LINEN ON THE HEDGEROW

The smoke of Satan....."the rocks came from behind"

2012-03-03T13:34:00.000Z

How often do we hear of Catholic persecution......coming from the ranks of our own laity, priests, nuns, bishops?

This wonderful priest, Fr Michael Rodriguez, himself no stranger to "rocks from behind" speaks about The Enemy Within....I was saving this for a post today but David Werling of Ars Orandi beat me to it so the hat tip goes in his direction.

Remember the old formula, one in twelve will be against Him!

It started with Judas.....

What makes a good Bishop? Ullathorne has the answer

2012-03-02T21:00:00.001Z

I am interrupting my series of posts on the life of Archbishop William Ullathorne to feature an extract from some of the writings of this great man because they have great resonance for us here and now.

Archbishop William Ullathorne never wished for the spotlight, in fact, he had requested, at an early stage in his vocation, to lead the life of a contemplative but his superiors had seen something in this young man that gave them reason to believe that they were in the presence of a great future cleric.

More than that, a leader of clerics as well as Men.

This is part of his appraisal of the post and role of a Bishop, and interestingly, despite being written over 130 years ago, his observations ring so very true to the circumstances that we find ourselves in today.

Secularism on the rise, Science taking over from God..........over to His Grace:

"The dangers of the present age are intellectual; it is an age of false science and false theories respecting God and the human soul.

The age is striving to do without God, in science, in government, in the education of the people, man is held up to himself as all-sufficient for himself.
The Church is bid to stand aloof from the moral guidance of human affairs.
It has become a point of policy amidst nations nominally Christian to banish God Himself from the affairs of men, and in His place to take possession of the souls and consciences of men, that they may be managed according to the desires of nature, and as if no better principles of guidance, no brighter light from God had ever been given.

And has God no witness left?

Is there no prophet any more? There is. To this age of unbelief, to this age of godless teaching, to this age of troubled minds and distressed consciences, the bishop is the mouthpiece of God, and represents the prophetic character of Christ.

He preaches.
To the world, which, like a wayward child, is impatient

to be taught, he speaks as one having authority, devoid of human respect and indifferent to human criticism, even as St. Paul disregarded "the judgment of man's day;" as the appointed messenger of God he speaks with clear, decided, unhesitating tones.

Holding possession of the whole body of revealed truth, in season and out of season he presses the advantage of truth against error in all its shapes and combinations, he plants those accurate definitions and those precise expositions which reveal to man the mind of God, and strike error to its centre.

He rides.

By the moral law and the right of his authority, he binds the consciences of men and holds them to the law of God.

Where might is in the ascendant in place of right, and the law of right is

unacknowledged, as with the trumpet of the doom he makes the principles of right, truth, and virtue to be heard, and their necessity to the cause of God and the welfare of society.

He consecrates.

Securing God's portion in the world, His acre, His tabernacle, His altar, as the sources of grace to men, and of blessing to the earth.

He will not hear the cry that God keep to His heavens and leave the earth to Caesar, without rebuking it.

And never were the bishops of the Church placed in a better position for the exercise of their prophetic office. Stripped of earthly splendour, disencumbered, of the world, set free from the odium that fell upon them from alliance with the State, and standing on no other ground than that of apostolic authority, the bishop of the nineteenth century is all the stronger

for the change. No longer the servant of princes, he is tenfold the servant of the people. He is tempted to no compromises of policy between the cause of

God and that of the world.

What was said by an eminent orator to the Revolutionary Assembly of

France towards the close of last century is everywhere exemplified in this : " Drive the bishops from their palaces, and they will find refuge in the poor man's cottage ; snatch their jewelled crosiers from their hands, and they will grasp a staff of wood."

If ever a Catholic bishop was strong, he is strong in this hour of the world's history.

He is strong because he is free. He is strong because he lives a simple and frugal life. He is strong because he is a bishop and nothing but a bishop ; strong, therefore, in the vivid consciousness of his high office.

Strong he is in the affections of his people, of a people who hold the faith with loss of advantage in this world, that makes the representative of that faith all the dearer to their souls.

Strong, and vigorously strong is he, because more closely than ever united with the apostolic chair.

Such is the Catholic bishop of this nineteenth century."
(From Ecclesiastical Discourses Delivered on Special Occasions (1876)

Such a portrayal of the qualities of a bishop is enough to set the pulses racing and to ask oneself where it all went wrong.

But, in reality, it has always gone wrong in periods of the history of HMC.

Another Archbishop, the late Fulton Sheen of the USA, told his audience that the Catholic faith peaked and troughed in 500 year cycles; at times the faith flourished and at others, it died away under the pressure of Huns, Freemasons, Nazis, Communists and now, the Secularists, Atheists and Liberalists.

It is approximately 500 years since the Reformation in the British Isles; a period in which the Church launched the Counter Reformation and gradually, very gradually, moved towards emancipation in the 19th Century.

So now the time is ripe again for a bit of pressure and a little persecution.

And you know what? That may make better Catholics of us all.

NB: If anyone knows how to get rid of annoying white backgrounds, please share the knowledge!

'Catholics' Part 2 - jury's out.....I think

2012-03-02T08:06:00.000Z

Having read A Reluctant Sinner's excellent post on this programme I almost threw in the towel and walked away from it. All that Dylan Parry writes about is true and it's convinced me that I am nothing more than an obdurate curmudgeon who cannot see good in anything post Vatican II.

Last night's episode, number two in the series, looked at young children being schooled for their First Holy Communion.

It showed priest. teachers and parishioners all working together with the same aim in mind.
Good. What's to criticise?

Well, it did not set the world on fire as Catholic teaching, even, primary Catholic teaching should do.

It may be unfair to make too strong a case here as, of course, we were only privy to snippets of their catechesis but I recall from my own preparation at the age of seven, that it took place over a lengthy period of time and it was not based on questions and answers but rather a pictorial serial covering the birth to death life of Christ. We children laboriously and punctiliously, coloured in drawings of each stage and, if I remember correctly, each stage had a caption that prompted our basic graphics. It brought back the old educators' saying "Tell me and I shall forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand".
I think that my class understood much of what we were taught.

The priest was a good representation of a country pastor, ministering to a scattered flock despite obvious leg problems requiring that he travelled around his parish by what used to be called quaintly, an invalid carriage. He was pretty fast on those rural Lancashire lanes and he was an endearing character.

The only issue that I might raise (leaving to one side the fact that he adheres to a very liberal wing of HMC) is the comment that he made regarding reception of Holy Communion under both kinds.

He commented that it was "better" to receive the Eucharist under the appearances of both bread and wine rather than just bread.
At that point I had to be resuscitated after swallowing my tongue!

From the producers point of view I feel that this second documentary was not much better than the first. It did not leave me with any conviction that those children would still be Catholics ten years hence.

It flitted too much and the background piano music was distracting but I did not miss the "naughty camera" bit where it moved from the children receiving the Host from the priest to the breakfast party afterwards and crisps being rammed into mouths.

Marks out of ten? Maybe a six.

But then I am a curmudgeon.
BTW - no need to comment on my last sentence!

Should Catholic Secondary Schools have Catholic teachers?

2012-03-01T19:01:00.000Z

I mean, could an atheist be employed to teach in a Catholic school?

Or, a Muslim or Sikh teacher?

What are the ramifications for refusing a candidate the post at interview stage if they are not Catholic?

Perhaps a little vote would help me in my conundrum.....please see the sidebar and give your vote.

Thank you

The US Bishops make a stand!

2012-03-01T14:19:00.001Z

At last a move that is definite and absolute, the Catholic Church in America has rejected the Obama 'compromise'. God bless those Bishops.

It would be good if our own Bishops made a similar stand.

If you are an American citizen and a Catholic, sign the petition from The Manhattan Declaration....see below:

February 2012

Cardinal Dolan, one of the original signers of the Manhattan Declaration, has, acting on behalf of the US council of Catholic Bishops, has officially rejected President Obama’s so-called “compromise” concerning the outrageous attempt to force religious institutions to purchase insurance covering abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization.

Dolan has also signed one of our most recent and powerful statements in opposition, which you will find on this website.

This issue has unfortunately become a major campaign debate. I say unfortunately, because this should not be a partisan fight. This is a battle over our most fundamental freedom: freedom of religion. And it’s also a battle over the Constitution--whether Congress can allow government agencies to legislate. It’s a battle that is going to be fought out on Capitol Hill and in the courts.

We stress that this is not a political question. This is not the Obama Administration vs. the Church. This is a question of whether the Constitution will be respected and the first liberty protected, or whether the bureaucrats will be allowed to make a decision that will override our religious liberties.

Congress would never mandate religious organizations to violate their faith. But in passing the Affordable Health Care Act, Congress in essence delegated its legislative authority to federal agencies—staffed by unelected political appointees.

We want to do our level best to keep this from becoming a partisan issue, and we want to argue always on the high ground, protecting the Constitution and respecting freedom of conscience. It’s at the heart of liberty. When this is lost, all liberty is gone.

The official position of the Bishops’ Conference signals that no compromise could succeed. Every single Christian, regardless of denomination or church affiliation, has to take the same stand.

We would be eager to know if there are groups and associations in your community you can speak with; if you will talk to your pastor about preaching on this; if you would be willing to go to other people in your community and get them to sign the Manhattan Declaration.

The most powerful weapon we have at this particular time is people power. We need 1 million people to sign the Manhattan Declaration. It will let people know we are not going to be rolled over and we are not going to quit fighting.

Can you help us?

It’s up to us—every one of us—to vigorously defend life, marriage, and religious liberty.

God bless you,

The Manhattan Declaration

Christendom is finished - will Catholicism be next?

2012-03-01T12:23:00.000Z

It was Archbishop Sheen who stated in the 1970s that Christendom was kaput.
It marked the start of a new era, he predicted, when the Church would come under greater pressure from secularism than ever before in its history.

"We are at the end of Christendom — not Christianity, but the economic, political, and social life as inspired by Christian principles.

There are two kinds of barbarians: the active barbarians from without and the passive barbarians from within.
We are more in danger from the passive ones. Our enemy today is the spirit of the world.
These are days of testing and the current is against us.

Our enemy today is the spirit of the world. These are days of testing and the current is against us."

Prophetic words indeed and now, Cardinal George of Chicago has sounded a another warning note, more than a note, a trumpet blast really, to say that, in the US the end is nigh for Catholic institutions, Universities, Hospitals, Welfare Groups - if President Obama has his way.

He is quoted as saying: (my comment in red)

“A Catholic institution, so far as I can see right now, will have one of four choices,” he explained.
The first would be to “secularize itself, breaking its connection to the church, her moral and social teachings and the oversight of its ministry by the local bishop.” (Just as the Bishops of England and Wales did over the Adoption by Homosexuals issue)
The second choice would involve paying “exorbitant annual fines to avoid paying for insurance policies that cover abortifacient drugs, artificial contraception and sterilization.
This is not economically sustainable.”
A ministry's only other choices would involve transferring ownership to a non-Catholic group or the government – or shutting down altogether."

What takes place in America, inevitably, takes place a year or two later in Great Britain; Cameron's coalition government seems hell bent on following the same pattern......titillate the minorities and forget the spineless Christians, "they'll vote for us whatever we do to them" appears to be his philosophy (and I speak as one who votes Conservative!).

Sheen's "Spirit of the world" is growing daily and materialism, secularism and atheism are the fruits of that spirit.

But, in Britain we don't have much of a Catholic base in terms of Universities and Hospitals, you could probably add up both groups on the fingers of one hand; but we do have schools and it is going to be the Primary and Secondary sectors that the liberal wing of the Conservative Party, the "Red Tories" will have on their hit list.

There is an air about this country today that would not go amiss in Stalin's Russia in the 20s and 30s or Mao's China in the 60s and 70s.

Change and imposition of change and destroy anyone or anything that stands in the path, totalitarianism is on the march, the Black Riders are abroad and the Orcs are sharpening their axes.

I am not a prophet of doom merchant but I do keep a keen eye on the apocalyptic barometer and world happenings are bringing us ever closer to the brink.
Only prayer and Our Lady's intercession will save us from (not the end of the world) but a series of disasters that could bring about a change in world order.

And now we have the Catholic midwives of Scotland who have been informed that their careers will be forfeit if they refuse to assist in abortions.
They need our prayers, brave women that they are.

We have just taken another step in Obama's wake, more to follow, of that we can be certain.

The Feast of St David!

2012-03-01T07:44:00.006Z

St David, of course, is a Catholic saint, not a Celtic saint as some like to proclaim and today, March 1st is his feastday.

I am uncertain as to any hymns to St David but this very beautiful Welsh Carol will stand in his honour.

It was brought to world prominence by the film, Empire of the Son, starring Christian Bale who, incidentally, was born in Pembrokeshire.

In this clip the young Bale out sings the Japanese Kamikaze pilots who are about to set out on their mission.

So, today is the day to eat Welshcakes, Bara Brith and Cawl* and to have a sip or two of Reverend James - (not for me, it's Lent!)

* Bara Brith is a highly addictive fruit loaf while Cawl is a broth made with Lamb and vegetables, often eaten with a chunk of cheese.

<><>

<>

Huna blentyn ar fy mynwes
Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon;

Breichiau mam sy'n dynn amdanat,

Cariad mam sy dan fy mron;

Ni cha' dim amharu'th gyntun,

Ni wna undyn â thi gam;

Huna'n dawel, annwyl blentyn,

Huna'n fwyn ar fron dy fam.

Huna'n dawel, heno, huna,

Huna'n fwyn, y tlws ei lun;

Pam yr wyt yn awr yn gwenu,

Gwenu'n dirion yn dy hun?

Ai angylion fry sy'n gwenu,

Arnat ti yn gwenu'n llon,

Tithau'n gwenu'n ôl dan huno,

Huno'n dawel ar fy mron?

Paid ag ofni, dim ond deilen

Gura, gura ar y ddôr;

Paid ag ofni, ton fach unig

Sua, sua ar lan y môr;

Huna blentyn, nid oes yma

Ddim i roddi iti fraw;

Gwena'n dawel yn fy mynwes

Ar yr engyl gwynion draw.

Sleep my baby, at my breast,

’Tis a mother’s arms round you.

Make yourself a snug, warm nest.

Feel my love forever new.

Harm will not meet you in sleep,

Hurt will always pass you by.

Child beloved, always you’ll keep,

In sleep gentle, mother’s breast nigh.

Sleep in peace tonight, sleep,

O sleep gently, what a sight.

A smile I see in slumber deep,

What visions make your face bright?

Are the angels above smiling,

At you in your peaceful rest?

Are you beaming back while in

Peaceful slumber on mother’s breast?

Do not fear the sound, it’s a breeze

Brushing leaves against the door.

Do not dread the murmuring seas,

Lonely waves washing the shore.

Sleep child mine, there’s nothing here,

While in slumber at my breast,

Angels smiling, have no fear,

Holy angels guard your rest

ST DAVID, PATRON OF WALES - ORA PRO NOBIS!

In case you didn't realise it....I'm paradoxically intent!

2012-02-29T14:47:00.000Z

After many years in the traditional pew I no longer experience angst or even anger when I come under attack, although, I admit to being a bit ratty when I receive silly invective in the comments box at times.

Perhaps peace of mind is an age thing but, I also find that by attempting to laugh at myself and at the inanity of both the world and the Catholic Church authorities in England and Wales, life becomes worth living.

My blogging is a release of the pent up frustrations 23 years of fighting Bishops, teachers, nuns, priests and laity who have all done their damnedest to baulk the attempts of my wife and myself to bring our children up within the teachings of Holy Mother Church.

So it is good to be able to laugh a great deal of the time or, as Archbishop Sheen described it: "Be paradoxically intentioned"

BBC Four's 'Catholics' part two

2012-02-28T21:46:00.000Z

As the first programme in the series 'Catholics' produced such a flurry of comment I thought all might appreciate a reminder to watch part two.

Due to be screened at 9pm Thursday 1st March, the second instalment looks at children and, specifically, how they prepare to make their First Holy Communion.

