone, since from God did every human life originate. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, etc.
You see, the Middle Ages may be considered by many in the Church as a period when the Church was very powerful, when choirs sang beautifully in packed Churches, when reason was used in the light of faith and in which Catholic 'guilt' was simply an accepted part of life, but actually, it was a veritable goldmine of Saints in which Sts Dominic, Francis, Clare and Anthony and a host of others shine forth with such bright luminosity that infidels fall down blinded by the Divine light from the Monstrance from the convent window in Assisi. What is more, these Saints felt guilty about things that we would consider mere trifles. The erosion of Catholic guilt is seen by some, such as say, er, the Devil and all wicked spirits, as a great triumph, but guilt, grounded firmly in our actions, words, thoughts or inactions is really about our culpability before Almighty God. Of course, we can feel guilt the blame for which is not ours, say, if we were victims of another's sin that does not belong to us, but modern psychology, social sciences or perhaps even medics have tried to 'absolve' guilt or explain it away in terms of neuroses, even 'disorder'. The simple truth of the matter, however, is that only Our Lord Jesus Christ, through a Priest, can absolve actual sin or take it and the guilt that is its ugly little sister away, since He is 'the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World'.
Salvation does not make any sense if Hell does not exist. The Lord does not tell lies, nor, out of His great love for us and inestimably overflowing desire to save us, does He even mince his words or make what He desires to save us from sound even remotely palatable. The horror of Our Lord's Passion does not make sense unless sin is something so terrible that He Himself must undergo such a painful Sacrifice in order to atone for it, or something so deadly, venemous and poisonous that only his Most Precious Blood can wash it away. Is the Archbishop telling me, for example, one of his sheep, and others like me not to 'worry' or to ever be motivated by fear?
Mortal sin, the Catechism tells us, deprives the soul of the State of Grace. This is a very big thing we are talking about here and chiefly we are discussing the life of the Soul. Mortal sin places the soul in jeopardy big time and those in a state of mortal sin place, at precarious risk, their own and in my case, my own eternal Salvation. Therefore, I find the Archbishops words disheartening. Does he never worry about his Salvation? Does he not fear the Lord? I should hope so, since as Archbishop we need him, perhaps more than anyone else in the Hierarchy, to be holy! It is no good simply wishing this painful truth to go away. However, God in His Infinite Goodness has not left us alone. How could He since we are loveable creatures! O happy fault that won for us so great a Redeemer!
We have a remedy, and that remedy is Confession and Holy Communion. Confession and penance restore the sinner to health and the souls of those who have humbly confessed their sins may present themselves for Holy Communion having been reconciled to Almighty God. This is what Our Blessed Saviour came to do! Reconcile us to God, the Almighty Father! This is the cause of our joy! This is our Salvation! To draw upon a football analogy, since we know the Archbishop follows Liverpool F.C, Mercy United have beaten Justice Albion 5-1 and the game wasn't even played at home! It is a veritable victory, a triumph, a rout, a goal fest for Mercy! Ferry 'cross the Mercy! And always take me there, to the Place I love. That is, as long as we seek it while it is to be found. Please, we need our Priests and our Bishops to encourage us to seek it. They are, after all, our Shepherds and if there is one thing the World now needs it is a bloody good Confession! Personally, my experience of Confession is one of great relief as if a great load has been removed from my soiled Conscience, but, then, I cannot speak for everyone. Ultimately, Faith is not about feelings, but personally I always draw a sigh of relief because I have been rescued by my loving Saviour.
Honestly! I mean, we all smile knowingly and nod sagely at that bit in the Gospels when Our Blessed Lord tells St John the Baptist to stop shouting, 'Repent!' as He admonished him in the Jordan desert for his 'misguided attempt to motivate the faithful'! Don't we?! "Shut up, John, you're worrying them!" Our Lord said. Didn't He?!
'High ideals', 'understanding' and even a list of good Christian deeds so heroically long you could make a feature length Hollywood film about them will count as nought if we die in a state of mortal sin and our spiritual enemies tear us to pieces after our Death. We need to be reminded of that and the Archbishop certainly needs to be reminded of that because the God of the Catholic Church in the first century and the God of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages didn't just 'chill out' after the release of the second Rolling Stones album.
He is the 'Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End' and while 'to those who overcome' and persevere He will give the crown of life, to those who do not, He did not say He would. Of course we entrust ourselves and everyone we know to God's mercy but there is no denying that we have a battle on our hands and there is absolutely no room for complacency. We know what our weapons are. Along with the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, here is what the Church proclaims to be a very efficacious one. Our Lady does not promise that those who faithfully recite the Rosary will be given a backstage pass to Heaven. Through our prayer, through Her intercession, She gives us Hope that we shall be made worthy of a 'pilgrim pass' at all and that we shall obtain a happy Death and a holy end, in a State of Grace and strenghened by the Sacraments. Whatever state we are in, we can always pray the Holy Rosary since we can Hope, if not presume, that Brighton, at least, may be spared that massive tsunami...
These are exciting times to be a geneticist. These are exciting times, too, of course, in which to be a eugenicist, since new developments in the former give rise to new 'opportunities' in the latter.
It appears that the two schools of thought merge together quite neatly in the person of Professor Steve Jones, President of the Galton Institute and until June 2010, Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London.
