Petition Against Communion in the Hand

A petition against Communion in the hand was publicised on The Hermeneutic of Continuity.

As of this moment the petition stands at 1833 souls.

Please take a moment to add your name to the petition.

Glory be the the Holy Name of Jesus.
All Honour to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Hungarian Government Protect the Unborn

On reading some Catholic writers' praise of a Hungarian government that was praising Hungary's Catholicism including the historic role of the Faith in the establishing of a Hungarian State, I posted a piece celebrating this fact.

One person leaving comments on the post chided me, stating that Hungary was becoming "fascist" (whilst leaving little proof beyond sound bytes).

It now appears that Hungary has asserted the absolute right of the unborn child to life.

If this is "fascism" (and that's a huge if) then (I can see people lining up to have a pop) I would rather see more such "dubious" governments than the liberal democracies that have resulted in millions of dead innocents!

A regime that kills the innocent has no moral obligations in regards to the treatment of the young, the elderly, the disabled, the poor and so on.

The Hungarian regime may not be perfect (I am not a politician nor a seer, so I don't pretend to know how things will end up), and one should add what can be perfect this side of Heaven, but so far it all seems outstandingly Catholic.

The Hermeneutic of Continuity on the Hungarian Pro-Life Law

BBC Hosts Another Anti-Catholic 'Love Fest' with Liberal

Following the embarrassing love-fest that was Jeremy Paxman's interview with Richard Dawkins on Newsnight, the BBC has pulled off another one-sided love-fest of another anti-Catholic, ant-Christian liberal hero.

Today on his Radio Two show Jeremy Vine has "national treasure" (I kid you not!) Peter Tatchell in the studio. All but one of the comments read out were full of praise and the presenter himself all but gushed!

Anti-Catholic Pro-Paedophile Tatchell Twists the Facts

Can you imagine a traditional Catholic, a pro-lifer, a family rights activist or similar getting this treatment? I have heard Joanna Bogle, Josephine Quintavalle and others interviewed on such programmes and the BBC always has opponents lined-up to "do battle" and lets through plenty of "anti" comments from a seemingly irate public.

The BBC are increasingly pushing a liberal anti-family, anti-Catholic message, and have little fear in being obvious about their agenda.

Imagine if a public figure such as an MP, a businessman or a charity worker, publicly saying that some sex with 9-year-olds was "acceptable." They would (rightfully!) be hounded out of office/work.

And yet the BBC's "national treasure" had this to say in The Guardian in 1997:

‘The positive nature of some child-adult sexual relationships is not confined to non-Western cultures. Several of my friends – gay and straight, male and female – had sex with adults from the ages of nine to 13. None feel they were abused. All say it was their conscious choice and gave them great joy.
‘While it may be impossible to condone paedophilia, it is time society acknowledged the truth that not all sex involving children is unwanted, abusive and harmful.’

He has already campaigned for the age of consent to be lowered to 14 and for obscene material to be promoted to schoolchildren under the guise of 'sex education.'

Yet still the BBC sought to promote him and his agenda, even voicing up a poem written by Stephen Fry in praise of Tatchell.


Something is very, very wrong.

Profits at Any Cost?

I wonder why, watching this evening's news, the modern world always insists on a constantly growing economy. We seem to be told at every turn that a modern economy must have growth, and that low growth (say 1%) is all but failure.

Why? Is it because of inflation? Because growth lower than inflation means stagnation? Or is it because Capitalism relies on growing economies to service the debts so much of the economy relies on?

If someone out there intelligent enough to follow all this, and explain it in layman's terms, would be kind enough to explain it I'd be grateful.

As a businessman, if I ran a business that made 100K profit one year and then made another 90K profit the following year, why should that be deemed a failure? I don't understand why we have the constant need for growth, for greater profits, year on year.

As a Catholic I have to wonder if it's better to crave for growth every year, to seek bigger and bigger profits at any cost, when we as a society should surely place prime importance on economic and spiritual well being, safe streets, the stability of families, the condition of the poor.

I know it can sound a bit woolly and I don't go in for hugging trees, but aren't all the above more important than the constant chase after bigger and better profits?

Would we be happier with less profits, but being able to leave our doors unlocked? I've seen in parts of London, homes worth £1 million plus, all shuttered up, with bars on the windows. Is that progress?

