Pray

Let us do what he told us to do and live us he showed us to live, love us as he showed us to love.

Pray.

Turn towards the Lord. Trust Him. Walk humbly with the Lord.

For the One he held in his hands, He is the Lord Jesus, the Invisible Head of the Church.

He, the Lord, can turn our sadness into everlasting joy.

Goodbye to Our German Shepherd

It is unknown what was said on arrival at Castel Gandolfo, but I'm still hoping His Holiness said: "Aha! Had you all going! Take me back to St Peters! Can't believe you bought that one! Pope resigns! Honestly! As if!"

A prayer storm is now what the Church requires. Pray for our beloved Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI and pray hard for the man who will have the unenviable difficult task of filling those red shoes. There is a 'Twitter Storm' taking place right now and you can thank His Holiness at the trend #ThanksPontifex

Pray for the Archdiocese of Liverpool

Pray that the vacancy at the Archdiocese of Liverpool will be filled by a holy and worthy Archbishop.

Why not recommend some good names to the nuncio? Above all, pray for Liverpool.

The previous blogpost on this subject has been removed due to some offense caused to readers on the issue of the design of the Cathedral. Sorry to all offended.

Tim Stanley on Ricky Gervais

'Benedictines' swarm St Peters to bid farewell to a popular and greatly loved Pope

Tim Stanley today notes that the National Secular Society cannot pull in a crowd like this one. There are apparently 200,000 + people present in this image alone. The National Secular Society has, I believe, between 7000 - 10,000 members worldwide. No wonder Ricky Gervais is naffed off. I suppose that the National Secular Society are a creative and laughable, if no longer particularly funny, minority. Anyway, along the 'Where's Wally?' theme, I've created this 'Where's Ricky?' picture. Can you spot him? Clue: he's the guy who is always on the telly...

Great and Greatest

Christianity and Ideology

Adopt a Cardinal

I've been assigned a Cardinal to keep in my prayers in the upcoming conclave.

Learn more about Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga here.

Adopt your Cardinal here.

And remember, a Cardinal is for life. 

Not just for a conclave.

The Church's Critics Coming Out of the Closet

Mark Dowd: Catholic pundit who has a real problem with Catholicism

Dr Joseph Shaw wrote a fine blogpost on his LMS Chairman blog concerning a Telegraph article by Peter Stanford.

Peter Stanford has a reputation for writing 'outside of mainstream Catholic thought'. That is to say, that Peter has a problem with the Magisterium of the Church and has a habit of airing his grievances with the Church's teaching in a number of areas. Mark Dowd of the BBC, too has been discussing homosexuality in terms of a 'time bomb' in the Church. Of course, to Mark, anyone in the Church who condemns the homosexual lifestyle is naturally hiding their homosexuality and fears it being exposed. This is ridiculous.

In Christ, all men are held together, be he Saint, be he sinner

While it is true to say that there exists within the Church an element of contradiction on the issue of homosexuality (a proportion of Catholics are, shock horror, homosexuals), it is also true to say that nothing changes or alters the truth of the Church's teaching. Obviously, if anyone is teaching the Gospel - anyone - and is acting in any way contrary to the Gospel, then that person loses public credibility and the privilege of teaching authority.

The idea that because a proportion of clergy and laity and perhaps even Bishops have, at one time or another in their past, present or future, committed sins against purity and chastity - even sins of a homosexual nature - that this naturally leads to the conclusion that the Church's position on homosexuality should change is laughable. It should be laughed at while of course those acting contrary to the Gospel in teaching authority should be 'rooted out' of their positions for the good of the Church.

For centuries, millennia, the Catholic Church has been able to hold both the Saint and the sinner to Her breast, loving both, urging both on to love God. Liberal 'experts' who now appear in the press and on TV to share their wisdom that the Church's position on human sexuality is on its last legs because Her members - even in positions of great authority in the Church - fall short of the glory of God are being woefully ignorant of what the Church's mission really is. These people entirely miss the point of what it means to be a member of the Body of Christ.

The Church only exists to save sinners and to help sinners change sinful lives and to help sinners to be Saints in order to get to Heaven. If She were not this, there would be really no point in someone like St Augustine writing his Confessions. He could, instead, have told his readers all his sins and then said, "But anyway, I enjoy sleeping around and so I believe the Church should change its teaching on sexual matters. This is the way I am and I don't want to change. The Church's teaching on human sexuality is so 300 AD. I'm a 5th century man who moves with the times."

The great problem in the Church, in my honest opinion, is not the array of sexual sins afflicting Her members. We are not really an 'issue' Church. The Church is against and condemns all sin, vice and evil, of course, but the Church is obsessed with preaching a Person - not an ideology. Who is this Person? Of course it is Jesus Christ. For the Church, sin is not just a thought, word or action (or omission) that is contrary to the will of God. Sin is what wounds not only a soul, not only that which offends God, but that which comes between man's relationship with God. Mortal sins destroy the life of grace in a soul. Mortal sins can be forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance as well as venial sins. The Sacrament of Confession restores mortally sick souls to life, to health, to the life of supernatural Grace. Man's relationship with God, though impaired or even severed by sin can be restored. That is, you know, why Jesus died on the Cross.

Peter Stanford, former Editor of the Catholic Herald

'Cafeteria Catholicism' is the rejection of Catholicism - a rejection of truth

All this a child can accept. It makes perfect sense. We are sinners. We need God's help to be good Christians. When we are not good Christians, we need God's forgiveness. Through His Church and the ministry of the Priest, the penitent who has lost Heaven and deserves Hell can 'get back on the horse' and back on the road to Heaven.

So, the great problem is not sexual sin. The problem is that Salvation is no longer preached from those with a mission to preach it. Even in a secular age, lay Catholics can support Teachers and Shepherds and can and should preach the message of Salvation - not the message of sin. Liberal Catholics are obsessed with defending sin because they cannot proclaim Salvation. Let's be honest here, liberal Catholics do not want to be saved or lead others to Salvation. They neither open the door of Salvation to others nor enter the Kingdom of God themselves.