Professor Steve Jones joins many other 'evolutionary visionaries' who have a large and vested interest in the field of human embryology. Professor Jones was, as you may remember, one of those signatories of the 'protest the Pope' letter in The Guardian. I guess Dignitas Personae didn't go down too well with Professor Jones. Nearly all of the signatories of that letter had an explicit agenda which was largely at odds with the Teaching of the Catholic Church.
Anyway, 'The Galton Institute', known seemingly quite unashamably as the British Eugenics Society until 1990, has produced a helpful guide for its members and those with an unhealthy interest in eugenics entitled, An Introduction to Stem Cells. They've produced the guide with the help of the eerily titled 'Progress Educational Trust' who boast of their organisation as one, 'informing debate on assisted conception and genetics', as if, somehow, these two subject matters should be routinely debated hand-in-hand and in the same breath.
What is starting to freak me out is that so many of these 'institutes', 'funds', 'trusts', 'foundations' and 'Royal Societies' are all such great friends. It is almost as if there is like a network of organisations with an interest in eugenics at work in all levels of Government, society, academia, medicine, social services, health services and pharmaceutical firms.
The new guide to stem cells, which does not just focus on adult stem cells (to which the Church has no moral objection) but goes into the grim detail of embryonic research states in the introduction, with no apparent hint of irony...
'...despite the excitement surrounding stem cells, this area of medicine is still in its infancy.'
According to the guide...
'Most of the ES (Embryonic stem) cells grown so far have been obtained from spare embryos donated by couples who have undergone in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.'
In other words, the IVF industry is feeding the embryology industry its embryos. I suppose that is why we have the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. That kind of makes sense, even though it is freakishly grotesque. I mean, where better to get your human embryos than from the IVF bank of spare unwanted human beings in freezers. The key words in this sentence is 'Most of...'. I mean, where are the rest coming from if not all are supplied by the IVF industry?
The Progress Educational Trust's 'website redevelopment is supported by Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health', so clearly links with the Government are pretty healthy. PET also produce BioNews, a free weekly news service 'on genetics, assisted conception, embryo/stem cell research and related areas.'
"If you're demented, you're wasting people's lives – your family's lives – and you're wasting the resources of the National Health Service."
Charming lady...The BioNews service is worth checking out if you are a pro-life campaigner. In June 2010, for instance, the BioNews website told interested parties that...
The UK's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has released a Working Party report, Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality. The peer-reviewed report updates the previous report published in 1996 and reviewed relevant international scientific studies going back to 1990.
The report found that it was not 'realistic' to seek to produce a definitive list of conditions that constitute 'serious handicap' for clinicians to use in interpreting the legal grounds for abortion under the 1967 Abortion Act. The Working party found this problematic since 'accurate diagnostic techniques are as yet unavailable. Likewise, the consequences of abnormality are difficult to predict'. Under the 1967 Abortion Act, a 'substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped' forms a ground for legal abortion with no gestational time limit in England, Wales and Scotland [1].
The report also recommended that the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme becomes centrally linked, so that the outcome of pregnancies with specific congenital abnormalities can be monitored over time.
Anyway, where am I going with all of this? Ah yes, well, it is pretty clear that with a man of the academic stature and enormous popularity within his field as Professor Steve Jones at its helm, the Galton Institute (British Eugenics Society) has its finger in many pies and that it associates with powerful institutions on a worldwide basis. The deep and burning obsession with the Galton Institute is now genetics and the possibilities in the field. Of course, they are interested in finding a cure for cancer and the rest, but, more than that, the Galton Institute is deeply embedded, rooted if you like in its own history, its family tree, which is steeped in social Darwinism.
Professor Steve Jones is the modern, acceptable face of the eugenics movement which got some really terrible PR between 1940 and 1945 and has taken some time to recover and get the show back on the road, and, on the road, that show most definitely is. That road, however, will lead this country to terrible ruin. That road will lead this country into Nazism and the Government do not seem to be saying 'No' to their wishes. What the Galton Institute is interested in is the steady elimination of the 'unfit'. It is not just concerned with building a future free from 'disease' and in curing disease, it is concerned chiefly with a future in which only those with a strong genetic gene pool, or, 'good stock' as they might call it, will be living. Theirs is truly a 'Kingdom of this world'.
This is one reason why my ears pricked up when I heard that Jeremy Hunt MP said words to the effect that the State could not afford to 'pay' for children in families that could not 'afford' them. The unfortunate inference is that people living on benefit, who are routinely described as 'feckless' and 'scum' on Daily Mail and Telegraph blog comments should not breed. I am very surprised that no other blogger, such as the Catholic, Ed West ofThe Telegraph, have picked up on the strikingly eugenic connotations of what Mr Hunt said.
The word eugenic basically means 'good birth'. In the Catholic Church we do not believe in such a thing as a 'bad birth'. We can certainly have a 'bad death' and die outside of the Church and without the Sacraments of God, but we believe that everyhuman being is made 'in the image and likeness of God', created by Him for 'some definite purpose', and ultimately, for the Beatific Vision of God. The vision of the Galton Institute, of Professor Steve Jones, of those that support it and of those that it supports, is, on the other hand, the vision of Hell itself.