Rich prisoners?

It always makes me think of Britain in the industrial revolution. To a few historians and many politicians, those days are painted as wonderful times, the 'good old days' of British Greatness, with the Imperial might of Britain spreading, and engineering feats to take one's breath away. Yet where were the people back then? Forced off the land? Living in slums?

I wonder sometimes if the love of money, aka the relentless charge after more profits, brings about more societal evils? Our Lord said it was the root of all evil -- are we to call Him a liar? Yet the love of money (bigger and bigger profits) seems to be the driving force of Capitalism.

After all, if an energy company can make greater profits by putting up its prices as the elderly face the choice to "eat or heat" through the Winter, how can they condemn a poor kid who chooses the relative wealth and peer group adulation of getting involved in selling drugs over hard slog in school ending in a McJob? OK, I am using an extreme example as one is 'lawful' whereas the other causes untold misery and crime, but you get the point. Immorality breeds immorality. Greed breeds greed.

If we rush to make money, more profits, then greater profits than before -- at every twist and turn -- what time is left for morality, for the moral choices that may mean making less money, to take a slump in profits for the betterment of the Common Good?

It reminds me of a 'joke' an Irish Catholic friend of mine told me. A geezer in his late 20s works part time, but makes ends meet. Nothing fancy. Pays the bills. Spends time with his kids, takes them swimming, fishing, playing football etc. Then his mate comes along and says 'come work for me.' He tells him it's 12 hours a day, six days a week. But if he works real hard with this better wage he can retire when he's 50. His main selling point was that when he was 50 he could then "go fishing, swimming, playing football..." 

Discuss.

Were the 1950s the Good Old Days?

Jade Knight

I was reading a piece yesterday in the Daily Mail about a black lady called Jade Knight who bumped into Dianne Abbott (the famous black MP). The latter proceeded to embroil herself in another "race row."

I'm not really interested in that, but moreover one thing the young professional black lady had to say about her own experiences in America:

‘Many [children] were badly behaved and came from broken homes with no male figure and surrounded by crack addicts,’ she said. ‘I had lived for a while with an aunt and uncle in Georgia in America where most black parents were married and the kids were much better behaved.

This of course flies in the face of what many people tell us, and further underlines the importance of stable families (including fathers!) in creating stable communities.

Those like Abbott like to lay the blame of troubled communities at the feet of many people. They also like to say that types of 'families' can be justified, and paint the normal family as if it were a throw-back to the 1950s.

Speaking of which it was reported today that the comedienne Miranda Hart (due to star in the new BBC series on Midwives in Poplar, east London) has said that the 1950s was better than today. Really? Before single parent families and absentee fathers?

This reminds me of a debate on Radio Two a few weeks ago between Norman Tebbit and a Catholic Labour Baroness (I think it was Baroness Kennedy, but I may be wrong), after Nick Clegg's obtuse comments on the nuclear family being a 1950s image and not a reality in 'modern Britain.' The Baroness had to admit that socially the 50s were better. All she could point to about the modern age were better rights for homosexuals (and she a Catholic!), advances such as washing machines and suchlike.

Tebbit kept reminding her she was a pro-life Catholic, and how the 50s had less street crime, was more focused on the family and traditional values.

Miranda Hart

What I couldn't understand was why we had to "give up" stable families, promote homosexuality alongside more 'normal' advances such as washing machines - and why those who promote the argument for the Heinz 57 varieties of "families" with all the damage that has done to society seem to think that washing machines are somehow "theirs"; as if a more (small c) conservative and family orientated society could not have washing machines, or key-hole surgery, or electric cars.

So hurrah for Jade Knight, Miranda Hart and everyone else who glimpses the truth: that families and cohesive communities are better for our well being, and give us the security we crave which means so much more than whatever the modern world has given so many people - insecurity, no feeling of belonging, rootlessness, alienation, moral relativism, school route muggings and so on.

The people of Poplar were very poor in the 1950s, as were the people of Wales, and I'm in no way saying everything was rosy (or the Catholic Church would not needed to have spoken out on the condition of the working classes just a few decades before, nor would it have been conned into some of the Vatican 2 changes a decade after), but in the 'progress' since then it seems we have (as a society) gone out of our way to rip apart the family and do our utmost to create more and more "families" that just aren't, to quote John Reid, "fit for purpose."

