Marie Stopes Abortion-Camps Please Note: Overpopulation is a Myth

Celtic Tiger Leaves a Large Volume of Guano

Celtic Tiger or Golden Calf?

Circa 5 years ago all the talk of Ireland was of the "Celtic Tiger" -- the rapacious economy, growing faster than ever, new technologies, booming property prices etc. It seemed the good times would never end. The Irish were looking out on new horizons, and the view was spectacular.

The "experts" were busy telling us how Ireland was now a Capitalist power-house. The (for want of a better word let's, in Chestertonian mode, call them) modernists in the media, those people who love 'progress' as long as it fits their agenda, were busy telling us that -- each like a latter day little Nietzsche -- Catholicism was all but dead, a medieval anarchronism that the Irish people no longer wanted or needed.

The message, rarely said openly, but implied continuously was that money was now god, it was the new force in Ireland. Mammon had quite clearly replaced God, if these pundits were to be believed.

The sad thing is that so many hundreds of thousands of people have had to suffer to prove the experts, pundits and talking heads wrong, otherwise it would be tempting to revel in their downfall and exposure as little more than modern-day Wizards of Oz.

Their great Golden Calf, before which they prostrated themselves, has toppled all so quickly and the prophets of Mammon have been left with egg on their face.

I have friends in Ireland trapped in negative equity and who have lost their jobs, through no fault of their own. Married couples had to buy a home, and now whole families are struggling just to make ends meet and pay the bills. That is the reality.

The Celtic Tiger, far from delivering the Irish people 'freedom' (and we should reflect on what Pope Benedict said whilst in the UK, viz money does not bring happiness) has brought them a ton of woe and many years of debt, taxation, unemployment and penury.

Yesterday on the radio an Irishwoman talked of the suffering in Ireland, with some people even taking their own lives over the amount of debt, lost homes etc. etc.

The modernists have slunk away, their voices have fallen silent, the Irish people have been left to shoulder the burden of the ineptitude of the banks and government who let this huge bubble grow with their eyes fixed on the huge profits promised, like cartoon characters with their pupils replaced by Euro signs.

Thankfully the Catholic Church is still there, to pick up the pieces for those who will turn to it; to provide support and succour in times of need.

How sad it is that so much loss and suffering has had to occurr to open peoples' eyes to the fleeting and temporal nature of the Celtic Tiger.

I just hope others will learn the Irish lesson, but perhaps that is simply wishful thinking on my part.

If only our public servants would learn to put the Common Good before the lust for profits and power. I cannot see that day arriving any time soon as long as power is created by writing in banking ledgers.

Leo XIII addressed social issues in 1891.

Times have changed since that wonderful and saintly Pope, Leo XIII, wrote Rerum Novarum on the conditions of the working classes, with many of the slums cleared (in the West!) but in the relations between capital and labour we have to ask if things have changed beyond tweaks and reforms here and there.

Certainly the example of the Celtic Tiger dictates that Catholics should be looking at a society that puts money in its rightful place - as a servant to be used to alleviate poverty and help society; not as a fickle god to be worshipped at the cost of all else.

If we don't, as a society, change our ways then we are destined to repeat the many mistakes of the past time and time again.

The modernists, media experts etc. like to say that Catholicism has nothing to say to the modern world (or worse still, that she should genuflect to it). Recent events have proved that the modern world needs Catholicism like never before.

Link:
Rerum Novarum

This wonderful encyclical still speaks to us nearly 120 years later, and contains so much of great worth it is well worth a read. Here are just two examples of many (excuse American spellings):

35. We have said that the State must not absorb the individual or the family; both should be allowed free and untrammelled action so far as is consistent with the common good and the interest of others. Rulers should, nevertheless, anxiously safeguard the community and all its members; the community, because the conservation thereof is so emphatically the business of the supreme power, that the safety of the commonwealth is not only the first law, but it is a government's whole reason of existence; and the members, because both philosophy and the Gospel concur in laying down that the object of the government of the State should be, not the advantage of the ruler, but the benefit of those over whom he is placed. As the power to rule comes from God, and is, as it were, a participation in His, the highest of all sovereignties, it should be exercised as the power of God is exercised - with a fatherly solicitude which not only guides the whole, but reaches also individuals. 

46. If a workman's wages be sufficient to enable him comfortably to support himself, his wife, and his children, he will find it easy, if he be a sensible man, to practice thrift, and he will not fail, by cutting down expenses, to put by some little savings and thus secure a modest source of income. Nature itself would urge him to this. We have seen that this great labor question cannot be solved save by assuming as a principle that private ownership must be held sacred and inviolable. The law, therefore, should favor ownership, and its policy should be to induce as many as possible of the people to become owners. 

