"Dear Bishop...."

May 1989 and I respond to my Bishop's uncharitable letter to my wife and myself.

Meanwhile, abuses at the school continue, school Masses use flowerpot type vessels instead of proper chalices and ciboria and a visiting priest, saying Mass for the children stops halfway through the elevation to ask: "Does anyone know the Test score?"

You really could not make it up and our world becomes more and more Lewis Carroll and less and less orthodox Catholic.

We were saved by a wonderful priest, Father Peter Lessiter, who then operated a "flying pastor" service to traditional Catholic families throughout the length and breadth of the land. He came, on average, every five or six weeks and stayed for two or three days, celebrating Mass, catechizing the children and hearing confessions.

In between visits we said a "dry" Mass on a Sunday a la recusant style.
Father Lessiter advised me to record every event that occurred as, in his words: "We are seeing Church history before our eyes and it's important to retain a record for future generations".

So now I can refer to fat files of press cuttings and letters to all and sundry - here is my letter in response to the Bishop's warning shot. I was, perhaps, a little brasher in those days but, on re-reading the letter, I don't think that I would change anything.

"Dear Bishop....................,

I was extremely disturbed and angry to receive such a letter from you.

I have written to you several times in the past enumerating the various abuses that take place at Masses in your Diocese and you have never responded.

Because of the continuation of such abuses that deny the primary sacrificial nature of the Mass my wife and I have made the decision to return to the "Mass of all Time".

I find it rather bizarre to be accused of alignment with Protestantism as a result. Were, then, my parents heretics?

The Society (SSPX) is not a sect as you well know and if I seek justification for our actions in the modern Church I would quote to you Code 844 of Canon Law:-

"Whenever necessity requires or a genuine spiritual advantage commends it, and provided the danger of error or indifferentism is avoided, Christ's faithful for whom it is physically impossible to approach a Catholic Minister, may lawfully receive the sacraments of penance, the Eucharist and anointing of the sick from non-Catholic Ministers in whose churches these sacraments are valid"

Our preference is, of course, to receive the Sacraments from a Catholic priest so we shall continue in our intentions.

We too, shall pray for you and the Church".

I believe that the new Code of Canon Law 844 was a sop to the ecumenical movement that flourished at that time with shared services being quite common but, on this occasion, it ricocheted back into the court of the liberals.

Oh, really Bishop?

Some 11 months after the SSPX Bishops had been excommunicated (let's call it that), we withdrew our children from their convent school preparations for Confession and First Holy Communion (our son and eldest daughter were, I think, in line for Confirmation classes).


We withdrew them because they were still colouring in drawings of Zacharias up a tree and, frankly, we were bored with it all.
So much mush, so little red meat.


I met with the nun who was Headteacher and explained our position; we had, I stated, moved to the traditional Church, the one that I had been brought up in. I followed through in writing so that there would be no misunderstandings.


No comment was forthcoming until, a few days later, a letter, landed on the doormat.


It was from our Bishop and he was not best pleased.


This is what he said:

Dear Mr Collins,

A copy of your letter to Sister ________ has been forwarded to me.
Because of the seriousness of the matter it was right that I've had the copy (sic).

Priests or Bishops belonging to the Society of St Pius X make up part of the group which the Holy Father with great sadness was forced to declare schismatics and formally excommunicated. (The level of English is not good)
In linking up with them, far from returning to the traditional Catholic faith in which you were brought up, you are rejecting that faith. You are entering a situation which aligns you with the Protestants and other dissident groups over the centuries who have rejected the primacy and authority of the Roman Pontiff. 
Traditional Catholic teaching tells us that knowingly to join such a sect is to commit grave sin.

Traditional Catholic teaching also says that to hand over children to be formed by members of a schismatic or heretical group is to be guilty of mortal sin of the most serious kind.

As your Bishop, appointed to proclaim, defend and safeguard Catholic teaching as handed on within the Catholic Church, and in filial union with and obedience to the Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, it is my duty to point out plainly the reality of what you are doing and its serious consequences both now and for eternity.

It is a matter of great sadness and distress that yet another schism should happen in our time.

It is a matter of alarm to learn that this latest group to leave the unity of the Catholic Faith should be seeking to spread its disaffection within our diocese, with great harm to souls.

