Friday, September 21, 2012
Busker in Brighton in Police Altercation
As someone not entirely averse to a bit of busking myself, I find this a little disturbing. One guy busking is a 'menace to society'.
Reminder: Here is some footage of Gay Pride 2012. One law for some, another for others?
No licence for this kind of licence needed...
I thought Brighton was meant to be a 'diverse' and 'musical' town!
Pro-Life Update
The controversial Abort67 group were found not guilty of public disorder in their grizzly and graphic anti-abortion campaign outside various abortion clinics, including Wistons Clinic Brighton. Whatever you think of this new evangelical pro-life movement, you have to say that the ruling is a victory for freedom of speech.
By the way, as an aside to this story, I read in The Argus on Wednesday that another reason the Green's got rid of Councillor Summers was because not only had she held onto her public beliefs concerning the nature and meaning of marriage, but had also publicly supported a vigil against abortion outside Wiston's. Pro-life and pro-marriage? Try UKIP, love.
I have far more sympathy, however, and support, for the work of The Good Counsel Network, who are to commence a massive pro-life campaign for 40 Days for Life outside the Marie Stopes Clinic on Whitfield Street, London. You can join the Facebook group for this event here.
The 40 Days for Life 24 hour a day prayer vigil will start on 25th September at 7pm at Bedford Square but moves onto 8:00pm at Whitfield Street outside Marie Stopes. If you can, do go along and lend your support and prayers to the work of 40 Days for Life. Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham will kick the latest in a series of vigils off with opening prayers, so get your Rosaries at the ready for what will, doubtless, be a 40 day spiritual war of the highest order. You can sign up to pray at the vigil at 40 Days for Life, here.
Good Counsel Network are also having a fundraising ball on 10th November at the Ognisko Polish Club in London in November. Click here for the Facebook page. You can email for more information at info@goodcounselnetwork.freeserve.co.uk
'As a mother of four who has been married for thirty seven years, I am absolutely bewildered by claims such as 'the contraceptive act is an act of irreverence for God as father and creator, and an act of irreverence by husband and wife towards each other.' Or how about, 'the father of lies is still active, seeking to deceive, seeking to divide and separate us from the love of God and also from truly loving each other. Blessed John Paul II, when speaking about these issues, describes the marital bedchamber as the place where the forces of good and evil meet and do battle.' I can only conclude that anybody who can write this kind of nonsense has either never been married, or is in urgent need of marriage counselling. It may well be that some unhappy couples experience such low levels of love, affection and care for one another that they must tether their sex lives to absolute functionality lest their contempt for one another destroys them.
To assume that all of us are so deficient in our capacity for love and respect really tells us far more about the person writing the article than about the rich, complex and often very lovely reality of non-procreative sex. Loving and being loved is just as 'natural' for human beings as procreation, and for many, many couples reliable contraception enhances our capacity for mutual self-giving without the fear of unwanted pregnancy. I have known far too many Catholic couples of a certain age whose capacity for sexual expressiveness and enjoyment was permanently blighted by faithful adherence to Humanae Vitae to see this booklet as having any claim to truth. Procreation is a very great gift, but so are intelligence, reason and common sense, all of which seem markedly absent from this view of marriage and sex. If the Church is to offer any wisdom or truth in the area of human sexuality, then it has to start listening to and engaging with the experiences and insights of sexually active Catholics who know what they're talking about. This is a perverted publication written by and for people with a perverted understanding of the meaning and reality of sexual love in all its joys, struggles and ambiguities.'
Is that a theological house of cards falling down somewhere in The Tablet offices that I can hear? All it takes is a feather, Tina, love and it looks like you're the one supplying it. This lady teaches at University of Roehampton and is on The Tablet Trust board of trustees. Someone ought to tell the Nuncio that there is a woman claiming to be a Catholic who attempts to launch written surface to air missiles as soon as a Catholic teaches the truth about the Church's vision of marriage, love and sexuality.
In other pro-life news, pray for peace in the Holy Land and the Middle East in general. It looks like these guys mean business...
Follow the Transalpine Redemptorists' advice and pray the Rosary.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Pope jogs while nuns run berserk
I think that I can safely claim the most outrageous headline for any post this year.......and, sadly, it is true.
Let me begin at the beginning.
~After last Saturday's great Mass and blognic involving the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma, I was on a high.
I had been fed a high protein diet of red meat, spiritually speaking.
And so it was I arrived at St James's Spanish Place for the 9.30am Mass the next day, Sunday.
All was good, all was calm. The celebrant (sorry, don't know his name) gave an excellent sermon on the same theme as the one that Fr McHardy had touched upon: we are moving into challenging times and, as Catholics, we must be prepared to stand our ground and not flinch in the face of the enemy.
After Mass, with two daughters, son-in-law, two grandchildren and Mrs L in tow, we opted for a Sunday brunch in Hyde Park, sitting outside a cafe on the banks of The Serpentine.
Again, all was good and calm untill a sudden commotion.
The crowds on the walkway were excited and there was a flurry of excitement and anticipation and then.......they appeared.
About 12 'nuns' surrounding a 'Pope' all running for some cause or another.
Oh, such jolly good fun. Let's ape the Catholic Church and mock the Holy Father.....how extremely witty and novel.
I was incensed (but not in the thurible sense).
Our family peace was disrupted by this rabble and, to make matters worse, much worse, the 'inepte' imitating the Pope was delivering mock (mockery) blessings to the crowd.
Aaaagh! My blood boiled over and I did a very untypical thing and a very un English thing; I bellowed at the top of my voice:
"Do it with a Muslim"
Not very good grammatically, I give you but I only had a split second to respond.
The 'Pope' looked mildly puzzled and the group kept on running but a few folk at surrounding tables seemed to find it amusing, whether in agreement with my sentiment or, more likely, at the fact that I had shouted in the first place, I do not know.
But, I do know that I am heartily sick of seeing such idiots poking fun at my Faith. It provokes a sort of Don Camillo side of my nature and I have to restrain myself from picking up a bench and launching myself at the transgressors.
Of course, they would never attempt such a stunt dressed as Imams with the women wearing hijabs and niqabs.
Why?
Because as well as being morons they are also cowards.
Let me begin at the beginning.
~After last Saturday's great Mass and blognic involving the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma, I was on a high.
I had been fed a high protein diet of red meat, spiritually speaking.
And so it was I arrived at St James's Spanish Place for the 9.30am Mass the next day, Sunday.
All was good, all was calm. The celebrant (sorry, don't know his name) gave an excellent sermon on the same theme as the one that Fr McHardy had touched upon: we are moving into challenging times and, as Catholics, we must be prepared to stand our ground and not flinch in the face of the enemy.
After Mass, with two daughters, son-in-law, two grandchildren and Mrs L in tow, we opted for a Sunday brunch in Hyde Park, sitting outside a cafe on the banks of The Serpentine.
Again, all was good and calm untill a sudden commotion.
The crowds on the walkway were excited and there was a flurry of excitement and anticipation and then.......they appeared.
About 12 'nuns' surrounding a 'Pope' all running for some cause or another.
Oh, such jolly good fun. Let's ape the Catholic Church and mock the Holy Father.....how extremely witty and novel.
I was incensed (but not in the thurible sense).
Our family peace was disrupted by this rabble and, to make matters worse, much worse, the 'inepte' imitating the Pope was delivering mock (mockery) blessings to the crowd.
Aaaagh! My blood boiled over and I did a very untypical thing and a very un English thing; I bellowed at the top of my voice:
"Do it with a Muslim"
Not very good grammatically, I give you but I only had a split second to respond.
The 'Pope' looked mildly puzzled and the group kept on running but a few folk at surrounding tables seemed to find it amusing, whether in agreement with my sentiment or, more likely, at the fact that I had shouted in the first place, I do not know.
But, I do know that I am heartily sick of seeing such idiots poking fun at my Faith. It provokes a sort of Don Camillo side of my nature and I have to restrain myself from picking up a bench and launching myself at the transgressors.
Of course, they would never attempt such a stunt dressed as Imams with the women wearing hijabs and niqabs.
Why?
Because as well as being morons they are also cowards.
Letter from the Ephesians
Well, here we are, in sunny Turkey, in an isolated spot on the western coast; internet connections are a bit hit and miss so, please forgive the lack of links and comment responses for the next 12 days or so.
What strikes me most is the total silence (well, total in regard of television sets, radios and traffic noise).
The only sound that we hear is the muezzin's call to prayer, five times a day. I grudgingly admire the Muslims for their adherence to a prayer pattern, if only we Catholics could do the same.
I fondly imagine loudspeakers attached to every church tower and steeple broadcasting the Salve Regina or The Angelus throughout the length and breadth of Wales and England.
What a triumph that would be.
A return to the condition that we were once in that prompted the visiting Erasmus to pronounce that "England is the holiest country in Europe" because, all who laboured stopped in their tracks at midday, to say the Angelus, marked by the bells of the nearest church or priory.
How the dreaming spires of Oxford would echo to the sound and would it not be poetic to hear the Veni, Creator Spiritus resounding throughout Luton and Bradford?
And now, late to the feast; my take on the third meeting of the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma.
How great it was to witness the coming together of a group of people united only, perhaps by their Faith. Strangers for a few seconds and friends thereafter.
And, where is Charlie J when you need him?
As the old saying goes: "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king". As such, it fell to my lot by default, to serve the EF Mass celebrated by Fr Rupert McHardy.
I thought wistfully of Charlie J's skills and youth and wished he was at the London Oratory to spare my knees and joints from the pains that are part of an aged altar server's lot.
To add to my woes, the Chapel of Our Lady of sorrows is very small and left me little room to manoeuvre my stiff joints.
And then the glass like surface of the marble floor was overlaid by a carpet so that one skidded from point A to point B. It must have appeared comical to those in the congregation but it was life and death for me.
When it came to kneeling, it appeared as if some Oratorian penitential practice was being enforced and that the sacristan had scattered marbles underneath the carpet so that, when one knelt, an excrutiating pain would spread from kneecap to thigh.
It's a wonder that we struggled through the Mass as we did; thanks to Fr Rupert for his patience.
Chesterton in one corner and Belloc in the other
After Mass and after Fr R's interesting address we retired to the Hour Glass in the Brompton Road.
I have to thank A Reluctant Sinner for his generosity in providing baskets of chips (french fries) and potato wedges for the assembly. We all fell to on this before ordering individual meals (and before arteries turned to stone).
I flitted from table to table and the snippets of conversation were a joy to hear.
They ranged from learned (of course) debates about Satan and how one should not ever say the longer version of the 'Michael Prayer' (yes, really, don't ever do it).
And then on to the spread of sinister Islamic practices in erstwhile British towns and cities and, of course, the horrors of abortion and the planned 40 Days for Life campaign.
If one had looked around the bar it would not have been surprising to see GKC holding forth in one corner and HB in the other.
To cap it all we had two of the most famous priest bloggers with us. Fr Tim and Fr Z
obligingly hamming it up for a photo when the "T" word was mentioned, not nice in Catholic society.
And, the following day.......Mass at St James's Spanish Place.
But more of Sunday's shenanigans later.
What strikes me most is the total silence (well, total in regard of television sets, radios and traffic noise).
The only sound that we hear is the muezzin's call to prayer, five times a day. I grudgingly admire the Muslims for their adherence to a prayer pattern, if only we Catholics could do the same.
I fondly imagine loudspeakers attached to every church tower and steeple broadcasting the Salve Regina or The Angelus throughout the length and breadth of Wales and England.
What a triumph that would be.
A return to the condition that we were once in that prompted the visiting Erasmus to pronounce that "England is the holiest country in Europe" because, all who laboured stopped in their tracks at midday, to say the Angelus, marked by the bells of the nearest church or priory.
How the dreaming spires of Oxford would echo to the sound and would it not be poetic to hear the Veni, Creator Spiritus resounding throughout Luton and Bradford?
And now, late to the feast; my take on the third meeting of the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma.
How great it was to witness the coming together of a group of people united only, perhaps by their Faith. Strangers for a few seconds and friends thereafter.
And, where is Charlie J when you need him?
As the old saying goes: "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king". As such, it fell to my lot by default, to serve the EF Mass celebrated by Fr Rupert McHardy.
I thought wistfully of Charlie J's skills and youth and wished he was at the London Oratory to spare my knees and joints from the pains that are part of an aged altar server's lot.
To add to my woes, the Chapel of Our Lady of sorrows is very small and left me little room to manoeuvre my stiff joints.
And then the glass like surface of the marble floor was overlaid by a carpet so that one skidded from point A to point B. It must have appeared comical to those in the congregation but it was life and death for me.
When it came to kneeling, it appeared as if some Oratorian penitential practice was being enforced and that the sacristan had scattered marbles underneath the carpet so that, when one knelt, an excrutiating pain would spread from kneecap to thigh.
It's a wonder that we struggled through the Mass as we did; thanks to Fr Rupert for his patience.
Chesterton in one corner and Belloc in the other
After Mass and after Fr R's interesting address we retired to the Hour Glass in the Brompton Road.
I have to thank A Reluctant Sinner for his generosity in providing baskets of chips (french fries) and potato wedges for the assembly. We all fell to on this before ordering individual meals (and before arteries turned to stone).
I flitted from table to table and the snippets of conversation were a joy to hear.
They ranged from learned (of course) debates about Satan and how one should not ever say the longer version of the 'Michael Prayer' (yes, really, don't ever do it).
And then on to the spread of sinister Islamic practices in erstwhile British towns and cities and, of course, the horrors of abortion and the planned 40 Days for Life campaign.
If one had looked around the bar it would not have been surprising to see GKC holding forth in one corner and HB in the other.
To cap it all we had two of the most famous priest bloggers with us. Fr Tim and Fr Z
obligingly hamming it up for a photo when the "T" word was mentioned, not nice in Catholic society.
And, the following day.......Mass at St James's Spanish Place.
But more of Sunday's shenanigans later.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Oh dear! The workers have been at it again.
Why is it that whenever I see the word 'worker' in the title of an organisation, my heart sinks and I start getting visions of men in clogs stoking up furnaces and eating chip butties.
Estate agents and bankers are workers also
Aren't estate agents 'workers?' and greengrocers and marketing executives?
There is a grim and grimy socialist ring about the word (except when used in the context of St Joseph).
And so it was that something malevolent drew me to take a peep at the London Catholic Worker website (I do it about once a year, that's all I can take).
You see, there is something very...umm,.........very commie about the website that show an image of Christ embracing an indian woman and babe on the one hand and a black miner (?) wielding a pick axe on the other. They just can't get away from the old hammer and sickle approach.
But what is more disturbing is the account of three of their members (presumably) who appeared in court recently on charges of causing criminal damage.
In short these three upright citizens had defaced a Ministry of Defence building to show their opposition to the Trident missile programme.
I use the word "deface" - the LCW uses the word "mark" - the buildings were "marked" with charcoal, not just any old charcoal you understand but "blessed" charcoal - ah, but the graffiti was far from blessed.
To me that action may best be classified as a sin of theft; our taxes will be used to remove the scrawls and our money was used in bringing the three to trial.
As to the cause - the end never justifies the means.
Can you imagine if The 40 Days for Life supporters began chalking messages across Marie Stopes and BPAS doorways, so very wrong, so very unCatholic.
What we do when we have a wrong to right is pray the Rosary....not just pray comrades, we pray the Rosary.
That is so much more effective than charcoal, even blessed charcoal.
The actions of the three, who were found guilty, are described as follows:-
Ray, Henrietta and Katrina explained the relevance of the time and symbols used: Lent, a time for reflection and repentance at both personal and community levels and charcoal, a known symbol of that repentance that is used within the Christian faith community. The protection of life and people was at the heart of their actions and they all stated that these were more important than property or buildings. Their intention in marking the Ministry of Defence building was to engage the Ministry and those who work there in critical reflection on the UK's nuclear defence policy and the Trident programme in particular in order to change it and prevent nuclear weapons from ever being used. Judge Susan Williams acknowledged her understanding of this in her questioning of Ray Towey, and again in her summing up saying that these were profound means used to highlight the folly of humankind.
It demonstrates a sort of frightening naivety, a childish belief that a puerile gesture will change the mind of the British Government; and the questions that I would wish to ask are:
1. Were those 3 accused actually Catholics
2. What does the LCW believe has been achieved by their actions.
Even more scary is their previous bulletin describing their support moves on behalf of Julian Assange and Bradley Manning.
It gives me indigestion even mentioning those names, if they are found guilty as charged those two will have compromised the national security of the USA and Britain. Some say that the "secrets" involved were trivial and useless to the enemy. I say that, no matter how trivial, a trust was breached.
In happier times their punishment, if found guilty, might act as more of a deterrent than the Trident programme.
If you have the stomach for it, their website is HERE.
Aren't estate agents 'workers?' and greengrocers and marketing executives?
There is a grim and grimy socialist ring about the word (except when used in the context of St Joseph).
And so it was that something malevolent drew me to take a peep at the London Catholic Worker website (I do it about once a year, that's all I can take).
You see, there is something very...umm,.........very commie about the website that show an image of Christ embracing an indian woman and babe on the one hand and a black miner (?) wielding a pick axe on the other. They just can't get away from the old hammer and sickle approach.
But what is more disturbing is the account of three of their members (presumably) who appeared in court recently on charges of causing criminal damage.
In short these three upright citizens had defaced a Ministry of Defence building to show their opposition to the Trident missile programme.
I use the word "deface" - the LCW uses the word "mark" - the buildings were "marked" with charcoal, not just any old charcoal you understand but "blessed" charcoal - ah, but the graffiti was far from blessed.
To me that action may best be classified as a sin of theft; our taxes will be used to remove the scrawls and our money was used in bringing the three to trial.
As to the cause - the end never justifies the means.
Can you imagine if The 40 Days for Life supporters began chalking messages across Marie Stopes and BPAS doorways, so very wrong, so very unCatholic.
What we do when we have a wrong to right is pray the Rosary....not just pray comrades, we pray the Rosary.
That is so much more effective than charcoal, even blessed charcoal.
The actions of the three, who were found guilty, are described as follows:-
Ray, Henrietta and Katrina explained the relevance of the time and symbols used: Lent, a time for reflection and repentance at both personal and community levels and charcoal, a known symbol of that repentance that is used within the Christian faith community. The protection of life and people was at the heart of their actions and they all stated that these were more important than property or buildings. Their intention in marking the Ministry of Defence building was to engage the Ministry and those who work there in critical reflection on the UK's nuclear defence policy and the Trident programme in particular in order to change it and prevent nuclear weapons from ever being used. Judge Susan Williams acknowledged her understanding of this in her questioning of Ray Towey, and again in her summing up saying that these were profound means used to highlight the folly of humankind.
It demonstrates a sort of frightening naivety, a childish belief that a puerile gesture will change the mind of the British Government; and the questions that I would wish to ask are:
1. Were those 3 accused actually Catholics
2. What does the LCW believe has been achieved by their actions.
Even more scary is their previous bulletin describing their support moves on behalf of Julian Assange and Bradley Manning.
It gives me indigestion even mentioning those names, if they are found guilty as charged those two will have compromised the national security of the USA and Britain. Some say that the "secrets" involved were trivial and useless to the enemy. I say that, no matter how trivial, a trust was breached.
In happier times their punishment, if found guilty, might act as more of a deterrent than the Trident programme.
If you have the stomach for it, their website is HERE.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
The State on the Retreat and Rise
 |
| Closing down in the cuts: The Allen Centre, Hove |
Benefits are perhaps to be 'frozen' in an effort to save money, at a time when it is likely unemployment will continue to rise in the UK amid rising costs of living. People who are 'dependent' on various services are being thrown to the dogs. Here in Brighton, two NHS services to those with mental illness are to close in the forthcoming cuts. Disappointment among service users is palpable.
The Allen Centre, Hove and a drop-in centre for those with mental health issues in the city centre in Buckingham Road are to close. These services may not be used by all people with mental health problems in Brighton and Hove, but act as a good and healthy service for mental health service users to access advice, build relationships and learn new skills.
So, we have a strange situation here in the UK, where the State is retreating from 'care' and beginning its abandonment of its role as an indifferent father to the poor, disabled, sick and infirm. Yet, on the other hand the State is taking on new competences which it had hitherto eschewed as beyond its remit. So, for instance, the State is attempting to redefine marriage. It is apparent that there are forces at work in the State that believe the same State that withdraws from supporting the sick could be the same instrument with which to end the lives of the sick. So, in fact, the State's role becomes wider and deeper than before, but instead of being a 'welfare' instrument, it becomes an instrument of life, or rather death.
Perhaps, in harder economic times, the true face of the 'welfare state' begins to show. Marxists, like Ed Miliband, are talking of a 'new relationship' between the citizen and the State. Exactly what kind of relationship is this? Can it be anything other than 'Big Brother'?
One thing that convinces me that the same sex marriage legislation is sinister is that the proposal not only redefines marriage but also defines who has a voice in society and whose voice is to be crushed. Not just the voice of the Church, but the voices of mothers, fathers, families and children would be silenced once the proposed legislation to be successful. Those, whether Christian or not, who did not like the idea of the school teacher teaching homosexuality to children as a 'marriage option' would have no redress to the State with which to voice their grievances. This has been proven in Massachusetts and in Canada, I believe.
In other areas, like surveillance and civil liberties, there seems little news that suggests that the State will be anything but pernicious and over-bearing in the lives of its citizens over the next few decades, in an increasingly unstable and 'insecure' world. Same-sex marriage, as well as redefining the institution itself, sorts for the State the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats as to who will be pliant and compliant in the Brave New World in which the 'new relationship' between State and citizen becomes ever and ever more a relationship of master and subservient citizen, or even slave.
The New Doctrine: Who is 'in' and who is 'out'?
What will happen to those who do not accept the Cameron-Clegg-Miliband-Lucas Doctrine? What will happen to the old-fashioned? Those with traditional views? What will happen to the non-conformists? What will happen to the bigots? What will happen to the heretics? What will happen to the unconvinced? What will happen to the dissenters? What will happen to those who, having feared from speaking out before the legislation, discover that they are in the dock if they do speak out afterwards? 'Gay marriage' is a watermark, a 'crossing the threshold' moment for the State of who will be 'in' and who will be 'out' once marriage is redefined. It divides the acquiescent and malleable citzens from the incredulous and suspicious. It seems that entrance and participation in the 'Big Society' will have, as a central plank, the total acceptance of the LGBT agenda.
More worryingly still, what is going on with our Bishops? Will the sleeping giant that is the Catholic Church awake and roar like an angry encircled Russia, or will the voice of the Faithful have to come from a small minority in the pews of different Churches and in the Sanctuaries of the Houses of God, who have the guts and courage to speak out and loud?
I recently found this map, which gives readers the lowdown on where LGBT rights have been embraced to the point of marriage, where homosexuality is accepted and where it is punishable, obviously in Muslim countries. It's interesting that the vast area of the World in which 'gay marriage' seems not to be on the cards are the former Soviet bloc and the currently Soviet bloc. Download the map for viewing here.
I post this to remind readers that what we're up against is a global new World agenda (let's call it Agenda 21 for argument's sake). It is at once global and local, but for some reason, Russia, parts of the Middle East and Africa aren't keen. I guess that's just half the World that'll be 'bigots' then, Nick?
So, take comfort that, if you don't go along with the new doctrines of the State, that it is not just the poor, the disabled, the mentally ill, terminally sick and 'unproductive' who are being thrown to the wolves. It's you and me, too, baby, because I don't like the State too much as it is. I don't want it to come any closer into my life than it already is. My new relationship is with God, the Blessed Mother of God, the Saints and Angels, the suffering souls in Purgatory, all my brothers and sisters on Earth, family and hopefully wife-to-be. As the poor and the mentally ill in Brighton are discovering, a relationship with the State can leave you feeling rather bereft. Do Marxists like Ed Miliband care about that? No, I doubt it. To Marxists, its just the relationship that matters - not the people themselves.
Perhaps Brighton's Church community centres can build an initiative to give the mentally ill a space to relax and have a cup of coffee when the NHS services stop. I guess that's what Cameron sees as the other plank of the 'Big Society'.
Politician Discovered to be Not Terribly Sincere: Widespread Shock
A Republican hopeful is running a cynical electoral campaign aimed at grabbing the votes of those floating voters.
The Obama team are going to make Romney's 'I don't give a fig about the poor' speech prime time repeated viewing over the coming weeks.
Looks like the Obama dictatorship will be re-elected in November.
God help America.
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