Here is what the Beeb blurb says about it:

'Show me the child of seven and I'll show you the man', goes the Jesuit proverb. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Richard Alwyn observes the truth of the saying in this film about children becoming Catholic.
Filmed throughout Lent and into summer 2011, it focuses on the children of St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School in Chipping, Lancashire. The tiny rural school has 33 pupils, six of whom are preparing to make their First Holy Communion.
Alwyn's lyrical, poignant film observes the essence of Catholicism being distilled into young children. Encouraged to celebrate the riches of the natural world and to remember those less fortunate than themselves, the children are also required to reflect on Christ's brutal death and resurrection. Occasionally, this graphic story of suffering might seem to threaten the children's infectious charm and innocence.
The local parish priest, Fr Anthony Grimshaw, now in his 70s, has a strong presence in the children's lives. To the younger ones he's the avuncular character who comes into school to read Winnie the Pooh. To the older ones, he is more 'on message', talking with them about faith and fielding questions about his belief in the existence of Satan in this world.
Around this observation of the Catholic life of the children and the school is the story of a handful of its pupils, aged seven and eight, preparing for their First Holy Communion. Here, the children are introduced to the bewildering mystery at the heart of the Catholic faith - when they believe bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
This beautiful film is full of the spirit of childhood and shows how being Catholic is a complex identity that can bring both agony and ecstasy."

Many year ago I knew Chipping, it has or had an excellent pub, The Dog and Partridge, so that element of nostalgia will add a little touch of zest to my viewing.

I will keep an open mind as to what sort of feast will be spread out for us but I am mentally reserving a bet as to how it will unfold.

That part of Lancashire is rich in Catholic Reformation history and we owe much to those men and women who gave their lives so readily.
I hope and pray that the content of the programme reflects their sacrifice as well as the Supreme one.

A psychometric test for Catholics

2012-02-28T16:37:00.000Z

View these images and then state the designation that springs to mind...

And your answer is?..................................

Correct. Sad eh?

Now I understand where Lynne Featherstone is coming from

2012-02-28T07:42:00.003Z

She has been in the news rather a lot over the past few days, commenting on marriage and stating that neither the Church, nor the State has rights over marriage (in this instance, homosexual and lesbian marriage).
The rights belong, so she claims, rather in Comrade Napoleon fashion, to the people.

I thought it strange for a Cabinet Minister to come out with a blunt claim such as this, taking on the collective might of the Christian denominations, but then I discovered that she is the Equalities Minister and a Liberal Democrat MP.

For any North American readers of this post, this party ranks as being slightly more extreme than the Loony Communist Party in my book.

And, as any fool knows, Commies and Lib Dems like to rule by coercion and bullying.

They are also, I suspect, the top party for (allegedly) having a history of MPs with rather peculiar sexual inclinations in their ranks, having long overtaken the Tories in this respect. I cite this fact only to illustrate that a moral code does not hold any awe for the party that introduced the holocaust of abortion to Great Britain.

Was it Chicago's Cardinal George who recently stated this gem of wisdom?

" I expect to die in my bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr"

The Faith is under more pressure today, globally, than, I suspect at any other period of history.
The ongoing and relentless onslaught of the abortionists, the anti-life brigade, the homomaniacs and eroticists must surely be at an all time high and, as Archbishop Sheen used to say:

"That makes it a wonderful time in which to be a Catholic"

So when the secular pressure becomes too much for me, the words of a well known hymn always spring to mind.
You seldom hear it these days and probably you would never hear it in an assembly of Nouveau Catholiques.

Here it is:

Faith of our fathers, living still
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword,
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene'er we hear that glorious word!
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death!

Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free;
And blest would be their children's fate,
If they, like them should die for thee:
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death!

Faith of our fathers, we will strive
To win all nations unto thee;
And through the truth that comes from God
Mankind shall then indeed be free.
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death!

Faith of our fathers, we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife,
And preach thee, too, as love knows how
By kindly words and virtuous life.
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death!

   5. Faith of our fathers we will strive
       To win all nations unto Thee!
       And thro' the truth that comes from God
       Mankind shall then be truly free:
       Faith of our fathers! Holy faith!
       We will be true to Thee till death!

Burning the Koran is wrong....

2012-02-27T12:18:00.000Z

......And so is burning the Bible or a Missal!

An Islamic mob burn an effigy of the Holy Father

Yet the civil authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia routinely incinerate hundreds if not thousands of them each year.

Many naive or, possibly, evangelistic Christians are apprehended every day in Saudi Arabia as they arrive on their flight from the Americas or Europe.

In their luggage is a Bible, sometimes, many Bibles.

To bring any Christian literature into the country is against the law in Saudi and so, all materials will be confiscated and disposed of.

The penalties can be harsh but one thing is certain, the holy books will be burnt (hopefully, before any act of sacrilege can be committed).

It was a mindless act of stupidity on the part of those soldiers who burnt the copies of the Koran - but perhaps the Muslim community might like to get a perspective on the issue.

I might add Abbott to my Santorum Rosary pledge

2012-02-27T08:10:00.001Z

In fact, I will, I like almost all that I read about the man but, above all, as with Santorum, I like the fact that he attracts bitter and vile criticism from his opponents, that means, in my book, that he has moral values and is not afraid to speak out when required to do so.

Just imagine, a Catholic President in the USA and another Catholic as Premier in Australia - things could be looking up.

Described as being " a socially conservative politician" - that rates an eight out of ten in my poll; he is also accused of "wearing his Catholicism on his sleeve" - better and better.

Born in London to expat Australian parents he entered a seminary in 1980 but decided the priesthood was not for him.
He is not afraid to hit back at the leftish wing of the Catholic faith and, once when challenged by priests he responded with:

"The priesthood gives someone the power to consecrate bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. It doesn't give someone the power to convert poor logic into good logic."

Just as America needs a Santorum, so Australia needs an Abbott. The country is floundering in a morass of liberal political correctness, or so I read. I will have a chance to see at first hand in a few weeks time when I travel out there.

But, there is a caveat, according to his online biographical details, Abbott, (whilst being Pro Life) is also in favour of legal abortions on a highly restricted basis.

This view, if true, is totally unCatholic and unacceptable.
Strange that one who has studied theology and philosophy within a seminary environment can go down that route and still call themselves Catholic.
But, I guess, if Australia is as dissolute as we are told, then a Catholic leader who is prepared to bend his beliefs would probably do well in the polls.
Sad but true.

But then, that's what the liberal Catholics do is it not?

Perhaps Tony Abbott needs our Rosaries not just for his election but also for his faith.
He might like to look to Rick Santorum's firm moral stance as an example of a fearless approach to electioneering (and start wearing sleeveless cardigans).

Santorum has a woman problem? No, he has a Woman advantage!

2012-02-26T17:19:00.002Z

Daily Telegraph blogger and Politicalbetting.com Editor, Mike Smithson claims that Santorum is now slightly behind Romney in the latest forecasts, you may read the full post HERE.

And the reason why is explained here in a brief extract:-

"An aspect of the polling detail, however, highlighted a trend that we have seen in many surveys during the past month: Santorum is doing reasonably well with male voters but he is miles behind with women.
Thus in the ARG survey, Santorum led Romney by 43% to 32% with the men in the sample, while Romney led Santorum by 47% to 26% with the women".

Of course, what Mike Smithson does not realise is, that, Santorum has the power of Our Lady behind him. It is her intercession that will make this man the Republican nominee and eventual President, if Almighty God wills it.

And, if Rick Santorum maintains the sartorial advantage!

Santorum and his sleeveless jumper
aka 'sweater vest'

A lament - for Ireland

2012-02-26T10:21:00.004Z

Irish	English
A Róisín ná bíodh brón ort fé'r éirigh dhuit: Tá na bráithre 'teacht thar sáile 's iad ag triall ar muir, Tiocfaidh do phárdún ón bPápa is ón Róimh anoir 'S ní spárálfar fíon Spáinneach ar mo Róisín Dubh. Is fada an réim a léig mé léi ó inné 'dtí inniu, Trasna sléibhte go ndeachas léi, fé sheolta ar muir; An éirne is chaith mé 'léim í, cé gur mór é an sruth; 'S bhí ceol téad ar gach taobh díom is mo Róisín Dubh. Mhairbh tú mé, a bhrídeach, is nárbh fhearrde dhuit, Is go bhfuil m'anam istigh i ngean ort 's ní inné ná inniu; D'fhág tú lag anbhfann mé i ngné is i gcruth- Ná feall orm is mé i ngean ort, a Róisín Dubh. Shiubhalfainn féin an drúcht leat is fásaigh ghuirt, Mar shúil go bhfaighinn rún uait nó páirt dem thoil. A chraoibhín chumhra, gheallais domhsa go raibh grá agat dom -'S gurab í fíor-scoth na Mumhan í, mo Róisín Dubh. Dá mbeadh seisreach agam threabhfainn in aghaidh na gcnoc, is dhéanfainn soiscéal i lár an aifrinn do mo Róisín Dubh, bhéarfainn póg don chailín óg a bhéarfadh a hóighe dhom, is dhéanfainn cleas ar chúl an leasa le mo Róisín Dubh. Beidh an Éirne 'na tuiltibh tréana is réabfar cnoic, Beidh an fharraige 'na tonntaibh dearga is doirtfear fuil, Beidh gach gleann sléibhe ar fud éireann is móinte ar crith, Lá éigin sul a n-éagfaidh mo Róisín Dubh.	Little Rose, be not sad for all that hath behapped thee: The friars are coming across the sea, they march on the main. From the Pope shall come thy pardon, and from Rome, from the East- And stint not Spanish wine to my Little Dark Rose. Long the journey that I made with her from yesterday till today, Over mountains did I go with her, under the sails upon the sea, The Erne I passed by leaping, though wide the flood, And there was string music on each side of me and my Little Dark Rose! Thou hast slain me, O my bride, and may it serve thee no whit, For the soul within me loveth thee, not since yesterday nor today, Thou has left me weak and broken in mien and in shape, Betray me not who love thee, my Little Dark Rose! I would walk the dew with thee and the meadowy wastes, In hope of getting love from thee, or part of my will, Frangrant branch, thou didst promise me that thou hadst for me love- And sure the flower of all Munster is Little Dark Rose! Had I a yoke of horses I would plough against the hills, In middle-Mass I'd make a gospel of my Little Dark Rose, I'd give a kiss to the young girl that would give her mouth to me, And behind the liss would lie embracing my Little Dark Rose! The Erne shall rise in rude torrents, hills shall be rent, The sea shall roll in red waves, and blood be poured out, Every mountain glen in Ireland, and the bogs shall quake Some day ere shall perish my Little Dark Rose!

The man who could wield a spade as well as his intellect

2012-02-25T19:02:00.000Z

The Life of Archbishop Ullathorne (part 2)

During his time at Downside, the young Ullathorne added manual labour to his daily routine of prayer and study; this is the Benedictine way - a blend of the ethereal and the earthly.

One of the many things that strikes me upon reading his autobiography is that, in that era, some 180 years ago, it appeared that young people were thrust into senior posts remarkably early.

Of course, WilliamUllathorne was a very obvious candidate for greatness but, straight from his schooling, and still a green deacon, he was sent to Ampleforth (it was a great school then) to hold a senior and responsible post (Prefect of Discipline) and then, shortly afterwards, Professor of Theology.

And, as the young Deacon Ullathorne began his duties he was faced with an issue of graffiti - have things changed so very little in the education system?

This is his account as he began his pastoral role at Ampleforth:

"Soon after this time my Superiors wished to advance me to the Priesthood, before I had completed the course of Theology.

But apprehending there might be difficulties raised by the Bishop about dispensation from time and interstices, a petition was sent to Rome, through Cardinal Weld, the Protector of the English Benedictines.

His Eminence replied that it belonged not to the dignity of a
Cardinal to act as agent as well as protector ; and so, to my individual satisfaction, I escaped from what I thought a premature ordination.

However, I was not destined to continue my studies ; but with the Rev. Mr. Sinnot, a deacon as well as myself, I was sent to assist the new Prior in restoring the Monastery and College of Ampleforth after the great desolation caused by the events above referred to.

Soon after arriving there I was appointed Professor of Theology to a small class ; but by the time I had prepared the first lesson the Prior had changed his mind, put an Irish Franciscan to that office, and appointed me Prefect
of Discipline over the school.

Although those who remained constant to the Order after the great desertion stood firm, yet there was still a flavour remaining of the
spirit in which they had been trained.
The new Prior was from the old house of Lambspring, and an old missioner, and was not accepted with perfect cordiality, still less the two members from Downside.
This spirit communicated itself to the school, which had too intimate relations with one or two Religious.

So no sooner had the new Prefect appeared, than there was chalked up on the walls, " No Hunt, No reform." I let the students have their little triumph for the day. But the next morning, after prayers, I let them know how surprised I was to find a college of boys with the manners of a pothouse. I observed that if one or two of them had chalked the walls in a style insulting to an entire stranger, the rest must have concurred, or they
would have removed the disgrace fastened on the whole school.

" I will not be severe with you," I said, " without necessity : I will give you till the next recreation hour to get the walls cleaned of their disgrace.

If it is not done by then, I will stop all the school work until I find out the
offenders. If I fail I shall conclude that the whole school is involved in the guilt, and shall punish by decimation."

At the next recreation the walls were quite clean.

Soon after, I expelled one of the older students and flogged a younger one, after which we became good friends and understood each other".

The Red Dragon and St Thomas More

2012-02-25T13:38:00.000Z

Today, at 4.02pm to be precise, two ancient enemy nations will do battle - on the field of Twickenham!

Wales will play England at Rugby and....far be it from me (a humble Englishman) to attempt any psychological gain for my country but I was put in mind of the trial of St Thomas More as portrayed in 'A Man for All Seasons'.

It is one of the great films about one of England's greatest men and a saint of the Church.

In the film, More is betrayed by his erstwhile assistant Richard Rich who has accepted the badge of the Red Dragon, signifying his post as Attorney General for Wales.
You may view the scene here, it appears at around 3:50 but watch the whole clip, it's Paul Scofield at his best.

And St Thomas, picking up on this reward for treachery utters the immortal line: "For Wales Rich, for Wales?"

If Wales wins on the 25th I may live to regret this post. Until then...heh! heh!

And may the worst team win!

Why the Vatican needs Daleks

2012-02-25T07:29:00.000Z

Well we are under global attack are we not? We are, as Bishop Finn once said: "At war."

And the Daleks seem uniquely equipped and organised to achieve world ~~domination~~ conversion, even if a tad violently.

They could be just the sort of ally that the Vatican could use right now, after all, they have a good hierarchical structure (unlike some organisations I could mention).
They have, at the top of the pyramid, a Dalek Emperor and, beneath him? her? - (they are a bit TV-ish, those Daleks), we have the Imperial Guard, then the four black elite (Cult of Skaro), the Supreme Dalek and so on.

Meet your new Bishop....

They could be the roaming modern Crusaders of Holy Mother Church, dispensing swift and certain justice wherever a Catholic Church is torched or a Christian hanged for their faith.
Sorting out secularism and other 'isms' with impunity.

Their bodywork is impressive, metal plates surmounted by various "arms" that can screw, cut or shoot at the enemy.

I would like to see forty such "Knights" marching (if Daleks march) down Wood Green High Street on a Saturday afternoon, scattering the Jihad evangelists left right and left again.

And perhaps the Vatican could transport a group to the USA to help the beleaguered faithful there?

Provided they could get up the steps I think they would go down a storm in the Senate or House of Representatives.

Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden - beware! The Vatican Daleks are out to excommunicate, excommunicate!

Italy launches an edict marking official persecution of Christians

2012-02-24T19:30:00.000Z

All seats sold out - The Colisseum
in 303 AD

Not that, Christians had not already suffered liberal bouts of martrydom and torture for hundreds of years but, on 24th February 303, under the Emperor Diocletian, an official edict was announced stating that all Christians (Catholics) were fair game for seizure of their possessions and forfeiture of their lives, generally being ripped apart by savage animals in the arena or crucified or burnt alive.