I appeal to you before it is too late, for the sake of your own eternal salvation and that of your children, to draw back from what you are doing.

Assuring you of my prayers at this time,

Yours in Christ

Now I had previously sent this Bishop numerous letters pointing out abuses (serious ones) within the parish and school and never received a reply.


The line "Traditional Catholic teaching also says that to hand over children to be formed by members of a schismatic or heretical group..." is particularly poignant as my wife and I had previously fought a running battle with the PP, Headteacher AND the Bishop, regarding the school allowing a group of American Baptists to evangelise the children for one whole day; without our approval or knowledge.


I do not publish this correspondence with any sense of bitterness. I just find it so absorbing that the grinding wheels of the Second Vatican Council have been put back on the right track and that the restoration of the liturgy is well under way.


I shall post my letter of reply quoting Code 844 of Canon Law tomorrow.

"Rebel Lefebvre causes schism"

Incredibly that was a headline for (I believe) The Daily Telegraph on 1st July1988, one day after the four Bishops had been consecrated

I have the press cutting but not an absolute record of whence it came but Jonathan Petre, the author, was a Telegraph religious affairs journalist at that time.

The whole world had dubbed a saintly and academic man as a "rebel" and few rallied to defend him.
Twenty four years later and it appears as if all has changed, sanity has returned and the Society of St Pius X, defenders of the one true faith and the Latin Mass, is back in the fold.

Archbishop Lefebvre RIP - hardly a rebel

Here are extracts from the rest of the article:-

"Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, provoked his own excommunication and the first schism in the Roman Catholic Church for 118 years yesterday by consecrating four bishops without papal approval.

He describes his action as an "operation of survival" to preserve the true Church.

The 82-year old French Traditionalist, who founded his Fraternity of St Pius X in 1969 in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, rejected an eleventh hour appeal from the Pope not to proceed and to reopen reconciliation talks.

In a letter to the new bishops, one of whom is a Briton, the Archbishop said the "throne of Peter and the posts of authority in Rome have been occupied by antichrists". The Vatican, not he, had departed from Church Tradition, he insisted.

Cardinal Basil Hume, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Britain (sic) urged the Archbishops 3,000 or so supporters in this country to return to Rome, warning that to continue to worship with the Fraternity "is to leave the Church....."


"....In a half-hour homily before the consecration at his seminary in Econe, Switzerland, Archbishop Lefebvre said the Pope had "surprised" him by sending a car on the previous night to take him to Rome for immediate negotiations. He had not accepted the offer.

"We do not wish in any way that this ceremony be a schism......we are not schismatic," he said to applause from a congregation of nearly 8,000.

The Archbishop, who in the past has asserted that the spirit of the French Revolution had polluted the Church, claimed that Rome had made "grave errors" since Vatican II, and accused it of accepting "modernism, liberalism, communism, Zionism."

It is worth remembering that, at this time, several priests in Northern Ireland were accused of colluding with the IRA, encouraging violence and participating in gun running and munitions storage - no Church action was ever taken against them.

It appeared to me as if the world had gone mad; here was a priest (Mgr Lefebvre) who only wished to celebrate the Mass of all Time as it was intended and to follow accurately the Doctrinal commands of Holy Mother Church.

He was the one to be 'crucified' but Barabbas, in the form of the murdering IRA, was released without charge.

This was the point on which we, as a family, stopped attending the capering antics of the Novus Ordo at our local parish and went solo.

We were basically solo until 2007; it was a lonely 19 years - but now, Deo Volente, it's over.

Blessed be God, in His Angels and in His Saints!

(and God bless our Pope!)

Picture: Mundabor's Blog

There is a message here for the Church as well as the State

Luton to the north of London is a bog standard English town; at least it used to be.
Now it is a hotbed of radical Islamists. Who would have thought that this bland little town would be assumed into the Islamist fold; what other areas will end up being more closely aligned with Islamabad than with, say, Chipping Sodbury?

Does this affect those of other faiths living in places such as Bradford, Luton and Finsbury Park?

Of course it does but the most chilling part is that this is the tip of the iceberg.
More will follow and the movement will gather volition.

H/T to Mark Shea in National Catholic Register for flagging this up.

And kudos to the young woman who faced up to the faceless ones.

Gaudete and Huzzah! - the SSPX is back in the fold

There are now several reports from respected sites stating that Bishop Fellay has signed the agreement with Rome and therefore, a reconciliation has been achieved.

We now pray for all parties (including those who have maligned the SSPX over the years) that full Christian harmony will thrive and develop.

Reports available from these blogs:

Creative Minority Report

Rorate Caeli

Andrea Tornielli

Ches at The Sensible Bond advises "wait and see" and that is probably the correct thing to do but, let us hope and pray that it is true.

See also: http://linenonthehedgerow.blogspot.com/2012/01/sspx-are-they-really-elves.html

Purgatory - who holds the key to the gates?

Last month an old friend of mine died peacefully in his sleep. He was not a Catholic but a good Baptist.
He farmed all of his life from the age of twelve, went to chapel, played the organ and, when his arthritic fingers no longer allowed him to play he sat up in bed singing hymns at the top of his funny squeaky voice.

He led, to all intents and purposes, a good and devout life; he did not drink or smoke, gamble or do anything very much other than to tend his stock, go to chapel and live the country life.

Whilst offering up prayers on his behalf I found myself pondering on Purgatory and as to whether Ernie was there or in Heaven for, he must surely be in one or the other.

But who is the gatekeeper?

A soul being carried to Heaven - but from
earth or Purgatory?

If St Peter holds the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven then who holds the keys to Purgatory?

Easy. It is, of course, Our Blessed Lord. It can be no other.

His Blessed Mother has, as we know, tremendous influence on Him (what son could refuse his mother a lawful request, certainly not the Son of Man).

And the saints, so we Catholics believe, have a lesser role to play in interceding for those souls in Purgatory but, ultimately, we are released with God's good grace.

That, at least, is the conventional teaching of Holy Mother Church on the subject.

But are we right in placing such an emphasis on Purgatory?
 What is wrong with hoping and praying that we go direct to the Father, direct to Heaven?

Well, according to St Therese of Lisieux, that is precisely what we should be doing. We must hope in God and if we do hope in God then that hope must be aimed at going straight to our reward.

St Therese advised one of her novices of this fact and told her that:

"You do not have enough trust.
You have too much fear before the good God.

I can assure you that He is grieved over this.

 You should not fear Purgatory because of the suffering there, but should instead ask that you not deserve to go there in order to please God, Who so reluctantly imposes this punishment.

As soon as you try to please Him in everything and have an unshakable trust He purifies you every moment in His love and He lets no sin remain.

And then you can be sure that you will not have to go to Purgatory".

This throws Purgatory into a new light (certainly for me at any rate).
I have always believed that, somehow, Purgatory would be an inevitability, provided that I departed this earth in a state of grace, but now I am not so sure.

A child has complete and utter trust in its parents and Christ said that unless we become as little children you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven so it is perhaps right that we should embrace a desire for Heaven on the basis that we will be with Almighty God in His mercy and forgiveness.

This does not diminish the role of Purgatory in any way, it just re-aligns our thought processes.

And in the light of God's love for us He surely does not wish us to be in a state of suffering but would rather that we had the level of innocent trust to hope that we could go straight to Him.

I know that Ernie would not have approved of Purgatory (I am not sure that he was even aware of it) but I take great hope that, in his good and basic love of God, possibly, just possibly, he has sidestepped it and is now with the saints in Heaven advising them on pastoral care.

Fr Van Dijk, in his book on St Therese  produced seven key points regarding her beliefs in Purgatory.

They are:-

1. Purgatory became a rule rather than the exception.

An infinite number of souls who suffer in Purgatory and for whom the Church prays daily after consecration did not need to go there. If we think in human terms, God does not wish for us to need Purgatory. God does not put us here on earth, where we are tested and are suffering after the fall, only to let us suffer again--and much worse--in Purgatory. Everyone receives enough graces in order to go straight to God after passing the trials on earth. However, Purgatory is an emergency entry to Heaven for those who have wasted their time. However, what God considered the exception became the rule, and the rule--to go straight to heaven--became the exception.

2. To cope with the "inevitable" is a grave error.

Since God does not really want Purgatory, He does not want it for me either! But then I also have to not want it! Nobody would expose themselves to the danger of Purgatory by living a mediocre and--as is the case so often today--a sinful life. If they only thought of the intense sufferings in Purgatory. In this regard, the mystics unanimously say that the least suffering in Purgatory is much greater than the greatest suffering here on earth! The reason for this is that once in Purgatory, one does not go through the time of God's Mercy but of God's Justice. Here, the Lord's word applies: "1 tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the very last copper' (Lk 12:59). The many who carelessly say, "I will probably spend some time there," are gravely wrong. Nobody just spends some time there, one has to suffer there like one has never suffered nor could have suffered while on earth. One often even suffers a long time there also. If the Poor Souls in Purgatory had known on earth what to expect in eternity, Purgatory would have remained empty.

3. Purgatory is a waste of time.

   This is what St. Therese says, "I know that of myself I would not merit even to enter that place of expiation since only holy souls can have entrance there. But I also know that the Fire of Love is more sanctifying than is the tire of Purgatory. I know that Jesus cannot desire useless sufferings for us, and that He would not inspire the longings I feel unless He wanted to grant them." It is true that Purgatory is a wonderful grace, for if needed, without the purification in Purgatory we would not go to Heaven, and the work of art which God intended and created us to be would not be completed. But St. Therese is right: at the moment of our death we already have our place in Heaven. Afterwards, there is no growing in grace anymore. Whoever does not go through Purgatory does not miss anything.

4. We need a more positive image of God.

We already know that St. Therese told her novices that they offended God when they thought they would go to Purgatory. That is a very shocking statement: for if this is correct millions of Christians are offending God or at least hurt Him. And yet this is the case. They are focused only on themselves, thinking--not without reason--that they deserve Purgatory. They do not notice God Who is by their side and would love to help them so much. The fact that we fear Purgatory so much also has to do with a rather negative image that we have of God. We, Christians of the 20th Century, were like so many, raised with the image of a strict God, anxious to punish us as often as we deserve it. This thinking goes back to heresies like Jansenism. Quietism, or Calvinism.

5. Love banishes fear

The question of whether Heaven will follow right after death is a question of trust. God does not need our merits in order to take us straight to Him but He needs all of our trust. Or the other way around--it is not -our sins that can prevent God from giving us this grace but rather our lack of trust. Therefore, we must draw the conclusion that everything depends solely on trust. There is no trust without perfect love. And vice versa, there is no love without trust.
And this is exactly what the Apostle John writes in his first letter, "In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love" (1 Jn. 4:17-18).

This text enlightens our topic very much. Judgment Day is the day of our death. Whoever achieves perfect love at the moment of their death sees God as so merciful and generous that they cannot believe in punishment in Purgatory. We are dealing with the same kind of grace in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches us that this Sacrament has as its real fruit the wiping out of punishment due to our sins. After those who have received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, others present often notice that the sick enter a period of growing peace and trust, together with a great surrender to the Will of God, and even serenity and desire for Heaven. This also applies to those who up to that point did not believe or even lived in mortal sin. Even these people, as the great theologians of the scholastics say--for example, St. Albert the Great or St. Bonaventure--go straight to Heaven without having to go through Purgatory first. This shows the wonderful grace coming from the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.

6. The last will be the first.

While many Christians do receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, experience tells us that they do not go straight to Heaven. The mystics often relate that many priests and religious suffer a long time and have to wait for their release. However, all of them or almost all of them have received the Sacrament of the Anointing. What is the reason for this? The answer is certainly that they did not receive the Sacrament with the necessary repentance or surrender to the Will of God, or that they did not want to change their flaws and vices a long time before their death.
St. Therese of Lisieux tells us that she heard that sometimes great saints with many merits come before the Judgment of God, but have to go to Purgatory because our justice before God is often unclean. That is why she recommends to giveimmediately away all the merits of our good deeds, and that it is better to appear before God empty-handed. She recommends to her oldest sister and godmother Marie, to be given Heaven free of charge by God.

While on the one hand the first ones don't always get to Heaven first, on the other hand there are enough examples that the last ones become the first ones. Therese refers in her writings to the Lord's mercy towards the good thief, and wishes that the story from the "desert fathers," about how a great sinner called Paesie died out of love and is being taken straight to heaven, should be added to her autobiography, "Souls will understand immediately, for it is a striking example of what I'm trying to say."

