HAPPY FEASTDAY TO ALL WELSH CATHOLICS!

                                                               

Yes, today is St David's Day, Patron Saint of Wales and native of Pembrokeshire.
His Cathedral (as posted on a few weeks ago) is a gem of a place nestling in a valley out of sight of any early Scandinavians who might be out to plunder, rape and pillage (still uncertain as to what pillage is).
It is to be found in Britain's smallest city, named after the saint and well worth a visit if you wish to take a holiday in one of the country's most beautiful regions.

DOES CARDIFF ARCHDIOCESE REQUIRE A WELSH SPEAKING ARCHBISHOP?

I thought that, whilst on the subject of Bishops, Wales and so on, it might be interesting to lob a hand grenade into the room and open up, what, for Welsh Catholics, is a very sensitive subject. Do we need a Welshman and/or a Welsh speaker at the helm of this important Archdiocese which only rivals Wrexham in its air of abandonment and despair?


Now, I value my Welsh blogging friends and do not wish to bring their ire down on my head but, having spent some 23 years in Education and the NHS in Wales, I have some strong views on the subject. I hope they still speak to me after this post.
My view is that, whilst it would be desirable, it should really rest on the best man for the post. St Patrick, was by all accounts, not an Irishman, St George came from rather further East than Wapping and St Andrew of Scotland would have probably run in the opposite direction if confronted with a man in a kilt! So Wales is fortunate to have a Welshman as a Patron but to actually put race and the Welsh language as pre-requisites for the Cardiff post would be to do those who live in the Archdiocese a grave disservice.


There have been several major boobs committed by the public sector in Wales in their desire to only appoint Welsh speakers for their professional posts. I recall the Bangor Health Service running into the buffers because, in their hunt for occupational therapists they ignored academic and medical qualifications in favour of fluency in Welsh. The result was that the standards of OT in the region went into rapid freefall.
An FE College sought to fill the vacant post of Principal insisting on having a Welsh speaker. Seven applied for the post and it was re-advertised without the language stipulation  and fifty six then applied.


The truth is, we have long had Irish priests and Bishops in this country and never batted an eyelid, we have a German Pope, an Italian Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Nichols is from Liverpool and is now in charge of Westminster - how parochial do we wish to be?
In the USA you have Bishops of every possible lineage, they don't expect a Welshman in Philadelphia (although their heritage is Welsh). We are the Universal Church and nationality should not enter into it.
As for speaking the Welsh language. Well, Bishop Mullins did it and credit to him for that. But he  was also responsible for publishing a Welsh Missal. I wonder what the print run was on that? What was the real cost per copy?
Some 15-20% of the population of Wales speak Welsh, fewer read it and there is a North South divide as to differences in the language which make for a trying conversation betwen a Swansea resident and a Llandrillo one. The population of Wales stands at a little over 3 million. Within that figure 5%, that is, 150,000, are Catholics.
Being ultra generous and using the 20% calculation that gives us 30,000 Welsh speaking Catholics. Not exactly an overriding majority. Not one which can in all reality command the high ground.


The attendances at Mass in the Welsh language are abysmal (so I am told by a priest who celebrates the Welsh language Mass). I am all for maintaining and developing the language (which desperately needs effective development) but not at the cost of losing sight of what is required.
The solution is, of course, to have the Tridentine Latin Mass!
We are blessed with three great bloggers in Wales, Catholic & Welsh,
 Bara Brith, A Reluctant Sinner and Last Welsh Martyr - I hope they will forgive me my words and not set their corgis on me!
Today I shall drink a pint of Reverend James in their, and St David's honour - Iechyd da!

                             COLLECT FOR THE MASS OF ST DAVID

Grant we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the loving intercession of blessed David, Thy confessor and bishop, may protect us, and that, while we may celebrate his festival we may also imitate his steadfastness in the defence of the Catholic faith. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Why 'Liberalism' Within the Church is So Dreadful...

Jesus said, "I thirst"

The really terrible thing, you know, about the 'liberal' position on many issues pertaining to the Catholic Faith and the Salvation of Souls is just what a mockery they make of the Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord. All of that dreadful suffering, suffering that we cannot even imagine, only to have those in His Church lead men and women away from Him, rather than to Him.

These individuals, even within the Church, claim that sins such as the use of artificial contraception, homosexual acts and even abortion are not sins and that it is the Church that needs to change Her view. What a mockery those who hold this position make of the saving work of Our Saviour on the Cross.

If we are saying that Our Lord did not die for the active homosexual or for the man and woman using artificial contraception or for the woman who procures an abortion, or the doctor who performs it, then Our Lord most assuredly did not die, either, for the penitent thief who hung beside Him on Good Friday.

If He did not die for the sins of the penitent thief, to whom He promised Paradise, then neither did He die for any other sinner, whether s/he be a murderer or a robber, a adulterer/ess, or an active homosexual. His Death, therefore, let alone His Resurrection, would have been in vain. This is the really very wicked side to the 'liberal' position, more wicked when it is held as belief inside the Church, since what these men and women seek to destroy is the sense of sin. In so doing, they seek to make Our Lord's Birth, Life, Ministry, Death, Resurrection and Ascension an irrelevance. Souls are left confused as to the truth. Therefore, because of this deceit, whether it is done knowingly or unknowingly, by 'liberals', Souls are led away from Our Lord Jesus Christ in Whose Cross alone can we have Hope of Salvation.

Those who hold the 'liberal' position on so many issues believe that it is only the Church that they are affecting with their error, but this is far from true. Their words, as well as what they fail to say, affects Souls, Souls who desire to be led to Jesus and they affect Jesus, Who desires Souls to come to Him, as He Himself expressed when, as He hung on the Cross and said, "I thirst". Sin is always a great scandal, but a greater scandal is caused by those that lead Souls not necessarily even into sin, but away from Jesus and His Cross, the God who died for, and loves, Souls.

Imagine these people are asking for Jesus, instead of their salary...



That is what liberals do.

What kind of Catholic are you?

BeliefNet features a 25 question quiz designed to determine the sort of Catholic you are. Hmmm....I put myself through it (even though I knew the answer). All of the questions featured a tick box range of answers and, in many cases, these were somwehat ambivalent. Don't expect a spirituality thermometer...it's more a question of 'Where do you stand in the Catholic Church'. 

Here are my results.......no big whoop as they say!

You Are a Daily Rosary (Very Traditional) Catholic

You'd like the church to revive the time-honored devotions, liturgical practices, and strong institutional discipline that prevailed before the Second Vatican Council—and you're hoping that Pope Benedict XVI will lead the church in exactly that direction. Your favorite hymn is probably a traditional Latin composition such as the "Panis Angelicus," and your favorite pope is probably a pioneer of the Church's great liturgical tradition such as Gregory the Great.

Uncanny!!!!!

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Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Quiz/What-Kind-of-Catholic-Are-You.aspx#ixzz1FCLXPpxM

Chinese Bishop, Imprisoned for Decades, Dies At 90

Rest in Peace: Bishop Augustine Hu Daguo

Courtesy of Zenit

Bishop Hu Was Persecuted for Fidelity to Pope

Bishop Augustine Hu Daguo of the apostolic prefecture of Shiqian, Shihtsien, in the Chinese province of Guizhou, died on February 17 at the age of 90.

