Mel Gibson: Forgive Our Trespasses

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...

Fatima, WW2 and New Age White-Washed Satanism

The inventor of modern witchcraft

I was listening to an old podcast from the BBC History magazine (an Irish Catholic friend dismissed it as "Whig history" when he caught me reading a copy previously) when the subject of the "Wicca religion" came up.

I am no expert in these things, other than what common sense and sound Catholicism informs me is a great evil and wrong. Yet what I found of interest in this feature was that the gent being interviewed -- clearly someone with a softness for paganism -- had to admit that the vast majority of historians interested in Wicca (which has to be a quite specific pool to draw from) admit that the 'religion' as we know it was invented by one Gerald Gardner.

Gardner himself claims he was initiated into Wicca by a New Forest coven in 1939 (a significant date) but the historians in question generally dismiss this and think that he invented the Wicca religion himself, in 1946. Funnily enough, like Aleister Crowley, Gardner claimed to use witchcraft to defend Britain from Nazi Germany. Make of that what you will!

Gardner knew Crowley (the Satanist) and in 1947 joined his Ordo Templi Orientis. After Crowley's death Gardner became the highest ranking member of the OTO.

There are a number of interesting points here for Catholics:

• Our Lady at Fatima said WW2 would happen because of the sins of men, and here we have a degenerate man who founded modern witchcraft right after WW2, in 1946. Mankind has learnt nothing, as the Wicca movement has grown in Europe and America since then.
• The movement embraced by extreme feminism for all sorts of political, sexual and social reasons, was founded by a man who joined Aleister Crowley's highly dubious OTO in which "sexual magick" (sic) was considered important.
• Wicca is linked in with Satanism from its very beginning, despite the protestations against such links by those trying to be its public face or trying to whitewash it.
• Those Catholic feminists - even nuns in America - who flirt with Wicca need to seriously sort themselves out!
• Wicca has no roots in "ancient religions" or "pre-Christian faiths" - it was invented by a weirdo who liked nudism and sex, in 1946.
• Catholics from every nation and of every "rank" must ensure that our Shepherds do not see Wicca/Witchcraft as a "fellow religion" in this age of ecumenism and post-Assissi ecumaniacal shindigs (e.g. the Peace Mala group promoted on the front page of the Menevia News diocesan newspaper promotes Wiccan groups on its website as I previously detailed on this blog).

Wicca was invented in 1946 by Gerald Gardner, close associate of Satanist Aleister "The Beast" Crowley and leader of his Satanist group after Crowley's death.

It's modern propaganda that it is "white" witchcraft, and a feminist old religion dating back centuries, is like so much else in this day and age, just hogwash.

Catholics: arm yourselves with the Truth. Only then can we seek to expose the Wiccan lies and protect our Faith from those who think we can 'learn' from these freakish cults or who think such cults are on a par with our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Olympic Posters Point to Dead Society

Spodges, twirls, blocks and funny colours.

The LOndon 2012 official posters were unveiled today and what a cacopohony.

The con that is "modern art" is there for all to see. The Empreror is stark, staring naked.

The "art" is as shoddy, shocking and vacuous as those post-60s roller discos that double-up as Catholic Churches.

Art, like Churches, used to stir the soul. Now in this kind of vomit-inducing form it just stirs the stomach.

Oh The Guardian love them with words like "the most effective posters" and "a winner" or what about "touching idealism" and "self-conscious sentimentality."

But these are the same brand of people who loved Vatican 2 and predicted the modernisation of the Church would fill the pews (just like they promise the same with "gay marriage" or married priests).

All modernism, in art and religion, does is wreck. It ruins what it touches because its soul is basically against Truth and Beauty, it is relativism writ large.

I am not English, hence the blog name, but if I were I would love to think someone would promote something inspirational and English, traditional and English, making England and her culture and history part of the Olympic ideal (how about a Celt, Viking, Saxon and Norman reaching out for the Olympic torch, or King Alfred's statue on a stadium backdrop, or the Olympic rings floating on a 'nice cup of tea'... They could be traditional, fun, self-effacing, proud or thought-provoking.

