Bishop Kieran and the baby

A correspondence in The Daily Telegraph has focussed on infants and their place in church, particularly when they are crying.

A correspondent wrote in to relate a story concerning Bishop Kieran Conry of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton who, upon delivering a sermon noticed a young mother struggling out of her pew clutching a loudly screaming infant.

In true pastoral fashion the Bishop stopped his homily to say: "Please do not worry, your baby is not bothering us".

The mother responded: "Maybe not Bishop but you are clearly bothering him".

What Bishop Conry is also unaware of is the fact that his homilies have this effect on most traditional Catholics in his Diocese.

As put downers go this must rank pretty high.

The remaining infants in the church, presumably held back from walking out, perhaps should receive some sort of Vatican medal as a reward for their fortitude.

Confession.....a nice chat?

A comment left by a well respected member of the Catholic laity on my previous post made me think that I might have been too unkind in believing +Conry's interview on the subject of lapsed Catholics showed him to appear weak and imprecise.

I searched again for more evidence and, first one on Youtube that I came to showed a clip with +Conry being interviewed by Ruth Gledhill giving his now well known views on Confession....not a list of sins these days, more a chat.

So, how does it go?

Penitent: "Bless me Father for I have sinned (or, rather, I may have upset God a little), it is six weeks since my last Reconciliation.
Now, let me see, on Tuesday I murdered my granny and, on Thursday of the same week I poisoned all of my work mates in the staff canteen; well, all except Bob because we play snooker in the inter parish championships together..."

Priest: "Well, my boy, that's grand of you to come and have a wee chat about all of this. I'm really glad you spared Bob because we need to get a few wins in over St Knobbly's team and, as for your granny (God love her), as she was over the age of 75 years I think we can say that you just helped her on her way to Heaven a bit prematurely".
Now, we don't 'do' penances any longer so please just go off and focus hard on winning that snooker tournament and try not to lose again"

Now please, if you can possibly bear it, view the following video clip of Fr Robert Barron speaking rather more generally on the Sacrament of Confession (not reconciliation).

Fr Barron communicates using his voice (well), his hands, eyes and general body movement (as should any good communicator. 

He does not go "erm" every few seconds, he knows his subject, he knows his Faith - and, above all else, he has 'passion'

                             

A good Japanese friend and mentor who, many years ago, coached me in the ways of doing business with his countrymen by saying: "You must have passion in everything you do".

And that, among many other things, is what is lacking in Bishop Conry.

What do you look for in a Bishop?

Do you look for a warm character, one who oozes holiness and yet is fearless and outspoken when it comes to speaking up for the Faith?

A man who is unafraid to tell the truth regardless of the consequences?

A clear, positive speaker who makes his point without hesitation or prevarication?

A beacon of light and a leader and role model to his priests?

And, one who is, to paraphrase the late Alice Thomas Ellis, a Catholic?

Well please feast your eyes on this interview with Bishop Kieran Conry (who proudly proclaims that he never reads blogs).

Really, My Lord? And I thought you were the epitome of a modern Catholic bishop.....

 

Shortly I shall be running a poll on Bishop Conry and how inspirational you, dear reader, find him.

 

I shall post on that once my pulse has slowed and heartbeat returned to normal after watching this Bishop frankly and lucidly expounding on lapsed Catholics (I thought it was non pc to call them that these days).

H/T to Deacon Nick at Protect the Pope for his post on the ACTA and the Bishop.

 

Me too!

Bishop Conry....read blogs carefully before appearing on television

The Bishop should know better than to make comments without apparently absorbing precisely what Fr Ray stated on his post.

And he should never have made an apology - a man out of touch with his Faith....and reality.

Here is the BBC News report on Fr Ray....view it at 9.55

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b039fq9t/South_East_Today_06_09_2013

"Bless me Father, for I am a future Bishop"

Creating a towering inferno effect....

Bishop Kieron Conry of Arundel and Brighton, has stated that he had difficulty in thinking of sins to confess as a small boy.

He lied, therefore, making up sins so that he would have something to reel off in the confessional.
 I am sure he is not the only boy to have done this.

The trouble is, that the Bishop was really laying the blame for such lies, on the repressive clericalism that existed before 1969 (cough).

I never had any such problem at that age; seven year old boys, in my experience, generally have access to a wide range of sinful acts ranging from theft of a tadpole to placing a drawing pin in an older sister's slipper.

And many more in between.

But, just in case there are any young future Bishops out there, here is a prompt list of some of the deadly sins that a typical seven year old Catholic boy might commit:-

1. Switching the church hall instant coffee for gravy granules

2. Emptying the contents of a firework into the thurible, for discovery at a later date

3. Standing on the edge of the cassock of a kneeling altar server (when on acolyte duties) - this does produce rather spectacular results as the kneeling server performs a backwards somersault upon getting to his feet

4. Flicking pellets at the church cat

5. Placing small dead animals in Sister Rosario's desk drawer

6. Removing the clappers from the sanctuary bells

7. Serving at Mass with your pet white mouse in your pocket

8. Placing itching powder on the collar of the MC's cassock

9. Creating a towering inferno effect when entrusted with the thurible

10. Treading on the toes of senior clergymen whilst serving, specifically, Monsignor Derek Worlock

There, Bishop Conry, that doesn't look too hard does it?