This is true in vast arenas of the Church's life and mission and it is something that afflicts priests, lay people, 'public Catholics' and even Cardinals and Bishops. This is what sadly afflicts those who preach something of the effects of Christianity - kindness and forgiveness - but who lack the inner power of the Gospel to proclaim Salvation to their flock. That said, if a Bishop spends his entire ministry teaching on the evils of abortion, artificial contraception, IVF, embryology, masturbation, drunkenness, vice, homosexual acts and fornication, but says nothing of Jesus Christ, His mercy and forgiveness in the Sacraments, then his ministry is an utter failure.

See, its not really about homosexuality. It's not really about contraception. It's not really about fornication. It's about the failure of the Church to preach Jesus Christ and to offer the World Christ crucified. We all desire God's mercy and we all desire the truth. We are drawn to goodness. For centuries the Church's liturgy has been a sermon on the great mercy of God, yet now God's mercy and Salvation is a peripheral feature of the Church.

Benedict XVI: A voice rejected by many in the Church, from the Cardinal to the lay man

And so, instead, we have lay Catholics preaching something entirely different to Jesus Christ in the media because, fundamentally, they do not want Salvation, or are ignorant of what it entails to attain it, are ignorant of the Gospel and leave their audience in total ignorance as to what the Church is actually for: savings souls and getting souls to Heaven because of their relationship with Jesus Christ in His Church. If 100% of the Church's priests and Bishops were homosexuals who were devoted to prayer, devoted to the poor, devoted to saving souls and devoted to Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother, I assure you, there would be no great crisis in the Church as there is now.

Sadly, we do have a crisis, but it is not a crisis of sexual ethics or a crisis that requires a revision of Church doctrine - as if an entire ocean of sin could sweep away God's laws! What we are experiencing, as Pope Benedict XVI made so clear is a crisis of Faith. It is a crisis that affects the modern Cardinal as much as it does the modern lay man or woman. We no longer believe in the power of Jesus Christ to forgive us. We certainly don't think He can heal us. We lack the Faith to be like little children and to trust Him like little children. We lack the Faith to be like little children and to accept what the Church teaches to be from God, or Divine origin. We believe that our own way is modern and therefore better - as if the heretics of the past did not think their 'way' was new and exciting! We have forgotten, as Catholics, how to pray, to hope, to love. We have forgotten how to love! We are told God loves us, but have forgotten or are left in the dark as to how to love God.

Of course, in Pope Benedict XVI, the Church has a light, we shall soon say, had a light, but as with the Lord Jesus, when light comes into the World and the Church and illumines Her with the truth, so often, even the Church members themselves reject the light and are dismayed by the truth. The light of Pope Benedict XVI has shone in the darkness of the World and the gloom of the modern Catholic Church.

His is a light that has illuminated the minds and hearts of all those who have listened to him and read him who hear the voice of the Lord and who love truth. If men and women in the Church in the modern age have rejected the message and pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, the 'humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord', then it is not because they don't understand what he is saying. It is because they have hardened their hearts in sin and error so much that they have become unteachable. This is true of the Cardinal, the Bishop, the Priest, the Religious and the lay man.

May God guide and protect you always Pope Benedict XVI, Holy Father, you who have been such a wonderful Shepherd to us. You have been a true Father in God to your flock spread throughout this unstable World. Thank you for your wonderful words and writings. Thank you for your humility and courage. Thank you for your visit to this country. Thank you for helping Anglicans to join Holy Mother Church corporately, for strengthening the brethren, for trying to heal divisions even within the Church and with other church communities. Thank you Your Holiness, for liberating the Traditional Latin Mass, enabling us to see in the ancient liturgy, that beauty, so timeless and ancient, so ancient and yet so new! The beauty that is Jesus! You have been an inspiration, Your Holiness. We love you. We thank you. Viva il Papa! Enjoy your retirement with the Lord Jesus and ora pro nobis! Whoever is elected your Successor, Your Holiness, you will be deeply missed and never forgotten.

The Homosexual 'Mafia' in the Church

A very interesting presentation by Michael Voris.

Pray for the Holy Father.

Pray for the Church.

Pray for the new Pope.

Inwood's Lenten Resolution

Paul Inwood has, due to some restructuring, given up music in Porstmouth Diocese for Lent.

The abstinence programme has been going so well that he will be giving up music for the Diocese for good.

Good for him.

Well done that man!

In times of austerity, times call for a leaner, meaner Church that's unafraid to make cuts when necessary.

Well done to Bishop Philip Egan for making those 'tough decisions' called for in these times. Portsmouth will regain its AAA rating soon enough if things carry on like this.

Don't worry, Paul, after Easter you can come busking with me in Brighton. You'll love it.

My Coffee, Fags and Internet Hell

Well into Lent and my life still revolves around coffee, tobacco and the internet.

From out of nowhere I just scoffed and entire packet of peanuts that I thought I would just 'nibble on'.

It's important to remember God loves losers especially those who've lost their AAA rating.

How is your Lent going?

The Church and Crisis

Abdicating Popes, Cardinals resigning due to sex allegations, Bishops, Cardinals, laymen calling for an end to priestly celibacy, renegade priests forming schismatic 'associations', Bishops fighting among each other and criticising the Pope.

The Church in crisis.

Despite the fact that we've been in similar situations in the Church's history it is easy to forget that the Catholic Church is founded upon huge crisis.

What greater example can there be than the Lord and Founder of this Divine Institution being nailed to the Cross and bleeding until dead while the Apostles run for the hills for fear, deny Him, forsake Him, betray Him.

Our God is a God Who brings good out of every evil. The power of love, the power of Christ is stronger than death, human weakness and evil. Pope Benedict XVI knows this. Let us follow the Holy Father's deep and profound trust in the Lord.

 "Let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ.” ~ Pope Benedict XVI

If only we would all trust Him as much as does our beloved Holy Father! Perpetual crisis in the Church should encourage us all to pray. God will never abandon His Church. He is with His Church, however besmirched She is by sin, confusion and misunderstanding, until the End of Time.