The bishop, who was approved by the Pope and part of the underground Church, spent decades in prison and forced labor camps because of his fidelity to the Pontiff.

In China, religious practice is only permitted by the government with the oversight of the Catholic Patriotic Association, the body through which the authorities recognize religious personnel and register places of worship. Hence there is a "national" or "official" church, directed by the Association and the Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China. And then there are the laypeople, priests and bishops who oppose such control and who wish to obey the Pope directly. The latter constitute the non-official, or underground, Church.

L'Osservatore Romano reported today on the death of Bishop Hu, noting that "the civil authorities, who never recognized him as bishop, impeded his residing in Shiqian." It continued: "Despite the fact that his residence was in Duyun, in the Archdiocese of Guiyang, with discretion and effectiveness he administered the clergy and faithful of his apostolic prefecture with great zeal and spiritual fervor, giving life and hope to the various parish communities, scattered in the mountainous region.

"Bishop Hu led a life teaching simplicity and poverty, in full adherence to the principles of the universal Church and to the primacy of Peter. He was very gifted from the intellectual point of view and was always esteemed by all as an ecclesiastical saint. In the last years," L'Osservatore Romano reported, "he did not hide his difficulties with language, with understanding and with mobility, though he continued to spend his energies in the service of the Lord and to dedicate himself particularly to hearing the confessions of the faithful." The prelate's funeral was held on Feb. 20. The news article noted, "In him, as in so many other Chinese bishops who have died in the last years, were fulfilled the words of the Book of Wisdom (3:1): 'But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them.'"

Biography


Augustine Hu Daguo was born on May 15, 1921 to a family of long Christian tradition in Tongzhou. He was baptized when he was only one month old. From the age of 7 to 11 he learned to know the Sacred Scriptures, regularly frequenting the local Catholic church. In 1936 Hu entered the diocesan minor seminary of Guiyang. He was ordained a priest on June 29, 1951. After his priestly ordination he taught in the major seminary and in 1955 he was sent to work in the parish of Youtangkou as vice-pastor. On April 4 Father Hu was arrested, and then imprisoned for almost three years in the detention center of Guizhou.

In 1958, the priest was sentenced to ten years of forced labor and re-education in three different factories in Guizhou. At the end of his sentence he was sent to the factory of Fuquan in semi-detention. Later he was sent to teach in the theological seminary of Chengdu, in the province of Sichuan. The difficulties for the priest were still not over, because four years later he was removed from his position due to his firm fidelity to the Pope. Hence, he decided to return to Guizhou, where he was appointed pastor of Duyun, Dushan, Fuquan, Tuanbo and Wen'an. In 1987 he was ordained a bishop by Bishop Joseph Fan Xueyan of Baoding. In 1999, at the age of almost 80, Bishop Hu sustained a leg injury, from which he never really recovered.

Archbishop Condemns Freemasonry, Cardinal Attends Masonic Inauguration!

Another subject on which high ranking members of the Church's Hierarchy are of one mind, one heart...Good grief!

With thanks to Gloria TV

Archbishop Condemns Freemasonry in Monaco

Archbishop Bernard Barsi of Monaco, has strongly condemned free masonry on the occasion of the installation of a new mason denomination in the principality. The archbishop said in front of the French weekly news magazin ‘Le Point’ that "the constant teaching of the Church is negative and remain unchanged, because freemasons principles are incompatible with Catholic doctrine. Therefore the Church forbids its faithful to be members of Masonic associations. Barsi added: “Freemasons are in state of grave sins and cannot access to the Holy Communion".  

Meanwhile...

In France, a Cardinal Greets Freemasons

The Primate of the Gauls, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin was present at the inauguration of a new Masonic Center in the city of Villeurbanne [Vilörban] in the person of Father Payen [Paie]. Present at the ceremony were also the mayor of the city and the mayor of Lyon. The blog chrietiente.info asks: “Did Fr Payen come to remind the incompatibility of a Freemasonry membership for Catholics?” This was hardly the case as the mayor of Lyon commented afterwards: “The presence of Fr Payen removes the myth of a mistrust between Freemasonry and the Church."

No mixed messages there, then! You really couldn't make it up...

Thank you for adding me to your blog list....

...I keep coming across blogs that are carrying Linen on the Hedgerow on their blog roll. I am very grateful and usually reciprocate accordingly.
However, if I have missed anyone in this process please leave a comment and I will remedy matters.
BTW....only blogs loyal to the magisterium, relatively free of family photographs and  with non pink backgrounds are normally featured :)
Oh, flowers are out also....sorry..... (but exceptions do arise from time to time!

I WON'T STAND FOR COMMUNION!

I thought that I had posted enough on the subject of kneeling to receive Our Blessed Lord by mouth but, Francis Phillips of the Catholic Herald has opened up the debate still further and the blogosphere has got a tad worked up by it.
So here are my last words, really. Prompted by the fact that, up until January of this year I had never, in 66 years (doggie ones), laid hand on a consecrated host.
What happened in January was, for me, a shocking experience. I was fortunate enough to serve an EF Mass at St Mary Maggiore's in Rome. It took place in a side chapel with a congregation of four. By the time the priest was ready to distribute Communion, the congregation had swelled to 10 or 12 souls - such is the power of the Mass of all time!

Faced with this dilemma, the priest, most reverently, broke up each host into segments but, horror of horrors, one segment fell to the floor. The priest suffered from acute arthritis and I knew he would not be able to retrieve the host so I began to place the communion plate over the fragment for retrieval later (standard practice in times past). However, the priest, being a little more worldly wise than I, did not wish to leave the host unprotected as there were crowds wandering around the church and chance is not an option where the safety of the host is concerned.
He whispered to me that I should pick it up.....I bent down with hand outstretched but then froze...I was incapable of movement..."Pick it up" whispered the priest more insistently...still I could not move...rational thoughts were racing through my head. I knew this was the only thing to do and the right thing to do but I was still doing a reasonable impression of Lot's wife. "Pick up the host" whispered the priest commandingly, so I did.
Afterwards I was in a state of mild shock; I was very disturbed and it took a day or two to wear off.
Now this story will be pooh-hooed by many. I can hear cries of "inbred superstition," "religious maniac"and much more besides but, it is a fact that those of us who believe in the True Presence and the divinity of Christ also believe that He should be accorded not just reverence but the greatest reverence we can reasonably show when we receive the Blessed Sacrament.

Here are some of the specious arguments that I have read over the past few weeks (and my responses in red):

1. "I can be just as reverent standing up" Really? Is that possible? It's an outward sign as well as an inward one we are looking for and kneeling is more reverent than standing for these reasons - it requires more effort and it is a recognised way of humbling oneself.

2. "Our Church doesn't have Communion rails" Install them

3. "It takes up too much time to kneel" What! can't we afford God a few extra minutes?

4. "Our priest does not like to give to those kneeling" Speak to your priest and if you don't get any joy, write to your Bishop and then Rome

5. "We have Ministers of Holy Communion who will not give to those kneeling"
Get rid of them. Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion are only permitted to distribute the sacrament under exceptional circumstances (not likely to be normally encountered in most parishes) - See Ecclesia de Mysterio

6. "Receiving by mouth spreads diseases" No one has died from receiving the Body of Christ yet!