But please someone tell me what the squiggles, lines, blocks and swirls of modern art are supposed to tell me about England in 2012 other than it is a mess.

If they wish to stop drug-taking in the athletes, was it wise to use these images, many of which I imagine drug usage had a role in!

BBC Reports on Young Women Becoming Nuns

Sister Jacinta

There's an interesting story on the BBC website on how more young women are turning to a religious vocation in a world that is giving them many problems, pressures and false hopes which quickly fade and die.

We can only hope Holy Mother Church recognises that there is a terrible spiritual vacuum in many peoples' lives. If Catholicism isn't forthright enough to offer itself, with 'the Truth that sets you free' at its core, then many youngsters will turn to any number of evils and errors which will plunge all too many souls into damnation.

There are many false worldly choices offered to the young, which is why I think Catholicism needs to stand apart from the "modern world" with its relativism, decadence and hostility to the family. By being apart from the mess of the modern world it can attract those who have seen through the half-truths and miasmas of the modern world or who have witnessed its empty promises, whatever their age.

When is a Priest Not a Priest? - in the Catholic Times Letters Pages

Fr Paul Kramer

It appears that the Catholic Times has published some letters attacking a priest and a lay Catholic, partly on charges of "anti-Semitism" (always a hot potato). Whilst reading through the Christian Order website I found a link to this site Christian Truth Scotland, which I used to read when I was north of the border.

It seems that whilst the Catholic Times have seen fit to publish letters with false accusations, the letters detailing the truth and putting forward a defence of the pair have not been printed. As one of the allegations is that a priest (Fr Paul Kramer) is somehow not an actual priest -- surely one of the most scandalous of assertions if untrue, as it appears to be -- I would like to think the Catholic Times would be duty bound to publish letters from those who seem to be attacked merely for defending Catholic Tradition and Truth.

After all, if some people (within and without the Church) do not like Fr Kramer and Mr. Sungenis (of both of whom I know very little) and what they have written - they can blame the authors themselves who, so they can say, will have condemned themselves by their writing. The Catholic Times surely has nothing to fear in publishing their letters, whereas at the moment certainly in regards to the slur against Fr Kramer, they would seem to have given credence to a most erroneous and dangerous lie (after all, if Fr Kramer were lying in this regard it could easily be disproved by accessing Church records).

The background to this furore can be read in another Catholic Truth Scotland issue. It seems the Faith of our Fathers conference organised by Daphne Mcleod of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (PEEP) had some speakers and its central London venue spiked by similar lies spread about it. I do not know all the ins and outs of PEEP, but I went to one of their Faith of our Fathers conferences some years ago and found it to be thoroughly Catholic and not "controversial" in any way, just very sound, and very traditional. From memory I recall going home with a wealth of Pro-Life, Latin Mass and similar materials, with a smile on my face and a spring in my step (yes, it really was that long ago!).

And not a "gay Mass" apologist in sight! ;-)

It may be that I am unaware of some sort of "office politics" going on in Catholic circles in London/England, but I do wonder why the Catholic Times would not publish a clarification from Fr Kramer (whatever they may think of his personal views), nor why anyone would wish to stop a Cardinal from addressing those seeking to uphold and defend Catholic traditions. Maybe I'm just naive.


Link:
Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice

Pope Pius XII - Empty Tabernacles?

Suppose, dear friend, that Communism was only the most visible of the instruments of subversion to be used against the Church and the traditions of Divine Revelation ... I am worried by the Blessed Virgin's messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul. ... A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God ... In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them, like Mary Magdalene weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, “where have they taken Him?”

Pope Pius XII, quoted in the book Pius XII Devant L'Histoire, pp. 52-53

Communion in Both Kinds - two Bishops Speak Out

Good intentions? Paths? A Mass in Chicago

A super post by Fr. Z on WDTPRS. A timely reminder that Communion in both kinds gives rise to far too many abuses, and (I would argue) causes scandal to some Catholics (including me!)

I pray that Catholic Bishops would defend Our Lord, present on the Altars of our land, from abuses. I know it can seem a tad hypersensitive, but the idea that Our Lord might be dishonoured, even once, should have all Catholics very, very concerned - if not outright angry.