Have things changed much in the past 1700 years or so?

I think not. Today's persecutors are not Romans but Muslims, or, should I say, Extreme Muslims, Islamists.

Skim around the world taking a flying look at the countries where Christians are still being routinely murdered, restricted, abused....

China, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Hungary, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, The Yemen, Bhutan, Somalia, Sudan, The Gambia, Iran, The Maldives...in all over 50 countries worldwide take part....and with the exception of the two or three that are communist, the rest are all Islamic.

Offhand I can't think of any group of humanity that is so presecuted as the Christians.

Of course, it is coming to the UK, and it will be here sooner than you think.

Already, parts of some of our major cities are effectively "no go" areas for non Muslims - what effect would a Corpus Christi procession produce in Hackney or Wood Green?
A riot would result and the likelihood would be that the Christians would be the ones being arrested.

Or, if one walked through those areas wearing a crucifix or saying the Rosary - what would result?

Soon women will not gain entry to parts of our major cities if they are not wearing ankle length dresses and face veils.

Of course, as Christians we can accept and even relish persecution but we also have responsibilites for the young and those yet to be born.

Perhaps we do need to raise our heads above the parapet a little more and undertake acts of public prayer as do Juventutem London and the Legion of Mary (and, of course, the Pro Life Groups).

What would be really good would be a major Rosary procession through the streets of Birmingham or Manchester to show the world the power of prayer.

Perhaps a few of the Bishops might like to organise such a thing.......whoops, a pig just flew by my window!

BBC Four's 'Catholics' - count me out

2012-02-24T07:23:00.000Z

I chanced to come across a programme last night with the title of 'Catholics.'

Deeply suspicious, I sat back and watched only to witness some pretty bland television producing going on.

Would you go for a pint with these men?
It's the Linen on the Hedgerow acid test!

At first I convinced myself that this was a fly on the wall about Anglican seminarians, so fey and oblique were the comments being made by this group of young men.

And then, as reality began to dawn I imagined that this was an intake from the Ordinariate, still yet to be grounded in Catholic theology and philosophy.

One young man struggled to describe what the Mass meant to him.
I cannot recall his precise words so shall not attempt a complete quote but he waffled on, not once mentioning that it was an unbloody sacrifice, a repeat of Calvary with the continuing Victim redeeming us with His sacrifice.

He finished by saying (after many errs and pauses): "It's the Mass"

Most of those involved were asked to state what the priesthood meant to them. No one appeared to have an authentic viewpoint on this, no one mentioned that they were going to be "other Christs."

If they had been adolescent social workers I would have said that their views were reasonable if a shade green.

But these were Allen Hall seminarians!
The Bishop who ordained them was Archbishop Vincent Nicholls of Westminster - shock, horror! These were Catholic young men.

Small wonder we are in a mess. Is this the best that the seminaries can do?

A seminary, in one respect, should be like a University (Redbrick, of course).
It should accept a green student at one end and churn out a mature, literate, well rounded individual at the other.

I am trying very hard not to pick on individuals and to spread the load of criticism but really we do need some SSPX theology and spiritual integrity injected into the system.

Whenever I come across this sort of evidence, the more I feel less and less Catholic in the modern sense.

I have nothing in common with these people, seminarians, lecturers, Bishops.

We belong to different faiths.

Another X for the Bishops I'm afraid.

Aramaic Bible found in Turkey

2012-02-23T17:29:00.003Z

H/T to Pewsitter for this story from a Turkish News Agency...though quite why the Vatican is "in shock" defeats me.....

Ancient Bible in Aramaic dialected Syriac rediscovered in Turkey

The relic was ‘rediscovered’ in the depositum of Ankaran Justice Palace, the ancient version of bible is believed to be written in Syriac, a dialect of the native language of Jesus

Ankara / Turkey – The bible was already in custody of Turkish authorities after having been seized in 2000 in an operation in Mediterranean area in Turkey. The gang of smugglers had been charged with smuggling antiquities, illegal excavations and the possession of explosives and went to trial. Turkish police testified in a court hearing they believe the manuscript in the bible could be about 1500 to 2000 years old.After waiting eight years in Ankara the ancient bible is being transferred to the Ankaran Ethnography Museum with a police escort.

Ancient Bible will be shown in Ankaran Ethnography Museum

The bible, whose copies are valued around 3-4 Mil. Dollars had been transferred to Ankara for safety reasons, since no owners of the ancient relic could be found.
The manuscript carries excerpts of the Bible written in gold lettering on leather and loosely strung together, with lines of Syriac script with Aramaic dialect. Turkish authorities express the bible is a cultural asset and should be protected for being worthy of a museum.

Ancient Bible in Aramaic dialected Syriac rediscovered in Turkey

Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic – the native language of Jesus – once spoken across much of the Middle East and Central Asia. It is used wherever there are Syrian Christians and still survives in the Syrian Orthodox Church in India and a village in the vicinity of Syrian capital Damascus. Aramaic is also still used in religious rituals of Maronite Christians in Cyprus.
Experts were however divided over the provenance of the manuscript, and whether it was an original, which would render it priceless, or a fake. Other questions surround the discovery of the ancient bible, whether the smugglers had had other copies of the relic or had smuggled them from Turkey.

Vatican eyes the faith of the ancient relic

The Vatican reportedly placed an official request to examine the scripture, which was written on pages made of animal hide in the Aramaic language using the Syriac alphabet.
The copy of the ancient Bible is valued as high as 40 million Turkish Liras ( 28 Mil. Dollars)

What to do about the masses?

2012-02-23T10:44:00.000Z

No, not the Masses, the masses. The millions of Catholics who never watch EWTN, read a Catholic publication, belong to a religious group and who mistakenly believe that blogging is something rather distasteful and dirty.

They know nothing of Summorum Pontificum, of Catholics being murdered in Pakistan and massacred in Iraq, to them Rick Santorum sounds like an instruction in Latin, in red, of course!

To them, IVF is a great and wonderful scientific advance and abortion is not nice but, when push comes to sweeping things under the carpet, it's OK.

They probably could not name more than two bishops of their country and, there are great lumps of Catholic knowledge that they have forgotten.
Like........

A destination for many Catholics

....they have forgotten that there is a dress code for Mass, that chattering loudly before and after is totally wrong, that there is a need to abstain on Fridays, go to Confession and Holy Communion during Lent, to be in a state of grace before going to Holy Communion, to kneel to receive the Body of Christ.....and they are not to blame for all of this.

No matter who is to blame, that is not what this post is about, it's about re-evangelisation......about informing, educating and guiding those who are lost and do not know it.

I do not mean, in any way, that these souls are inferior, necessarily than any other group of Catholics but two things of major importance struck me at the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma meeting last Saturday.

The first was that we some Catholic bloggers are erudite in the extreme; that was more than obvious at the meeting. Their posts reflect their knowledge and their gift of communication but, much of what they write would go way above the heads of the group that I am focusing on, the average Catholic man or woman on the London bus or Manchester tram.

There is a need to find a means of communicating, without condescension and without patronising them, that gets the message of change, renewal and reform a la Benedict, across to them so that they begin to appreciate that it is forty plus years since they looked in a mirror.

The sector that I speak of are not the straightforward working class Catholics so much as the liberal Middle Class; they are the ones who have moved to Anglican mode and pick and choose their moral code according to their whim of the day.

Gregg, at A Brief Encounter has a good and informative post about Lent.

It is brief and simplistic but it flags up the main points that are not widely known, certainly by non Catholics and, uncertainly, by Catholics en masse.

With a marketing hat on I would say that posts and articles aimed at this section of the faithful need to be written in a language style that they comprehend, and it must still hold the attention. That does sound patronising does it not? But it's basic communication savvy.

Our Lord did not mention the Hypostatic Union when he was on earth but he did speak in the parable format that his audience knew and understood.
He, of course, was the ultimate communicator.

Now, not many editors will be tripping over themselves to "dumb down" the intellectual style of their magazine or newspaper but Catholic bloggers could do so very easily.
Not in every post, perhaps just once a week or fortnight there could be an inspirational post that would have both mass appeal and Mass appeal.

Providentially, I have never suffered with overtly intellectual overtones!

New Catholic blogger - from South Korea

2012-02-23T07:50:00.000Z

Please give Jimin Kang a warm welcome by visiting his blog
De Maria, numquam satis.

I met Jimin at last Saturday's Guild of Blessed Titus meeting and have included this picture just to make him feel at home (or homesick)

One of the key dishes of South Korea - Kimchi
Normally accompanies most meals from breakfast onwards
a mix of chilli, cabbage, garlic...need I say more?

Google drops Lent in favour of Heinrich Hertz - who?

2012-02-22T19:18:00.000Z

Google, so well known for its graphic doodles noting the particular event of the day (Charles Dickens' bi-centenary etc) has flopped miserably with regards to Lent.

No image of a dry crust of bread and a glass of water, just a wavy coloured line to commemorate Heinrich Rudolf Hertz - 155 years old today, well, I suppose that's quite an achievement for a start!

Who he? I say but I am sure that the SAs among you already know the answer to that question.....he is, of course, the German physicist who clarified and expanded the electromagnetic theory of light that had been put forth by James Clerk Maxwell He conclusively proved the existence of electromagnetic waves by making instruments to transmit and receive radio pulses using experimental processes that excluded all other known wireless phenomena.

Oh, so that's alright then.

But I bet he didn't know who sent the light in the first place.

* A Wiki note, Hertz's father converted to Catholicism from Judaism.
Young Heinrich, unaccountably, became a Lutheran before snuffing it at the tender age of 36. RIP.

Why Ramadan is bad and Lent is good

2012-02-22T08:23:00.004Z

Mmm.....good soul food!

How does the Christian Lent compare with the Muslim fast of Ramadan? Is one really good and one really bad?

I believe so and will explain my reasons why.

Let me begin by quoting my own programme for today.

Determined to make a good start in Lent and somewhat overwhelmed by the flood of good posts on fasting and by one Stanislaus Baboolovski's comments on Facebook, I began Lent in suitable style.

One Ryvita avec Marmite accompanied by a green tea was my first meal of the day - about 15 calories methinks.

Now, this is not in any way intended to be a brag, in fact, my normal breakfast is not much more than that.

But I did want to draw attention to what my good friends emphasized in their posts, namely, that giving up a bar of chocolate is pretty naff really and that our forbears did much, much more.

I recall my own parents' account of their Lenten fasts in Canning Town; one main meal a day which was always, salt cod - for the whole of Lent.

No milk or butter and the two remaining meals measured out so that they weighed only a couple of ounces.

Compare this with the Muslim regime during Ramadan.

No food or drink from before dawn until 9pm each night.

And the Ramadan diet!

Surely, that must be a better and more penitential course?

Well, if one was to ask a nutritionist to compare the two fasts, the Christian one would win hands down.

It is positively unhealthy to ask the body to go without food and liquids for anything up to 18 or 19 hours a day over a lengthy period.
It is also bad for the body (and the soul) to gorge on food as many Muslims do before sunup and after sundown.

It does not just make it penitential, it makes it life threatening. Why?

Think of a Brain Surgeon on a Ramadan fast, or for that matter, a bus driver or tool cutter or a nuclear physicist. Without sufficient liquid intake (especially), the body and subsequently, the brain, begins to malfunction; it begins to commit one's actions to errors of judgement.

In short, the chances that you are going to kill or maim yourself or someone else increase greatly.

It was customary in every College that I worked in, to bar Muslim students from working with any form of potentially dangerous technology during Ramadan. They were a danger to themselves and to others around them.

Furthermore, College staff would be reminded that severe fasting is liable to bring on what can only be described as temper attacks, when a student would snap at another and then a row or even a fight would break out.

Imagine now that you are a visitor to a Muslim country during Ramadan.What you do not do is walk through the streets eating an ice cream or quaffing a coke. You would come under verbal and physical attack and, in some countries, you would actually be in breach of the law.

Neither do you walk near a mosque or any place where folk gather in groups, tensions are heightened and the atmosphere is volatile.

Even Turkey, which might be described as a moderate country in Muslim terms, is far from safe for the unwary traveller.

Yet many Muslims regard our Lent as nothing more than an effeminate joke.

Whereas, we believe, as always, that so much of Catholic teaching and practice comes down to sound common sense and that our duty is to fast and abstain responsibly and safely.

Fast hard, but not so hard that you place your life and the lives of
others in danger.

Pray, the one thing that we can be liberal about in Lent

Alms, the third requirement of this period, give and give until it hurts

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despondency, lust of power, and idle talk;

But grant rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother; for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages.

Who am I? Where am I going? What am I doing?

2012-02-21T11:38:00.000Z

The recent meeting of Catholic Bloggers (Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma) was, much as I dislike the phrase, thought provoking at the very least.

The lively talks, debates and more informal discussions over a pint at lunchtime, nudged me into indulging in a little navel gazing. I felt that a different and better sense of direction was needed as far as my blogging activities were concerned; I needed to review what I was posting and to assess what end result I was looking for.

The need to "know myself" was brought to the surface by meeting so many gifted and talented bloggers and followers - an "inspiration" of Catholic bloggers would be a good collective noun to describe those at Blackfen.

So, I set to, in the days after the meeting, to reflect and brood on the sort of blogger that I am.

My starting point was inspired by Mary O' Regan's sparkling talk on Journalism and Blogging.

I fell back on the old question that could be found in every sales training manual of the 70s - "What sort of an animal am I?" Except that, I decided that it would be more relevant if I aligned my blog with a newspaper so that the question would be: "What sort of newspaper am I?"

Sadly, I came to the conclusion that I am rather more Daily Mail than Daily Telegraph - more into sarky headlines and comment, short, snappy sound bites in print. Pretty much middle of the road in intellectual terms, appealing to the lowest common denominator.
You see, The Daily Mail is not a paper that I greatly value or admire so I was a shade crestfallen that my soul seeking had me flat on my face at the first fence.

And then I thought (desperately) that few Catholic bloggers could be aligned or identified with just one publication; in reality we are an amalgam of publications.

With this thought in my mind and with the idea of gaining a better yardstick for my own analysis, I decided to look at some of my fellow bloggers just to see how this exercise would shake down; I restricted it to British Catholic bloggers as my knowledge of the US media is hazy to say the least.

So first on my list was A Reluctant Sinner and The Path Less Taken. Those were, I decided definitely 60% Catholic Herald and 40% Daily Telegraph.

Whereas, A Tiny Son of Mary, is certainly 100% Catholic Herald.

Hilaire Belloc is 95% Times Literary Gazette with 5% of The Catholic Herald while That the Bones You Have Crushed May Thrill has a most interesting profile broken down more as a cocktail of Catholic Herald, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail - with a liberal dash of Big Issue!

I must call a halt there lest I unintentionally cause offence (not my style at all!)

So, then back to my profile; perhaps I could gain a little ground in the credibility stakes by segmentation also.
With a little bit of mental rearrangement I found that I could honestly regard my blog as now only being 75% Daily Mail. Good but not good enough, how would the remainder turn out?

Well, only 5% could be assigned to the Daily Telegraph and the same for The Catholic Herald. That brought me up to 85%.

Then, inspiration struck and I allocated 10% to Private Eye. Excellent!
But I still had 5% to go.

Much head banging and wailing and then.......

...........Help! Au secours! I now have to "man up" and say that, if I am brutally honest, that odd 5% probably belongs to The Sun newspaper! Wotta result!

Good day at Blackfen

2012-02-18T21:10:00.000Z

Catholic Bloggers gathered at Blackfen Parish Church of Our Lady of the Rosary for Holy Mass, Adoration and Benediction followed by lunch and a Guild meeting.

Thanks go to Fr Tim for his kindness in hosting the event and for his work as Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma Chaplain, to Dylan Parry for organising the event and to Mary O'Regan for stepping in at the last minute to give a lively talk on Journalism and Blogging.

After such a good day in the company of friends, what better way is there to end?