The X Files: The Truth is Out There - It Just Ain't Aliens

Do scientists believe in aliens - but not God?

I didn't see it, but an advert on the radio today for a new BBC2 programme about stargazing, featuring Prof Brian Cox and the Irish comedian Dara O'Briain, said that they would be 'looking for extraterrestrial life.'

And this got me to thinking. Stand back please. My wife will tell you this can be dangerous. ;-)

Why is it the "men of science" like prof Cox can theorise on the nature of the universe, can imagine what "might" be out there or how the universe "may" have come about, and now can even suppose on the advent of alien life-forms... yet it is this same breed who poke fun at those who believe in God, and especially those who believe that God created the universe.

"Where is the evidence?" they cry, ignoring much evidence already put before us (Fatima, Turin, Guadalupe and much else besides) but they are willing to believe in evolution of species - despite no missing link evidence at all (but plenty of forgeries), and they are willing to believe in aliens despite no credible evidence at all.

If the boot was on the other foot they would point and pour scorn asking why such leaps of faith are taken in regards to the missing link and alien lifeforms, but because they can theorise and ponder to their hearts content, we must all gaze in awe and hang on their every word.

Science cannot disprove God, because the laws of science were created by God. In twisting the laws of nature to try and "prove" what isn't, they just make themselves look silly, and undermine genuine science.

Some years ago I read an interesting article by the Abbé de Nantes' Catholic Counter Reformation in the 20th Century, a French journal (I forget the author). They wrote some fantastic in-depth treatises on various topics including Medjugorje, the Shroud of Turin and more.

In one article it dealt with "alien life" and it's summary was that some was fake, imagined, forged, hallucinations, secret armed forces tests etc. but for those with some depth to them, that couldn't be explained away, were clearly diabolical, because the central idea behind them was that if aliens exist as a "higher power" it undermined God.

Atheists will be chuckling, of course, but for Christians (who still outnumber them!), if we believe in God we ipso facto believe in (the existence of) Satan -- and do you really think the 'Father of Lies' wouldn't stoop to such levels?

Personally I think most "sightings" can indeed be explained away, so we are only talking about a tiny minority of cases anyway.

Just my opinion anyway... I'd be interested to hear what other Catholics think.

Welsh Government Wrong on PIP Implants & the NHS

A ruptured PIP implant

News that the NHS in Wales is going to provide free removal and replacement of breast implants to women who had the faulty French 'PIP' implants fitted in private clinics baffles me.

The best comment I heard on this was from a lady who contacted a radio station to say that 'if the narcissistic women could find the money to have these procedures done, then they can find the money to fix it.'

I do feel sorry for those who find themselves in a worrying predicament, but this is a mess of their own making, and I do not think the tax-payer should always step in to mop up the mess. On a similar level I am opposed to all manner of plastic surgery on the NHS, unless it is reconstructive following cancer, an accident, a birth deformity etc. Sex change operations are especially worrying not only because of their cosmetic nature, but because they confirm the mentally deranged in their disordered and blasphemous idea that God made them the "wrong" sex.

On BBC Radio Wales the atmosphere has been heated to say the least, and I really do not understand why the Welsh government has taken this decision. Do they think they are standing up for "wymmins' rights?" If so they are sorely mistaken, as it is precisely the narcissism, fixation with "perfect bodies" and treating women as commodities that puts the pressure on women of all ages to be "perfect" that in turn leads to eating disorders, depression, injections, tanning salons, unnecessary implants and so on.

Until we adopt a more Catholic approach that does away with the airbrushing of stick-thin models, and promote a society that sees all people as created in the image of God, and all people as (possible) recipients of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord via the Blessed Sacrament, then our daughters and sisters will come under ever more pressure to look like the catwalk models, pop stars, film stars and others who infest the big and small screens (that breed of people who can't seem to make a marriage last).

Making the thousands of women who forked out thousands of pounds each to get PIP implants they did not need realise that this is a mess that they will have to find a way out of, via their insurance policies, the clinics they used, or their own pockets, will hopefully make those of a narcissistic nature think twice before putting totally unnecessary implants which contain dangerous chemicals into their bodies.