St Padre Pio and the Sacrifice of the Mass

Pope Benedict on Cardinal Newman

Pope Benedict's Message & Blessing to the People of Wales

POPE BENEDICT'S MESSAGE TO WALES
Westminster Cathedral, Chapel of St Paul, Saturday, 18 September 2010

Dear Bishop Regan,

Thank you for your very warm greeting on behalf of the faithful of Wales. I am happy to have this opportunity to honour the nation and its ancient Christian traditions by blessing a mosaic of Saint David, the patron saint of the Welsh people, and by lighting the candle of the statue of Our Lady of Cardigan.

Saint David was one of the great saints of the sixth century, that golden age of saints and missionaries in these isles, and he was thus a founder of the Christian culture which lies at the root of modern Europe. David’s preaching was simple yet profound:little things his dying words to his monks were, “Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things”. It is the little things that reveal our love for the one who loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:19) and that bind people into a community of faith, love and service. May Saint David’s message, in all its simplicity and richness, continue to resound in Wales today, drawing the hearts of its people to renewed love for Christ and his Church.

Through the ages the Welsh people have been distinguished for their devotion to the Mother of God; this is evidenced by the innumerable places in Wales called “Llanfair” – Mary’s Church. As I prepare to light the candle held by Our Lady, I pray that she will continue to intercede with her Son for all the men and women of Wales. May the light of Christ continue to guide their steps and shape the life and culture of the nation.

Sadly, it was not possible for me to come to Wales during this visit. But I trust that this beautiful statue, which now returns to the National Shrine of Our Lady in Cardigan, will be a lasting reminder of the Pope’s deep love for the Welsh people, and of his constant closeness, both in prayer and in the communion of the Church.

Bendith Duw ar bobol Cymru!

God bless the people of Wales!

Happy Hobbit Day!

A very happy Hobbit Day to one and all: it is the shared birthday of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins of course.

You may wonder why this blog would mention fictional characters with nothing Welsh or Catholic about them. Au Contraire.

The author JRR Tolkien was, in fact, a famous Catholic. And whilst the Hobbits are quintessentially English in their mannerisms, his book and various characters have distinctly Welsh characteristics - from the mining Dwarves, to the language of the Elves.

J.R.R. Tolkien was born in 1892. When he was 12 the death of his mother, who died of diabetes, meant that he and his brother Hilary became wards of a priest at the Birmingham Oratory.

Of course, Birmingham Oratory was founded by Blessed Cardinal Newman whose very beatification we all celebrated last weekend.

Yet another example of how Catholicism imbues so much of our culture and history.


Link:
Tolkien and the Birmingham Oratory

Pope Benedict's Visit: The Joy of the Faithful

This Papal Visit has shocked the forces lined up against our beloved Church.

They were hoping there would be indifference to the Holy Father.

As we see below, the response from many Faithful, across England and Scotland (including many pilgrims from Wales) has been overwhelming.

Now let's all make sure that the Catholic Faith isn't quickly forgotten after the departure of the Holy Father.

We can each start by praying, reading the lives of the Saints and doing what we can, day in day out, to help the Church and promote our Faith.



God Bless Pope Benedict XVI!

Blessed Cardinal Newman & Charity for the Poor

What a joy for me (I wouldn't dare to speculate on your behalf!) to start this blog of my thoughts and meanderings as a Welsh Catholic on the day that His Holiness the Pope, the head of our universal Church, has beatified Cardinal Newman, a great Prince of the Church.

I am an admirer of Cardinal Newman, not only because he was a wonderful convert and saw that Christianity has its true roots and home in the Roman Catholic faith; not only because he was a great thinker, theologian and writer (now I must dig out my Apologia Pro Vita Sua and read it!); not only because his beautiful poetry reaches into the soul; but because he was such an ardent soul and his apostolate reached out to the poor.

It must be easy, as a Prince of the Church, to be side-tracked into the circles of power and State, yet Cardinal Newman had such a special love and care for the poor, he truly was a servant of God and the poor, remembering that we are all created in the image of God.

When the Catholic Church reaches out to help the poor in that true charity and humility espoused by Our Lord, that is when hearts and minds are won for Christ and His Church.

This true pastoral care, rooted in the faithful traditions of the Church, will bring countless souls into the Church, just it did in Blessed Cardinal Newman's day.


Link:
The Cause for Cardinal Newman's Canonisation

As an aside, in the early days of Saxon colonisation of what would become England, much of Birmingham was for a time in Powys. So, I can clutch at the straw that Cardinal Newman has this tenuous link with Wales.