Treasures of Heaven - Catholic Relics Documentary

The right eye of Bl Edward Oldcorne

For those who missed it first time around, you really must watch: Treasures of Heaven, now on BBC i-player.

It is one of the most beautiful, uplifting and Catholic programmes I have seen outside of any Catholic media.

Please do watch it, please do spread the word. It reminds us of our past, present and future, of our Catholic heritage, our Catholic martyrs and the saints of all ages, specifically in/of England.

Look out (sorry!) for the right eye of Bl Edward Oldcorne SJ, who made pilgrimage to St Winifred's Well in Wales to obtain a cure for cancer. He later returned, together with many famous recusant Catholics (including some "Gunpowder Plotters") to the Holy Well to give thanks for the cure.

God is the Author of Marriage - Bishop Mark Davies Defends Civilisation

Bishop Mark Davies is fast becoming the Shepherd we need as the wolves move amongst the flock:

h/t to Catholicism Pure & Simple from which I have shamelessly lifted this text:

Homily given by Bishop Davies at the Diocesan Celebration of Marriage at  Saint Wilfred’s Church in Northwich, Cheshire on 11^th February 2012

Today we have come together as a Diocese to celebrate marriage with many couples who have travelled here to give thanks for twenty five, forty, fifty, sixty and for one couple seventy years of married life. I am sure each of you today can glimpse how those promises of love and faithfulness, and of openness to the gift of family, made in the morning of your youth, became the foundation for so great a good, not least the upbringing and security of your children and grandchildren. Experience and research speak of how vital this marriage-commitment of yours is for the well-being of new generations and for society as a whole. Yet in the months ahead the very meaning, purpose and identity of marriage is about to be challenged. When earth tremors shake the walls of our homes people then give serious thought to the foundations on which their homes rest secure. This I believe is such a moment for the British people as for the first time in our history a government is proposing to change the meaning of marriage and to re-define its identity as the life-long union of one man and one woman. What the Government now proposes to legislate into law constitutes nothing less than a seismic shift in the foundations of our society.


We face a mindset which sees progress only as a continuous shifting of our society further and further from its Christian foundations until we have nothing left for family and society to be founded upon than changing, political fashions of thought.  It is surely then that we hear the cry of the Psalmist: “Foundations once destroyed, what can the just do?” For the “vocation to marriage” is not the invention of any passing Parliament or political or legal system but is, as the Christian faith declares, “written into the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator”(CCC 1605). Marriage is not a merely a human institution made or un-made by any generation. God himself is the author of marriage.

Despite the many variations marriage has undergone throughout history in different cultures and social structures, the stability and the greatness of the marriage union and its identity has always remained. Christ our Lord unequivocally taught this original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning (CCC 1614) and raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament. The meaning and greatness of marriage can be recognised from the natural law even without the light of faith. Indeed, many who do not share our Christian faith see in this timeless institution of marriage not only the source of the greatest good for the family but one of the key foundations on which the whole of society ultimately depends.

During his recent visit to the United Kingdom, our Holy Father Pope Benedict spoke of a mentality which today threatens to obscure “the unchanging truth” about our nature, our destiny and our ultimate good.  By attempting to redefine marriage for society, politicians will find they have not only undermined the institution of marriage but obscured its identity for generations to come. For politicians of Christian conscience this will be a moment to resist the leadership of their own political parties together with every parliamentarian who recognises the Judeo-Christian foundations on which our society rests. Yet this will also be a moment for our own voices to be raised in defence of marriage. The Holy Father urged us at Glasgow: “I appeal in particular to you, the lay faithful, in accordance with your baptismal calling and mission, not only to be examples of faith in public, but also to put the case for the promotion of faith’s wisdom in the public forum.” “Society today needs clear voices …” he told us (Bellahouston Park 16^th September 2010). Our voices must now be raised as clearly as they can be, in order to proclaim the God-given meaning of marriage not only for the sake of this generation, but for the sake of all generations to come.


May God bless and protect +Mark Davies!

JRR Tolkien on His Mother's Sacrifices for the Catholic Faith

"My own dear mother was a martyr indeed, and it is not to everybody that God grants so easy a way to his great gifts as he did to Hilary and myself, giving us a mother who killed herself with labour and trouble to ensure us keeping the faith."

JRR Tolkien.
(from Carpenter, Biography, page 31.)

First They Came for the B&B Owners...