And now the morality pill!

2012-02-17T06:39:00.002Z

Following hot on the heels of Modafil, the "wonder" pill that allegedly improves the brain to such a degree that it is estimated to increase exam grades by up to 10%, a new pill is being developed that will "enhance morality."

Details are sketchy but, of one thing I am certain, it will not form part of my prescription list.
But why should I be so, sniffy about it?

I am all in favour of serial child abusers being chemically castrated; if there was an anti shoplifting potion, the retail industry would be baying for it to be added to our drinking water so, why not a morality tablet?

For a start, there is a better way; education and nurture based on the Catholic Faith.
And, for another thing, morality differs from country to country.

There was outrage recently about the news report from China of a two year old child, tragically run down by a car and left to die in the gutter.
It was outrageous but, also, Chinese society has been groomed for this.

The one child policy leading to abortions by the billion and the general result of 60 years of Communism where human life is absolutely not regarded as sacred, has brought a harvest of cold indifference.
In addition, to stop and help a dying child, places a burden of responsibility on the person.
The Good Samaritan in China is frequently the butt of all attendant expenses, medical fees, undertaker's costs and, often, blame for the incident.
Small wonder that they pass on by.

A morality pill would not work in China and in quite a few other places I know of.
In fact, it is hard to imagine how it could possibly work.

Would it be handed out on a daily basis in prisons throughout the land?
Or, maybe in the City of London and on Wall Street there would be vending machines, sort of moral ATMs, available for the banking fraternity.

And would there be instances of people overdosing and, as a result, walking the streets barefooted, begging for food for the poor?

Would Black Rod, at the commencement of Parliament each day, parade past members with a tray of pink pills designed to give all politicians a ten per cent lead in the morality stakes?

I don't think that even George Orwell could have imagined this.....or did he?

Meanwhile, I shall keep taking the tablets, Moses' tablets, that is.

Could you put a price on the face of a child?

2012-02-16T17:07:00.001Z

There is a charity called Project Harar Ethiopia.

It is not a Catholic charity, just a charity.
It exists to raise funds and send medical teams out to Ethiopia to operate on the faces of children, maimed by animals (hyenas, in the main) or disease, of which Noma is the most common.

One can imagine the damage caused by a hyena that has the strongest jaws per pressure per square inch of any animal in Africa. Their teeth carry gangrenous bacteria so that, any wound quickly becomes a necrotising mass of infection.

Noma? Well this is what the charity has to say about Noma..........

Noma is an acute gangrenous infection affecting the face.
Its victims are mainly young children living in extreme poverty, chronically malnourished and with little access to medical care.
Some 90 percent die within weeks of contracting this terrible disease, and survivors can be left severely disabled.
The disease was eradicated in Europe and North America a century ago, save for outbreaks in Nazi concentration camps.
However, it persists in the world’s ‘noma belt’ - countries, such as Ethiopia, which border the Sahara and have high levels of malnutrition and poor access to medicine.
Noma develops when a child’s antibodies that normally fight external viruses become 'confused'. They turn on their host body, attacking the soft tissue of the cheek, mouth and nose. The World Health Organisation estimates that there are approximately 770,000 survivors of noma, with 140,000 new cases per year.

Survivors are left scarred and disabled.

They are frequently unable to eat or speak normally, and confront great social stigma.
Many individuals with a facial ‘difference’ are ostracised by their communities, and many of our young patients are denied their right to a school-place or even abandoned.
Our patients come from poor, remote regions of Ethiopia, where there is little prospect of treatment without outside help.

I have not included any emotive pictures with this post, other than the one below.

This is my youngest daughter. She is a nursing sister and she has given up all of her leave this year to either raise funds or, in this instance, to travel out to Ethiopia as part of a team carrying out remedial maxillofacial surgery, usually in draughty tents that serve as operating theatres.

How does this square with all the other demands on your purse or pocket?
There are many good Catholic charities, countless good causes, there is Medecin san Frontieres, Aid to the Church in Need, Oxfam, CAFOD (hmm) and a hundred other organisations both at home and overseas.

So I really hesitate at asking any more of you.

My daughter would love, above all else, your prayers.

But, if you do wish to donate to the expenses incurred in getting her team out there, then may Almighty God bless you.

This is where you contribute: http://www.justgiving.com/Project-Harar

Who was Archbishop Ullathorne?

2012-02-16T12:21:00.001Z

Archbishop Ullathorne - a passing
resemblance to Archbishop Longley

In readiness for my journey to Australia in March, I thought that I should really find out more about the young Englishman who made such an impact on what was then a very young country.

I do know a little about William Bernard Ullathorne and what I know of him I like immensely.

He appears to have two overriding characteristics, holiness and decisiveness.

His decisiveness is shown from an early age and when he travels to Australia to assume the post of Vicar General for that country, he wastes no time in stepping into the leadership role, assigned to him by the Holy Father.

Still a very young priest, a precocious 27 years of age, he tells his Aussie confreres what's what the minute he steps off the boat.

Such direct speaking goes down well in Australia and the die was then cast for Ullathorne's outstanding ministry, more of which to come over the next few weeks.

So this is a picture of the man commencing when he was a lad of fifteen years.

William Bernard Ullathorne was the eldest of ten children born into a Yorkshire family in 1803.

His father was a successful grocer and his eldest son must have inherited some of his father’s strong will and determination to succeed.

At the age of 12 he entered his father’s business and was set to work in the accounts office. This was, supposedly, a temporary measure (maybe to put young William under the watchful eye of Papa) prior to a second round of schooling but William had a desire to travel and the only way of achieving that dream was to go to sea.

At the tender age of fifteen, William was working as a hand on vessels plying their trade around the Baltic and Mediterranean.

It was while he was at Mass in a German town called Memel that he discerned what he later came to realise was a vocation.

Here is his account from his autobiography:-

“When Sunday morning came in the harbour, Mr Craythorne, the mate, said to me: ‘William, let us go to Mass.’ I fished up the Garden of the Soul from the bottom of my sea-chest, and we set off through the flat town of Memel, with its numerous windmills for sawing timber, and its churches in the hands of the Lutherans, until beyond the town we reached a considerable wooden structure exteriorly not unlike a barn.

There was a square yard of grass in front of it, surrounded by a low wall, and on one side the walk to the door was a mound surmounted by a large wooden figure on a cross, round the front of which sat a number of aged and decrepit people singing and soliciting arms.

The Mass had begun when we entered the chapel, the sanctuary was profusely decorated with flowers, and two banners were planted on the sanctuary rails, one of which, I recollect, represented St Michael the Archangel.

I vividly remember the broad figure of the venerable priest and his large tonsure, which made me think him a Franciscan.

The men knelt on the right side, the women on the left, all dressed very plainly and much alike. With their hands united and their eyes recollected, they were singing the Litany of Loretto to two or three simple notes, accompanied by an instrument like the sound of small bells.

The moment I entered I was struck by the simple fervour of the scene; it threw me into a cold shiver, my heart was turned inward upon myself, I saw the claims of God upon me, and felt a deep reproach within my soul.

When we came out I was struck by the affectionate way the people saluted each other, as if they were all one family.

Whatever money was in my pocket went into the poor box, and when we got on board I asked Craythorne what religious books he had with him. He produced an English version of Marsollier’s Life of St Jane Chantal , and Gobinet’s Instruction of Youth, which I read as leisure served.

The venerable figure of St Francis de Sales and that of St Jane Chantal introduced me to a new world, of which I had hitherto known nothing.

A life filled with God and devoted to God was what I had never realised. Gobinet’s Instructions again took me into my conscience. Still there was much fancy in me, and I lived in a sort of rapture of the imagination until we reached London.

I then wrote home and informed my parents that I wished to leave the sea and return home.

This was speedily arranged and I was again employed in my father’s business.

My dear mother, however, unacquainted with the change that had taken place in me, wrote to me before I left the ship, expressing a hope that I should give no more trouble to them than the rest of the family.

I cannot remember how it was, but though there was then a young priest resident at Scarborough, to whom I went, and under whom, at his request, I resumed the catechism, I did not at that time make my first Communion.

I took evening lessons in French with Mr Pexton, already named, and in walks with him he interested me in College life and studies; and I renewed my old habit of general reading.

But in the midst of this course of life we happened to receive a visit from a linen manufacturer of Knaresborough, who had a son studying with the Church, at the Benedictine Priory of Downside.

He took a fancy to my brother James, who had a fine boy’s voice, and was a principal singer at the chapel. He pressed him to go to Downside as a Church student, and spoke warmly about it to my parents.

But my brother did not feel the attraction.

Whereupon I acknowledged how much I should like it, and made known the altered state of my mind.

My father wrote at once to Dr Barber, the Prior, and the matter was settled to my great delight. As Downside is near Bath, I preferred going by London on board a packet sloop.

But whilst anchored at the mouth of the Thames we were caught in a severe January gale, and had to cut and run with about fifty sail more – of whom one, a Dutchman, went down – and got safe into Harwich, where in consequence of floating ice in the Thames, I did not delay, but went on by coach, and arrived at Downside in the beginning of February 1823, being nearly seventeen years old.

The College, as well as Priory, were then packed in the old mansion, with considerable contrivance; but the new College and Chapel were in course of preparation.

I made the twentieth boy in the school.

The first thing that struck me was the good feeling and piety which prevailed among the boys, and the kindly relations which existed between them and their masters.

The whole tone of thins (sic) was in great contrast to all I had ever known, and threw a light into my mind as to the practical bearing of the Catholic religion.

The next thing that struck me was the absence of worldly knowledge and experience in the Superiors, as well as in the monks, who nevertheless, by their great dignity, piety, and kindness at once attracted my reverence and veneration.

It revealed to me a world in utter contrast to the world I had known before…”

Picture: http://friendswithchrist.blogspot.com/

Ramsgate's not all bad

2012-02-15T08:07:00.001Z

Ramsgate (aka Simony-on-Sea) is not all bad. It is a pleasant South East England seaside town, one of the five Cinque Ports.

It has been in the news quite a lot recently over the scandal of some rather ancient and beautiful altar vessels that the Monks of Ramsgate (now removed to Chilworth) had placed in the hands of auctioneers.
The chalices, monstrance and ciboria have been saved (DG) H/T to Fr Tim and Fr Ray who guide to this press release HERE

But, as well as being a good place to enjoy a fish and chip supper or a dip in the sea, preferably before the aforesaid supper, Ramsgate is so very well endowed with Extraordinary Form Masses.

St Augustine's Abbey Church has EF Masses every Friday and Sunday and St Ethelbert's has one every Wednesday morning.

A pity that St E's can't manage a Sunday one.

This parish is under the guiding hand of Fr Marcus Holden, well known on the Catholic Media circuit for his excellent work.
What is more, Fr Holden originates from Pembrokeshire, close to Tenby, in fact.

And, yet more info - I had the privilege of serving at Fr Holden's first EF Mass celebrated at Our Lady of the Taper, Cardigan. a few years ago.

Here is a glimpse of a Mass held at the Abbey church of St Augustine described as being one of Pugin's gems, Fr Holden is the celebrant at this wonderful Byrd Mass.

Who would opt for an OF Mass after witnessing this?

NB Apologies for confusing St Ethelbert's with St Augustine's earlier, this has now been corrected.

Poor odds have never worried God

2012-02-14T16:05:00.000Z

Throughout the history of the Catholic world we have wondrous examples of God's interventions when the odds have been weighed heavily against the side of the good and the Godly yet, all has come right in the end.

Goliath found out about the power
of God the hard way

The Battle of Lepanto, where, following Our Lady's intercessionary plea, the Almighty gave victory to the Holy League against the overwhelming might of the Ottoman Empire is just one of many examples.

In Old Testament times there is the story of Gideon's victory over the Philistines:

When the leader of the 30,000 strong Israelite army, Gideon, faced the Medianite army of 50,000, God told him to get rid of the cowards in his ranks; in so doing, some 20,000 troops left the army.

God again told him to reduce his ranks as He wished to demonstrate His supreme power.

He told Gideon to take the troops to the river to drink and to observe the way in which they drank.

Most of them threw themselves on their stomachs to drink but a few ran upstream and scooped up water with their hands without halting.

“That is your army” said God.

Gideon was left with just 300 men but they went on to achieve outright victory over the enemy.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen was fond of relating that story as an example of God's power, of how He will respond to our pleas but, more than that, how the issue of being outnumbered or of struggling against the odds is a thing that we should not give in to.

With God's help, anything is possible.

And so, when I read reports of the uphill grind that Rick Santorum faces and when I see the filth that is being trotted out on Facebook and on some anti Catholic blogs, I recall Gideon, Lepanto, Poitiers and other great victories and I say my Rosary - because that makes Santorum the odds on favourite!

The signs of a Christian - BBC fashion

2012-02-14T13:43:00.000Z

The Radio Four Today programme this morning fielded a debate involving that darling of the Anglicanettes, Canon Giles Fraser and the man who is doing more to bring Christians back to their faith than any other, the jolly atheist, Richard Dawkins.

Dawkins claimed that we (the UK) were not Christian in any real senses as, although figures showed that X number claimed the title, most could not display any knowledge regarding the faith.

He intimated that, given the question: "What is the first book of the New Testament"there?" Most would respond with a shrug of the shoulders.

If then, we knew nothing of our creed, how could we lay claim to be part of it?

Canon Giles had obviously consumed more than one Weetabix for breakfast as he threw down a challenge, there and then, to the Prof.

"Tell me" he said "As a Darwinian could you please state the full title of 'The Origin of the Species'.

"Of course" blustered Dawkins, "It's....um....er...it's....."(all dissolve in fits of giggles). He could not recall it and, hoisted by his own petard, he could of course, by his own argument, no longer refer to himself as an atheist.

However, I do find myself grudgingly agreeing with the point made by Professor Dawkins. If we know nothing about Christianity - what does that say about our personal faith?

It says that we ignore it, we regard it as a tab that we can call on at times when we are feeling righteous. It says that our belief is about as strong as a glass of watered down skimmed milk.

There is, as always a balance. There is absolutely no requirement for us to be erudite about matters theological, to be able to frame an argument based on the hypostatic union.
What God requires of us is Faith in Him, Charity in our dealings with our fellow man and Hope in Christ's promise of redemption.

But, in the context of western society today we do need to know more about our Faith other than just the basics. There are so many secular influences and influences of another kind that surround us from day 'A' and stay with us until day 'X'.
We have to have knowledge in order to survive, to stand up to those in society who glibly make a case for abortion or euthanasia or IVF treatment.

I wonder how many Catholic Year 11s could answer the following questions:

1. How many Sacraments are there and what are they?

2. Why did God make you?

3. What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

4. To whom did God give the Ten Commandments to and in what form were
they?

5. Who is the Father of Jesus Christ?

I may appear cynical but, unless the student was studying at The Oratory School, The Cardinal Vaughan or Coloma Girls' School (or, indeed, was a homeschooler) I don't think that many others beyond those boundaries would score five out of five.

And the answer to the Darwin question?...The Origin of the Species By means of Natural Selection - give yourself a gold star if you got that.

My three favourite books.....

2012-02-13T14:16:00.003Z

Thank you to Ttony who has tagged me for a meme originating from Mac at Mulier Fortis. Mac is moving on to Kindle and wants to know what books other bloggers would like to see in this form. I am not sure I could handle a Kindle book but I'll give it a try sometime. It does not specifiy that the book must be religious but I am taking it that is the case.

Ttony has asked me to come up with my three and then pass this on to five other bloggers......and I pray that they still speak to me at the end of it!

Now, I take it that the rule is for religious books only. So, I shall have to give this some careful thought.

My first choice has to be Archbishop Lefebvre's "Letter to Confused Catholics"
This good man has taken an awful lot of flak from the liberal left who have accused him of being right wing, a rebel, uncharitable and so on. If you read this book you will see that he was nothing of the kind. Direct, perceptive and holy, those are good words for this good man to whom we all owe so much. This book charts the nose dive that typified Catholicism in the wake of Vatican II. Horror stories abound. Clown Masses, sins written down on scraps of paper and then ritually set on fire in a dustbin set on the sanctuary, not so holy smoke!
This book is one that will be used by Church historians when this period comes to be scrutinised in 100 years time.