When You Read a Journalist Say Someone 'Must' Do Something, Ignore Them

The Church 'must' do this. The Church 'must' do that. The Pope 'must' look at this. The Pope 'must' look into that. Someone pass me the sick bag! Who does this guy think he is?!

As Catholics we understand that in every age the Church is 'black, but beautiful'. Saints arise that point the way to Christ in a sinful world and arise like a beacon of light in a Church of sinners.

St Francis of Assisi, St Anthony of Padua, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, St Philip Neri, St Maximillian "Hey, Nazis, why not kill me and spare the married guy with the kids?" Kolbe, the whole litany of Saints down the ages point to a mystery deeper than even the mystery of marriage that St Paul talked about.

I'm preparing for marriage this year. I believe that Our Lord wishes me to love and cherish one person for the rest of my life in holy matrimony and to accept and cherish new life if He blesses us with new life.  I'm a homosexual man preparing for marriage with a heterosexual woman. Odd? Yes. Do I give a stuff what you think about that? No. It's between us and God as every marriage is. We've been friends for years and we'll be friends until the Lord separates us by Death. I confidently predict we'll outlast the vast majority of all 'straight' marriages and the vast majority of all 'gay marriages' because of a thing called love.

Of course, for the clergy and Bishops the grass is always greener on the other side, but I would argue that if you didn't want to marry Jesus and you didn't want to embrace His Cross in a unique and more than averagely painful way, then you shouldn't have married Jesus in the first place.

As Catholics, we should admit that if we wanted luxury, roses and comfort, we shouldn't have professed our love for the Child born in a stable in a manger who was born and died in poverty and died nailed to Wood, a total outcast. A Church that has rejected the Cross of Christ is one that will be unable to proclaim His Resurrection since without the first, there is no second.

Making things easier does not make things holier. Along the Via Dolorosa, Our Lord had His Blessed Mother come to Him to share His sufferings in a way which we will never fathom. St Veronica came to perform a work of mercy upon the Lord Himself and was rewarded with His Holy Visage being imprinted upon the cloth. St Simon Cyrene came and was honoured enough to share the weight of the Cross. In times when there is now only one Priest in so many parishes the Cross of loneliness is heavy upon a Priest's shoulder. Maybe your pastor needs your prayer and your active support, your encouragement and even your companionship at times, but if we give the impression that what every second Priest needs is a wife and kids then we really are saying that we live in an age in which the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ - as well as the idea that the Priest is 'alter Christus' - that these belong to an age in which people wanted to be Saints - an age now gone.

I have met Priests who, though it is obvious there is an element of pain and suffering involved in their ministry - physical and mental - it is also obvious that their lives speak of the love of Jesus Christ and that to love Jesus - even to suffer with Him - and to be in an 'exclusive relationship' with Jesus is the most mysterious and incredible thing imaginable on Earth - better than sex and far more satisfying. The future of the Church in terms of 'fecundity' surely is relying on these heroic Priests to come forward to proclaim Jesus to be the only hope for all men and all women - no matter what state or vocation to which they are called.

These men are called to a profound and exclusive love affair with God that calls upon them to renounce all others, instead to love all others for the sake of the God with whom they are in love. None of them can do it on their own. They need our prayers and encouragement. They don't need journalists or even Cardinals telling the Pope what the next Pope 'must' do in order to remove the Cross from their shoulders. Despite what some people are saying about Pope Benedict XVI, neither His Holiness nor his Blessed predecessor shied away from the Cross of Christ.

Both have honoured marriage as the great mystery it is and venerated the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, holding it aloft to humanity as the relationship by which God unites man and woman for their good and the good of mankind. Both Popes honoured the Priesthood as a great mystery and venerated Holy Orders, holding the Sacrament aloft to humanity as the vocation by which God unites Himself to His people for their salvation and the salvation of others. The steadfast work of heroic Popes, confessors, martyrs, saints, venerables and others devoted solely to loving Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother is not going to be undone by a Telegraph journalist and a few English Bishops, The Tablet and even a vast army of people saying, "This is too hard." Be of good cheer. God, at such time, always raises up Saints who show us the way and it is rarely the way we expect.

Pray for holy priests, holier Bishops, holy lay persons, holy religious and a holy Pope.

Pope Benedict XVI's Last Angelus Address

What Page of Apocalypse are we on then?

'The Lord is victorious' ~ Pope Benedict XVI

'In an interview with La Stampa’s Vatican Insider today, the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, has backed the decision of the German Bishops conference to permit use of the morning after pill in Catholic hospitals for rape victims.' (Source: Life Site News)

Wow. I must confess that these are words I never imagined reading. I knew I should have stayed in bed today. Does anyone know what page we are on in the Apocalypse of St John the Divine yet? I'm kind of thinking of hunkering down and laying low for a while. Is there a cave somewhere in Sussex? Preferably one with central heating...

Long awaited proof of masonry at work in the Church?

The Pontifical Academy for Life!? No wonder the 'Fatima nuts' are thought mad by the majority of Bishops and Cardinals of the world. The next Pope isn't just going to have to be 'strong'. He's going to have to built like a brick****house!

Our Lady has promised that in the end, her Immaculate Heart will triumph, let us never lose sight of that. Let us pray that when it does, she will find us doing God's will and playing our part in the restoration of Holy Mother Church. Continue to pray for Pope Benedict XVI and pray for his Successor. His Holiness himself has said, "I, retired in prayer, will always be with you, and together we will move ahead with the Lord in certainty. The Lord is victorious."

Warning: If you haven't seen at least the first Matrix movie, you won't get this joke.

Pope Benedict XVI Alters Papal Inauguration, Adds 'Act of Obedience'

The 'run in' to the departure of Pope Benedict XVI and election of a new Successor of St Peter is beginning to look rather dramatic and you don't have to be a 'Vatican insider' to see that Benedict XVI, with great care and concern for the whole Church, is making some wise final touches to his pontificate.