7. "Priests do not kneel when they receive, why should I" Because you are not a priest - simple

8. "I want to kneel but I would be the only one doing so" Our Lord was the only one to offer up His life for us....surely we can take a little embarrassment (and snide comments) on His behalf?

9. "But we wish to receive under both kinds and kneeling would be impossible"
Each species is entire and complete, each host is both body and blood and each drop of precious blood both body and blood. It is unnecessary to receive both*
*as an extra note: reception of the Precious Blood is fraught with safety issues. How do you recover from a spillage? You cannot leave the Body of Christ there on and in the fibres of the carpet, so what do you do? You know the answer!

10. "The Apostles did not kneel to receive at The Last Supper" As priests and Bishops of the Church they had the privilege of receiving (as far as we know) by hand

Please Sign this if you Wish to Defend Christ, His Church and Her Poor...

Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols

Your Grace,

We urgently write to encourage you to take stand up in defense of the homeless of Westminster.

By now, Your Grace must have heard via the national and local press, or perhaps through 'The Passage', that Westminster City Council plan to ban Soup Runs to the homeless of the City and that Westminster Cathedral is at the heart of this proposal, a malicious move by the Council that undermines the freedom of religion of Catholics and other Christians in feeding the poor, but is also an attack upon the Poor in whom Christ Himself is present in a mysterious and special way.

This proposal by Westminster City Council is therefore nothing other than a violent assault upon Christ, His Body - the Church - and His Poor. We humbly implore, Your Grace, that you do all that you can, publicly and privately, to defend the Poor who are fed by the Catholic Church and doubtless other Christians in the piazza and to do all that you can to take a public stand against this evil proposal and to encourage others to do the same.

In good faith, we are certain that if you have heard this news, then Your Grace will already be making preparations to defend the Church and the Poor who are fed by Her against the proposals of Westminster City Council. We must join together and protest against this move. Lazarus is on your doorstep, Your Grace and we in the Church Militant are called to feed him, to clothe him and to shelter him. We will be judged by Christ on our response to the sufferings of His Poor and the injustice that they experience everyday. The Church cannot possibly acquiesce in this proposal from Westminster City Council. It must be fought by the Church because the homeless very often have few voices willing to stand up for them and are often without a voice of their own with which to defend themselves. This proposal must be fought and we know that with prayer and with campaigning on behalf of the homeless men and women who face stigma, prejudice and persecution on a daily basis, it must be defeated.

We remain your humble and obedient servants.

Oscar night

The Oscars are tonight. It's doubtful that I'll watch, since I have stuff to do and find the ceremony interminably dull, but I do care this year who wins.

The awards I'm willing/able to pick:

Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit

Best Actor
Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actress
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Best Supporting Actress
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Best Animated Feature Film
Toy Story 3

Best Original Screenplay
The King's Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Social Network

Best Art Direction
The King's Speech

Best Costume Design
True Grit

Best Original Song
We Belong Together - Toy Story 3

Best Film Editing
The Social Network

Best Sound Editing
Inception

Best Sound Mixing
The Social Network

Best Visual Effects
Iron Man 2

Best Picture: Do I go with my head and pick The Social Network? Or heart and say True Grit, even though it has no chance?

The Social Network

NO DIFFERENCE IN REVERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO MASSES?

                                          Picture: Caritasveritas Blog

                                                     Ordinary Form

                                       Picture: Orbis Catholicus Blog

  Extraordinary Form

* Just for the lurking pedant - I am not claiming that either form of Mass is irreverent

Plus..........................

Report from St Benedict's, Clydach. Congregation at today's 2pm Mass numbered 25!

That may seem small beer to those providentially fortunate souls who live in places such as Brighton or Blackfen or, even, Leyland! But, here in Wales, that constitutes a good sized turnout, especially for 2pm on a Sunday. Thanks to all those who organised it, served at the Mass and, of course, to the much loved priest who celebrated it.
NEXT MASS AT CLYDACH DUE ON SUNDAY 20TH MARCH AT 3PM

Westminster Council Proposes Banning Soup Runs for the Homeless

A homeless man beds down on Victoria Street, Westminster

Thank you very much to a reader who has alerted me to this profoundly disturbing news which appears on Ekklesia and the Daily Mail.

'Campaigners have expressed alarm at a proposal by Westminster Council to ban rough sleepers and the charities who care for them, from the streets around Victoria. Westminster Council has opened a four week consultation on a new byelaw which will fine people in the Victoria area if they “lie down or sleep in any public place”, “deposit bedding” and distribute free food and drink.

This byelaw will affect the 1,600 people estimated to sleep rough in Westminster each year, many of whom bed down in the Victoria area. Voluntary groups hand out food in the Victoria area, especially at Howick Place behind the House of Fraser. These groups will be facing the possibility of moving or being fined for their charity if the ban goes ahead.

Funny how the Councillors all have shelter...

Alison Gelder, Director of Housing Justice said: “While we completely understand the problems experienced by residents in this area, this byelaw, which is an attack on civil and religious freedoms, is a completely over the top response. It also cuts across the successful work that Housing Justice and others are doing to reduce both rough sleeping and the need for food distribution on the streets.

”The consultation period is running until 25 March. The London Soup Run Forum, convened by Housing Justice will be releasing further information when it becomes available. Westminster Council tried to ban soup runs across London in 2007, but following public outcry the proposal was not included in the London Bill.

Housing Justice is the national voice of Christian action in the field of housing and homelessness. They support night-shelters, drop-ins and hundreds of practical projects nationwide by providing advice and training for churches and other community groups who work with homeless people. They work by uniting Christians and churches of all denominations across the country to work for change. They embrace partnerships with people of all faiths (and none) who share their values of social justice and compassion.'

Westminster Cathedral piazza: Where the homeless are fed.

Westminster Cathedral is at the heart of this proposal and we can safely say that if anything is going to get Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols very angry, it will be this! In only days he will be storming out of Westminster Cathedral to Westminster City Hall just two minutes down the road, with his Mitre and Crozier, demanding, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the protection of the Church's Poor.

As our Tina said, Caritas in Veritate is something we can all agree on. Well, the bits about social justice anyway. Diocesan Justice and Peace Co-ordinator! This is your big moment! Round up the team and go tell the Council exactly what you make of them and their wicked plan!

Sleepless nights are what many homeless men and women experience daily. It can't be easy sleeping in a doorway where you're not sure if someone is going to piss on your, spit at you, offer you a cup of tea or set you on fire, especially in London. Sleepless nights are what the Councillors of Westminster should be having, but then again, there's no guarantee these Councillors listen to their consciences. We know that the Archbishop will be experiencing considerable anguish upon hearing this news, for he is called by Christ to be Shepherd to his flock and to be a Father to the Poor.

Interestingly, it just so happens that the Archbishop is giving a seminar at the London School of Economics 'Forum in Religion' public lecture on Wednesday 2 March 2011. What a marvelous opportunity this will be for him to condemn the action proposed by Westminster City Council, whose thinking on homelessness is so obviously informed by the cold-hearted economists of the London School of Economics (or the 'Libyan School of Economics' as one Telegraph blogger describes them). Archbishop Vincent Nichols will apparently 'be speaking about the importance of religious freedom, and arguing that promoting religious freedom increases our capacity to do good in the public square.' How apt! The public 'piazza' even!