When our great hour comes, as St. Therese writes to Abbe Roulland, missionary in China, if only we trust, the Blessed Virgin will obtain "the grace of making an act of perfect love" should we have "some trace of human weakness" and so will we reach heaven immediately after death.

7. St. Therese's teaching, a great message for the third millennium

One can rightfully say that Therese is turning all common opinions on Purgatory upside down.She wants to appear before God empty-handed and explains why it can be easier for sinners who have nothing to rely upon, to reach Heaven than the great saints with all their merits.. She emphasizes that trust alone is enough, that merits are no guarantee but often an obstacle for the straight way to Heaven, and that sins do not need to be an obstacle. After a 'messed-up' life, God can still take one straight to Heaven if the dying person only has trust. And how easy it can be to trust if there are no merits but only one's misery! Through trust she shows the shorter way to Heaven to the small and humble. And so many can and will go that way. She writes about this to her sister Marie: "... what pleases Him (God) is that He sees me loving my littleness and my poverty, the blind hope that I have in His mercy... That is my only treasure, dear Godmother, why should this treasure not be yours?..."

As has been said, she has made sanctity available for everyone through her little way, and this is also true for the straight way to Heaven... This will no longer be an exception. Once those who are smart enough to gather from the treasures of our new Doctor of the Church will walk this way easily, especially those who want to be part of the legion of little souls which St. Therese asked God for at the end of her manuscript B, "I beg You to cast Your Divine Glance upon a great number of little souls. I beg You to choose a legion of little Victims worthy of Your LOVE!"

 Extracts from:

                 THE TEACHING OF ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX
                              ON PURGATORY

                    by Father Dr. Hubert van Dijk, ORC

 Ernie Jenkins RIP

16th April 1927 - and a new life enters the world!

                        Happy Birthday Holy Father!

Random rants

As I stood in a line of disparate Brits at London Heathrow Airport's immigration barriers, I removed my Aussie bought Panama hat in the certain knowledge that the Immigration Official who would vet my passport, would request its removal in order to certify my image in the aforesaid document.

Looking around at my fellow passengers (flight from Qatar) I observed a fair sprinkling of men and women with a variety of headgear ranging from full veils to crochet type caps to turbans.
No one asked them to remove their head coverings. Such is the state of Britain today.

Doubtless, if I had challenged the officials, I would have been bundled off to the Tower of London to await the judgement of the Mayor, one Boris Johnson.

Now what on earth has Boris been up to whilst I've been away?
He has banned an ad campaign set up by some evangelical Christians who feel that being homosexual is not a finality and that, with treatment, a homosexual can revert to a normal gender.

I am sure that they are right, I'm less sure about their way of getting the message across, plastered along the length of London buses.
But, hey! we have bus ads promoting the concept that there is not a God (possibly) and ones promoting homosexuality ("Some people are gay, get over it!") - I'll pass on the T Shirt, thanks. So why bar one with a Christian theme?

Maybe that particular Stonewall slogan could do with a tweak, something like "Some people are gay and can get over it!"

But the real point is, why is it an issue that dear old Boris should get involved with?
Well, we all know the answer to that one, it is the time of the mayoral election and he is after the homosexual vote.

Like David Cameron who wants to introduce homosexual 'marriage' Boris does not give a toss for the Christian vote, and why should he when our dear leaders offer such appallingly weak opposition to such schemes?

Thank the good Lord for ex archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey. He is not afraid to stand up and take some flak for his Christian faith. Any chance of him joining the Ordinariate? Unlikely, I guess. And have they got their own church yet? Does anyone know?


It was sad to see Rick Santorum withdrawing from the Republican candidacy race but, do not write him off yet.
That may seem a silly and rash statement to make but, after so many Rosaries were offered on his behalf we must remember that God acts in His own time span, not man's.
Keep praying, there are more things in Heaven and Earth etc.

Some apologies due to fellow bloggers whom I would have wished to respond to in their comments box over the past four weeks. I have been borrowing various bits of micro technology (very grateful, Matteo, don't get me wrong) to post a few bits and pieces but the ipads and Applemacs have been a trial for my clumsy fingers and even clumsier IQ. So, sorry but I will be returning to the fray as from tomorrow.