Number two would be any of the "Don Camillo"series. This may seem a little down market to some but I don't care one bit. They are good, entertaining, moral tales and they do me as much good as Peter Bristow's "The Moral Dignity of Man" would and I don't have a throbbing headache afterwards. They should be made compulsory reading in all Catholic Schools.

This is so hard. There are so many good books that I would not like to be without but, for a little pure inspiration I would have to include Ann Ball's "Blessed Miguel Pro".
This martyr of Mexico in the 1920s is one of my great heroes, he led a life of Christ and carried off his scrapes with authority (intent on hunting him down like a dog) with an air of sang froid and great humour.
Of course, they got him in the end and his death at the hands of a firing squad was caught on camera, making it all the more poignant.

And now for my five bloggers that I shall pass this meme on to:

1. Gareth at Catholic and Welsh will, I am sure have some powerful tomes to put forward.

2. I shall have to travel across the pond for The Little Way who has so much wisdom to impart

3. And, also to Tony Layne of The Impractical Catholic and
Outside the Asylum.

4. The Path Less Taken is a blog written by Mary O'Regan who also writes foor many well known newspapers and magazines including The Catholic Herald. Her current post on Sr Genevieve is a truly excellent one.

5. Finally, it would be really interesting to hear from Charlie at
Chasubles and Chalices. I am sure that Charlie has some good books up his sleeve and he's also of the age where he will end up reading more on Kindle than on paper!

So now, my blogging friends, it's over to you to nominate your three favourite books for the Kindle selection and then name five more bloggers, contacting them to let them know of the challenge. Phew!

Australia beckons

2012-02-13T08:29:00.000Z

Next month, all being well, Mrs Linen and I will be embarking for a few weeks sojourn in the Antipodes.

The only purpose of this visit is to see our son, daughter-in-law and our two grandchildren but I hope, also, to visit Melbourne Cathedral and, to travel, if not entirely in the footprints of Bishop Ullathorne, at least in his shadow and to post, between glasses of the amber liquid, on things relating to HMC.

Now I most definitely will not indulge in any dubious imitations of the Australian speech style or reinforce cliched stereotypes of what I know to be utterly false identities. It sounds terribly pompous to make comments such as "I love Australia and its people" but I do.

So I was most relieved to come across this helpful video clip from the Australian Tourist Board. It is not our first visit but I am always appreciative of advice from those in the know, listen for the line regarding "minceabout" as opposed to "walkabout."

What a politically incorrect lot we were in those days!

Michael Voris, Tom Peters, Tito Edwards, Fr Z.......

2012-02-12T08:09:00.000Z

.......and quite a few more eminent bloggers can't make it.....

Blessed Titus Brandsma
Patron of the Guild

BUT YOU COULD!

The gathering of Catholic Bloggers and others interested in the Faith will be at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen* on Saturday 18th February commencing with a Low Mass at 10.30am followed by Benediction.

Fr Sam Medley SOLT will give a talk, there will be lunch provided, Fr Tim will be our gracious host, what more could one wish for?

*
330 Burnt Oak Lane
SIDCUP
Kent
DA15 8LW

Santorum - US Catholics, please get behind this man!

2012-02-11T22:23:00.001Z

Not that it's any of my business except that you don't need to be an expert on recognising quality and goodness to know that Rick Santorum has it and is a great hope for the USA and the world.

Now, he has a 15% lead, against all the odds (more on that tomorrow) - Supertradmum has it covered HERE as does Defend us in Battle HERE and The Daily Telegraph HERE

Still a long way to go but I'm keeping up the Rosaries - Our Lady of Lourdes, please guide!

No greater love hath a woman...

2012-02-11T16:35:00.001Z

The Ring of the Lord

....than to surrender her wedding ring as a literal immolation so that its precious metal may be re-fashioned into a chalice, monstrance or ciborium to be then consecrated by a Bishop and used to contain the Sacred Species.

This was once a fairly common practice; my own mother gave up her wedding and engagement rings for that purpose when Campion House was in the process of being established and there was a need for altar vessels. So did many other women around Great Britain. Campion House was a seminary for late vocations and a highly successful one it was until the decay set in - you can guess the rest.

Now it's probably a Tesco carpark.

But, in the light of the Ramsgate scandal it is good to know that this great sacrifice is still treasured and commemorated by the parishioners of a shrine to Our Lady, North of the Border, at Our Lady of Carfin to be precise.

Now, due to Carfin's copywright restrictions, I can only direct you to the website which you will find HERE

The details are a little imprecise as the impression is given that this is a fairly recent event but, then you read that Pope Pius XI blessed the monstrance (in this case the women of Scotland gave up their jewellery for this most precious vessel, reserving the wedding rings for the part of the monstance that holds the Host). So, with a little bit of what used to be called arithmetic, I estimate that it must have taken place ~~about~~ some time ago.

Anyway, the Church of St Francis Xavier and Carfin Grotto would be a must if you are venturing North of Watford on some jolly or other.

While monstrances are the topic of the day I recall a story told by a Catholic priest friend about a non Catholic attending Benediction.
Afterwards they asked of the priest "What was that you were holding up when the bell rang?".

"It was a monstrance" replied the priest.

"No it wasn't it was beautiful" came the reply.

A debate in Tokyo - and the pro death lobby won!

2012-02-11T12:31:00.001Z

A current post on Stuart's excellent blog has focused, again, on the abortion issue and one of the commentators could not see why, as the foetus does not feel pain, one should have qualms about destroying that young life. The commentator also made reference to his/her abhorrence of shooting animals for sport.

It brought back memories of a night in Tokyo many years ago......I wrote it up at the time (before blogs were even thought of) and here it is.

It is far from orginal in its basis or clever in its slant,but the two debates that transpired were not engineered by me in any way other than to get the group debating and enlivened.

Here it is:-

One evening in Tokyo

The year was 1994 and I was leading a small group of politicians and captains of industry around

Japan

.
Seven days previously we had commenced our tour in Osaka, moving on to a series of wall to wall meetings, presentations and speeches over the course of several days in and around Hiroshima, then Okayama and then, finally, Tokyo.

The party comprised Lord Parry, a Labour Peer, Captain Bill Phillips, a Grandee of the Tory party, Chris Jones, CEO of the West Wales Training and Enterprise Council, Yutaka Nakano, a Japanese entrepreneur and myself.

We were all a shade exhausted by the time we arrived in Tokyo and, in reality, we were a little tired of each other’s company.

However, we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant near our hotel and, in order to bring the group to some sort of order I suggested that we hold a debate.

All agreed (were too tired not to agree) and I told them that the subject of the debate was the issue of human abortion.

Of course, I immediately found myself acting not only as chairman but also as the sole voice in the Pro Life camp.

All were adamant, that abortion was not a nice thing but it was the right of the mother, the individual, to choose whether to end the life in her womb or not as the case may be.

I argued long and hard that abortion was an unacceptable act and that it was, undoubtedly, murder. I was accused of being blinded by my religion and a user of dramatic language in order to make my point.

Eventually, it went to the vote and, quite naturally, I lost by 4 votes to one. All wanted abortion on demand.

They agreed that it had been a good and diverting debate which had enlivened all spirits, they were sorry that I had lost but a good time had been had by all and it had taken up at least two hours of our time together.

By this time our meal was over and we sat with coffee or Chinese tea, glad of the diversion the debate had given us.

It was then that I proposed a second debate. This was not pre planned on my part, it just seemed a good thing to do as all had apparently enjoyed the first debate.

After a little thought they agreed; after all, the evening still stretched out in front of us and none of us could face returning to the hotel quite so early.

I then announced the subject for the second debate; it was to be Fox hunting; right or wrong?

It transpired that all of them (except Mr Nakano) were avid animal lovers and Mr Nakano, whilst not having any great regard for animals, harboured a belief that traditional English country pursuits were probably long overdue to be legislated against.

This debate became even more heated than the first. The constant cry was that it was barbarous and should be outlawed. I put the case that it was really up to the individual to decide whether they hunted foxes or not and had absolutely nothing to do with Government. I was shouted down and eventually had to admit defeat yet again.

Whilst they were congratulating themselves on being great debaters and making patronising comments in my direction I posed the final question:

“If you say that, in the case of abortion, individual choice is essential, why will you not allow individual choice when it comes to foxhunting?”

Silence.

Bernadette's story - on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

2012-02-11T08:56:00.000Z

An apology to all Freemasons

2012-02-10T15:23:00.000Z

Do Freemasons hate Catholics?

Apparently, they do.....er.....sorry!

And it came to pass that a humble man....

2012-02-10T10:06:00.000Z

....did search in vain for the Seven Blogs on the tenth day of the second month and he found few to satisfy his thirst.
"Verily" he did say: "This is a week that passeth all understanding" And then he did take himself to the blogs of one Ttony of the north of the country and to one Paulinus, who liveth only the good Lord knows where; and he found these two blogs were, indeed as much as the seven he had been seeking and he sought no longer.

The week's two impressively great blogs are................

In Hoc Signo Vinces

and

The Muniment Room (a post in three parts)

Thank you both. And apologies to Paulinus.

Still life, Traditional Catholic style

2012-02-09T22:29:00.000Z

Where ever a Catholic sun does shine......

A friend reminded me recently, of a Christmas Mass a couple of years ago and afterwards where the faithful gathered in the priest's living room for a post Mass noggin (or two).

One member of the group, a shooting man, had brought several brace of pheasants for some of us more fortunate ones and they were dotted around the floor at regular intervals.

The sherry and red wine was flowing and, in the babble of conversation could be heard a learned Professor and some learned non academics conducting a conversation, first in Ancient Greek and then in Hebrew.

Us commoners knuckled our foreheads and got stuck into the victuals.

If you wished to epitomise the cross section of laity who attend the Tridentine Mass you could not have a better example. No sign of political correctness, a great deal of laughter (some of it a shade rustic and irreverent), a little alcohol and dead game.

Perfect!

A lobster award?

2012-02-09T15:43:00.001Z

No, it's a Liebster Award

- and many thanks to Tony Layne of Outside the Asylum who nominated this blog for one; I am honoured and humbled.

But now I have to nominate five other blogs, whom I admire and who all have less than 200 followers.

So here goes....

1. Kissing the Leper - crept in at the end of Tony's list but deserves a full place in her own right. Apart from interesting posts, the title is a good and memorable one.

2. Streets of Gold, Olivia has a good way with words and her blog is never, ever, snarky, unlike mine.

3. An uncanny experience in Mass that closely mirrored my own when serving recently, the Licensed Fool, blog name On With the Motley recounts his own "Mertonesque" moment. A great blog.

4. Hah! the luck of the Irish (or should I say Providence).
St Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association, (SCCHA for short) scrapes in with just 199 followers.
Again, this blog focuses on the good things in the faith and we need a few blogs like that to counteract the curmudgeonly among us.

5. Through Vocation is a blog run by a seminarian called Daniel (I'll pass on his surname). Apart from running a good blog, Daniel would be a worthy recipient of our prayers - we value our seminarians beyond all imagination, God bless them all!

So now, dear friends, the ~~lobster~~ Liebster passes to you and, for your part, please find five blogs you admire, ask them to feature the award logo and...well you know what to do dammit!

Twelve things that God wants us to do

2012-02-09T08:32:00.001Z

Simple points to remember, I know, but I find it increasingly easy to overlook some of them. It should not be hard to put all of them into practice.
This list is not exhaustive, please add any that you think should be there.

1. Express our love for Him and our fellow man

2. Remain loyal to the Holy Father and accept his guidance

3. Firmly believe that there is only one God and Jesus Christ is
His Son made Man

4. Revere and honour His Blessed Mother

5. Keep the commandments of the Church

6. Oppose all secular powers that conflict with His teachings, but peacefully

7. Pray for our Bishops and our priests and religious

8. Live our lives as if it was our last day on Earth

9. Receive Him in Holy Communion

10. Die in a state of grace

11. Renounce Satan

12. Have hope, faith and charity, in abundance

Well, the Latin Builders Association likes him....

2012-02-08T15:31:00.000Z

.....and that's good enough for me!

According to today's news, Rick Santorum has triumphed in Minnesota and Missouri and we await, with bated breath, the Colorado outcome.

Now why should I be so focused on the Republican nomination for the Presidential campaign?

Simple. Santorum is a Catholic, not just any old Catholic, he is a traditional Catholic (sharp intake of breath). By that I mean that he holds true to the teachings of Holy Mother Church and condemns abortion, civil marriage and the rest of the pinko liberal claptrap. He is not necessarily an EF Catholic but I am sure that he attends both forms when fulfilling his obligation.

He also, great man that he is, tells the Bishops what's what (H/T to Bones for his post this morning) - that gives him star status in my eyes because we do need a leading layman who is not afraid to take on the magic circles in the hierarchy.

The real point is that we have a potential candidate who can reverse the horrors of Obama-ism, who is a Conservative and a family man and who could, conceivably, take the crown of the most powerful leader in the world.

Why is Conservative important? Because the political intentions of Conservatism are good (never mind that Cameron has gone badly astray, the base levels are sound).

Keep to the path, avoid constant, incontinent introductions of new laws, make strong decisions (like deporting Abu Q pdq!) and keep a firm moral steer to all that is done; good, sound principles made all the better for a dose of the Catholic Faith.

And now...to cap it all, the Latin Builders Association has weighed in on Santorum's side.

Who? You say. And you may well ask.

At first my pulses raced as the title excited my senses; possibly a group intent on restoring Latin in the Liturgy, brick by brick? (oh, no, please).

It transpires that they are a trade group of businesses in the construction industry, based in Miami.
And they have 750 member companies (by 'eck, that's a larger membership than the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma!).

Here is how the US press reported the news....

"We are most interested in supporting a candidate that is going to reinvigorate the economy," said Bernie Navarro, president of the association. "After careful consideration... our board voted to endorse Senator Santorum."
The endorsement came after both Gingrich and Santorum addressed the group on Friday.
Romney did not accept the invitation offered him, choosing instead to address a meeting, also in Miami, of the Hispanic Leadership Network, a national GOP organization that tries to attract Latinos to the Republican Party.
Speaking to about 300 people, Santorum said if business regulations adopted by the administration of President Barack Obama are not repealed soon, the number of small businesses in Florida and the country will decrease rapidly.
"This room will be half as big in 10 years and half of that in another 10 years," he said speaking of the size of the crowd.

ends/................

So, keep up the Rosaries, and pray for the people of America, that they make the right choice - and vote, (if eligible) for Rick Santorum also!

Charles Dickens - not a lover of the Catholic Faith

2012-02-08T10:40:00.000Z

Dickens - the Catholic Faith
appears in only one of his works

I intended posting this yesterday, the anniversary of Dicken's birth.
I did not post it because, on its own, I felt that it lacked any real depth but, in the light of posts made by two of my favourite blogging priests, Fr Z and Fr T, I have put it up as something of an "add on".

Fr Tim mentions Barnaby Rudge which does have a Catholic connection so, I stand corrected. You may read Fr T's post HERE

And, from me.....

Yesterday marked the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, in my opinion, one of the great men of English literature.

His novels, mark the social structure, or lack of it, of the day and there is always a moral tone that finally surfaces triumphant over the most appalling adversity.

Evil is overcome by plain, goodness, poverty is tranformed into comfort and wandering entangled hearts are, somehow sorted out and united with their own true love.

It is all very gratifying and entertaining but, nowhere in any of his writings (as far as I am aware), does the Catholic Church in some form or another, make an appearance.

Yet, the great man was a Christian and even wrote a simplified version of the New Testament for children and a life of Christ.

He travelled throughout America and extensively in Italy, being most unimpressed with Rome.
Eventually, he came to appreciate the ancient ruins and the Colisseum but, as far as the churches were concerned, it was hard times.