Are Catholic Priests Defying the Pope and Magesterium?

Soho outrage: queeringthechurch.com' calls this a 'pride mass'

A leading homosexual activist claims that homosexual "civil partnerships" are being blessed by one or more priests. See John Smeaton's superb blog for full details

Enough really is enough. We need guidance, we need leadership, we need help! The wolves are amongst the sheep and the shepherds need to act. Promptly.

Bravo to SPUC for the leadership it is showing, and for all pro-lifers for showing the link between fighting the evil that is abortion, and the struggle to defend the family from other assaults on its dignity, and the sanctity of marriage.

John Smeaton is tackling real evil, and that is what is behind the Soho Masses, with its guile, twisted words and suchlike. This type of absolute evil will seem obsequious to those who matter into whose ears it will drip honeyed words of praise, whilst having a spirit of outright rebellion. It will speak of love, compassion, community, commitment, and even a disturbingly twisted Biblical love of neighbour, whilst spreading a worldview steeped in hatred, loneliness, violence, drugs and outright sin.

It will take no prisoners and paint its enemies, the defenders of truth, humanity, marriage and Holy Mother Church, as bigots, haters, extremists, and so on. So we must not only admire John Smeaton and SPUC, we must support them, for they are sure to face a campaign of hatred, twisted half-truths and similar underhand tactics.

Catholics must be clear that we stand, from SPUC to Pope Benedict, against moral relativism and the disordered deathstyle that is homosexuality. There can be no fudging!

Terry Pratchett's Assisted Suicide Argument is Fatally Flawed

On tonight's BBC News at Six, Terry Pratchett asked how we would possibly get from people "choosing to die" to people getting killed by the state.

I'm sorry but he is not a thick, unintelligent man. I have read and enjoyed most of his books, and he is clearly quick witted.

Can't he see the day that old people are pressurised by lazy, greedy, hard-pressed or "busy" relatives to sign a piece of paper so they can be injected with a lethal concoction? We already see "DNR" on old people's clipboards in hospital. A relative of mine was infuriated to see it on hers -- Do Not Resuscitate. The NHS is already looking out to save money and/or clear beds.

In a world where money means all, do we think the NHS would care for elderly people for years when they could "humanely" dispatch them?

Does Terry Pratchett not see the precedent of abortion? Initially this was supposed to have safeguards. It would only be when the mothers' lives were in danger. There would be safeguards with doctors' signatures required. Oh - and sex education and contraception (and even lately the morning after pill) would lower the number of abortions.

Only none of this worked, and the number of abortions has grown and grown. Now people who think they are "too poor" kill their child just as quickly as people with "careers" or even those who want to kill their child because they want a new car or have a holiday planned. We even see the same people give "advice," provide the murder machinery, and profit from the abortions. It's become a big business with media-savvy mouthpieces ready to promote their agenda and protect their profits.

Just as the "safety net" of unemployment benefit has become instead a lifestyle choice for what have been called the generation of "Shameless" families (named after a notorious TV series) and those who have no intention of working (a newspaper report today said half or dole recipients would give up their payments rather than be forced to work); so abortion has become a "lifestyle choice" for hundreds of thousands rather than the supposed 'safety net' for pregnancies that threatened a few dozen mother's lives each year. And I speak as someone whose mother was told by the "experts" to abort me for that very reason, happily we both survived.

If Terry Pratchett is indeed an intelligent man, then he must know that assisted suicide, no matter what the claimed safeguards, however it is entered in law, will undoubtedly change once enacted. Over a relative few years the dozens will become hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands and so on. The selfish generation who have holidays planned will pressurise the old to sign for their death, as quickly as they would seek an abortion.

The "inconvenience" of pregnancy and childbirth will be joined by the "inconvenience" of old age and caring/visiting the elderly. Plus there will be the 'added bonus' of early inheritance for the greedy, corrupt or desperate.

There are none so blind as those who will not see, and I do appreciate the onset of an irreversible disease must induce truly terrifying emotions; however we cannot change the law of the land and open the door on all sorts of awful eventualities just because a few selfish people wish to end their own lives.

That is not looking out for the Common Good. I do not wish to see a society in which the millions killed by abortion, for all manner of dubious, twisted or even 'good' intentions (and we know where they lead) are joined by millions killed by lethal injection.

I would ask Terry Pratchett to think again. He may not see the logical consequences of his actions, but we weren't told legalising abortion would end up like it has with millions dead. Opening the door to assisted suicide for a few vocal people with access to the media, would be a disaster for this society.

Famous Welsh Catholics #4: Dylan Parry

It's official, the fantastic Welsh Catholic Blogger Dylan Parry has been listed in the Top 10 of the most amazing Catholics of 2011, according to Mary O'Regan in the Catholic Herald.

As the author of A Reluctant Sinner he has long been a point of reference for me, not only for my own petty preferences (he is Catholic and Welsh after all) but because his articles have all the profundity, history, current affairs and Catholic orthodoxy that I aspire to but rarely if ever achieve.

When A Reluctant Sinner pronounces on an event, I take it to heart, because his whole raison d'etre is not only to defend Holy Mother Church and her traditions, but to deepen the Faith of Catholics and to lift our spirits whilst 'fighting the good fight' in these difficult times.

So bravo to Dylan. That a Welshman should feature so highly in a list of inspirational Catholics can only bring joy to all of us who are Welsh, wherever we live, and to the fellow members of the Church Militant who live in Wales.

Llongyfarchiadau. Dal ati! Daliwch ati!


(Tip of my stovepipe hat to Linen on the Hedgerow).

Hungary, Catholicism and Nationhood

On Saturday I wrote in regard to Catholicism and Nationalism from a Welsh point of view.

According to Rorate Caeli the Hungarian government seems to agree:

We are proud that our king Saint Stephen built the Hungarian State on solid ground and made our country a part of Christian Europe one thousand years ago.

...

We recognise the role of Christianity in preserving nationhood.

They go on to defend marriage as between a man and a woman (radical dude!) and the right of life from conception (liberals are a-fainting!)

Thank God for Hungary!

Communism Versus Our Lady in Cuba: Only One Winner

Cuba is well known for certain things. World famous cigars that are illegal in America. The Bay of Pigs invasion fiasco (see the film JFK for a brief outline). Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, the poster-boy icons of 1960s Communism.

The island has been a bastion of Marxism for many decades, hence the resentment of the American government, and its celebration by various media 'luvees' and pop bands; but might it become well-known for something else in the years to come?

As the fabulous (in Welsh: fab'lus - aka tidy) Catholic and Welsh A Reluctant Sinner blog has outlined, over half the island's population has come out to venerate the statue of the nation's patron, Our Lady of Charity. Can you imagine over half the population of any other nation doing this? I bet you might be able to name one or two others, but even then you wouldn't be certain.

This makes me think of a few things. First that Communism has failed, again. The commissars that say our Faith is the "opiate of the people" were liars, for it keeps them alive, it makes them defend good values, it makes families and communities stronger.

Secondly that if the people of Cuba have held onto their Faith, which they clearly seem to have, then the future must hold great things in store, if the people there can keep a hold of that Faith when the onslaught of hedonism, moral relativism and  anti-family liberal "values" break like a storm onto the island nation.

May Our Lady protect Cuba when that ferocious storm breaks, just as she saved the 'three Juans' (go read the story at A Reluctant Sinner). Now that would be both fab'lus and indeed tidy.

St Paul and Our Lady: Redemption for the New Year

Just read a wonderful piece on Catholicism Pure and Simple, which finished:

"So if [St] Paul shows how low God can reach to save us, Mary shows how high He can elevate us."

What a perfect meditation for the end of one year and the beginning of another.

Happy New Year one and all!

Famous Welsh Catholic #3: Dr Saunders Lewis

Saunders Lewis

There is an oft-used saying that Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Some people take this to mean that being patriotic (or being a patriot) typifies a man as a scoundrel. I do not believe this is the case in either respect, in fact or in regards to the meaning of the saying. Patriots as a whole tend to be decent enough types within the confines of their human nature (as patriotism tends to butter no parsnips) and the aforementioned non-patriotic scoundrels tend to run for cover in patriotic ranks when the proverbial hits the fan.