And, finally, to end on a lighter note I have to relay a sign seen stuck on a 4 x 4 in the State of Victoria recently.

It stated:

"I'd rather a full bottle in front of me to a full frontal lobotomy"

That, I think, is one to treasure.

A Happy and Holy Easter....and an early farewell

To all Catholic bloggers and especially all members of the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma - a very Happy, Holy and Peaceful Easter.

A fitting image for Easter Sunday - Agnus Dei outside
St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne

And an early farewell to Australia as we shall depart in a week's time but, in the meantime, we are off up country for some back to basics camping (but with a fair modicum of comfort).

We arrived in Australia three weeks ago only to find some foul accusations against my blog and myself. It would appear that a blogger from Ireland (identity unknown) contacted an Australian blogger passing himself off as 'Linen on the Hedgerow'. When the Australian blogger tried to respond all went wonky and froze up.

So, the Australian then did a post casting vile smears and innuendo against me, not nice.
Of course, he only published some of the comments I sent challenging him, and finally, he published a half hearted retraction of sorts, but no apology. So, I offered up my Easter Sunday Mass on his behalf and on behalf of the 'Irish' impersonator who set the hare running. That offering up was only done with an effort, I am far from saintly when unjustly accused, but I hope the good Lord accepts it as the best that I can do.

It does illustrate the dangers that are on the internet for bloggers. Passing off is a rather nasty one as it can ricochet around the ether very quickly; judging others before you have properly checked on the truths behind a scam is also encumbent on us all, we should not be easily duped.

Enough; Australia is a great country and the people of Melbourne warm, friendly and courteous.
You only have to set foot on a crowded Metro or tram for somebody to leap to their feet offering you their seat, something that appeared to take place regardless of age or sex.

We have supped the best coffee in the world, been met with impeccable service and, best of all, we have been able to attend EF Mass at Caulfield North which must surely rank up there with St Mary Magdalen, Brighton, The Sacred Heart, Morriston and Our Lady of the Rosary at Blackfen.

On the down side....I admit to missing real warm draught beer a la Reverend James but that's about all.

Except that......I do not know how anybody can afford to live here.....it is expensive beyond one's wildest dreams.......a modest toasted sandwich (equivalent) could easily set you back circa 8 or 9 pounds sterling and the cost of a bottle of wine is, well....phew! Mortgage schemes exist to help you buy a drink out here!

So that's it for about a week, golden silence for you and some trout fishing for me and thank you Australia!

64,000 dollar question: What happened to the Stations of the Cross?

I mean, there are only 14 of them, they are in just about every Catholic church......but no one appears to say them any more.

The path to Melbourne Cathedral

The past two weeks I have spent visiting more churches than normal during Lent due to the fact that I am not in West Wales where most of the churches are locked up during the day in case anyone decides they want to get religious.
Here in Melbourne the city churches, at any rate, are open and available but I have yet to see anyone indulging in the Stations of the Cross; I would expect that London or Cardiff would be much the same.

The 'Stations' is one of the most moving and spiritual of our prayers and may be completed without a prayer book of any kind (although I do normally use the CTS purple booklet which is excellent).

Each station automatically brings its own prayer and one only has to genuflect, remember that? And to utter the words: "We adore Thee O Christ and we praise Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world" - then say one Glory be, one Hail Mary and an Our Father before moving on to the next station. It takes about 30 minutes to complete all 14.

Today (Maundy Thursday) I completed the Stations in St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne. The Cathedral was busy with tourists, locals wishing to be shriven of their sins, people just wanting to meditate and pray, workmen and cleaners and about 10 coachloads of Chinese visitors who appeared both amused and perplexed at my attempts to pray the Stations. By now I expect photographs of me trying to focus on the Via Dolorosa to be in many a household in Beijing or Chengdu or wherever they came from. I wonder what they really thought of my efforts.

But the real point is, who does say the Stations today?

Have they gone the way of Benediction, Forty Hours Devotion, Corpus Christi Processions?

Or do hordes of parishioners descend upon their churches after dark in order to carry out this devotion in secret?

Answers on a postcard please!