Picture: Angelus Online

What do you call men who are disloyal to their leader?

Men who stab their general in the back; men who do not wait for the stage to be cleared before they put the boot in by talking of needing a change, of moving away from a 'conservative Church'

Would you place these men in that category? -



Cardinal Emeritus Cormac Murphy O'Connor    



                         
                                              Bishop Kieran Conry, Arundel & Brighton


Bishop Thomas Burns, Menevia             


Would you use these words to describe the character of any of the above?

Integrity/Faithful/Loyal/Obedient/Visionary/Decent/True

But Bishop - Arundel and Brighton needs you!

How selfish are we?

We take a Bishop from his own diocese and plonk him down in the wilds of west Wales (Carmarthen) and ask him to be guest speaker at a seminar on 'The Year of Faith and the New Evangelisation'.

Yes, there seem to be no bounds to our greed to have Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel & Brighton Diocese, come and speak to us here in Menevia Diocese (Carmarthen).

We care not that Laurence England and others will be deprived of Bishop Conry's steadying hand for a few days or that his charitable and kind comments on the Holy Father will not resound along the eastern boundaries of England in his absence.

There will be crying in Crawley, weeping in Worthing and unseemly bawling in Brighton.

How can this much loved shepherd leave his flock with such apparent gay abandon?

And can Menevia Diocese cope with the anticipated influx of pilgrims from all points of the compass, anxious to hear words of wisdom from +KC?

The event of the year is due to take place at St Mary's Church Hall, Carmarthen next Tuesday and all are welcome, light refreshments are provided and the day is free. Heady stuff for us west Walians who are starved of any intellectual, theological discourse (let alone egg and cress sandwiches).

Shall I be going?

Sadly, no.

I have already committed myself to washing the car that day.

Bishop Conry 'misses' golden opportunity

Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton Diocese has 'missed' a critical chance to speak out against proposed legislation by the Coalition Government on same-sex "marriage".

In his rather yawn inducing pastoral letter issued on the great feast of The Holy Family, he speaks about the "family" structure in excellent sociological terms and there's even a passing reference to God and the Gospel of the day but......and it's an important but, there is not a mention of the fact that Holy Matrimony is a Sacrament intended to sanctify the union of one man and one woman and that any deviation from that would be in direct opposition to Church teaching and to the Holy Father's guidance on the matter.

How could one of our Bishops overlook the issue of gay "marriage"?

Was it an oversight?

Or was it just another Bishop flying the colours of weak liberalism?

Answers on a postard please.

The Bishop's letter may be reade HERE

Catholic Schools - they just don't get it

I think that just about every Catholic Secondary School in Great Britain is named after the Sacred Heart, Our Lady, a saint or a leading Catholic cleric.

So far so good. But they miss out on a tremendous opportunity to catechise and excite the senses of those in their charge because, they fail to give any details regarding the saint or the personality they are named after.

Do those pupils attending the St John Lloyd School know anything about him?

Or those pupils in Coventry attending the Bishop Ullathorne School, would they be able to compose a short essay on the life of the great man?

But quite obviously, after the recent Papal visit the pupils of Cardinal Newman School in Hove will be au fait with HE John Henry?

Not according to their website, not so much as a photograph or painting of  Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, or a snatch of verse from the 'Dream'.

This would go rather well on their site I thought...

This child of clay

To me was given,

To rear and train

By sorrow and pain

In the narrow way,

Alleluia,

From earth to heaven.

An opportunity missed, a chance to enlighten passed by; and would not a brief biographical note lift the school out and place above others when the time for comparisons came?

But, upon closer inspection of the Cardinal Newman School website I came across something that was, how shall I put it? Not quite the round shilling?

This is what was stated on the website ................

"Anglican Eucharist

On Wednesday February 29th at 10a.m we are having one of our regular Anglican Eucharistic services. Over 300 Anglican students have been invited to attend and we will warmly welcome members of their family who can be there too. Please sign in at reception if you come. The service itself will celebrate the long standing and significant contribution the Anglican community has made to the Christian ethos and the success of Cardinal Newman Catholic School".

Yikes! Thought I, this is not right in any shape or form. Just what is an Anglican Eucharist?

I am reasonably happy for Anglicans to go along holding their own brand of service in the hopes that, one day, God's grace will enter their souls and they will make a move towards conversion to the one true Faith but, in the meantime, I see no merit in holding such a service in a Catholic School.

I have no idea how it all panned out but I have a horrid sneaking suspicion that there may have been a joint "service" with the Catholic priest celebrating Mass and the Anglican Vicar having a Eucharistic Service - just the sort of thing one wants to confuse young minds and encourage indifferentism.

So, a brief foray into Catholic School websites to determine if they had paid their dues to their patron has turned into something even more disappointing.

Perhaps Bishop Conry might like to pay Cardinal Newman School a visit and perhaps all Bishops might like to commission a review of all schools in their Diocese to make certain that they really do portray the Catholic Faith and are, indeed, Catholic.

I shan't be holding my breath.