He despised the Church and all its rich pageantry contrasting the splendour of the Vatican with the back streets of London, the slums of Wapping and believing that, somehow, there was an imbalance that should have been corrected.

I have not read his book Pictures from Italy so cannot comment on the content but, according to one biographer, Dickens expresses strong distaste for all things Papist in the book.

He had commissioned his Catholic friend, William Clarkson Stanfield, an outstanding artist of his day, to provide the illustrations for the book but Stanfield was so disgusted by the tone that he withdrew; a man of honour, obviously.

Of course, in the England of the 19th century, the Catholic Church was very much a bit player, it was in the States and Mainland Europe that Dickens witnessed the Church and its works and it is something of a tragedy that he "took against it".

As Father Tim points out, however:

"If you want to start on Dickens, Barnaby Rudge is a good choice for Catholics because it involves Lord Gordon and the riots in London against the Papist Act of 1778 which relieved some of the penalties imposed upon Catholics".

Just an idea....why don't we.....

2012-02-07T16:37:00.001Z

...erm, umm, excommunicate the Bishops!

No, no, I didn't say that, honest. It's from an excellent blog that you may view HERE

And, thanks to Philothea on Phire (good limericks today) I also found another ace blogger called Ann Barnhardt, click HERE
Ann talks about the Marxist Bishops (she means the American ones not our nice, err, non Marxists ones).

Ahem.

I'll end it here, else we might have tears before bedtime.

How long before we have this?

2012-02-07T11:34:00.002Z

Buy it now

Of course, we have it already, there are dozens of chalices for sale on Ebay, some Catholic and consecrated and others not.

It is regrettable but inevitable. What is not inevitable is that a Catholic should offer a sacred or blessed item for sale.

Holding the sale in an upmarket auction room in Gloucestershire as opposed to Ebay or, for that matter, at a car boot sale, does not make any difference - the fact is that to do such a thing is a most grave and serious sin. Simony.

H/T New Advent

Simony is usually defined "a deliberate intention of buying or selling for a temporal price such things as are spiritual of annexed unto spirituals". While this definition only speaks of purchase and sale, any exchange of spiritual for temporal things is simoniacal. Nor is the giving of the temporal as the price of the spiritual required for the existence of simony; according to a proposition condemned by Innocent XI (Denzinger-Bannwart, no. 1195) it suffices that the determining motive of the action of one party be the obtaining of compensation from the other.

Which would you prefer?

2012-02-06T13:35:00.003Z

To play golf at St Andrews..........................or at the local municipal course?

Eat at The Ivy..............................................or Pizza Hut?

Drive a Jaguar car........................................or a Ford Mondeo?

See a show at a London theatre.................or go to the village concert?

Go on a cruise............................................or kayak up the Thames?

You can see where this is leading can't you?

Why is it that so many priests choose not to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form?

It's like a chef saying "I don't do Beef Wellington, just steaks" or an opera singer claiming: "I only sing Rigaletto, not Madame Butterfly"

Absolute nonsense. Please visit this excellent blog for a much more erudite appraisal:

V for Victory

The rolling English road leads to.........

2012-02-06T00:55:00.000Z

BLACKFEN!

If you are a reader of Catholic blogs or, possibly, a commentator or even, for that matter, a Catholic blogger.
You will be made very welcome on February 18th at a gathering of The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma members at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen (courtesy of Fr Tim Finigan, Parish Priest and Chaplain to the Guild).

The Guild places no requirement as to one's leanings or views with regard to matters of faith other than, Christian courtesy and loyalty to the teachings of Holy Mother Church.

And the Guild welcomes new members (whether you can attend or not). The process of joining is simple and may be done online at http://guildofblessedtitus.blogspot.com/

The LGBT dress code

2012-02-05T12:53:00.001Z

My post on the Soho Masses has been misinterpreted by one or two souls who thought that I was commending them.

I was not. I was condemning them.

But I was not and would never condemn the people involved. The state of their souls is a matter between them and Almighty God.

The cry so often goes up from the Catholic Gay community "Accept us, accept us".
And my point was that the Church should itself issue a decree of "Bring them home".

So if the homosexual lobby wish for full integration with mainstream Church, they have to observe the niceties of Catholic life.

Here, for a start, is the suggested dress and behaviour code:

1. If you do not wish to be noticed - don't wear OTT flowery dresses. In fact, unless you were born a Scottish male, do not wear dresses at all.

2. Avoid the colour pink. Catholics should not use the Mass as a canvas for their political statements.

3. Similarly, no rainbows to be on display (or AIDS ribbons for that matter, we are concerned with the spiritual here, not the secular).

4. Do not gather en masse at the entrance to the Church before or after Mass. It is impolite to block the way for others.

5. If females are to enter the sanctuary area, please cover your head, arms and ensure that your skirt is modest in length.

6. Similarly, males should not wear hats, shorts or short sleeved shirts.

7. Appear as your birth gender demands - this is not the place to parade gender preferences.

8. Pray for all, not just for those with the same sexual issues as yourself.

9. Remember that there are children in the congregation and that they should not be subject to influence of the morally wrong kind.

10. As with all Catholics, the reception of Holy Communion requires that the individual is in a state of grace and free from mortal sin. The Church teaches, infallibly, that to commit a homosexual act is a mortal sin. Failure to observe this when receiving Holy Communion, is, in itself, a most grave sin.

And if you would like a number 11 then please do not show public signs of your "ishoos" outside the Church. By that I mean, no overtly sexual hugging and kissing or dating.

I hope that this post does not upset anyone, probably a fond hope.

All I can say in my defence is, that, it applies to us all, not just homosexuals.

Now how inclusive is that?

The Chartres Pilgrimage......

2012-02-05T09:16:00.001Z

For full details of the 2012 Pilgrimage, please click HERE

What more moving sight is there than this?

May will soon be upon us and what better way to honour Our Lady in this her month, than to walk the 72 mile, 3 day route from Paris to Chartres in her honour.

Registrations are now open - read on...

The theme for the Pilgrimage this year is "The Family, Cradle of Christendom" and by a happy coincidence, Fr Armand de Malleray, Chaplain to the Foreign Chapters of the Chartres Pilgrimage is giving a weekend retreat in a few weeks time on the "Beautiful Sacrament of Matrimony" which is, of course, the basis for any Catholic Family. Therefore, it is highly recommended that prospective Chartres pilgrimage take advantage of what is sure to be an excellent retreat. Masses, of course, will be according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite. Full details follow below.

MATRIMONY SESSION: 24-26 February 2012, by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP

Ø Theme: ‘The beautiful sacrament of matrimony’. For married and single lay persons alike.

We will explore the perspective set by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in his Address on 27 January 2007: “the expression "truth of the marriage" loses its existential importance in a cultural context that is marked by relativism and juridical positivism, which regard marriage as a mere social formalization of emotional ties. Consequently, not only is it becoming incidental, as human sentiments can be, but it is also presented as a legal superstructure of the human will that can be arbitrarily manipulated and even deprived of its heterosexual character.

This crisis of the meaning of marriage is also influencing the attitude of many of the faithful. The practical effects of what I have called "the hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture" with regard to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, is felt especially acutely in the sphere of marriage and the family.

Indeed, it seems to some that the conciliar teaching on marriage, and in particular, the description of this institution as "intima communitas vitae et amoris" [the intimate partnership of life and love] (Gaudium et Spes, n. 48), must lead to a denial of the existence of an indissoluble conjugal bond because this would be a question of an "ideal" to which "normal Christians" cannot be "constrained". [... On the contrary,] marriage has a truth of its own - that is, the human knowledge, illumined by the Word of God, of the sexually different reality of the man and of the woman with their profound needs for complementarity, definitive self-giving and exclusivity - to whose discovery and deepening reason and faith harmoniously contribute.”

Ø Starts Friday 24^th February 5pm (arrival from 4pm) – ends Sunday 26^th February 2012 (departure from 4pm). Please note: depending on your working hours and means of transportation, later arrival or earlier departure times should not prevent you from attending. Led by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP.

Ø Location: Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berkshire, RG7 5TQ, England. Abbey website: www.douaiabbey.org.uk. Nearest train station (1.2 mile): Midgham (between Reading and Newbury). Taxi, or lift by Guestmaster possible: Tel : 0118 971 5399.

Ø Schedule: Spiritual conferences, Eucharistic adoration. Meals with music or with table readings. Possibility of attending Holy Mass in the EF each of the three days (i.e. Friday 6pm, Saturday and Sunday). Retreatants not used to silence will have times and areas to talk if they wish. Parents wishing to bring children, please contact us.

Ø Cost: Substantial discounts granted by Abbey: please contact us if money is an obstacle. Or: £150/person for single room or £120 for shared room, full board, including VAT.

Ø Booking: please send us a £30 deposit, by cheque made payable to FSSP ENGLAND. You do not need to pay anything further until we meet at the retreat. □

BTW......thanks St Blaise. I awoke on 3rd February with a sore throat which is progressing nicely. Being a male I am, of course, bearing up stoically.

If we possessed a statue of St Blaise I'm afraid he would have been turned to face the wall by now!

Isn't it time the Church calls an end to separation and brings the homosexual Catholic community under its wing?

2012-02-03T12:49:00.001Z

It's a serious question. We have experienced the brouhaha that surrounds the so called "Gay Masses" at the Church of The Assumption of Our Lady and St Gregory in London's Warwick Street.

Bring these people in from the cold!

But the feet of the Church seem firmly rooted in treacle.
No change, no development.

I do not like what takes place at these "Gay Masses" - it is an aberration but, those who follow the Soho Masses every Sunday surely deserve something better than this.
It's isolationist, prejudiced, discriminatory, it's a form of sexual apartheid - an entrance for blacks and an entrance for whites, homosexuals or heterosexuals.

We do not have this form of discrimination in Menevia Diocese, We do not know, or particularly care whether our congregation members are lesbians, homosexuals, bank robbers, adulterers or serial paper clip thieves, it's not really our concern, it is purely God's concern.

We embrace all who attend our Masses but then, we don't harp on about heterosexual issues in our bidding prayers, sermons or after Mass debates.

The Mass is for all and is set in a format for all. It does not need a rainbow banner draped across the sanctuary, or people wearing strange wrong sex garb.
It requires a dress code (yes, it does, even the OF Mass) and that code precludes men dressing as women or vice versa.

But Westminster Archdiocese appears content to corral these poor folk in a sort of sixties type time capsule where those who have this leaning appear as caricatures who stand outside the mainstream of what should be their Mother Church.

Bring them into the fold, do away with all this homosexual babble; if they wish to be accepted then accept them but they have to play their part, as part of the whole, not as freaks.

That means, of course, doing away with Masses that exclude, by their very nature, Catholic families or, even, young Catholic men and women.

Dedicate the Warwick Street Masses to Catholics (full stop), do away with the dated imagery and stop patronising this part of the community.

Better still, provide an EF Mass for all - I am sure that Our Lady and St Gregory would approve.

Seven bright stars....

2012-02-03T08:16:00.002Z

But the following Seven Stars
are good for your health!

1.
This week's selection features, top of the bill, A Reluctant Sinner's account of the aftermath of the death of Henry VIII and links it back to the biblical account of dogs licking the blood from the corpse of Ahab (best read on an empty stomach!)

2.
The Devil - do we believe that he is just an image for "our bad side" or, do we fear him? Both concepts are, of course, wrong as Tom and April Hoopes point out in 'How to beat the Devil' in the National Catholic Register

3.
How does a Bishop cope with insurrection from his priests? If only Archbishop Sheen was alive, he would demonstrate the way. He had a spiritual strength in his ability to identify what he would call "the demonic".
Australia Incognita has a post on the topic facing the Church in Toowoomba - maybe we also need an Austria Incognita!

4. The SSPX, how the acronym makes some people's blood boil but....I think that they are great (except when the get hung up on women's clothing - you know what I mean). Laodicea has a hopeful sort of post about a journey made by a Bulgarian Greek Catholic (amongst other things). I attended a Greek Catholic Mass in Malta once, having gone there with my family for Christmas in the mistaken belief that Malta was a Catholic country. I enjoyed the experience (the Greek Catholic one, not Malta). Anyway, read Laodicea and pray!

5. Catholic guilt, how we nurture it, but it's good really. Those smartie fartie types on television don't understand that it's not so much about guilt as sadness for offending God. A Tiny Son of Mary (where would we be without the strength brought to the faith by converts?) has nice, pithy posts and his Catholic Guilt one is no exception. Thank you Anthony.

6. Christopher Gillibrand needs no introduction, his post commenting on the SSPX negotiations and the isolation that the Holy Father finds himself in makes for bleak reading. Nevertheless, read it and then, when reconciliation happens, wonder at the power of God.

7. Orbis Catholicus Secundus gets my vote because he uses pictures in lieu of 10,000 words but, in this post, he combines the two with a succint quote from Cardinal George regarding Catholic persecution. The message? We will have western martyrs in 20 years. And His Eminence is right!

AND COMING LATER TODAY.......

....HOMOSEXUAL MASSES AND WHY THEY ARE SO WRONG!

How to treat a chalice that has been an issue of sacrilege.

2012-02-02T19:26:00.000Z

There is only one way to treat a sacred vessel (I am thinking ahead here of the final stages of what is becoming the Ramsgate Benedictine Scandal) where it has been subject to sacriligious use.

Archbishop Sheen gave the example of a chalice that had been sold and subsequently used as a cocktail 'glass' or beer cup in a night club.

According to the great man one must take the cup and return it to the furnace, melting it down so that the sin of its desecration would be cleansed by fire, just as you might, in a case of emergency, apply a red hot iron to an infected wound.

Then and only then, it can be recast and shaped and annealed so that it returns with its old substance but cleansed and in a new form.

And, then, of course, it must be consecrated anew by a Bishop.

Picture: Fr Z

Would someone please tell the Benedictines of Chilworth that please?

Tomorrow is the day to banish sore throats!

2012-02-02T13:25:00.000Z

The Feast of St Blaise, 3rd February - if you can attend Mass that day, do so, you should be rewarded with the intercessionary blessing of this great saint upon your throat and.......you get to keep the candles (or used to), which may be stored up against the day when a priest brings the Blessed Sacrament to your home.

Doctors, Nurses and Physicians take note

This is not just some trivial sore throat thing, it applies to esophageal cancer, laryngitis, pharyngitis, tonsilitis and every other itis you can think of.
It helps prevent as well as cure so go for it.

Here are the prayers said by the priest and the responses said by the server when the priest holds two candles to your throat whilst you kneel at the commmunion rails...you know what they are don't you?:

V. Our help + is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit. Let us pray.

Almighty and most gentle God, Who didst create the multiplicity of things through Thine only Word, and didst will that same Word through Whom all things were made to take flesh for the refashioning of man; Thou, Who art great and without measure, terrible and worthy of praise, a Worker of wonders: the glorious martyr and bishop Blaise, not fearing to suffer all sorts of diverse tortures because of his profession of faith in Thee, was suited happily to bear the palm of martyrdom: and Thou didst grant to him, among other graces, the favour that he should, by Thy power, cure all kinds of illnesses of the throat: we humbly beg Thy Majesty not to look upon our sins, but to be pleased by his merits and prayers and to deign in Thy venerable kindness to bless + and sanctify + this creature of wax by the outpouring of Thy grace; that all whose necks in good faith are touched by it may be freed by the merits of his sufferings from any illness of the throat, and that healthy and strong they may offer thanks to Thee within Thy Holy Church, and praise Thy glorious name, which is blessed forever and ever. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

R. Amen.

(recipient to hold up their head allowing the priest to place the candles on their throat)
Then he will hold the two, unlit blessed candles crossed over your throat, intoning:

Per intercessionem S. Blasii liberet te Deus a malo gutteris et a quovis alio malo

English:
May God at the intercession of St. Blaise preserve you from throat troubles and every other evil.

Then he will make a sign of the Cross.

A dream of a letter - "Dear Bishop...."