Cost of inspecting abortuaries is the 'new' excuse to do nothing

Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley is said to have been shocked by the health regulator's      claim that the 'on the spot' inspection of abortion clinics is costing the taxpayer around one million pounds.

So far, these inspections have produced evidence that 20% of abortuaries are operating; that means one in five are flouting the regulations and, possibly, the law.

It appears as if this claim that investigations into the integrity of the 'clinics' will now be used in a 'shroud waving' exercise designed to call a halt to the inspections carried out without prior notice.

It would be interesting to have access to the protocols of the inspection process........they should be in the public domain should they not?

   

Was Queen Elizabeth the first Liberal Catholic?

I mean, of course, Queen Elizabeth the First, who reigned from 1533 to 1603.

Dubbed The Virgin Queen and Good Queen Bess, she was far from good to the Catholic Church but it was only when re-reading Waugh's 'Edmund Campion' that the analogy between Liberal Catholicism and her reign began to emerge.

Priests dismissed and then persecuted, the Mass altered beyond all recognition, sanctuaries hacked around and altars replaced with tables, holy statues and ornaments removed and destroyed.....this also happened during Queen Elizabeth's reign!

Warped humour to one side, I justify my view by the following points:-

1. First and foremost, Queen Elizabeth "changed" her religion, she moved from a Catholic faith to a neo Protestant one - much as, in the years after Vatican II, the clergy and laity all swung towards a "Protestant" style of Mass and Church music.

2. Churches and chapels throughout the land were re-shaped in order to accord with the "new religion" - altars were broken up, communion rails removed......ringinig any bells?

3. QE1 also was careful to retain certain elements of Catholicism with her new faith and, for some years, the traditional priestly vestments were used while, at the same time, those Bishops of traditional bent were selectively disposed of and some 500 priests followed in their wake. Has anyone quantified the number of priests who "disappeared" in the decade post 1970? It would be an interesting exercise.

4. And, of course, the Latin Mass was declared illegal under Elizabeth; I seem to recall some Bishops in the 1980s saying precisely the same thing.

5. The Virgin Queen rewarded her followers well and gave them positions of some importance. How the Parish Council syndrome flourished post Vatican II with parishioners with traditionalist leanings being "drummed out" of all parish affairs.

6. Under Elizabeth, whole libraries were ransacked and burnt with the rich history of the Catholic Faith held within them. And now, over the past thirty years or so the same thing has happened in seminaries and convents throughout the country. All that had a traditional imprint was removed and burnt, yes, burnt!

 I have a friend who dealt in Catholic books and he told me that the libraries he was invited to place a bid for inevitably only held books from the 1950s onwards. And when he would enquire if the monks or nuns had any older works they would tell him that they had put the lot on a bonfire and that it was all out of date anyway - you see?

7. And what did Elizabeth do to the Catholic devotions of the time; the Rosary, Benediction, Stations of the Cross? She, to use a technical term, binned them along with fasting and penance and confession.
This proto Liberal Catholic has been feverishly copied as, even in this Benedictine era, you will be hard put to find more than 2 out of every ten parishes offering a Forty Hours devotion or a Sunday afternoon Benediction. As for confession, well who goes to that any longer?

8. Finally, we come to the ultimate triumph of Elizabeth's "liberal" standpoint; the destruction of reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. Under her hand the act of Holy Communion became a basic sort of ploughman's lunch, nothing sacred, just an act of remembrance, not commemoration.
 Of course, it did not stop there, the Host as consecrated at a Catholic Mass was ridiculed and commonly called a "Round Robin" or "Jack in the Box."
It may appear a little harsh to lay claim to a link from those days to the present practice of receiving the Host by hand and without kneeling but there is little reverence shown today, even at some EF Masses.
Reception by kneeling and by mouth may be practiced but very often there is a casual element that goes beyond the acceptable. Men with their hands in their pockets, girls smirking to their friends and all strolling back from the communion rails as if they were going to the pub. Aimless and irreverent.
That has its roots in Elizabeth's attempts to impose personal spirituality rather than 'opening windows into men's souls'.
And, of course, the VII drive to make communicants stand and hold out their hands is just the logical evolution of her reign and its move to make a new religion that was dressed up, in parts, to be like the old and true one.

So, there you have it - Queen Elizabeth the First of England, and first of the Liberal Catholics!