In an age when a Christian (albeit Anglican/Presbyterian) Monarch passes "laws" on abortion, homosexuality and marriage which run contrary to the law (and undermine her coronation oath), something the Pope has condemned as moral relativism,we should remember this (from St Augustine) and wear it as our badge for the new Pilgrimage of Grace.

As Catholics I believe we need a huge debate on what we can do to rectify the situation wherein the law-of-the-land, in crucial areas is contrary to objective Truth, especially when councils are being banned from having official prayers and B&B owners are being fined for stopping sodomites from having a double bedroom.

The words of the German Lutheran pastor Niemoller spring to mind.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Interestingly, according to his page on Wikipedia, he was initially a supporter of Hitler and on meeting him, as a protestant representative, in 1932 as he said after WW2: "Hitler promised me on his word of honor, to protect the Church, and not to issue any anti-Church laws." 


It makes me wonder how much longer the laws meant to "protect" abortionists, homosexuals etc. are turned against the Church. In my humble view this has already started, with active/practising Catholics now stopped from adopting children out (via Catholic adoption agencies) and from running any business which may make them complicit in promoting/allowing homosexual activity.


One thing is sure, we need strong, powerful and unapologetic Catholic leaders such as the wonderful Scottish Cardinal, Thomas Winning who led from the front, was a strong voice for the rights of the family, the poor and the unborn, and would not be silenced by the pc lobby.






Image from: St Peter's List

Devon: Hotbed of Illegal Prayer

So public prayer is "illegal."

What a world! Homosexual rights activists parade their "pride" in scanty clothes; a 'spliff' smoked in public will get you a reprimand from a constable at best; MPs found swindling can 'pay back' their ill-gotten gains and not face court, foul language is the norm on the streets, in public, on TV and even on clothes...


But prayers at a council meeting?

The agenda of militant secularists is being pushed through thanks to "human rights" legislation; which I mistakenly thought would be about stopping torture or shoot-to-kill style policies...

That prayer is now deemed illegal in some circumstances speaks volumes of where we have come to.

A couple of years back a good friend had a Mass for his inauguration as the local Mayor, with local politicians and suchlike invited. He must be akin to a war criminal by now, on the run in Bolivia for his heinous crime against humanity...

Link:
Devon Council Prayer Illegal

Pope Pius XII Addresses 8th Army Soldiers in 1944

One can sense the excitement and witness the reverence of these soldiers, who must have witnessed the horrors of war, as they receive an audience with His Holiness, Pope Pius XII.

And what joy as the soldiers burst into song (was it spontaneous or a pious plan?) and choose Faith of Our Fathers, which must rank as one of the most beautiful and militant Catholic hymns, bursting with history and sacrifice, tradition and humility.

What a joy to those soldiers to hear the Pope ask the intercession of so many English Saints who have gone before us, and gave their lives, for the sake of Holy Mother Church.

Not so long ago I was at the funeral of a brave soldier, whose medals bedecked his coffin, who was a loyal son of the Church. He had fought through Italy and more besides. It comforts me to know that even if he wasn't one of those brave souls to be granted an audience with the Pope, some of his compatriots were and that news must have filled him and many others with joy.

In nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur, coelestium, terrestrium, et infernorum.

I just found this wonderful picture of the Holy Father giving (First?) Communion, as the child kneels and receives Our Lord -- Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity -- on the tongue.

What a beautiful image. What a glorious continuation of a wonderful tradition. What an inspiring image for all Catholics and especially those studying for their own First Communion (yes, we have one such under our own roof).

Sadly I think on these matters when the Pope knows the Truth of such matters, I think he must order the Church to ensure Communion is received in this way, so Catholics know fully that it is the entirety of Our Lord in the Holy Species.

I believe it shows respect to Our Lord (who gives himself to us in His entirety) that we, the humble and unworthy sinners that we are, are showing in this small way that we know what we are doing, Who it is we are receiving, and the significance of our Communion with Our Lord.

As the rather large sign says in my local Church:

In nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur, coelestium, terrestrium, et infernorum.

I am not a theologian, historian, expert nor even a particularly good Catholic, but in my heart of hearts I know many Catholics, many people, are (like me) weak-willed and prone to make short cuts when they can. Ipso facto we rely on Holy Mother Church to tell us right from wrong, to make the hard choices for us so that we may cling to the Rock of Peter in the storms of this world.

When the Church is absolute on matters of theology, liturgy and yes morality too, we know where we stand. But once they start fudging, making excuses, and popping in get-out clauses then far too many of us will search for ways out, stretch meanings and go for the easy option.

We need guidance. We need our shepherd.

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!