A Reluctant Sinner on Gay Marriage

The cartoon characters Calvin & Hobbes deal with moral relativism

That wonderful, wonderful blog - A Reluctant Sinner - hands us clear, pristine and Catholic guidance, yet again! Please take the time to read his thoughtful, insightful posts on this matter.

In these times of moral upheaval -- the moral relativism that the Pope warned us about last September, to which the Archbishop of Westminster and the Prime Minister nodded like those little nodding dogs one sees in the back of cars -- it is uplifting that so many sound, sincere and brave Catholic voices are raised in dissent to the moral anarchy that is gripping the upper echelons of politics and religion.

Would that the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, as a body, gave clear and precise leadership to every Catholic to be proactive against this push by a Prime Minister who has his priorities all wrong.

In the meantime it is vital that Catholic Truth is proclaimed by as many Catholics as possible, so that the clear leadership of Pope Benedict can be matched by pressure-from-below. Then perhaps, just perhaps, the leadership of we Catholics born, by the Grace of God in Wales and England, can find the courage to espouse Catholic Truth.

We should expect no less from our Catholic leaders. Sad to say the moral relativism of this world, the weasel words and the modernism and newspeak of an anarchic, pagan age seems to have seeped into the palaces of too many Bishops. Is this perhaps a small part of the "smoke of Satan" entering the Catholic Church that Paul VI warned of as he witnessed Bugnini's liturgical changes? Time will tell.

John Smeaton on Gay Marriage

An excellent post by John Smeaton of the SPUC on the Tories and Homosexual marriage (sic).

Time for the Catholic Bishops to lead the way. Please.

Haf Bach Mihangel - Our Welsh Catholic Heritage

St Michael's 14th Century Church, Betws-y-Coed

Haf Bach Mihangel

It's St Michael's Little Summer in Welsh.


Today is Michaelmas - St Michael's Day and when it is hot at this time of year (as it very often is, as my family are sick of me telling them) it is known as Haf Bach Mihangel in Wales.


Yet further evidence of the folk-memory of those happy times when Wales was Catholic and Welsh; when the Saints spread the Faith to Ireland and we Welsh enjoyed the Sacraments and honoured the Real Presence of Our Lord on the Altars of our land, a Presence that had been adored since some of the earliest years of the Roman presence.

Our Catholic Faith was nurtured even when the Celtic lands to the East were lost to the pagan English.


So celebrate Michaelmas today and if you sit outside this evening, perchance with a wee sip of ale, wish each other a Dydd Mihangel Hapus and enjoy the beautiful sunshine as we enjoy this Haf Bach Mihangel.

Yes, the sun shines in Wales. As some Arab chappies might intone, God is Great. Indeed He is.

GKC Warns on Treating Trade as an Absolute

As usual, across the decades, GKC speaks to us with so much Catholic good sense.

Even after the collapse, the bail-out and the billions poured in to a black whole of debt, the leaders of nations are still treating banks and "the markets" as something sacrosanct.

Money, a means to facilitate trade and commerce has become an end in and of itself, and we all know what the love of money results in, as our Faith warns us:

For the desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have erred from the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows.

1 Timothy 6:10

Vatican 2, Archbishop Lefebvre, the Consecrations - and More

I found this moving book review on the web.

I wll leave you to read it.

It needs little commentry from me, save deep sighs at what the Church has suffered.

Many thanks to Cor Jesu Sacratissimum blog for such a moving and thoughtful review.

A Conservative Priest Visits Syria

A friend sent me this. His knowledge of the internet and associated thingymajigs is minimal. He didn't send me a link to this and for him to try and get one in retrospect would be asking the impossible. In deference to his years I'll save him the stress and run it sans link:


September 19, 2011
Twenty-fifth Sunday After Pentecost

Father Pat's Pastoral Ponderings

Having returned home, last evening, from a five-day trip to Syria, I am sending this first message to the friends who have been praying for me this past week. Many of these, prior to the trip, expressed concerns for my safety, so let my first words serve to reassure them.
  
