The forgotten sin

I never hear of this sin today, no one appears to have knowledge of it, even some priests know it not so, presumably, it does not feature much in the confessional litany.

No, it is not witch burning, hamster swallowing or dwarf throwing, it is the sin of being theologically drunk.

Of course, being drunk is a sin in its own right; it is an act of gluttony, one of the Seven Deadly sins and it is a catalyst for many other sins.

Drunkeness comes in many degrees; there's the Irish one of "having drink taken" which is a way of covering the pleasant and (if controlled) harmless stage of having had one or two drinks, just enough to feel a slight quickening of the senses.

Then there is "sloshed," "trolleyed" and all the other epithets we use to describe someone who is pretty well inebriated.

And, finally, the "dead drunk" stage which says it all.

But "theologically drunk" - what is meant by that phrase?

Well, it does not mean an overdose of St Thomas Aquinas; what it does mean is being in such an inebriated state that one is no longer able to distinguish moral values and, therefore, not capable of defending one's faith or recognising when one is committing a sin, the consequences of which are manifest.

This must then fall into the gravest category, that of mortal sin.

For anyone suffering from addiction to alcohol, this definition is not quite so simple.

There are strong forces at work with an addiction and although Archbishop Sheen used to say that "the sin of alcoholism is in the blood" I am fairly certain that a confessor priest would not classify an alcoholic being theologically drunk as being in mortal sin.
Why? Because in committing the sin the person is not in full control of their faculties, deliberate and complete consent (in all probability) are lacking.

But, for the rest of us......being theologically drunk will leave us with both a physical and spiritual hangover.

Will Cristina Odone assume the mantle of Alice Thomas Ellis?

I do not mean that in any demeaning sense with regard to the writing styles of either Alice Thomas Ellis or Cristina Odone, it is just that it is rare that we Catholics are endowed with a journalist who is not afraid to speak out on behalf of burning sensitive issues such as homosexual and lesbian marriages, IVF, abortion and so on.

Alice Thomas Ellis has passed to her eternal reward but, in her day, her straight talking, no nonsense approach to Catholic life endeared her to the few traditional Catholics who were clinging to the mast during the
80s and 90s.



Now Cristina Odone appears to be moving in the same direction; perhaps not quite with ATE's traditional verve but, who knows what's down the road?

I admire people who stick up for the faith, in many respects becoming "dry" martyrs, being pilloried by commentators and their contemporaries and being booted off the editorial team as happened to Alice Thomas Ellis when she was dismissed from The Catholic Herald payroll after criticising the late Cardinal Hume.

Cristina Odone is now taking similar flak (coincidentally, if I remember correctly, she was the Editor of  The Catholic Herald at the time of ATE's removal).

Currently, she is being targeted by the 'hate' gang of homomaniacs and perverts who rise like scum to the surface whenever the subjects of goodness and decency are mentioned.

Here is a sample of some of the more printable comments after Cristina's blog entitled "Heterosexual marriage: the love that does not dare to speak its name":

"You keep complaining of people like yourself being seen as bigots. Perhaps if you do not want to be accused of bigotry you should avoid comparing homosexuality to lechery, polygamy, and child rape as you did in a recent poll. My God, you are vile".

and

"I can't. I just can't. What a hot mess of an article. 
Perhaps "heterosexual married couples" are so dang happy because *they're not the target of bigotry every day from you, and from people like you*? Cristina, you're a bigot. And if marriage makes people happy, WHY DO YOU WANT TO DENY NON-HETERO PEOPLE THAT HAPPINESS? It makes ZERO sense".

and

"The problem with Cristina is that she basically whips up these "all gay people think all straight people are bigots and they hate us lines", which naturally then cause straight people to be defensive. SHe creates a gay backlash all of her own - whereas if she just shut up, we would all get along fine"

There are 240 more comments that, in the main, are full of invective which indicates how the liberal lobby reacts when matters homo/lesbian/trans/and bisexual are raised in the media.

But where did Cristina Odone begin her career? We know that she was born in Kenya to an Italian father and Swiss mother and that her early life was spent on the international circuit accompanying her parents to wherever her father's role as international banker took them.

After her parents divorced she attended an independent school in Oxford and mingled with over 40 nationalities before going to Oxford to read French Literature and History.

After Oxford came The Catholic Herald post which she held for four years before going overseas to assume a role in the financial sector.
She has worked for The Spectator, The Observer and the New Statesman and is now currently writing for The Daily Telegraph and also blogs on the Telegraph site.

She has four books to her name, one being 'The Good Divorce Guide'.
I have no knowledge of the content of that book or, indeed, of Ms Odone's marital status other than she is married to a financial journalist, Edward Lucas.

The fact is, she is an avowed Catholic and she does appear to write sensibly with regard to matters of faith and morals and that type of journalist is as rare as a pork chop in a mosque.

In 2007 she withdrew from a Royal Commonwealth Society Christmas Carol concert where she was due to speak because the organisers felt that her remarks could offend those of "little or no faith".

Here are some of those remarks as extracts from her speech:

’I wonder what the Christian children at Portree Primary school in Skye would say about equal opportunities.
Their local authority had forced them to drop the word "Lord" in the grace before meals, as it was deemed offensive.

I wonder what Shabina Begum would make of equal opportunities. She was the young Muslim girl who took her school to court when it banned her from wearing the veil?

And what of Nadia Eweida? Does she think this is a country of equal opportunities? She was the woman, you may remember, who learned the hard way that a Christian may not wear a crucifix when working for BA.

H/T Archbishop Cranmer

As to her traditional Catholic outlook?

Well having followed her writings over the years I can say that she is moving in the right direction....literally.

Scotland has said it, the USA has said it.....

....when will we hear these words in England and Wales?

"We will not comply" The US Bishops speak out......

Contraception today but tomorrow...post birth abortions, euthanasia, sad marriages...............H/T St Blogustine

A glimpse of what is to come

I was going to post on the implications of the Transfiguration but, Father Shelton has produced a post that is streets ahead of anything that I could say.

I would only add that many, if not all of us, will have seen signs of how Christ can transfigure us (just as Moses, after speaking with God, had to veil his face, so great was the reflected light from God on his countenance). A priest friend has forwarded a quote of Archbishop Sheen's which says it all:

  "Beauty of the face is only skin deep whereas beauty of the soul shines in the face"

Many priests and nuns, especially from the enclosed orders, have an imprint of such inner spirituality that actually is revealed in their face and in their nature or personality. So much so that they "glow" with holiness.

How much greater will that transformation be when, with God's good grace, we ascend to Heaven? Click HERE



Mount Thabor - the image completes the picture
in our mind






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

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

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

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?

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!

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?

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!

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!

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"