Firstly, we hear that Cardinals with the responsibility to elect the new Pope will hear the full truth of the Vatileaks scandal and the report of the commission put in charge of gathering information on the document leaks that placed distrust and suspicion at the heart of Vatican life. The contents - under code of papal secrecy thus far - will be made known to the Cardinals on 1 March. This could, for obvious reasons, effect the choice of the election of Benedict XVI's successor and could also 'narrow the field' somewhat in terms of that choice.

Secondly, we hear, too, that there will be some alterations to the ritual for Benedict XVI's successor's inauguration as the new Pontiff. CNS tells us today that:

'Pope Benedict XVI has ordered several changes to the Masses and liturgies that will mark the inauguration of the next pope's pontificate. Rites and gestures that are not strictly sacramental will take place either before a Mass or in a ceremony not involving Mass, Msgr. Guido Marini, master of papal liturgical ceremonies, told the Vatican newspaper Feb. 22. One of the most visual changes, he said, would be the restoration of the public "act of obedience" in which each cardinal present at the pope's inaugural Mass comes forward and offers his allegiance.'

Having recently lamented the sins of disunity, pride and self-promotion within the Church during a homily at St Peter's, the Holy Father is paving the way for his Successor, the fitter and younger man to fill Peter's shoes, carefully.  I think we can safely assume that all is not well within the Vatican and that the Holy Father, who spoke of his earnest desire not to "flee for fear of the wolves" at the beginning of his Pontificate is now fully aware of who the enemies of his papacy are and would not wish what His Holiness has experienced to be visited upon any Successor - not even his enemies.

It is interesting that all Cardinals will have to make an 'act of obedience' to the new Pope. It sends a clear message to those Cardinals and to the Church that the Pope really is Peter, to whom obedience is owed and expected, by virtue of the unique Office given to him by Christ to teach, guard the Church and defend the Deposit of Faith.

His Eminence Cardinal O'Brien has been on TV thinking aloud on the issue on what His Eminence deems to be the potential prospect of the next Pope addressing the issue of married priests, clergy and priestly celibacy.

The Holy Father has not even properly stepped down yet - he will vacate the Chair of Peter on 28th February - and already some very senior figures in the Catholic Church in England, Wales and now Scotland are sowing some confusing seeds in the media, giving the impression, at the very least, that the Catholic Church is deeply divided on some quite important issues. Is it really helpful or wise for Cardinals and Bishops to exploit or seize the twilight of Pope Benedict XVI's reign to advance such controversial and divisive 'debates' in the world's media or attempt to 'set the agenda' for the next Pope? Is this the time for such statements? In Lent? With the Holy Father still on the Chair of St Peter? Is the BBC the forum for such statements to be made? Does this not foster confusion and assist the Church's enemies? Could this even be called 'dissent'?

It is an excellent idea of Pope Benedict XVI to ensure Cardinals take an 'act of obedience' to his Successor. Funnily enough, Cardinal Keith O'Brien made a similar 'act of obedience' - or rather 'profession of faith' when he was made Cardinal by Blessed Pope John Paul II on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October 2003. In the light of what His Eminence has said, it makes for interesting reading:

'Furthermore, I having been called to be Cardinal by pope John Paul II, state that I firmly hold and maintain all and everything taught by the Holy Catholic Church concerning faith and morals, whether solemnly defined or asserted as part of her ordinary Magisterium, especially those doctrines touching the mystery of the Church as the Body of Christ, the Sacraments, the sacrifice of the Mass and the primacy of the Roman Pontiff.

I further state that I accept and intend to defend the law on ecclesiastical celibacy as it is proposed by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church; I accept and promise to defend the ecclesiastical teaching about the immorality of the homosexual act; I accept and promise to promulgate always and everywhere what the Church's Magisterium teaches on contraception. So help me God and these Holy Scriptures which I touch with my hand.'

Oh dear! Ah well, its only an 'act of obedience', isn't it? A little act of disobedience isn't anything to worry about. Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church, pray for us. For those who share the Holy Father's genuine and deep concern for the Bride of Christ and who, today, feel saddened by recent statements by senior figures in the Church's Hierarchy, you can watch a lovely slideshow of Pope Benedict XVI's life here. While you watch it, pray for His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, pray for his Successor and pray for the Universal Church.

H/T Protect the Pope

New Poster Thanking Pope Benedict XVI

Well done to these wonderful men for producing this inspiring poster, thanking His Holiness for his tireless work in defence of Holy Mother Church and for upholding the Faith passed down from the Apostles and guarded by the Successor of St Peter. Splendid idea! How fortunate we are to have been blessed by God with these inspiring and loyal Shepherds and Teachers of the Faith. These could be mass produced and put on parish noticeboards up and down the country to show the Faithful the esteem in which we are taught to hold the Vicar of Christ.

Rest in Peace

Pray for Margaret, the woman in this video, who died this week and for Neil who now has to live without her.

May her soul and the souls of the Faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

The Embittered Pill: Join the Facebook Group

Whether it is crushed or dissolved, The Tablet has to go.

If you haven't already done so, join the Facebook group calling upon the Church to lay it to rest and put it out of its misery, since, while we don't agree with euthanasia, its editorial team doubtless do.

I'm just watching the Catherine Pepinster performance on C4 in the wake of the Pope's resignation. The contrast between the pessimism of Catherine and the optimism of Pascal is a real sight to behold. 

Reading The Tablet is Like Reading a Suicide Note

While The Tablet utters its wretched cries of delight at the news of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, there is a certain myopia of writers such as Bobby Mickens et al.

Benedict XVI has fundamentally altered something within Church and unleashed a set of movements within Her that adhere to the 'hermeneutic of continuity'. A new generation of younger Catholics have been - and will continue to be - exposed to the liturgical riches of the Church. Younger Catholics today are either Faithful or they are not Catholic at all. The wind is not blowing in the direction that The Tablet and an aging generation of Catholics followed.

It stand to reason then that in future, The Tablet will have to either change dramatically and be faithful to the Magisterium, or it will die. Every copy of The Tablet available now is a suicide note, because within 20 to 30 years, perhaps even sooner, a new generation of Priests and Bishops will refuse to have it sold in their parishes and Cathedrals. It will have to either regenerate itself and align itself with 'radical orthodoxy' or the average Catholic in the pew will have no time for it.

One senses in its recent mirth at the departure of Pope Benedict XVI the mocking of Christ by the Chief Priests and Pharisees at His Crucifixion. As Christ rose again, so will another Peter in the place of Pope Benedict XVI and they know not yet the identity of this figure. It could be someone who's identity alone will make grown men writing for The Tablet weep once more. It could be a new Pope who refuses to tolerate dissent in media organs that claim the title of 'Catholic'.

Whatever happens, I fail to see how any Tablet writer could not recognise that the Bitter Pill's days are numbered. The next generation of Priests and Bishops are very different to the current ones and this will be a trend that will likely continue. For a preview of the likely course of direction the Church is moving with the next generation, check out this video on the Dome of Home. I suspect The Tablet is not sold in New Brighton. I now know of quite a few parishes that refuse to sell the publication and the Bishops and the Priests of the future might well be so traditional that they dispense with cigarettes altogether and smoke pipes instead.

Happy Feast of the Chair of St Peter to one and all, especially to writers at The Tablet, who will understand the significance of this day in the Church's calendar and, most likely, loathe it. It's lack of understanding of the Catholic under a certain age, however, means that whether it is crushed, or dissolved, The Tablet's days are numbered.

Catholic Media News

Fine Priest, Fr Alexander Lucie Smith's piece for 4Thought on Channel 4 can be viewed here.

Do also check out Caroline Farrow's interview for ITV on IVF treatment for over 40s here.

Great stuff!

How to Become Pope

H/T Catholic Fire

THT Gay Sex PDF Goes AWOL

A reader has alerted me to the interesting fact that the Terrence Higgins Trust literature that Anthony Ozimic asked TV viewers of his interview on telly to view if they thought teaching same-sex marriage in schools was a good idea....has strangely disappeared!

It is, however, still available on a site called 'Bent Bars Project'.

The Dawkins Song with Music

 The Dawkins Song

O my name is Richard Dawkins

And I just can't stop talkin'

Another day, 

Another pay cheque for an interview

On the God Who's not existin'

'Cos in my heart I just dismissed Him

So if you believe there must be something 

Deeply wrong with you

O my name is Richard Dawkins

I'll never put a cork in it

 I say absurd things every day

Then pass them off as truth

Like, 'If you're not getting laid, dear'

And if you're not getting paid dear sums

No influence? No power?

There must be something wrong with you!'

Oh its a hard life

Being me

With the message

That I preach

It's the 'survival of the fittest'

And I want to be the richest 

Atheist in history!

Yes, my name is Richard Dawkins

The media, 

They're all fawnin'

Over every hateful, 

Anti-Catholic statement that I make

Whoah and every time it happens

It increases my bank balance

I'm onto quite a winner here

What are the odds its a mistake?

See without God

What's the point?

All my fame and riches

They disappoint!

Because when I die and meet my Maker

And I'm facin' my Creator

The Catholic Church?

 I'll wish I'd joined!

Arrest the Pope, arrest his butler!

Arrest every Catholic nutter!

All Catholics are medieval, evil, twisted, effin' freaks!

Sky fairy myth believin' cretins!

While I tour the world jet settin'

Pushing propaganda for my loyal, Royal Society

Yes, my name is Richard Dawkins

I've been employed, 

Yes, I've been brought in

To dismantle the traditional Judeo-Christian worldview

And to facilitate the dawning

Of the 'Brave New World' that's formin'

Human clonin', 

Reproduction in a laboratory near you

But its a hard life

Sellin' your soul

For a project, 

So heartless and cold!

That'll be why I'm so embittered

And why I rant all day on Twitter

I'm Richard Dawkins

How do you do?

If you're layin' in the gutter

Then you don't really matter

Richard Dawkins

Ain't that the truth?

That's my Malthusian message

 Charles Galton Darwin's eugenics

I'm Richard Dawkins

I'm just a tool

For the people who rule you

Feast of St Peter Damian

St Peter Damian: Relevant to modern times...

Today is the Feast of St Peter Damian. I know not too much about this Saint and so looked him up on Wikipedia. He appears to be quite relevant to the modern Church's situation.

Firstly, St Peter Damian resigned his bishopric. Before becoming Bishop he was a hermit leading an ascetic life, but was sought out because of his outstanding holiness.

Secondly, he was a great reformer, seeing a great deal of 'filth' in the Church of his time. In Italy, there appeared to be something of a 'crisis of Bishops'.

Thirdly, it appears that his age was also one struck by a 'child sexual abuse crisis'. So clergy abuse of minors, it appears, is not an entirely modern phenomenom, much as many believe it is. St Peter Damian was vocal in condemning the scandalous activities of some clergy. Wikipedia kindly tells us that:

'About 1050, during the pontificate of Pope Leo IX, Peter wrote a scathing treatise on the vices of the clergy, including sexual abuse of minors and actions by church superiors to hide the crimes. Liber Gomorrhianus was openly addressed to the pope.'

Fourthly, St Peter Damian condemned philosophy, arguing that it was not of itself conducive to salvation, but could be employed at the service of the Faith:

'Peter often condemned philosophy. He claimed that the first grammarian was the Devil, who taught Adam to decline deus in the plural. He argued that monks should not have to study philosophy, because Jesus did not choose philosophers as disciples, and so philosophy is not necessary for salvation. But the idea (later attributed to Thomas Aquinas) that philosophy should serve theology as a servant serves her mistress originated with him.'

St Peter Damian rose to the rank of Cardinal in 1057 and shortly after there arose a crisis in the papacy. Today we are told by a writer for Chiesa that the new Pope will necessarily be an anti-Pope by virtue of his predecessor still being alive on Earth, making two Peters for the price of one.