I begin by remarking that at only one point on this trip did I feel the slightest fear for my physical wellbeing. It happened this way: Our little group was conducted into a large room full of scary-looking people, where a security force of more than twenty policemen met us, all of them carrying side arms, and several holding assault rifles. As we walked through their midst, this security force gave our group a careful once-over.
  
For the benefit of those concerned for my safety this past week, let mention that the room was the gate boarding area of an airport. It was the first day of our trip. The city was Chicago.

From the time we boarded our plane, however, and during the remainder of the trip---in Jordan and Syria---I did not see a single side arm on anyone at all, and I saw only two rifles: one held by a guard in front of the Defense Ministry in Damascus, and the other by the man who opened the front gate for us at the Presidential Palace.

During our entire time in Syria, I saw not a single armed policeman nor---except for that guard at the Defense Ministry---a single soldier. I saw only one military vehicle, and that was near the Defense Ministry.

The only other weapons I saw in Syria were the 10-inch batons used by the local police to direct the flow of traffic in Damascus. Indeed, the only moments of real apprehension I felt in Syria were occasioned by certain extraordinary displays of spontaneity and boldness on the part of its cab drivers.

In Syria our group---together and singly---was permitted to go wherever we wished and to ask any questions of anybody we wanted. There was only one restriction: our tourist agency mentioned two smaller cities where, out of concern for our safety, they could not take responsibility for us. This concern, they said, was prompted by patterns of violence among some of the "criminal elements" active in those cities---not the Syrian government.

Even then, however, we were not forbidden to travel to those two cities; the tourist agency simply refused to take us. (For the sake of candor, I confess that I was the visitor who ardently pressed them on the point, assuring them that we Chicagoans are impervious to fear. They ignored me.)

Prior to traveling to Syria, I checked out the web page of our State Department, where I was warned that travel in Syria is currently very dangerous. Normally I take such warnings seriously.

Over many years, however, I have done a bit of foreign travel, so I also trust my instincts with respect to safety. Long I walked the dark streets of Athens during a period when there were riots and insurrections throughout Greece. That same year---just after the civil war in Cyprus---I roamed all over that island, as U.N. peacekeepers policed the place.

In Kosovo a few years ago, again at night, I strolled from the south (Albanian) side of Mitrovica to the north (Serbian) side---and back again---without incident. I have walked around, after dark, in the neighborhoods of numerous foreign cities, such as London, Paris, Milan, Istanbul, and Tel-Aviv. In 1973 I was in the Athens airport when terrorists stormed the El-Al customer desk with grenades and machine guns. I think I can recognize danger.

I also know what it feels like to move around in the dangerous atmosphere of a police state. Last year, for instance, I spent a week in Guatemala, where I saw guns galore on nearly every street. At the time, the murder statistics in Guatemala City were staggering. (Father Timothy Ferguson, who spent a year there, followed the murder reports in the newspaper; he told me that 87 women were murdered in his immediate neighborhood during that year, but not a single person was ever arrested for those murders.) Within five minutes of entering Guatemala City, I was aware of danger. Indeed, if I were not a Chicagoan, I might have feared for my life.

So, let me sum up my impression of the danger factor in Syria. On a security scale of 1-to-10, I would give Syria a 9.7. Using that same scale, I would give Detroit a 4, Philadelphia a 6, and Disney World an 8.5.

BBC Response to My Newsnight/Dawkins Complaint

Here's the BBC's response to my complaint. My comments are in red:


Thank you for your comments with regard to ‘Newsnight’ broadcast on BBC Two on 13 September.

I understand you were offended by the treatment of religion on the programme.

We acknowledge some viewers were unhappy with the programme’s discussion with Professor Richard Dawkins. We also appreciate some viewers found presenter Jeremy Paxman’s comments offensive. However, we do not agree that it showed anti-Christian bias.

Well, it did. rather than question his thesis, Paxman lauded it. And called Christians bigoted and ignorant.