2012-02-01T19:43:00.007Z

......the enclosed letter has been sent by one of your episcopal colleagues to his priests, admonishing them for not implementing my requests.
It is, I hope you will agree, a good letter; a good example of the love of Christ, of the care shown by a good shepherd for his flock, yet the actions you, as a Bishop, have taken, are precisely the same my friend spells out.

You have not only disregarded my Motu Proprio, you have poured ridicule and scorn on the laity who have responded to it and you have vilified those young men about to become servants of God and those already in His service, who expressed an interest in my call for the Extraordinary Form of Mass.

Please read my friend's letter in full and see if it touches your heart; if it reminds you of the vow of obedience you once made all those years ago and see if you can now put into practice all that is contained therein".

Signed: B------t - and the end of the "dream" letter - now for the real one!

THE LETTER - FROM BISHOP MARIO OLIVERI

1st January 2012

Dear Priests and Deacons,

It is with much bitterness of spirit that I have found that many of you have not taken up or made a right attitude of mind and heart toward the possibility given to the faithful by the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum" of Pope Benedict XVI, of the celebration of Holy Mass "in the extraordinary form" according to the Missal of Blessed John XXIII, promulgated in 1962.

In the "Three days of the Clergy" of September 2007, I indicated with strength and clarity what is the value and the true meaning of the Motu Proprio, how we should interpret it and how we should accept it, with a mind that is open to the magisterial content of the document and with a ready willingness of a convinced obedience. The position taken by the Bishop was not missing its calm authority, strengthened by his full concordance with a solemn act of the Supreme Pontiff. The position of the Bishop was founded by reason of his theological argument on the nature of the Divine Liturgy, the immutability of the substance in its supernatural contents, and was also based on surveys of the practical, concrete, good sense of the Church.

The adverse reactions to the motu proprio and the theological and practical guidance of the bishop are almost always dictated by emotional and superficial theological reasoning, i.e. a rather poor and shortsighted "theological" vision, that is not part of and which does not reach the true nature of the things which concern the Faith and the work the Church's sacramental life, that is not fed by the perennial Tradition of the Church, which looks at rather marginal aspects or at least incomplete issues. Not without reason, had I, in "Three Days" cited above, prefaced with the operational guidelines and principles to guide action a doctrinal exposition on the "Unchanging Nature of the Liturgy".

I understand that in some areas, on the part of several priests and pastors, there was also the manifestation almost of ridicule toward faithful who have asked to make use of the option, and indeed of the right, for the celebration of Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form; there is also an expression of contempt and almost of hostility toward Brother Priests who are well prepared to understand and respond to the requests of the faithful...

I ask that you put away every attitude not in conformity with ecclesial communion, the discipline of the Church and the convinced obedience due to important acts of the magisterium or government.

I am convinced that my call will be accepted in a spirit of filial respect and obedience.

[...]

The letter carries with it all my desire that it might help to reawaken and a strengthen our ecclesial communion and of our common desire to fulfill our ministry with a renewed fidelity to Christ and his Church.

Finally, I would ask you for much prayer for me and for my apostolic ministry, and I cordially bless you all.
Albenga, 1 January 2012, Solemnity of the Mother of God

Monsignor Mario Oliveri, Bishop

Bishop Oliveri's letter from a translation, reproduced by kind permission of Shawn Tribe - New Liturgical Movement

I've never really understood this saying, until now

2012-02-01T14:14:00.000Z

"You can take the Boy out of the Catholic but you can't take the Catholic out of the Boy"

From the 'Sackcloth and Ashes' range of handmade wallpapers by
Matthew Liam Collins of Art & Interiors, Melbourne

Well done Matthew, more a Gold Boy than a Blue one!

St Bridget's Feastday! St Brigid in the Irish

2012-02-01T10:36:00.006Z

Or, as we in Pembrokeshire like to refer to her, St Bride

The west flank of Pembrokeshire is skirted by a most beautiful expanse of coastline, clear blue seas, towering cliffs and expanses of bleached sandy beaches.
It is called, St Bride's Bay after the Irish Saint Bridget (you may read a detailed account of her HERE on this great Irish blog).

I do not know how this bay came to be named after this great saint, perhaps, like so many holy Irish people, she began the tradition of crossing the stormy ocean waves to bring a little bit of Christian love and civilisation to the wild and woolly Welsh.

Claims are made upon her not just by Wales but also by some parts of the Outer Hebrides, in which case, the good Saint must have had a busy time of it travelling the length of the British Isles.

A place of spiritual refreshment!

At any rate, I am grateful to her for many things, not least of which is her patronage of a neat little pub called, of course, the St Brides and abbreviated, as is the Welsh custom with all names, to "the Brides".

It just so happens that I too am a patron of "the Brides"

St Bride - Ora pro nobis!

A great Jesuit - in the days when the Society of Jesus was a great order

2012-02-01T08:45:00.001Z

                                                                    Fr Henry Morse
                                                                   1st February 1645
I had occasion to visit a Jesuit website this week and was not a little knocked back by the photographs of priests of the order - not a clerical collar in sight!

It seems rather sad that, after receiving the vocational call and undergoing years of study and sacrificing so many of life's comforts, a priest should discard his 'badge of office' to appear as an ordinary layman.

St Henry Morse SJ did not wear a dog collar either but, the times in which he lived were somewhat different, as were the style of clothes worn by a Catholic priest. But I somehow believe that this man, if he lived today, would not walk around wearing a shirt and a tie but the clerical black.

Interestingly, this website carried a history of the order in England and Wales and made much of their priests through the years but one of their greats, Fr Clement Tigar, late of this world and Campion house in Osterley, was missing.

Was it because this quiet man was a traditionalist I wonder?

But back to Fr Morse, born into the Protestant faith in 1595 in rural Suffolk.

What follows now is Fr Morse's statement from the scaffold at Tyburn, uttered as preparations were made for him to be hanged, drawn and quartered on February 1st 1645.

It is a most moving statement and one that, in these troublesome times for the Faith, we can draw a great deal of comfort from:

"I am come hither to die for my religion, for that religion which is professed by the Catholic Roman Church, founded by Christ, established by the Apostles, propagated through all ages by a hierarchy always visible to this day, grounded on the testimonies of Holy Scriptures, upheld by the authority of the Fathers and Councils, out of which, in fine, there can be no hope of salvation.

Time was when I was a Protestant, being then a student of the law in the Inns of Court in town, till, being suspicious of the truth of my religon, I went abroad into Flanders, and upon full conviction I renounced my former errors and was reconciled to the Church of Rome, the mistress of all Churches.

Upon my return to England I was committed to prison for refusing to take the oath of supremacy, and banished.
After even years I returned to England as a priest, and devoted myself to the poor and the plague-stricken".

"No self-glorification here" interrupted the Sheriff,

"I will glory you only in God" continued the martyr, "who has pleased to allow me to seal the Catholic faith with my blood, and I pray that my death may atone for the sins of this nation, for which end and in testimony of the one true Catholic faith confirmed by miracles now as ever, I willing die"

                                   St Henry Morse SJ - Ora pro nobis!
               And pray also that the Jesuit order returns to its greatness!

From The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma Blog

The sin of simony - alive and well and living in *Ramsgate

2012-01-31T19:11:00.003Z

Simony is one of those words that seldom makes an appearance in a conversation these days.
I guess it was used quite a lot in the time of Martin Luther as, of course, the selling of indulgences, was a good example of simony.

It applies not just to holy words or acts leading to indulgences but also to sacred objects, blessed rosaries, chalices, reliquaries, monstrances and the like.

But then, who in their right minds would wish to sell a monstrance?

It's laughable. How would you sell one?

On Ebay?.............nope.....in the small ads...nope again.....

Oh.....surely not by public auction?

'Fraid so....Fr Ray Blake has the story covered.

Impious is the word he uses.....good word that.

NB The good monks have now moved to *Chilworth, but Ramsgate sounds better!

Forget the poor, it's the rich that need our charity

2012-01-30T12:03:00.000Z

He earns £100,000 each week amounting to well over £5 million pounds each year but no one questions his right to that money, or his skills and ability that enable him to command such a sum.

He is not alone.
In the UK and Mainland Europe, there are literally hundreds more like him, with a spread of adoring supporters worldwide.

He is, of course, footballer, David Beckham.

Compare him, if you will with the vilified Mr Stephen Hester, the hatchet man brought in to turn around the disaster that was the banking icon, RBS. He has probably studied and trained for a similar period of time as Mr Beckham, admittedly, on a more academic pitch, but the value that Mr Hester brings is not one of entertainment.

He has averted a crisis of proportions unimaginable that would have had a major impact on the living standards of every man, woman and child, in the UK and beyond. The impact on the poor man, woman and child would have been disastrous.

Hester saved RBS (and the country) many billions, of which, his annual bonus of c. £950,000 seems small fry - what David B would earn in ten weeks!

But the tragedy of all this anger that is now directed at the banking community (bankers are the new estate agents) is, that we have overlooked just how much they need prayers and charity, for their future is a bleak one and I am not talking about a hardening of the arteries and type two diabetes.

We seem to have forgotten that Christ, when He walked the earth, was not overly concerned about the fate of the poor (because he knew what their fate would most likely be).
He was most concerned for the rich and their spiritual welfare.

Where was Our Lord to be found most evenings once His mission had begun?

Not preaching to the old and infirm, or young families with many mouths to feed - he was eating with the filthy rich, the tax collectors (bankers?) the pimps and the prostitutes, the business community.

He knew the danger that they were in and, on the principle of not finding a Doctor among the healthy, there He counselled, preached and guided.

Matthew 19: 23-24:
And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

An extraordinary experience, today's Missa Cantata

2012-01-29T21:21:00.000Z

Something happened at Mass this afternoon and I don't know what it was or why it occurred.
At least five of us in the congregation, choir and serving on the altar independently experienced it.

It was not influenced at all by the music, beautiful as it was; it was felt as soon as Mass started with the Asperges.

The feeling was palpable, as if Christ Himself had suddenly materialised on the sanctuary.

If Christ was present, so were His angels, it was St Augustine who said that:

"When Mass is being celebrated, the sanctuary is filled with countless angels who adore the divine victim immolated on the altar."

They were certainly present today; I have never quite experienced anything similar before.

It was if a voice was saying: "Nothing matters except Me, all will be well "

Now I apologise if this all sounds rather schmaltzy or spiritualist, even. It was nothing like that.

It was a profoundly Catholic experience, I cannot say more than that.

But a friend who was present emailed me with this sentence that goes a long way to summing it up:

"The Mass was so beautiful today; the reverence shown to Our Lord was very moving. The gentle bows in adoration; the pauses in the Gloria Patri...; the genuflections......it was all so lovely. I wanted it to last and last".

Just for the record, this clip is the same Mass (Orbis Factor) that was sung by the Newcastle Emlyn Schola today.

And....a reminder, for me, as to why the Holy Mass is so critical to our welfare
from the Catholic Bible website

"At the hour of death the Holy Masses you have heard devoutly will be your greatest consolation.

Every Mass will go with you to Judgment and will plead for pardon for you.

By every Mass you can diminish the temporal punishment due to your sins, more or less, according to your fervour.

By devoutly assisting at Holy Mass you render the greatest homage possible to the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord. ...

Through the Holy Sacrifice, Our Lord Jesus Christ supplies for many of your negligences and omissions.

He forgives you all the venial sins which you are determined to avoid. He forgives you all your unknown sins which you never confessed.

The power of Satan over you is diminished.

By piously hearing Holy Mass you afford the Souls in Purgatory the greatest possible relief.

Through Holy Mass you are preserved from many dangers and misfortunes which would otherwise have befallen you. You shorten your Purgatory by every Mass.

Through the Holy Mass you are blessed in your temporal goods and affairs.

When you hear Holy Mass devoutly, offering it to Almighty God in honour of any particular Saint or Angel, thanking God for the favors bestowed on him, etc., you afford that Saint or Angel a new degree of honour, joy and happiness, and draw his special love and protection on yourself.

Every time you assist at Holy Mass, besides other intentions, you should offer it in honour of the Saint of the day.

In holy Mass, in obedience to Christ's command, "Do this in remembrance of me," we of the Church offer perfect praise to the heavenly Father, and sanctify ourselves and the world by the power that flows from the priestly office of our eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ.

The benefits of even one holy Mass are infinite and include the whole world. The blood of the new and everlasting covenant was "shed for you and for all."

In every Mass that is offered the Church remembers before God "those who take part in this offering, those here present and all your people, and all who seek you with a sincere heart." In a special way those who have holy Mass offered and those for whom a Mass is offered partake of the grace of the Eucharistic sacrifice.

The Church which offers Mass each day includes not only the faithful on earth, but the saints in heaven, as well as the suffering souls still awaiting entrance into heaven.

It is a pious and praiseworthy custom for the faithful to have Masses offered for their particular intentions, and especially for departed friends and loved ones. It is a laudable Catholic practice when requesting Mass for a special intention to make an offering both for the support of the priest who will celebrate the Mass and to provide for the needs of the altar as well as the materials required for the holy Sacrifice.

It is very sad that so many non-Catholic Christians consider the Mass to be an abomination. It is just the opposite. It is the one-time sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross recreated, through time and space, in an unbloody fashion, just like Jesus did during the Last Supper".

The SSPX - are they really Elves?

2012-01-29T08:56:00.000Z

The Church has been beleaguered before.
Many times has the Holy Father been isolated and besieged; many priests, Bishops and lay men and women have gone to meet their death at the hands of evil.

And now wars, famine, pestilence and disease abounds.

Morality is at an all time low.

The Devil appears to be gaining ground.
Wherever one looks there is pornography, violence, dishonesty, greed, corruption, exploitation - and human life has never been held so cheap.

All appears hopeless, all is lost.....but could the Society of St Pius X provide us with the required force to repel the works and pomps of Satan?

If only those in the Vatican could offer a little more and if only Bishop Fellay's men could unbend a shade, then we could win the Battle of Helm's Deep and all future battles.

They could be the saving Elves that we so desperately need right now!

Make my day punk!

2012-01-28T19:27:00.000Z

If you think that you can get away with blasphemy, with throwing filth at the image of the Son of God, of taking His name in vain, in abusing statues of His Blessed Mother, in propagating lies about pagan festivals being the prototypes of Christian ones (The Little Way), in destroying the life in the womb that He created, in assaulting His priests, His chosen ones, in taking the lives of the aged and the infirm, of experimenting on embryos in order to undertake the great 'good' of finding a cure for this, that and the other, if you think, for one minute you can get away with promoting mortal sin through the defence of homosexuality, licentiousness and immorality -

Think again!....Make my day!

"I have ten shots and you don't know how many I've used....so take a chance, make my day.....I'm taking a bead on you......"

The Diary of an Unborn Child

2012-01-28T17:12:00.001Z

Who could fail to be touched by this post written by Fr Bernhard Speringer ORC. For British readers, substitute Mommy for Mummy etc.

October 5: Today my life began. My parents don’t know it yet, but I am here. I’m a girl; I’ll have blonde hair and blue eyes. All my genetic imprints are present, also that I will have a weakness for flowers.....

Read the diary in full here at KATH.NET and, of course, be ready for the shock.

Santorum is right about the NHS

2012-01-28T05:40:00.000Z

It's taken me a little time to brew over the remarks made by Rick Santorum regarding the National Health Service of England and Wales.

At first, my knee jerked in accord with most Brits when I heard what he had to say. You may see for yourself in this video clip.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/9671217.stm

At the time, Santorum was under a bit of pressure with a mike thrust under his nose, but he must be able to take that, and then he comments that the NHS "devastated British society".
He also stated that it spelt the end for the British Empire. I think our Empire was at an end long before Nye Bevan brought in the NHS but let's overlook that and focus on whether we were "devastated" by health reforms.

As a nation we love the NHS, despite the fact that it's under the thumbscrews of consultants who rule the roost and ensure that management and practice are firmly rooted in the 1940s.

It is horrendously expensive, wastefully so and it's also pretty crap!

What do I mean by that?