You will rarely find, for example, in the ranks of day-to-day patriots, the like of the London City banker or the Marxist provocateur. For the former, patriotism restricts profits and if he can make more money by sacking English workers and using sweat-shop labour, he will. Money is his god, and wherever he can make a profit is (temporarily!) his homeland -- to be defecated upon when he can make better profits elswehere. It is only when his operating base in the City of London faces a new tax, that he may become an uber-patriot, defending his "rights" to use tax-havens etc.

For the latter, the Marxian commissar, patriotism is, like God, to be attacked at every opportunity, both being "opiates of the people" - until they feel pressurised and under assault, then they will use the cloaks of patriotism (and even Christianity): as they did in WW2-era USSR. Marxists can seldom be trusted, again to give WW2 as an example, prior to 1941 it was a "capitalist war" and some Trade Unionists even organised go-slows or work to rules (so were seen as "anti-patriotic"). After 1941, of course, it became a 'war against fascism' and they urged an all-out effort (and so became "uber-patriots"). All this was exposed by the former high-ranking Marxist, Douglas Hyde, who converted to Catholicism and exposed Marxist hypocrisy in is autobiography entitled I Believed.

The Church herself teaches that patriotism is normal, we are creatures of our soil, via nature and nurture, and the Just War theory demands that should our homeland be invaded, for example, we are justified in defending it from the oppressor (a Catholic tenet that gives rights to the Afghan tribesman that the US GI in Afghanistan does not seemingly enjoy).

In Wales, Nationalism came of age through the teachings of Dr Saunders Lewis, one of the co-founders of Plaid Cymru, whose February 1962 radio talk entitled the Fate of the Language gave rise to the Welsh Language Society, which in turn made Welsh a growing rather than a dying language by 2011.

In a recent sermon in our own humble parish, Bishop emeritus Daniel Mullins gave the example of Dr Saunders Lewis as one of the greatest post-WW2 European Catholic thinkers. Saunders Lewis taught Bishop Mullins to read and speak Welsh when he was his parishioner in Penarth, a beautiful church I had reason to visit quite recently for a relative's wedding.

In his booklet The Principles of Nationalism, Dr Saunders Lewis outlines nationalism as a Catholic would understand it. He salutes the nationalism of nations like Wales within the (Holy?) Roman Empire, and outlines how nationalism isn't about borders, barbed wire, invasions or xenophobia. he extols what is, in essence, a Catholic vision of nationalism: to celebrate one's nation,one's culture, one's heritage, one's history etc. within the bedrock of Christendom.

I have few of the qualities of Saunders Lewis (apart from our shared Faith and nationality) and so I doubt I can do his writings justice, but this is what patriotism should be. A perfectly natural celebration of shared values, heritage and culture within a wider shared history and culture that is Christian. Within a truly Catholic Europe the various nationalities would be free to celebrate their nationhood, within a shared common value system, one far above and beyond the false, sterile, death-culture, control-freakery of the current European Union.

Patriotism is as natural as wanting to own one's home, seeking to protect one's family, and wanting to live in a crime-free and safe society (all perfectly Catholic values). What worries me is when the scoundrels out there who normally pooh-pooh patriotism (and Catholicism!) as something "backwards" or "medieval" scramble to wave their little plastic flags and pound the jingoistic flag.

Sometimes this is to drum up support for a highly questionable war (which we've seen more than enough of lately); sometimes it is to defend greed and profits by the few (e.g. defending the "rights" of the City of London), and sometimes it is even to defend the liberal anti-family relativistic (anti-) values of the UK when they are questioned (for example by the Pope).

So patriotism, when it becomes the lifeblood of the people, as a means to celebrate culture, values, language and the Common Good is perfectly natural, perfectly Catholic and should be seen as normal and healthy for the national body as breathing is for the actual body.

But beware when you see scoundrels running to grab a flag and embrace patriotism - because then you know they are up to no good.

Nationalism when it is natural, normal and respectful is thoroughly Catholic, as long as it acts within the laws of Holy Mother Church (no unjust wars, not against the Common Good, not acting against the state in society of the working classes etc. etc.).

It is when "nationalism" becomes jingoistic, aggressive and anti-Catholic in nature that it is to be avoided at all costs. Sadly for all too long in the UK we have been drip-fed a worship of the state, the monarchy and the state religion (with the monarch at the top) as the be all and end all, and this 'religion of the state' goes against the universal nature of Catholicism, for it is not under the umbrella of Christ's Church, hence its chaotic, greedy, relativist nature as it votes for what is right - from abortion to women vicaresses - without the fatherly guidance of the Popes and Tradition)

It is in being part of the universality of Holy Mother Church, with the care of souls within ones boundaries and in neighbouring nations too, that nations truly come into the fulfilment of their God-given right of being.

As for those who pooh-pooh the idea of nationhood, what else do they envision? A 'brotherhood of man' like the limp-wristed John Lennon tune 'Imagine'? Well sad for them (and Lennon) Heaven and Hell do exist, and so do nations. Besides which, we all know that the ideal of universal suffrage and the brotherhood of man all too often end in universal suffering and the brotherhood of the gulag.

At Fatima the three children were visited by the Guardian Angel of Portugal. Here we ourselves have our very own Patron Saint - Dewi Sant. Holy Mother Church has given our nation a patron Saint, surely Heaven itself has given us a Guardian Angel? Who are we, in our venal pride, to say that we know better than Heaven and its Church to pooh-pooh the very idea of nationhood?

Rather it is our duty in this life to ensure that nationhood is subservient to Catholicism, so that patriotism can flourish as something beautiful and natural, within the bedrock of Christendom (a dream that Saunders Lewis clung to).

Enthroning Christ the King as the ruler of a Welsh nation would surely bring us enhanced recognition throughout the world, and bring many Graces to a land that (if current political events in Scotland progress) could see itself with more national powers than it has enjoyed since its Medieval Princes asked the Popes for recognition of its parliament and universities.

So may I humbly ask the Welsh Bishops to think ahead and enthrone Christ the King - perhaps at some carefully chosen site - as the supernatural and social King of Wales?

What an example to set all the nations of Europe and the world! What Graces for our small nation! What recognition for us, and imagine those who would clamour for the same beautiful ceremony to be made in Spain, Poland, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, France, Croatia, Ireland, Argentina, The Gabon, The Philippines... and so on!

Saunders Lewis

So your Lordships - over to you.

In memory of the greatest Welsh Catholic theorist, writer and activist in the 20th Century, Dr Saunders Lewis. To give a path for a resurgent Wales to follow. To remind our countrymen of the rights of Christ the King in an age of moral relativism, chaos and lawlessness as seen in the riots last Summer just across the border.

Let us embrace a Catholic future for Wales, so that patriotism can again be as natural and normal as breathing, set in the universal bedrock that Holy Mother Church provides to all nations.

God's Beauty in a Snowflake

Does a snowflake prove the existence of God?

I have often thought the human eye does exactly that. How could a lump of mud "evolve" into a single celled organism? Let alone something as intricate and complicated as the human eye.

Never mind the missing link - how could an eyeball come into existence out of the blue? It just makes no sense at all. The optical nerve and the brain receptors, and the eye itself, all just "came about" hmmm? Or did the eye exist and only later get linked up to the brain?

The atheists like to think that Creation is some sort of cartoon sketch. Well, I can take an all-powerful God creating the intricacies of the human body and the world over the cartoon sketch of a lump of mud "miraculously" coming alive, then growing lungs, legs, a brain, eyes, ears and everything else.

Think about it logically. It just makes no sense.

Now onto the snowflake. if each and every snowflake is as individual as a finger print, does that prove the existence of God? Or surely nature on its own would have no need for such an extravagant gesture? Then again, why would humans have "evolved" individual finger-prints, which serve no "evolutionary" purpose, unless "millions of years ago" the missing links (which have never existed) knew Inspector Morse might need that final clincher in some episodes?

I do not believe in evolution. I believe species can change, whether it's people getting taller, or animals changing slightly (e.g. not growing a third eye etc.) this is commonly known as mutation. There is a world of difference in breeding dogs (for example) to create new breeds, or Moorish influence in Spain meaning modern Spaniards tend to be darker skinned, than the idea that lifeless ooze sprung into life on its own, became fish, mammals, monkeys then men.

I don't believe evolution can account for the finger-print or the human eyeball. As for the snow-flakes, well perhaps I'm just an old romantic, but I see the hand of God in everything in nature that is so beautiful!

Happy St Stephen's Day!