This discussion centred on Professor Dawkins’ new book, which seeks to counter myths, legends and religious teachings commonly taught to children by replacing them with strict scientific rebuttals. The interview was not about the merits of religion or science as a whole; instead it sought to explore the methods of disseminating knowledge to children, with particular reference to complex subject matter which can be difficult to understand even for the most mature readers.

Yes, the interview (i.e. the BBC) posited that a theory (the big bang) on top of another theory (evolution) are fact. These are not scientific facts. They are theories. They were presented as facts, whereas religion (e.g. Creation) is a myth to be scoffed at.

Jeremy countered Professor Dawkins’ assertions on a number of occasions, stressing that stories and myths are often more interesting than bare scientific explanation. Yes but he did not question the assertion that the Biblical account of Creation is a myth, whereas he blindly accepted prof Dawkins beliefs (including all the 'leaps of faith' needed to accept the Big Bang and Evolution). Jeremy added that such stories and religious interpretations offer comfort and inspire imagination. Jeremy then asked Professor Dawkins why he was concerned that such teachings take place, his comments did not intend to cause offence and instead sought to initiate a variety of responses from the interviewee. Jeremy's interviewing style is well known. He was being provocative by playing devil's advocate. It is a really important element of what makes ‘Newsnight’ what it is. The matter in question was not the validity of Genesis, but the reasoning behind Professor Dawkins’ vehement opposition to such teachings. ‘Newsnight’ or the BBC does not have opinion on either matter. We believe the interview was conducted in an impartial and appropriate manner.

It was certainly not impartial and anyone who saw the interview and read my initial complaint would recognise that. It was a love-in, a hug-fest, in which two people on the "same side" poked fun at religion and stated that Mr Dawkins' beliefs (based on his beliefs - not on what he has seen, for he was not at the Big bang nor has he presented the missing link) were absolute facts, whereas all religious statements are myths and stories, in which Genesis is mixed in with Aboriginal tales. This is like disproving the Big Bang by showing a documentary on a professor who says the earth has a Malteser at its centre and started as a second tier treat in a giant cosmological chocolate assortment box..

I do understand you feel very strongly about this, so I’d like to assure you that I’ve registered your concerns on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's made available to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, programme makers, channel controllers and other senior managers.

Yadda yadda. Where is the apology for a BBC employee calling Christians "idiots" and espousing an atheist belief-system as fact, despite the lack of evidence.

The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions on future BBC programmes and content.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to contact us.

Kind Regards

Mark Madden
BBC Complaints


My response was:

I am sorry but Mr. Paxman did not interview in his usual style - for which he is well renowned. This was akin to a love-in, with two people casting aspersions on the Christian faith.

You have not apologised for Mr. Paxman's derogatory description of Christians and anyone else who does not toe Mr. Dawkin's line on the THEORIES of the Big Bang and Evolution.

If he interviewed someone questioning the moral, personal, societal values of homosexuality and joined that person in make derogatory remarks about homosexuals I feel he would be chastised by the BBC -- and a complainant would see some sort of redress.

As a Christian, of course, I can expect none of this, which shows just how slanted and biased the BBC has become.

It is easy for Dawkins and Paxman to sneer, but most people in this country still describe themselves as Christian, and as tax-payers and licence fee-payers I believe that we should not be the object of such open bias on the BBC.

I feel that my complaint has been all but ignored.


Here's my original article and letter of complaint

Prayer Before a Crucifix

Prayer before a Crucifix

Behold, O good and sweetest Jesus,

I cast myself upon my knees in Thy sight,

and with the most fervent desire of my soul

I pray and beseech Thee

to impress upon my heart

lively sentiments of faith,

hope and charity,

with true repentance for my sins

and a most firm desire of amendment.

Whilst with deep affection and grief of soul

I consider within myself

and mentally contemplate

Thy five most precious wounds,

having before mine eyes that which David,

the prophet, long ago spoke concerning Thee,

“They have pierced My hands and My feet,

they have numbered all My bones.”

I say this prayer after every Mass I attend. If you say it, plus an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for the intentions of the Pope you get an indulgence (Confession and Communion being necessary of course).

A most efficacious prayer.

Tip of the jauntily-angled trilby to: Abbot Cuthbert Johnson