'Four months later Pope Stephen died at Florence, and the Church was once more distracted by schism. Peter was vigorous in his opposition to the antipope Benedict X, but force was on the side of the intruder and Damiani retired temporarily to Fonte Avallana.'

Fiftly, it was clearly an age in which the authority of the Holy See was greatly challenged and that 'national Churches', at least in concept, are nothing new:

'About the end of the year 1059 Peter was sent as legate to Milan by Pope Nicholas II. So bad was the state of things at Milan, that benefices were openly bought and sold and the clergy publicly married the women with whom they lived. The resistance of the clergy of Milan to the reform of Ariald the Deacon and Anselm, Bishop of Lucca rendered a contest so bitter that an appeal was made to the Holy See. Nicholas II sent Damian and the Bishop of Lucca as his legates. The party of the irregular clerics took alarm and raised the cry that Rome had no authority over Milan. Peter boldly confronted the rioters in the cathedral, he proved to them the authority of the Holy See with such effect that all parties submitted to his decision.'

After Pope Nicholas II died, the same disputes broke out once more over where authority lay in the Church. Wiki tells us that, 'having served the papacy as legate to France and to Florence, he was allowed to resign his bishopric in 1067.'

Petrus Cardinal Damiani is a saint and was made a Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Leo XII in 1828.

The Eucharistic Discourse

Courtesy of Catholic Memes I like this one about the election of a new Pope too. Odds on Burke have lengthened to 80/1 apparently...

Blame Twitter

The Holy Father opens a Twitter account.

Little time passes by before he 'retires' to live a more 'secluded life'.

See. This is what Twitter does to people!

The Dawkins Song

 The Dawkins Song

O my name is Richard Dawkins

And I just can't stop talkin'

Another day, 

Another pay cheque for an interview

On the God Who's not existin'

'Cos in my heart I just dismissed Him

So if you believe there must be something 

Deeply wrong with you

O my name is Richard Dawkins

I'll never put a cork in it

 I say absurd things every day

Then pass them off as truth

Like, 'If you're not getting laid, dear'

And if you're not getting paid dear sums

No influence? No power?

There must be something wrong with you!'

Oh its a hard life

Being me

With the message

That I preach

It's the 'survival of the fittest'

And I want to be the richest 

Atheist in history!

Yes, my name is Richard Dawkins

The media, 

They're all fawnin'

Over every hateful, 

Anti-Catholic statement that I make

Whoah and every time it happens

It increases my bank balance

I'm onto quite a winner here

What are the odds its a mistake?

See without God

What's the point?

All my fame and riches

They disappoint!

Because when I die and meet my Maker

And I'm facin' my Creator

The Catholic Church?

 I'll wish I'd joined!

Arrest the Pope, arrest his butler!

Arrest every Catholic nutter!

All Catholics are medieval, evil, twisted, effin' freaks!

Sky fairy myth believin' cretins!

While I tour the world jet settin'

Pushing propaganda for my loyal, Royal Society

Yes, my name is Richard Dawkins

I've been employed, 

Yes, I've been brought in

To dismantle the traditional Judeo-Christian worldview

And to facilitate the dawning

Of the 'Brave New World' that's formin'

Human clonin', 

Reproduction in a laboratory near you

But its a hard life

Sellin' your soul

For a project, 

So heartless and cold!

That'll be why I'm so embittered

And why I rant all day on Twitter

I'm Richard Dawkins

How do you do?

If you're layin' in the gutter

Then you don't really matter

Richard Dawkins

Ain't that the truth?

That's my Malthusian message

 Charles Galton Darwin's eugenics

I'm Richard Dawkins

I'm just a tool

For the people who rule you

King Kung to Take Helm at St Peters?

Hans Kung has given an interview to Der Spiegel.

His thoughts on the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI and his vision of the Church of the future are terribly surprising. One can never predict what Hans will say.

Most importantly, he says if he is made Pope the first thing he will do will be to put a massive statue of himself in the garden and invite Tony Blair round for policy advice, both at home and abroad. St Peter's will be renamed, 'Catholic Christian Centre for Inter-Faith Dialogue'. On assuming the Office of the Papacy, a million condoms will be let loose from the Papal helicopter above Vatican City. Gay marriage all round, etc, etc...

Why is this guy always wheeled out by the media as an authority on the Catholic Church?

The Sun of Justice

'In sole posuit tabernaculum suum: et ipse, tanquam sponsus procedens de thalamo suo.'

'He hath set his tabernacle in the sun: and he cometh forth as a bridegroom from his chamber.'


It is not hard to see why previous civilisations regarded the sun as a god of some kind. The sun is benign, gives us light and heat, warmth and, as yet, has done no harm to us (apart from some forest fires, but you can hardly blame the sun for that).

On the south coast recently (yes, I was in Seaford), I saw the most dramatic sunset I have seen in years. The few people dotted around Seaford Head were mesmerised, literally gawping at the stunning beauty of the sun, raised aloft as if in benediction over us.

I'll try to explain just why this sunset felt so special. I could veer into Tina Beattie territory, so I'll be careful. There was a perfect sheet of cloud dividing the horizon of the sea from the sky. The sun was obviously behind the sheet of cloud already forming stunning pinks, blues, oranges and different hues among the white grey of the clouds, until suddenly, from out of the bottom of the sheet came the bottom of the sun. It dropped further and further until as a shining disc it appeared in full. Nothing I say can do its beauty justice. It then dropped further and further until (yes, you guessed it) it melted into the sea, until finally, the reflection of the sun on the English coastline started to shine around the sun as it appeared to plunge into the sea, and then its reflection drew towards us onlookers, closer and closer and closer until finally it shone a beam upon the water pointed right at whoever was looking at it. I felt rather privileged to have seen it and said a little prayer to the Lord in thanks for this beautiful event.

No wonder, then, that previous civilisations accorded to the Sun divine qualities or even some form of 'god-head' status. It is often said that in the Catholic religion, motifs of ancient religions find their true place or are incorporated as if, somehow, previous religions find their fulfilment in Christ. A title of Our Blessed Lord is the 'Sun of Justice'. Our Lady is known as the 'Star of the Sea' and 'Mirror of Justice'. The earliest records of Christianity point to the Early Church being orientated to where the Sun rises, in the East. Christ will come in Glory from the East and so Churches and Altars and Churches were orientated towards the Lord who will come in power from the East. This is something pointed out by no less than the reigning Pontiff, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

Jesus Christ: the 'Sun of Justice'

So it is then that the Blessed Sacrament comes to us rising in the hands of the Priest, held aloft over us. We kneel down, as previous generations would have knelt down before the majesty of the sun, but we now kneel before the Majesty of the Sun of Justice, who enlightens us, heals us and warms us with His Divine Love.

The Priest, who has turned from the East has raised the Blessed Host which has been consecrated by the holy words of institution. He then turns around as the Sun of Justice rises up from the East and turns towards the West, before approaching the Faithful, who are need of Christ, the true Light, the true Lover of our souls, as the Sun of Justice then is plunged into our mouths as He disappears from sight into the oceans of our souls.

At this point, the setting of the Sun of Justice produces within souls the blazing sunset of His Love as the Sun of Justice into the oceans of the Faithful's souls melts and the rich beam chases towards our interior life. His shaft of His light chases across the ocean, reaching into the hearts of each of those who were once onlookers upon the Sun of Justice and Mercy and these souls pray that they may co-operate with His grace to perform, if not spectacular acts of heroism, then the love of God and neighbour, the glory and splendour of a resplendent and beautiful soul - a glorious and beautiful Christian life - a good and holy death.

'A solis ortu usque ad occasum: laudibile nomen Domini.'

'From the rising up of the sun unto the going down of the same: the name of the Lord is worthy to be praised.'

It's a 'Royal Baby Bump'

Not a clump of cells after all...

Crush The Tablet

Crushed tablet...

Protect the Pope draws our attention to the Facebook page calling for the cessation the sale of the distinctly un-Catholic weekly, The Tablet, in parishes in England and Wales.

Add your name here.

If you are not on Facebook, why not join it just to be able to sign the page?

Defend Holy Mother Church.

The Crisis of Bishops and "Centralisation"

Cardinal Murphy O' Connor and Bishop Kieran Conry

It seems to me that Pope Benedict XVI, as well as being remembered as a great and holy Pope, will also be remembered as a Pope who saw that the 'power of the keys' can be exercised by one in authority by laying the keys down and entrusting them to Jesus Christ to hand to another for the good of the Church.

Though setting a mysterious or even risky precedent, in modern times at least, Pope Benedict XVI shows us that the Church does not revolve around himself, but depends entirely on the Lord Jesus. It is the extraordinary final act of an extraordinary and highly gifted Pope whose memory will be treasured by the Universal Church for all ages to come.

Though meekness is not a weakness and humility more powerful and wonderful than might, key figures in the English Hierarchy have taken the opportunity of the Pope's generous gesture of resignation to criticise aspects of Benedict XVI's pontificate. Not long after Benedict XVI named disunity in the Church as being a serious impediment to the proclamation of the Gospel, one Bishop in the South of England has been talking to Ruth Gledhill of The Times to make his thoughts on Benedict XVI's reign plain for all to see.

According to The Times... 

'The Right Rev Kieran Conry, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, said he had over-centralised the Catholic Church and led it away from some of the reforming ideals of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Bishop Conry specifically highlighted the recent new Mass translation as an initiative from Rome that had had a negative impact on many Catholics in the pews.' 

The New Translation of the Mass

With the greatest respect to His Lordship, I am yet to meet any Catholic who has a problem with the new translation of the Roman Missal. Is this really the most pressing concern of the 'man in the pew'? I have met people who, like myself, find themselves still accidentally responding, 'And also with you', instead of, 'And with your spirit', but I guess that this calls us to be more focused and attentive so we respond as we should at various times of the Mass. In the Church I attend, there are plenty of new Mass translation cards, so I really cannot see there being a great problem, since we are not an unlettered age.

The new translation of the Mass

I really do wonder who are these Catholics who feel terribly aggrieved by the new translation? Is there a chance that the Bishop himself and some Catholics with whom he associates are the ones aggrieved and that, for the vast majority of Catholics, this is a non-issue? If this is the case, then would it not be more likely that His Lordship is publicly 'centralising' a liturgical concern which is, in fact, held by a very small minority of people who feel that they exist or perhaps 'subsist' on the periphery of the mainstream of the Church - a mainstream moving boldly forward, inspired by Benedict XVI? Do these people feel 'marginalised' by the new translation?

Bishop Conry called for the centralised structure of the modern Church to be changed. “There is a need for the Roman Curia, the central administration, to be reviewed. That was not one of Pope Benedict’s strengths. “It needs reviewing because it is not working very well. There seems to be a degree of centralisation that is not really necessary which might indicate that there is a degree of inefficiency.” 

For a time, perhaps even for a long time, many Faithful Catholics have felt that there exists within the Catholic Church a degree of 'centralisation' within the Bishops Conference of England and Wales and that the voices of those Faithful to the Holy Tradition of the Church have felt unjustly dismissed by the same Bishops who now complain of 'centralisation' in Rome.

Bottom right: Dissent is recognised for what it is

It is disappointing that His Lordship does not delve deeper to ask the question as to why this 'centralisation', if it has taken place under Benedict XVI, has taken place. Initiatives with effects on the Church around the globe have indeed been released under the reign of Benedict XVI, but it is also true to say that the reigning Pontiff has left the hands of Bishops entirely free to decide whether to work trustfully and in union with the Seat of Peter, or whether to continue building what appears to be more and more 'centralisation' of a 'national' Catholic Church in the local country.

Indeed, several key statements by Pope Benedict XVI suggest that the retiring Pontiff was not entirely happy with the response of English Bishops to His Holiness's initiatives aimed at both evangelization and at a gradual restoration of the Church's liturgy to something sober, solemn, respectful and dignified.