I mean that it uses old technology (if it uses technology at all); it cannot put patient records online so it relies on paper files going back to the days prior to penicillin, the General Practice service is risible and can only half cope with coughs and colds (any complaint outside of runny noses is a mystery to the Doctor).
Again, electronic communications appears beyond them and as for patient satisfaction surveys - forget it!

When you finally, after many months, struggle to a hospital for a consultation you have to beat the consultant to a pulp before he/she will authorise an operation or a scan or any bleep thing for that matter.

And when, after a year or two, you are admitted for your operation, you are fed food that appears to have passed its sell by date in the days of Florence Nightingale.

But we love it - we cherish it, because, you see, it's free! And because the nurses are such angels (which they are).

Well, we do pay extortionate taxes to fund its profligate lifestyle but that's all right, we must be grateful and not complain. It was much worse for Grandfather who had to have his leg amputated with a penknife and a rusty saw with no anaesthetic!

The point is, that a catchall state funded organisation is pretty well bound to be full of flaws.
If you remove the competitive edge, provide a thick tissue of bureacracy so that no challenge to the system can be upheld, instigate political correctness to the enth degree, allow racial discrimination (from the ethnic minorities involved) and alien cultural practices to flourish and chuck well over £700 billion at it, what do we expect?

When Santorum made his NHS comment he followed through by mentioning the name of one Margaret Thatcher, whom he obviously admires. Good.

Having seen the Lady Thatcher film, The Iron Lady this week I was reminded (by newsreel footage) of just what a grim Britain she inherited back in 1979.

Constipated by trade union greed and menaces, violent with mobs running out of control, communists behind every door of industry and commerce. Banana Republics around the world were getting out of hand and threatening British outposts and citizens.
The poor were being well and truly kept poor and then, a Lincolnshire grocer's daughter came along into a heavily male dominated Parliament and kicked it all into touch.

Whatever one thinks about her, she was one amazing woman and leader. I just wish that she had been Health Minister in the Heath Government rather than Education Minister, she would have given the NHS a good shaking.

What has all of this got to do with the Catholic Faith and Rick Santorum?

Well, I'm still saying my Rosary for Rick's success.
If ever the US (and the world) needed a good Christian leader, now is the time.
And we should not write him off just because he criticised the NHS.
Rather we should embrace him with our hopes and prayers and wish him every success.

Anyone who can damn the Health Service and praise Lady Thatcher in one sentence has got to be Presidential material.

Seven Up! The week's top posts

2012-01-27T13:00:00.000Z

1. Suffering should be regarded as a gift from God; but there are many types of suffering and to be the parent of a child with a disability must rank as being close to the top of the list - hard for both parent and child.
Making Things Visible carries a post with a message from that inspirational leader, Archbishop Chaput.

2. This week we remembered the 39th anniversary of Roe vs Wade. The day that the earth lost a large portion of its light as we began a more efficient slaughter of the innocents. Anthony Layne marks the day with his usual pithy and punchy approach - a day of shame and repentance.

3. Left Footer, (stout man that he is) has started another blog dedicated to the practice of swimming in the sea, preferably when you have to break the ice to enter in. This should be part of every Bishop's spiritual exercise - heh! heh!

4. The Blog of a Country Priest (good title) carries a post on how one cannot convert people to the faith by argument; something that I heartily agree with but, often fall by the wayside in following.

5. A new blog (for me) and one that I stumbled across on the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma blogsite. Ethelredasplace carries a good post on the dangers presented by the "games" industry - more like "occult" industry.

6. James Preece never fails to hit the target and score a high impact. His post on Dangerous Emissions and CAFOD is bullseye material, read it HERE

7. The threat of Islam. Is there a country in the world that has a Muslim base and that does not persecute Christians - can't think of one offhand.
EF Pastor Emeritus (I almost typed Emiritus!) has yet another tragic story of how nuns cope with rampant discrimination by Saudi emigres.

And if we had an eight day week, I would award Signor Mundabor a gold star for his great post on niceness. We all live in a nice society where everything is very nice...trouble is, the inhabitants of Sodom were nice also - and look what happened to them.

The nun that said "No" to the Pope

2012-01-27T06:18:00.000Z

In the aftermath of Mary Johnson's piece about obedient mindless nuns (those who wear the habit and lead a life according to their vows), we have an outspoken nun who is now a Saint - Sister Angela Merici.

The story of her life is told HERE

Prayer to St Angela

Saint Angela, you were not afraid of change. You did not let stereotypes keep you from serving. Help us to overcome our fear of change in order to follow God's call and allow others to follow theirs. Amen

Was it something I said?

2012-01-26T22:43:00.000Z

I noticed, recently, that my blog had been removed from the sidebar list of a priest blogger. That is his absolute right.

But, I was saddened by this. Had I offended him by some view expressed rather too stridently?

Was it that he did not like my comments on Bishops?

I don't think that I would retract anything that I have said over the past 14 months but I am truly sorry if I have offended this priest, because, of course, I have offended one of Christ's own which is as good as offending the good Lord Himself.

I do not care at all about being dropped off the favourites listing but I would have liked an email from him telling me why.

Is there a protocol for bloggers? A code of courtesy and conduct? I rather sense that there is an unwritten, loose form of way of carrying on; the trouble is, no one tells you about it, you just bump from rock to rock finding out the painful, hard way - trial and error.

Perhaps some erudite soul with a love of constitutional matters might cobble together a Catholic Blogger's Code?

Or, does one exist?

Misinterpreting the Faith

2012-01-26T15:27:00.000Z

"Asparagus me..............."

There were some excellent additions to my 12th January post regarding misinterpretations of the faith - all of them funnier than my originals.

Here they are.....

'Asparagus me.....' - is courtesy of Sandy at A Catholic Comes Home (whom I wish would post more)

Purgatory - Left Footer states that it is neither a laxative nor an anti-Conservative witch-hunt.

Lauds - not for cricket, more for early morning prayer according to Porta Caeli

Fr Whelan states that the Barque of Peter is not an angry growl from the Pope

Webmaster Gareth, another Papal one -And, if the Popes don't like something they don't say, "Let him have Asthma"

Fr Abberton (Stella Maris) says - the dialogue on entering the Confessional is NOT, "Bless me Father, for you have sinned"! And the humeral veil is not funny

The Little Way (with a French bias) - And the Confiteor is a prayer confessing sinfulness, not a person with a penchant for roasting duck.

Tony Layne - pithy as ever - The mantilla can't be found over a small fireplace

And Compline is not a powdered milk nutritional supplement available in a range of delicious flavours...states Mark at Joe Versus the Volcano

Nuns - are they a force for good or....?

2012-01-25T21:43:00.001Z

The nuns always laid on a welcoming
ceremony when the Bishop paid a visit

An American ex Nun has published a report stating that she believes that Vatican officials (and, presumably the Holy Father) are afraid of them, nuns, that is.

Too damn right they are! A US nun of the liberated feminist variety is enough to scare Attila the Hun.
The ex sister in question, Mary Johnson, claims that it is the lack of nunnish clothing ie a wimple and habit that makes the Cardinals jittery. It has become a sign that the woman in question is modern, liberal and not afraid to question authority.

I would have thought that all of those attributes would be classified in the 'bad' file.
Don't nuns take vows of poverty, obedience and chastity?

And humility must come under the poverty tag just as keeping oneself pure and free of rebellious thoughts and actions must come under chastity.

As for obedience - that went out of the window years ago.

H/T to Luke Coppen of The Catholic Herald for flagging this one up and also to Bloomberg who ran the story.

Here is an extract from Mary Johnson's article, my comments are in red.

Nuns in Street Clothing Shouldn’t Frighten Vatican: Mary Johnson

The Vatican recently finished an exhaustive, three-year inquest, the kind it reserves for its gravest problems. The subject: “American apostolic women religious,” commonly known as nuns.

Almost 400 religious institutions throughout the U.S. were studied as part of this “apostolic visitation,” and a final, confidential report on the nuns’ activities was submitted to the Vatican in December.
Why investigate nuns? (Why? Because they were/are running riot in total disobedience to the Faith and a cause of great scandal) Because, Vatican officials said, they were concerned for the sisters’ welfare. But as a former nun -- I left the convent in 1997 after 20 years as a sister in New York, Rome, Washington and Winnipeg, Canada -- I know what the church leaders won’t publicly admit: American nuns frighten them.
I should qualify that remark: Not all U.S. nuns scare the Vatican. The Catholic hierarchy dotes on those who wear long habits with hanging rosaries, unquestioningly obedient nuns (Isn't that what nuns are supposed to be?) who staff Catholic institutions for less than it costs to employ laypeople. (This is not an employment opportunity, it's a vocation!) But these conservative sisters, who are represented by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, make up less than a tenth of the approximately 50,000 nuns in the U.S. The majority align themselves with the more liberal Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Second Vatican Council

In 1965, when the Second Vatican Council issued a decree calling all nuns to renewal, most American sisters embarked on a demanding, often painful process of discernment and revitalization. (What? by discernment does she mean learning to apply make-up? And by revitalization, well what does she mean?) They tried on normal clothes, branched into new ministries (like what?) and abandoned traditions that kept members childishly (I was educated by nuns of the ultra traditional variety, Dominicans and others and childish is not a word I would have used about them) dependent on superiors.
Some sisters felt that renewal went too far; others thought it didn’t go far enough. The number of American nuns has shrunk by almost 75 percent since 1965 (Is there a message in that statistic?) But those who remain have learned to listen to their consciences, (nice one, Sister, nothing like a bit of diminishment by appearing virtuous) make decisions collectively and, more audaciously, speak their minds -- even if it means opposing the Vatican.
To Rome, these liberal nuns are voices of dangerous dissent: (at last, a statement that one can agree with) Cardinal Franc Rode, who initiated the new investigation of American sisters, stated on Vatican radio two years ago that U.S. nuns display a suspect “secular mentality” and “feminist spirit.”
In 1976, at age 19, I joined Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, a traditional community of nuns. Liberal American sisters in polyester didn’t appeal to me; Mother Teresa’s mission to the poorest did. I didn’t realize the community would observe every Vatican decree as though it came directly from God. (Well, they do come direct from God - or have I missed something?)
I was told that the highest use of my intellect was its unquestioning surrender in obedience; my superiors would always tell me what God asked of me. Eventually, I came to see that the Missionaries of Charity’s anti-intellectualism (oooh!) and rigid separation from the world stunted our work and each sister’s development. Modern nuns’ encouragement of individuals’ gifts and responsibilities no longer seemed like egocentric selfishness -- it seemed like oxygen. (More like carbon monoxide)
Sometimes I think that if I had joined one of those modern communities, I might still be a nun. (What a stinger to end on, you've got to hand it to Sr Mary, she certainly knows how to damn with faint praise).

ends/.....

I did not particularly like the nuns of my childhood, most of them were harsh and severe. Conservative, even.
But they were all amazing examples of humility, obedience and, I am sure, chastity.
They reflected God's love, albeit in a somewhat direct manner. I do not view them through rose tinted glasses, they did have faults but, by and large, they were a good bunch.

They may have been obedient to Rome but there was nothing subservient about them; they challenged the Diocesan education authorities as a matter of course. They had to fight hard for every bit of kit and technology and every resource that was available.

They did not kow tow to the Archbishop or Cardinal of the time; I once witnessed the Headteacher nun giving Cardinal Heenan a real ear bashing for not featuring the school in one of Westminster's televised ceremonies.
He left the school a very chastened man but not before Sister Catherine had knelt to kiss the ring on his finger.

That's what I call a real nun.

The Welsh Connection - in the US Presidential election

2012-01-24T23:32:00.000Z

It appears as if the unfortunately named, Mitt Romney (who would name an infant after a child's glove?) is both a leading Presidential contender and a Mormon to boot.

Lord Parry....

.....Brigham Young - hmmm!

The word "Mormon" conjures up images of stern, bearded men with a handful of obedient wives and a playing card pack of children. I do not know if this is an accurate picture of the present day Mormon male. I suspect that most of them have done away with the beards and wives and adopted lightweight mohair suits and iPhones these days.

My late good friend Lord Parry of Neyland (a good guy despite being a Labour Peer) used to tell a story about the early Mormons and, like all good and faithful Welshmen, he had found a link that led from sleepy Pembrokeshire in West Wales right to the capital of Latter Day Saints - Salt Lake City in Utah.

A tenuous link one might suppose.
What was it that Pembrokeshire had that was of interest to Mormons?

The answer is women.

Apparently, and according to the noble Lord, Brigham Young's family hailed originally, from the western banks of the River Cleddau, not far from a hamlet called Port Lyon, once home to Lord P.
As a digression, Port Lyon, which stands on the banks of the Cleddau, was so named after the call coming from the boats and ships that found their way upriver to that place whereupon, spotting the hamlet of cottages, the call would go out "port lee - on".

Now as Lord Parry also quoted this story I fully admit that the main account may be apocryphal but I leave you to make that judgement.

Back to Mr Young whose family still (allegedly) farm the banks of the Cleddau.

The early Mormons had plenty of zeal but very few women (to marry and bear children) and so, what was more natural than Brigham sailing across the pond and up the Cleddau to his homeland to recruit young Welsh maids to return with him to the land of promise that was America.

And so it was. And not just one trip was made but several over a period of years.

I often wonder about this and picture those young women, wide of hip and broad of bosom, as farm lasses were in those days, and I speculate that, if one strolled down the streets of Salt Lake City today, would you be able to identify those with a claim to be great, great grandchildren of the men who made such perilous journeys in order to secure a wife?

And does Mitt Romney know of this important link that could open up his campaign to the Welsh expatriate vote (a powerful force in the USA).
If not, he could be onto a winner and I will have helped a Mormon get into The White House. Oh joy!

Note: Lord Parry of Neyland came from Baptist stock and never wavered from that faith. He thought that the Catholic faith, and me in particular, highly superstitious and eccentric.

He was one of those people who had contacts at the highest level wherever you went in the world and he was a close friend of many US Presidents; George Bush Senior and Jimmy Carter, in particular.

There's a frog in my bucket!

2012-01-24T11:54:00.000Z

La grenouille est morte!

The late Archbishop Fulton Sheen used to tell this tale and, whilst it is very well known in the world of Catholic bloggers, I felt it was worth a re-run.

The Archbishop used this little parable to illustrate, very graphically, how those in the modern Church have drifted off into oblivion, forgetting the vital facts about the Church's teachings on faith and morals because they have absorbed the deadly warmth of a secular, material society.

It is a simple story and, from memory, I will relate it as the great man once did:

"...you take a frog from its wild environment and you place it in a bucket of water where it swims around happily.

Then you slowly, very gradually, begin to heat the water.

Not by much, a degree or half a degree a day until quite some time later the day comes when you look in the bucket and the frog is dead.

It was not aware of any increase in temperature, so gradual was the increase.
And then, it died!"

So it is with our Faith. If we remove ourselves, for whatever reason, from the mainstream of the Church, and become distracted by earthly things, we don't notice the increase in temperature that occurs until, one day, it is too late for us and we are dead!"

This is the case with so many Catholics inasmuch that they attend Mass on a Sunday but totally disregard most teachings of the Church and all guidance of the Holy Father.

The temperature has risen and, to all intents and purposes, they are spiritually dead.

This might be a good starting point for the Bishops when they come to put into place Pope Benedict's call for an evangelisation programme in October this year.

Re-evangelisation should be Phase One!

A new blog that underpins the petition

2012-01-24T06:39:00.000Z

Reception of Holy Communion by tongue only is as controversial as, say, mantillas, dress codes in church, women priests and many other current topics.

Not too frail nor too proud to
kneel before Him

It is, however, more important than any other concern and a petition to the Holy Father, asking for withdrawal of the permission to give the Eucharist in the hand, (started by two Australian priests) is now doing the rounds.

Now it appears, those two priests also have a new blog called, disarmingly, Restore Communion on the Tongue The link takes you straight to a recent post quoting from one of the Holy Father's books and giving his views. It is worth reading.
H/T to Kate Edwards of Australia Incognita