It was in 2008 that the London School of Economics was commissioned by Westminster City Council and Crisis to publish detailed research into the 'effectiveness' of Soup Runs in Westminster, so this news should not totally surprise us. It is, to put it mildly, an audacious proposal for a Council that understandably does not really want to face up to the fact that Dickensian poverty still exists right outside their doorstep. It must be awful for these Councillors stepping out and nearly treading on a beggar. Cardinal Basil Hume, on the other hand, faced up to it and set up The Passage to help homeless men and women in London find their feet, which was a lot more than Westminster City Council's ever did for the homeless of the City. The Council's response appears to be somewhat more, well...Dickensian. Oh my! Even Stephen Fry will be upset about this! Even hardened atheists will be upset about this! Imagine, then, how furious the Archbishop is or will be, when he finds out! I would not like to be in the shoes of the man making this vicious assault upon the homeless and destitute.

Daniel Astaire

The 2008 study by the LSE is presumably what has led Daniel Astaire, Westminster City Council's cabinet minister for society, families and adult services to comment...

'Soup runs have no place in the 21st century and it is wrong and undignified that people are being fed on the streets. Handing out free food only serves to keep people on the streets for longer, damaging their health. There is no need for anyone to sleep rough in Westminster as we have a range of services that can help them off the streets to make the first steps towards getting their lives back on track.'

Hmm...Wouldn't that just sound so much more convicing if it were a quote from a rough sleeper! Who should we write to? I think Daniel Astaire might just be our man. The Archbishop, I doubt, needs our encouragement, but just in case he has not heard of this proposal...

Abortion "Safer" than Childbirth Says Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

"Look at the screen. Blink and you could miss him..."

Well, they would say that, wouldn't they?

Suffice to say that the long-term psychological, physical, mental and definitely spiritual effects of abortion are very well-documented.

In terms of all these harmful effects upon a woman, abortion is far more dangerous and less safe than giving birth. Unfortunately, when a group of doctors get together under the banner of the Royal College, the World takes the statements very seriously because they're 'experts', aren't they?

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gyanaecologists have a very explicit agenda to promote abortion and I have in various posts in the past elaborated on why it is also an explicitly eugenic one at that. In other words, these doctors are saying,  "Don't worry about getting rid of your Downs Syndrome baby. It's the safest procedure in the World." Still, while the Royal College does indeed have a ghastly eugenic dimension, I am open to the idea that, basically, the Royal College just think that abortion is a great thing all round.

Of course, regardless of whatever evidence the Royal College would use to support their vile assertion, there has, as yet, been absolutely no safe abortions for unborn babies, this figure resting at zero since the practice was first legalised and liberalised in 1967. I believe the number of unsafe abortions for unborn children is around 200,000 a year in the United Kingdom.

For a doctor or group of doctors to say that abortion is safer than childbirth is about as shocking as a Priest telling a group of Catholics on retreat that there is no Hell. Thanks be to God, that's something that never happens here in the UK, but if ever a Priest did, it wouldn't surprise me to hear he was a Jesuit...

The knock on the door - pray that it's a double glazing salesman!

Every Sunday afternoon when I hear a knock on the door it sends a shiver down my spine. Am I about to be confronted with two followers of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect? Will I respond in a Christian manner and also convey to them that they are in gross error? (a difficult double act to achieve I find). Will I lose my cool and ask them to leave?
The trouble is, I just do not know the answer. You see, one part of me admires people who are strong enough in their faith to go out and evangelise on the doorstep. The other half despises the fact that they are not converting by example as Catholics do, or are supposed to do. They jab at my conscience and then it's very easy to send them packing ungraciously.

I do try to be as open and forthright with them as possible. My normal response is along the lines of: "Sorry but we are traditional Catholics and very happy with our position, thank you." Of course, that is a bit like holding a red raw fillet steak under a hungry Rottweiler's nose. They immediately come back with: "As Catholics you don't read the bible then?" To which my response is: "But we do, we read it every Sunday at least and it forms part of our liturgy". By then I may be getting a little fired up, much depends whether the JWs are a couple of meek old ladies or two blue suited horn-rimmed spectacled cocky males. I may then ask them if the Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian faith. To which they nod vigorously in assent. Then I state that they must then recognise the divinity of Jesus Christ. Now we are on rocky ground and they generally start looking at their watches and admiring the roses before making their fond farewells.

It is always wisest to open the door to JWs in case they make alternative approaches

I am not being triumphalist about this; I try very hard to offer them the easy route to the front gate but, if they don't take it they must accept that it is legitimate to question their beliefs.
But it still leaves me a little queasy. I wish I had the rhetoric power of Vincent McNabb OP or Columba Ryan OP.
Maybe the abrupt approach is best. Any ideas? - Christian ones that is?

10,000 SIGN PETITION FOR THE EF MASS!

Picture: Daily Telegraph

H/T to Holy Smoke for the update on progress of the petition designed to make Rome aware of Traditionalist concerns that the EF Mass developments as a result of Summorum Pontificum are about to be tampered with.

I am not so certain that the Holy Father is likely to try and put the toothpaste back in the tube, although the darker forces within the Vatican are capable of who knows what?

But I've signed the petition on the basis of better safe than sorry.

However, the best form of petition as we all know, is prayer...and then...more prayer!

So here is a prayer that may be added after saying the Rosary:

Prayers for the Holy Father

V. Let us pray for our Pontiff, Pope Benedict.
R. The Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him to be blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies

Our Father. Hail Mary.

Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, have mercy upon Thy servant, Benedict, our Supreme Pontiff, and direct him, according to Thy loving-kindness, in the way of eternal salvation; that, of thy gift, he may ever desire that which is pleasing unto thee and may accomplish it with all his might. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
(From the old Raccolta: An indulgence of three years, a plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions, for the daily devout recitation of this prayer

Why Small Things Make a Big Difference...

Caritas in Veritate is anti-contraceptives

A question is asked by Dr Tina Beattie today which deserves a half-decent response.

"If we can't gather together undivided around Humanae Vitae, can we do so around Pacem in Terris and Caritas in Veritate?"

To this I would say that if we can't gather together undivided around Humanae Vitae then we shall be unable to stand together at all. That is, after all, pretty much what has happened since the 1960s, is it not? Mass lapsation, the embracing of the contraceptive age, fewer children in Catholic families, fewer Priests, fewer monks, fewer nuns, fewer Catholics knowing their faith and teaching it to others? This is the backdrop, the very culture against which Pope Benedict XVI finds himself combating and urging others to combat. That is why he has called for a New Evangelisation of Europe, because Europe, so rich in Catholic tradition, needs the Gospel proclaimed once more, so much. The Holy Father has made it clear that Catholics need to pass on the Faith whole and entire, the Gospel 'in its entirety', not shadows of the Gospel or what we could call 'just the nice parts' about social justice.

The appeal for unity among 'conservative' Catholics and 'liberal' Catholics around Caritas in Veritate is, I am sure Tina will hate me saying, a little devilish. I say this because it is devilishly appealing in the way that Cardinal Biffi's portrayal of the Antichrist presents the enemy of the Church as someone very agreeable on issues of social justice, ecology, humanitarianism but denies the saving power of Christ that people really want. It puts forward, once more, a vision of a Church firing on one cylinder, that of the Church's very rich teaching on social justice, rather than on all cylinders, which is the Church's entire and even more rich teaching on, well, Justice and not just Justice but Mercy, Love and, in a word, Jesus. Only when She proclaims Jesus does the Church fire on all cylinders.

Jenga: Fun for all the family

In other words, removing one part of the Church's teaching, like Her teaching on the 'transmission of human life' is like playing that game 'Jenga', where slowly by surely you remove more and more little wooden blocks that form a once strong tower. Then, finally you remove the one wooden block that underpins all of the rest and the whole edifice comes down among disappointment and humiliation, as well as hilarity for the victor, who is, in this analogy, the Devil.

The really sad thing about the liberal position is that the end result of removing this wooden block (because it is inconvenient, irritating, a 'stumbling block', if you will that is just so very tempting to pull!) is that the Church starts to resemble something very worldly, something that mirrors society, or even apes it, rather than being what She is called to be, the Church Militant that stands boldly and fearlessly in order to hold a mirror to society's neglected Conscience, pointing to Jesus. When She stops exhorting men and women to embrace Jesus, to change, to repent, to be converted, to embrace conversion of heart to seek the Face of Christ then She falls into decline. The Jenga analogy certainly works with regard to those who seek to undermine the Church's position on contraception, abortion, homosexual relations and all those 'inconvenient' wooden blocks or even those who just remain silent upon these issues, because it is Jesus who they are silencing.

Let us take the Jenga analogy a little further. There are some who maintain that the 9/11 attack was an 'inside job' and that this was achieved by placing 'nano-thermite', very small explosives, throughout the 'Twin Towers' from top to bottom. Whether this is true or not is not the point. That is a discussion for conspiracy theory sites. The bombs, these theorists claim, went off in the basement and then throughout weakening the whole structure and that is what caused the towers came down into their own footprint, as they would in any controlled demolition. The 'nano-thermite' theory posits that the dynamite heats up to an extreme temperature that weakens the whole of the steel structure. This it does before exploding the structure properly so that it can no longer stand and so it crumbles. The heat enables the actual demolition job to be easy. In the end, it comes down much like it does, well, in Jenga.

That is what denial of the Magisterium is like. Explosives are placed at various places in the Church in the form of various heresies and their proponents, from the base of the Church, to near the very top. These are the Devil's agents. Whether these proponents know that these heresies will bring down the structure or not is not the point. It is the effect that matters not their intention and the effect is to weaken the Church dramatically.

What heretics in influential positions do is act as red hot 'nano-thermite' that weakens the entire structure and strength of the Church. This can be done so subtly that it is not even seen. It just takes time before eventually the structure goes and calamity is the result. Of course, the fact that Our Blessed Lord promised that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against His Church is indeed a comforting one, but let us not be so naive as to underestimate the threat. For just as there are plans to rebuild the site of where the 'Twin Towers' once stood, so these people would like to build a 'new Church' should the structure of the present Church be reduced to rubble as many of them hope it will. Let's face it, whether it is Pope Paul VI or Pope Benedict XVI, they sure don't have much time for the man 'at the top'. The truth is that many would very much like to see the building of a 'new Church' that is built upon a cult of man, rather than upon the worship of God. Scary, but true. The really sad thing is that at some point over the 1960s and 70s whoever was in charge of 'security' in the Church allowed a lot of 'explosive' material and persons into places high and low in the Church.

There the analogy ends. I shall end this post by saying that, sadly, regardless of her question, which remains an important one, Dr Beattie has clearly not bothered to read all the bits in Caritas in Veritate that condemn the contraceptive age and warn of the dangers of this threat being extended to Catholic countries that have explicitly rejected them, such as the Philippines, for just one example. I guess that, really and truly, Dr Beattie is a 'spirit of Caritas in Veritate' kind of a gal and that should not come as a terrific surprise.

'…some parts of the world still experience practices of demographic control on the part of governments that often promote contraception and even go so far as to impose abortion. In economically developed countries, legislation contrary to life is very widespread, and it has already shaped moral attitudes and praxis, contributing to the spread of an anti-birth mentality; frequent attempts are made to export this mentality to other States as if it were a form of cultural progress (no. 28, 2). Some non-governmental Organizations work actively to spread abortion, at times promoting the practice of sterilization in poor countries, in some cases not even informing the women concerned. Moreover, there is reason to suspect that development aid is sometimes linked to specific health-care policies which de facto involve the imposition of strong birth control measures.

Further grounds for concern are laws permitting euthanasia as well as pressure from lobby groups, nationally and internationally, in favor of its juridical recognition (no. 28, 3). Openness to life is at the center of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man's true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away. The acceptance of life strengthens moral fiber and makes people capable of mutual help. By cultivating openness to life, wealthy peoples can better understand the needs of poor ones, they can avoid employing huge economic and intellectual resources to satisfy the selfish desires of their own citizens, and instead, they can promote virtuous action within the perspective of production that is morally sound and marked by solidarity, respecting the fundamental right to life of every people and every individual (no. 28, 4).

Hey! What do you know, Tina?! Maybe you and I can gather together around Caritas in Veritate, after all, because, in the excellent encyclical, the Holy Father seems to reaffirm the teaching of Pope Paul VI's Humanae Vitae really rather boldly and in the context of a global economic crisis. Apparently, readers, this lady actually teaches theology at Roehampton University in London. One Caritas in Veritate study aid coming your way, Tina, love...

Michael Voris's Update in the Philippines...

Where ONLY the Catholic Church stands in opposition to the Reproductive Health Bill

THE BISHOPS....AGAIN!

Archbishop Fulton Sheen

I make no apologies for bringing up the subject of our Bishops yet again.
Ecumenical Diablog carries a post in which he, very charitably, calls for restraint in offering up criticism lest we fall into the trap of heresy.
I agree that Catholics should always be charitable in their grouses but it is quite legitimate to grouse if the cause exists. If a Bishop goes against the teachings of the Church or disobeys the Holy Father, we are obliged, according to St Paul, to admonish. I see very little that one could describe as being of good quality or excellence in the Bishops of England and Wales. We have the appalling Cardinal Vaughan hijacking by Westminster Diocese, the establishment of a secular school in direct competition with a Catholic school, actually being built in the grounds of the Catholic school in Middlesborough Diocese, Bishop Burns in Menevia kicking off about sexism because women are not allowed as altar servers in the EF, pretty grim performances for Education Sunday under the control of Bishop McMahon OP, Wrexham Diocese in meltdown and Liverpool Diocese more protestant than Dr Ian Paisley by all accounts.

Not exactly a picture of light and happiness is it?

And so Archbishop Fulton Sheen's words ring in my ears..........

"WHO IS GOING TO SAVE OUR CHURCH? NOT OUR BISHOPS, NOT OUR PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS.

IT IS UP TO YOU, THE PEOPLE. YOU HAVE THE MINDS, THE EYES, THE EARS TO SAVE THE CHURCH.

YOUR MISSION IS TO SEE THAT YOUR PRIESTS ACT LIKE PRIESTS, YOUR BISHOPS LIKE BISHOPS AND YOUR RELIGIOUS LIKE RELIGIOUS!

BLOGGING SEEMS A GOOD PLACE TO BEGIN!

MASS TIME CHANGED

SUNDAY MASS AT CLYDACH WILL NOW BE AT 2PM - PLEASE NOTE

Could You Be the Catholic Political Warrior of the Future?

Faith in the Future: Catholic Parliamentary Internship Scheme from Catholic Church (England/Wales) on Vimeo.

I wish I could do the book-keeping work that I do for St Mary Magdalen's voluntarily, but, sadly, this is the only employment that I have, so this money is what puts bread on the table. I suppose I could go on the soup run to get my dinner, but then the £12 a week that I spend on food for the soup run out of my payment means that I am able to experience the joy of giving as well as that of being on the receiving end of generosity.

A commenter also told me not to criticise Austen Ivereigh because I am not fit to 'polish his shoes'. Well, at least Austen can afford to have someone polish his shoes and while it may not be me that he would go to in order to have them polished, because I seem to be largely unemployable, at least I can say that I don't whore out my Catholic Faith to any liberal media establishment willing to publish something very inoffensive indeed to a crowd of people so used to Polly Toynbee's vitriolic rants against the Holy Faith, that the Catholic Faith has to be coated in warm words and saccharine in order for it to be consumed, lest the readers choke to death. It's a dirty job, Austen, but I know somebody has to do it. I thought most of the article was actually very good.

Besides, despite what Austen might think, I don't hate him or even dislike him. How can I when I've never met him? All I say is, "Don't hold back, Austen! You tell those liberals what's what! Better to lose bad friends than your immortal soul! Go get 'em!" Anyway, the upshot of 'Margaret's comments is that 'she' (it isn't necessarily a 'she', as I doubt 'she' has used her real name) is writing to His Lordship, + Kieran Conry, presumably to complain either about my salary or my blog or both. This is indeed her right. She is entitled to write to the Bishop, but I can't see what His Lordship would complain about in this blog. After all, His Lordship is 100% in accord with Pope Benedict XVI in matters on Faith and Morals, obedient to the Successor of St Peter and of sound, orthodox theology, so what would he see in my blog that would offend him? Like all Bishops of England and Wales, His Lordship wishes only to see the defense of the Catholic Faith in the United Kingdom, the stamping out of heresy and the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed from the rooftops, to be beamed back to Earth via satellites onto the laptops, desktop computers and mobile phones of every citizen in the realm and beyond, as His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has encouraged us to, in playing our part in the New Evangelisation of Europe.

We can all at least agree that there exists no field of human creativity that needs the New Evangelisation more than that of politics. It is with this in mind that the Bishops Conference of England and Wales are asking whether there any young people interested in becoming the Catholic Church's new breed of evangelists in the political World? The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales are training up our bright young things to be at the coal face of Westminster and Brussels life, to face down those wolves, with their evil secular agenda, diabolical anti-life policies and secret plans to violently rape the Bride of Christ while she's not looking. There is absolutely no way, no way on God's green Earth that the Bishops of England and Wales are going to allow this to happen. Not from Europe, not from Westminster. No way, hosea. That's why they're training young adults to be pro-life soldiers for Christ, brave, upright political warriors of the 21st century who will stand up for Truth and strike the serpent where it hurts, on its head, in the corridors of power in the United Kingdom and Brussels. Could you be the next Oona Stannard or even Greg Pope? Wouldn't you like to be? Then this the chance for you!

Of course, I'd be interested in applying myself but I doubt that their Lordships would want this washed-up reprobate, with his useless degree in Politics from Liverpool University (2:1) and his NCTJ in Magazine Journalism, because, after all, if there is one quality necessary for work in Westminster it is that of being diplomatic. Although their Lordships love Our Blessed Lady, Our Blessed Lord, His Holy Church. His Pope, the Holy Doctrines of the Church and have great zeal for Souls, they, above all others, understand the need, the very urgent need for us to be diplomatic and to use very diplomatic language when discussing the Catholic Faith. You see, when the Dioceses send parishes out posters about a forthcoming Fairtrade gathering to foster social justice, it doesn't mean that. What it really means is that there will, during the course of Lent, be a seminar given by a highly respected Priest entitled, 'Our Need for Regular Confession'. It's in code, because the Church is suffering persecution for having spoken out undiplomatically in the past.

The interns in the video above now and then say that the work is "spiritual". What is "spiritual" about working in the sleaze-pit of Westminster or with the greased-up, go-go-dancer grabbing, gravy-train robbing-slime-bag politicians of the European Union? Gosh, internships in Brussels and Westminster! I'll bet that costs the Catholic Trust for England and Wales (CaTEW) funded initiative, a small sum. but then, I'm not so cynical as to complain about that because their Lordships are just being generous to their flock and feeding their tender lambs. They will never feed them to the wolves! Not now! Not ever!

Let's face it, the Catholic Communications Network (CCN) paid their staff £190,246 last year alone, but it is parishioners money that our intrepid and steadfast Bishops of England and Wales are prepared to see spent in order to communicate the Gospel, to defend our Holy Mother the Church and to save souls and, what is more, as Damian Thompson will tell you, they are worth every single penny. We know that each one of those men in the CCN does it all for the love of God, very often defending Christ and His Church out of office hours, at early hours of the morning on blogs that uphold the Magisterium and defend the Successor of St Peter, Pope Benedict XVI, now gloriously reigning!

God bless and protect our Bishops so that they may continue to strike fear into the enemies of Christ and His Bride, the Church!

"The Church has been dressed in a boiler suit"

A post by Laurence England 'Priests threaten mass exodus over new translation' and a subsequent comment asking why, at the time of Vatican II and the changes, priests did not speak out, has prompted me to publish this post on Fr Oswald Baker whose famous words form the headline to this piece.
Fr Baker of Downham Market as he became known, was not one to let a Bishop dictate something to him which he knew to be inherently wrong.
He dug his heels in and "took over" his own parish and English Catholic Church history was made.
Here is an account extracted from an article in 2004 in The Daily Catholic. I am uncertain as to the provenance of this organisation, that is, I do not know whether it is mainstream church, SSPX or SV. But the account is an interesting one and it illustrates just what a Traditional priest was up against then (and now).

Very tragically, Fr Baker ended up as a Sede Vacantist not recognising the Pope. That is a warning to the SSPX....survival away from Rome can only be achieved within a short time frame. After a period of separation the rot sets in and permanent refusal to recognise reasonable requests ends in a move into the Protestant camp. Pray for Fr Baker's soul and for Bishop Fellay in his dealings with Rome.

"Father Oswald Charles Baker was born on the first day of Our Lady's month of May in 1915, two years before the Blessed Mother of God would appear at Fatima. His birth was in the Angel Hotel at Clowne, Derbyshire, where his father was the landlord. In his youth the family moved to Great Yarmouth, where he attended the grammar school and, as reports confirm, soon lost his provincial accent. Finding himself drawn to religious life, he enrolled in the Campion House in Middlesex, operated by the Jesuits. From there he advanced to a prestigious Jesuit Seminary in France to become "a gentleman of St. Sulpice." However, the Jesuits were already into the politically correct mode back in 1938 when young Mr. Baker was asked to leave the seminary because he had published an article that suggested the Treaty of Versailles had been "too severe on Germany to be the basis of a lasting peace." As we can see from history, he was right. It would not be the last time he was right. By his own admission he wrote, "I was always a rebel."     Returning back to England, he tried to enter a Jesuit British Seminary but they had been forewarned that Oswald was one who would foment rebellion. Little did they realize the real rebels had already infiltrated the Church and were circulating errors that would have their explosion in the sixties. Rebuffed by the Society, Baker sought to earn a living selling books in Glasgow, Scotland when a Dominican he had met, after telling the priest more about his life and vocation, suggested that he become a friar.     Just as the corruption had already seeped into the Jesuit Order, so also the Order of Preachers. Oswald didn't last long with the white-robed Dominicans. Eventually, through the providence of God, he was introduced to a secular priest at Hyde Park. The priest recommended he enter the local Oscott Seminary in Birmingham, England. That worked to perfection and he was ordained in 1942 with war against the Axis in full throttle.     Throughout the next seven years he served as a curate at parishes in Luton, High Wycombe, and then Wyndham in Norfolk. In 1949 his bishop assigned him to the Church of St. Dominic at Downham Market in Norfolk where he was named pastor. There he remained for 26 years     Always a stickler for Catholic doctrine in being applicable to all things, he railed against the media's manipulation, bad grammar and even worse, bad theology and false reporting such as in 1953 when he took The Daily Telegraph to task for attacking His Holiness Pope Pius XII over contraception and other accusations. The mud-slinging against Pius had already begun and would continue over the next 50 years as the modern church would opt to dialogue incessantly rather than defend defiantly. That was what Fr. Oswald Baker was committed to: defending the Faith and the True Popes with every fiber of his being. He was loyal and dedicated and for this he ran into trouble with the apostate bishop of Northhampton Charles Grant.     After refusing from the get-go to abandon the rubrics of the True Mass, and having had enough of the New Order claptrap following Vatican II which he had been most leery of from the beginning and had held off saying the new abominations established by Anibale Bugnini and approved by a man who violently violated his papal vow not to change one iota of the constituted evangelic traditions, Father finally said: "Enough!" Rather, it was Grant who said "enough, this bloke Baker is prohibiting us from totally de-Catholicizing the populace by clinging to the zany idea that a Papal decree in 1570 takes precedence over whatever we decide today. Blimey, we must do something to discredit this chap." Just as the Newchurch of Vatican II has done to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngo-Dinh-Thuc, and Father Nicholas Gruner to name a few, so also Grant set out to make an example of Father Oswald Baker. The Northhampton prelate not only badmouthed Baker, but twice ordered him to cease and desist what he had said for over 30 years - the Apostolic Mass of Sts. Peter and Paul - the Mass of All Ages - the infrangible Traditional Latin Mass codified infallibly by Pope Saint Pius V in 1570 in his landmark infallible Apostolic Constitution Quo Primum. When Fr. Oswald didn't blink, Grant went into a rage and commandeered Father's parish, sending in a New Order presbyter. But Fr. Oswald resisted, and the one sent by Grant had to offer the Novus Ordo in the local town hall. The people's attendance spoke volumes as to which they chose. Only a few attended Grant's "Mass" while even more flocked to Fr. Oswald Baker's Tridentine Mass at St. Dominic's. To show their support for Father and the True Mass, the faithful formed the "1570 Society" helping to raise money for Father to continue his resistance to the rebellion of Vatican II. Father Baker stated that if it was a war they wanted, then war it would be for "the new Mass is a sacrilegious parody of the true Mass: it is sinful to take part in it." He was echoing what Father James F. Wathen, a charter inductee into the Tower of Trent Hall of Honor last year, had written five years earlier in his irrefutable impacting work The Great Sacrilege     Because of the slander campaign launched by Grant, The Daily Telegraph assigned a reporter to attend Fr. Oswald's Masses and record any comments that might be used against him. Fr. Oswald was up to the ruse and felt if they want to hear something that should raff their knickers, he'd give it to them. He was quoted referring to the holy and mystical St. John of the Cross who as most remember, was incarcerated by his superiors because he sought to stand by tradition. Fr. pointed out that he was exonerated and went on to become Vicar General of Andalusia. Looking at the reporter, Fr. Oswald emphasized to the delight of his congregation that "There is something about them, these priests who gain a misleading reputation for disobedience. These bishops. They will have their little joke."     But it was never truly a laughing matter to Fr. Oswald that so many were being deceived and ruining the True Mass - "the cherished Mystery of the Latin Mass" which he called "probably the most beautiful product of our civilization."     In the last Mass he officially celebrated before being sanctioned and cast to the catacombs to suffer as the holy Doctor of the Church St. John of the Cross did, Father in part stated from the pulpit the treasure of the Mother Tongue:     "The gifts of God to man are in a world which is often careless and irreverent. One of God's institutions which is lamentably possible to desacralize and impoverish is our liturgy, our Mass. We have heard much in recent times about the advantages claimed for Mass in the vernacular, the language of the people. In judging this matter, we shall be wise to bear in mind the disadvantages, and to see the matter in the perspective of history.     "The language of the people in the liturgy has a centuries-long history. Few would claim that where it has been tried, it has intensified religious fervor, increased holiness, led to a deeper religious enlightenment or strengthened the bond of unity or charity among the faithful. A liturgy in the vernacular has rarely filled a church. The opposite is true of the liturgy celebrated in Latin. It is expedient to recall the advantages of Latin. It is probably true that the most beautiful product of our civilization is the Latin Mass. It is certainly true that all the saints of all intellectual levels drew from the cherished mystery of the Latin Mass the wisdom, humility, charity, piety and spirit of sacrifice that elevated and strengthened them. When it is said that, with the ousting of Latin, something has gone, that something can be given a multiple definition - an exquisite elegance and dignity and pathos, a fervent devotion unmixed with ostentation, a centuries-old absolute sacredness, the clear margin between the sacred and the profane. A sacred language indissolubly linked with the Church's sacred music, Gregorian Melody, unfailingly inspires reverence, without sentimentality, and to attempt any vernacular substitute is to attempt the inadequate. It is to take the queenly mantle of the Church and to put the Church in overalls. The very soul of the Church is in her sacred music, in her sacred language.     "As Our Lord used beautiful parables to veil His precious truths, so Latin keeps a decent and beautiful veil over what is enacted by the priest at the altar. To read the Epistle and Gospel in English is to lift that veil somewhat, without yet casting it aside, bringing everything down to the level of the commonplace, exposing all to the general gaze. The truth about the Canon of the Mass, whose English version has been so hotly disputed, is that it most probably just cannot be satisfactorily translated out of Latin into any other language suitable for public recitation aloud. Does that really worry anybody? The Latin Mass has always been loved as it is, without question available in English if wanted, in bi-lingual missals, or if they prefer, those at Mass have always been free to pray their own prayers.     "Centuries of Latin has not, that anyone knows, alienated any soul, or caused charity to grow cold in any. The Church has kept the Catholics of the world united by the use of a single language, and if that bond goes, not only unity, but much else besides is immediately imperiled."     Despite his being banned from St. Dominic's, his parishioners bought him a house to serve as his Traditional Chapel, enabling him to continue the resistance by providing an oasis in the desert of desertion of the True Faith. Soon the fame of his loyalty to the Traditional Latin Mass and staunch resistance to the "abomination of desolation" introduced by Paul VI and continued erringly under John Paul II soon spread across Britain and to the European mainland; so much so that word reached Archbishop Lefebvre in Econe, Switzerland who decided to send some of his young priests to England to take up the same cause as Fr. Baker. Father Oswald was receptive to this but began to grow suspicious when he realized that the Archbishop was giving too much credit to what he called heretical non-Catholic popes. For Fr. Oswald made it known that one should adhere to another holy Doctor of the Church's teaching - Saint Robert Cardinal Bellarmine whose 5th Opinion in his landmark De Romano Pontifice stated that "a heretical pope automatically loses his office." Needless to say he was labeled a sedevacantist by the Society and others and this caused a split in his congregation because of the misunderstanding by so many as to what the situation really was - it was a time of epikea - emergency - in the Church and supplied jurisdiction had trumped ordinary jurisdiction for with the new rites of sacraments introduced by Paul VI, their validity was greatly, if not fully, called into question.     In 1984 when asked by a reporter about John Paul II, Fr. Oswald asserted that "he was no more Catholic than Ian Paisley - and no more a pope than Billy Graham." As we can see by the late Pole's heretical actions over his "pontificate", Fr. Baker was right on both accounts. Father was favorable towards another Archbishop, Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngo-Dinh-Thuc, pointing out that "He was formerly Archbishop of Hanoi. In 1970, at the age of 73, he resigned, over Paul VI's rapprochement with Communism. The rest of the family was martyred in Communist Vietnam (his brother president of the Republic of Vietnam was assassinated in November of 1973.] The Archbishop has three doctorates, in philosophy, theology, and canon law. He was previously a seminary rector, and the founder of Vietnam's principal university. He rejects the Conciliar Church, which emerged from Vatican II, as a heretical sect, and therefore its hierarchy as apostates from the Catholic Church." As one commentator pointed out, Baker believed Thuc did the right thing in "logically and fearlessly rejecting John Paul II as no pope" and concluding that the Apostolic See was vacant. Father noted that the archbishop considered ordinations and Episcopal consecrations in the Novus Ordo as "doubtfully valid." Thus, Fr. Baker validated as necessary Thuc's consecration of bishops from many countries to ensure the continued Apostolic Succession. What impressed Fr. Oswald was that Thuc made a dignified and open declaration of his convictions.     And convictions are what sustained Fr. Oswald as the slander and backbiting continued into the nineties where less than two dozen remained faithful. It is interesting to note that when a certain Hollywood actor by the name of Mel Gibson, long before he ever began his masterpiece project The Passion of The Christ, bought a home nearby and began attending Fr. Baker's Masses on Sunday, attendance increased dramatically. Sad that it took a personality to attract them back, when all along they had the greatest Personality Who ever lived present Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity at each and every Holy Mass and in the Tabernacle. This is one of the problems in the Traditional movement that the personalities and viewpoints of certain priests are weighed more than the very fact that he is merely an alter Christus whose personality and charm or personal opinions should never get in the way or persuade one from not attending the True Mass as decreed infallibly by Pope St. Pius V to be said "in perpetuity."     In 1997, crippled by spinal problems, he left his home parish to accommodate his handicapped status elsewhere. Yet, despite the tremendous pain, he continued to do what he was ordained to do: Say the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. As opinionated as Fr. Oswald Baker was throughout his life, he never let it come between his duty as a shepherd to his flock in striving for 62 years as "a priest forever according to the Order of Melchisedech" to provide the necessary nourishment of the True Mass. According to the London Telegraph on the day of his death at the age of 87, his final words were "I am ready to die." And to which when he did pass from this earth shortly after, we can only pray Our Lord welcomed him to the Heavenly kingdom with the words each and everyone of us long to hear: "Well, done, good and faithful servant."

Fr Gerald Vann OP

Fr Gerald Vann, Priest and author

I today purchased a book entitled Awake in Heaven. It was written by Fr Gerald Vann OP (1906-1963 - May he rest in peace). The book received an Imprimatur from Bishop Leo, Episcopus Northantoniensis, on 27 March, 1947. Fr Vann was in the Dominican Order of Preachers and wrote extensively on the Faith.

Is it any good? I'll let you know when I have read it, but for the meantime, it is for sale on my Bone's Catholic Store for £10. It is an old book, hardback but, that said, you can make me an offer and I doubt very much I will refuse. In this work he studies St Thomas Aquinas and the 'Summa Theologica', Dogma, Morality and Happiness, Politics and also includes an essay on the work of Aldous Huxley. A portion of which I shall write below.

Among other works he wrote were The Heart of Man, On Being Human, The Divine Pity, The Sorrow of God, St Thomas Aquinas, Morality and War and His Will is Our Peace.

'Christian mysticism at its highest is the fulfilment of the Incarnation and therefore of the love of both of God and of man; and it is this fact which enables it to serve the world and may enable it even at the eleventh hour to save the world in the power and the prompting of God. it is able to serve and to save because at the very summit of union with the Infinite and Unknowable it remains humble and homely; it is never too absorbed, too proud to remember the little things of the world, the needs and cares and sorrows of men and women, not to love with God the creatures he has made and redeemed and in which his glory is made manifest. It is strange that this should be obscure to Mr Huxley with his concern for the world in which we live - so obscure apparently as to lead him into the uncharacteristic (because ill-informed and unscholarly) gibes which every and then obtrude into his pages. We are all children of a single family; and it is as a family that we are meant to return to God, the Infinite Incomprehensible who is yet the Father of us all.'

~ Fr Gerald Vann OP, Awake in Heaven

A student of the Dominican Order as published a review of some of his another of his works, The Divine Pity, which you can read at Godzdogz. Also, interestingly, Fr Aiden Nichols includes a study of the theology of Fr Gerald Vann in a book entitled Dominican Gallery which you can read online here.

Pray for the Philippines and its Bishops

This program is from RealCatholicTV.com

Michael Voris contrasts the difference between the Bishops of the Philippines and the Bishops of the United States, in the contraception 'debate' taking place in the country now.

Fr Barron of Word on Fire is an Excellent Catholic Communicator

Fr Robert Barron has a site called Word on Fire. It's really quite a big website. A lot to navigate through. I very much like his ease with communicating the Catholic Faith and his relaxed manner in front of the camera. He's our David Attenbrough or Simon Schama.

St Mary Magdalen Church Choir Blog

St Mary Magdalen Choir now have a blog...

St Mary Magdalen Church Choir now have a blog and very interesting it looks too.

Clare strives to encourage the Choir to 'sing the Mass' rather than to 'sing at Mass'. She has a lot of knowledge of Gregorian Chant and the blog looks like it is going to be very informative. Hopefully, video of the Missa Cantata will be available on the Choir blog after Ash Wednesday.

Click here to see the blog.