His Holiness asked the Bishops of England and Wales to, "recognise dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate." Do the Bishops in England and Wales correct the error and even heresy of public Catholics making contributions, on a regular basis, in media organs both inside and outside of the Catholic Church's immediate influence? Sadly, it appears that, on the whole, they do not. For evidence, see one Tina Beattie and the Bishops' reluctance to step in and ask her to 'calm down, dear', or even, 'put a cork in it, dear'.

The Pope Asked for "Generosity" from Bishops

Beattie: Taking dissent to new levels

The new translation, more reverent and faithful to the original Latin is, in my opinion a vast improvement, but then, what does my opinion matter? It's really not my competence - Mass translations - so I'm happy that Benedict XVI and his team came up with something I could never put my hand to, and, from my experience, has made the Mass more reverent. I am not alone in believing the 'imposition' of the new translation is an improvement on the old 'imposition' applied by a previous Pope in the late 1960s. This 'imposition' also encourages a certain uniformity, catholicity and universality in liturgy which has been sadly lacking in the 'do your own thing' spirit which still actually predominates the Church's liturgy around the World.

It is true to say also that the Holy Father asked, politely, for 'generosity' on the part of Bishops in his liberation of the traditional Latin Mass, which has inspired hundreds, if not thousands of young Catholics and brought joy and a deepening of prayer to many senior Catholics around not just this country, but the whole World. His Holiness asked for the same 'generosity' in establishing an Ordinariate for Anglicans seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. Did the Bishops of England and Wales respond with 'generosity'? It would take some rewriting of contemporary history to suggest that this was the case.

Benedict XVI: Most of his loyal friends in this photo are on the Gradine

 Both of these initiatives came from a seat of great power - the Seat of Peter - yet Peter did not mandate Bishops to do anything other than to respond with generosity, exercising their own power to facilitate movements which would bring fruits to the Church's mission in terms of evangelization.

That the Bishops of England and Wales responded, on the whole, with a sorrowful absence of generosity to both of these initiatives tells us, surely, everything we need to know about where control, power and influence lays in the Catholic Church, if it is not with the Pope.

He said the consequences of centralisation, while not too serious, had been noticeable. “I don’t think it has impinged seriously here or anywhere but it just slows things down. It does not allow a degree of local autonomy which would make life easier. “A return to the traditional autonomy of local bishops, a characteristic of the early Church, was one of the calls from the Second Vatican Council. The aim was that Rome should work more collaboratively with the local bishops,” Bishop Conry said. “That has not really developed.”

If I may be so bold, it begins to sound here that His Lordship is not concerned with the power of Rome or the grassroots movements that have sprung up within the Church inspired, largely, by Benedict XVI's vision of the Church of the 21st century. It sounds rather more like His Lordship would rather that more power was concentrated in the hands of Bishops, rather than those in their care - that is - Priests and Laity - or those to whom they owe obedience - the Pope. If there is one thing we can say of Benedict XVI, especially in the manner of his humble resignation, it is that power - for him - is only useful in as much as it is exercised with humility and benefits the whole spiritual  mission and life of the Church.

De-centralisation and Grassroots Movements

Many Bishops must be UKIP supporters...

The fact of the matter is that it is lay people, now, who can approach parish priests - and even Bishops, I guess - to request a Mass in the Extraordinary Form to be celebrated on a regular basis. It is priests and laypeople, too, in the Anglican Church, who can form a group that can be welcomed into the arms of the One True Church in order to come into full communion with Peter. If ever you wanted to hold aloft a Pope who gave 'power to the people' it appears that Benedict XVI is your man.

Instead, more and more power had been gathered in at the centre, in Rome. “Liturgically is where it has impacted most obviously on the lives of Mass-going Catholics,” he said. “We have a new translation of the Mass texts which was really imposed by Rome. There are bits of the translation that people are simply not happy with, words such as ‘consubstantial’ in the Creed. Before that it was ‘of one being’. “Had we been able to make local decisions we would have stuck with the original. It has not had a massive impact, but at the same time it has had an impact that is felt.” 

With respect, this may be how one, or even ten or even twenty Bishops feel and it may be how a small percentage of lay people feel, but there are others, among those who don't really care at all about the new translation - even Bishops - who felt that the original imposition from Rome was insufficiently faithful to the true translation of the Latin in the first place. Indeed, the imposition of this Mass had serious consequences on the faith of Catholics around the whole World upon the first day it was 'imposed'. One begins to wonder where does our Bishops stand on Europe? Some of them must really hate this country being governed by Brussels.

And executive orders from him came very, very few...

A Crisis in Rome or a Crisis of Bishops?

Are today's Bishops really concerned about power being centralised in Rome, or are they more concerned that power is ebbing from Bishops' Conference to Priests and Laity as holy Priests strive to renew the liturgy of the Catholic Church and preach the Gospel with renewed vigour, simplicity and boldness for the salvation of souls?

Are today's Bishops really concerned that decision making is being made in Rome affecting the worldwide Church or that they cannot bring themselves to make decisions freely in union with the continuous living tradition of the Church or the continuous living Successor to St Peter? If I may be so bold, one begins to wonder whether some of today's Bishops would rather that either they were Popes, or there was no Pope to shepherd the flock of Christ towards the Lord. Whatever he has done, Benedict XVI has put the Lord at the centre of it all - not the prejudices or decades-held certainties of national Bishops Conferences. Perhaps this is one reason why the Pope will leave the Office of the Papacy with more enemies in the Catholic Church than true friends and loyal sons and daughters.

It is really very sad that Pope Benedict XVI is loved and deeply admired by vast numbers of Catholics in the United Kingdom and the World, his initiatives for the Church having brought great joy to so many, but that these very projects are now being subject to public criticism by a Bishop at a time when so many Catholics are wishing the Holy Father well for the future while praying for him and his Successor. All of this talk about 'centralisation' of power and decision making seems entirely misplaced and ill-timed, given that not only has the Pope just lamented the 'disunity' in the Church but has made it known that the power of the keys will be relinquished by the one holding them on 28th of February 2013. Pray for the Bishops, pray for the Holy Father and do keep praying for his Successor.