'Adults Only'

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother look down in mercy upon England, thy dowry, and upon us who greatly hope and trust in thee.

By thee it was that Jesus, our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world; and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more.

Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the cross, O Sorrowful Mother, Intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold, they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son.

Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith, fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee in our heavenly home.

A friend and I recorded among other songs a version of the Bob Dylan song, 'Masters of War' tonight onto my computer. There's a line in the song that goes, "You've thrown the worst fear that could ever be hurled/Fear to bring children into this World." It really struck me! Dylan was targetting the Government, I guess, on war. As well as fighting seemingly pointless wars, Governments nowadays, both nationally and supra-nationally appear to be wilfully intent on destroying the concept of childhood and the family.

If I ever have children, I do worry what kind of a World, or at least country I'd be bringing a child into. Like Bob Dylan I think to myself, "How dare they make me feel like that!" Other than prior to the Fall, The World has always been 'a bit dark', but right now it seems so anti-child. The Government and so many influential people don't think of children's best interests. We have a Children's Secretary and all he appears to think about is how to ruin someone's childhood, tell them about masturbation and buggery and slap a condom on them as soon as is humanly possible.

Alex Singleton of The Telegraph is blogging calling for gay marriage along with so many other campaigners on that issue. We live in a society more and more sexualised and rights appear to be centred upon sex-related issues. Few other rights, it seems, exist, other than to have sex with who we want, when we want and then suffocate any life we might actually have made or could have made had we not been preventing it. We live in a World in which children will be under the tutelege not of parents but teachers whose agendas will be informed by Government, agendas which are stridently anti-family, anti-Christian, anti-Life and anti-child. Perhaps within the decade there will be more threats against the unborn from the State itself, more destructive invasion into family life. When children are not being threatened by wicked people who want to corrupt them they are threatened with the age of terror and over-zealous environmentalists trying to convert them to their new age creed.

When thinking about it, it fills me with dread to think of sending a child to school. Within a year or two, their innocence and their childhood would be smashed to pieces. It should never put us off, of course, I'm just saying that if it happened their future childhood frightens me and I don't even have children. The modern age is an adult world in every sense of the word - it is a society geared towards the 'adults only'. You can't wrap children up in cotton wool, but how hard it would be to raise a child in what appears to be becoming the age of the Antichrist. We must always strive to be people of Hope, but this World is growing increasingly and rapidly more depressing. In this country the Church is small, marginalised and increasingly under attack from an atheistic Government. Pope Benedict XVI, I dare say will suffer more calumny when he comes here, but by God, does this country ever need him and the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ!