Holy Father issues an order and...4 years on.....yawn...zzzzz!

"...blogging... should be made a serious criminal offence...."


Remember 29th December 2007?  No? Well you should because the Holy Father sent forth a command around the globe to the effect that all Bishops should look to their exorcist missiles and prime them ready for use - and, if they only had one or two Diocesan Exorcists, they should gear up and get a team together - Satanism is on the march as we well know.

I do not believe that this message from Pope Benedict, Christ's representative on earth and recipient of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit; Head of the Catholic Church and Vicar of Rome, ever reached England and Wales.

That, at least, would be a charitable explanation of why the CBEW snooze while the devil charges around destroying souls.

I have worked for one or two big organisations in the past and there was always one rule that was ever observed;
"when the CEO says jump...then do it pdq and do it high".
Without that obedience to a single, supreme (in an earthly sense) source all becomes anarchy, chaos and confusion allowing the enemy to thrive and flourish at will.

But the Bishops appear to put two episcopal digits in the air to all that comes from Rome.
Could it be that the old enemy (not England) has already penetrated the walls of Dunblessin House? Is 'the smoke of satan' whisping through the carpeted halls of Archbishops' residences throughout the land?

Just to refresh your memory this is how the press reported the issue back in 2007:-

The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism.

Vatican chiefs are concerned at what they see as an increased interest in the occult.
They have introduced courses for priests to combat what they call the most extreme form of "Godlessness."
Each bishop is to be told to have in his diocese a number of priests trained to fight demonic possession.
The initiative was revealed by 82-year-old Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican "exorcistinchief," to the online Catholic news service Petrus.
"Thanks be to God, we have a Pope who has decided to fight the Devil head-on," he said.
"Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the Devil. You have to hunt high and low for a properly trained exorcist.
"Thankfully, Benedict XVI believes in the existence and danger of evil - going back to the time he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith." The CDF is the oldest Vatican department and was headed by Benedict from 1982, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, until he became Pope in 2005.

Daily Mail

Intent on discovering whether there was any truth in my suspicion that no extra exorcists have been appointed in England and Wales (or that a Diocese even had an exorcist in the first place) I emailed 21 (only 21, not every Media contact has an email address - unbelievable) Diocesan Media Communications Officers, telling them that I intended to publish the results.

To date only 2 have responded. And one of those was a  "no show" inasmuch that the priest concerned, Fr Derek Turnham of Stokesley, North Yorkshire, refused to relay the information to me.

He does not appear to like Catholic bloggers. OK. That's his prerogative, no problem there. But in his capacity as a media information type person doesn't he have a duty to pass on information? Well?

Here is what Fr T has to say about my request:-

Dear Richard

Thank you very much for kindly responding with the information about your research.

I am afraid that for personal ethical reasons I am not prepared to co-operate – I believe that blogging as currently manifested should be made a serious criminal office because of the significantly negative comments that are so often made about people who are trying to do their best are so destructive to the good of society.

This statement speaks for itself, I will make no comments on the sentiments Father Turner expresses as I am sure that every Catholic blogger will have their own views on this matter.

If a journo from The Sun newspaper (I use the word loosely) contacted him and asked him for the same information...would he refuse?

Has he not heard of the Holy Father's words of encouragement on the new media technologies and those who dabble in them?

Fr Turner was very free in granting an interview to The T****t magazine (I use the word loosely) allowing them a fly on the wall insight into his domestic life, so why so coy about the number of exorcists in the Diocese?
Unless, of course, there are none and the Pope's order has not been obeyed.

And now, a big thank you to Fr John Harvey of Brentwood Diocese. He responded by return giving complete information as requested. He, also, may not approve of my blog or of Catholic bloggers, I do not know. But I do know that he was professional and confident enough to reply, and that's just plain Christian courtesy and sound business practice.

So, all that time has elapsed since Pope Benedict's request to his Bishops and little or nothing appears to have been done in response to that request, certainly in England and Wales.

Zilch....nothing, no reply.

That fact, in itself begs the question.......when you make a demand surely you follow through to see if your orders have been obeyed?

So why has Rome been silent for the best part of four years?
Is someone keeping the HF in the dark?

Maybe I need to make a phone call to find out more.....where's that number?
.....ah, yes, here it is....666......ooops!

Postscript: H/T to Berenike for pointing out that the Vatican denied (at the time) issuing such a request to the Bishops. There appears to be two views here but, even accepting that the Vatican is right and Fr Amorth wrong, we should still have exorcists in every Diocese - teams of them!

For Catholics With Time on Their Hands

...and devotion to Our Lady in their hearts.

How to make a wire Rosary.

Watch Our Lady Rosary Maker's YouTube Channel for the other episodes in the Rosary making series.

Welcome to the World of Mears Group Plc

Making People Smile: Is that a Chelsea smile?

The Eye of a Needle

Recently, I visited a friend of George and Diane in her Council flat in Brighton.  A young lady who suffers depression, having had 5 children taken from her in her life by social services, we talked with her and I asked if she would allow me to take some footage of her property.

She wasn't offended when I said that I wasn't very impressed by the Council if this was what they were offering as accommodation to Brightonians.

Thankfully, she is being moved soon to a new Council property, though she admitted she has not seen the place to which she will be moved.  As you can tell from the video below, the walls of the house are in a shocking state of disrepair and are in need of plastering and decorating.  Like a couple of Council houses I have seen, the Council and/or the Mears Group who are responsible for the upkeep of its property, don't provide carpet to its residents.

Bob Holt, CEO of Mears Group

According to this article, the Mears Group seem to be doing rather well financially.  Its CEO, Bob Holt, boasts of the company with responsibility for the maintenance of social housing in Brighton having been 'debt free' for over 13 years. It is a company which, according to Growth Business UK, has brought the 'Mears Group from sales of £12 million when it listed on AIM in 1996 to £305 million today'.

Great. Well, I'm all for people being successful, but if this company are really doing that well then why do they seem unable to maintain this Council property in Brighton to a barely minimal standard. This company must need no reminding that they are on the receiving end of a staggering average of £2,020,105 a year from Brighton and Hove City Council for their services (Source: Openly Local), which, looking at the video below of a friend's Council house, seems to be rather an excessive pecuniary reward, for a not very good job. Certainly, the resident living there was rather down about where she lived.



Over winter she had to live on friend's sofas in order to keep warm because, as you can see from the video, the grill over the door that came off after a daughter tried to break in, having lost her key, never was put back on the hinges. The wood was so rotten that the door came right off and couldn't be put back on. So the Mears team just grilled up the back door, but not particularly well, since it allows air and light through. So in winter, the resident was freezing cold when it hit minus 6 degrees. She asked the Mears team to sort it out, of course, but it never was. To be honest, looking around at the place, it kind of felt like the whole house could fall down at any moment. I hope a lot of people read this, I really do and I hope the 'House of Mears' that seems to have an iron grip over the housing of the poor in Brighton falls down like the house of cards that it is. They have a reputation in Brighton, does the Mears clan. One of the Mears appears is a Councillor.

Not, that said, that it is only Brighton and Hove City Council that are in a cosy relationship with the Mears operations. Openly Local, the website that provides information on Council's spending and Council's suppliers makes it quite clear that the Mears Group provides exactly the same services for:

• Birmingham City Council (Total spend: £1,502,739, Average monthly spend: £1,502,739)
• London Borough of Bromley (Total spend: £169,749, Average monthly spend: £169,749)
• Blackpool Council (Total spend: £674,791, Average monthly spend: £337,395)
• Newcastle upon Tyne City Council (Total spend: £2,623,661, Average monthly spend: £437,276)
• London Borough of Lambeth (Total spend: £471,040, Average monthly spend: £471,040)
• Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (Total spend: £2,551,119, Average monthly spend: £283,457)
• Cornwall Council (Total spend: £1,874,663, Average monthly spend: £468,665)
• Leeds City Council (Total spend: £396,751, Average monthly spend: £396,751)
• Peterborough City Council (Total spend: £53,291, Average monthly spend: £53,291)
• London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (Total spend: £15,606, Average monthly spend: £15,606)
• North East Lincolnshire Council (Total spend: £85,777, Average monthly spend: £28,592)
• Dover District Council (Total spend: £338,107, Average monthly spend: £112,702)

It looks like Brighton and Hove City Council are the most generous in their spending on these boys. Ironically, after I'd visited this property, I went to get my hair cut at a barbers on the edge of town and the guy next door to me, also getting his hair cut, was a Mears worker. They wear t-shirts with the Mears logo on one side of the breast and the Brighton and Hove City Council logo on the other. There I was, sat next to one of the workers, with the evidence of their shocking abandonment of their properties to disrepair in my pocket on my video camera. The hairdresser tied this white thing around my neck to stop hair going down my back. I'd never had a barber do that before and so asked if he was cutting my hair or my head off! I hope the Mears clan don't get any ideas.

I guess you could say this is a mutually beneficial relationship. It is also Councillor Mary Mears of Mears and Sons who arranged for the destruction of the Open Market, for it to be renovated and for flats to built there on the site. I think most people accept that Councils are a little dodgy and that how they award contracts is probably on the dodgy side. I think what most people would find a little shocking is just what little effort some of those contractors put into the properties over which they have responsibility and the appalling living conditions of those who have to live there, those who have no choice where they live. I don't know. Maybe they maintain the Council's housing stock well and this is something of an abberation. Or maybe, it is a case of the resident being 'not worthy' of having her house repaired. I hope they get the place fixed up before the next poor soul has to live there, but I wouldn't bet on it...

Iranian Pastor to Die Tomorrow for Apostasy from Islam

May God and the prayers of the Blessed Virgin be with him

Courtesy of Tom Chivers, The Telegraph

'I wrote the other day about Troy Davis, a man who faced the death penalty in America. Hours after I wrote it, he was killed. I maintain it was an appalling and brutal act, whether he was innocent or guilty. But in the coming days, another man will probably be executed. He is definitely guilty of the crime of which he is accused. He admits it. But the fact that it is a crime at all would, if it were not so tragic, be almost funny.

Youcef Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor in Iran, stands accused of apostasy. His "crime" – forgive the sarcastic quotes – is having once been Muslim, but now being Christian: from turning from one monotheistic Abrahamic religion which recognises Jesus Christ as a holy figure, to another monotheistic Abrahamic religion which recognises Jesus Christ as a holy figure. He has been asked three times to recant his beliefs, but has refused. If he refuses a fourth time, he could be executed at any time; he will be asked again today, and could die tomorrow.

This is, of course, against international law, for what little that means. More surprisingly, it is also apparently against Iranian law: Pastor Nadarkhani was not, it seems, a practising Muslim before he converted to Christianity, so there is no apostasy. One Iranian court ruled that this meant he was innocent; the Supreme Court, however, decided that because he has Muslim ancestry, he remains guilty. On such utterly fatuous threads a man's life hangs.

His legal team includes Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, a courageous Iranian Muslim who himself been sentenced to nine years imprisonment for his legal human rights work in the country (or "actions and propaganda against the Islamic regime", as the fantastically paranoid Iranian government considers it). Those of his team who remain out of prison are to attempt to appeal, although there is no right to do so. And, in a system as Kafkaesque as Iranian Sharia, you wouldn't bet much on the appeal working anyway.

It's easy as a secularist to focus on the little things that go wrong in countries that are mostly right: attempts in the US to blur the line between church and state, or prayer in school here in Britain. When some daft medievalist tries in a futile fashion to impose their idea of religious morality on the country – I'm thinking of the ghastly Stephen Green of Christian Voice, or the little band of Islamists who want to impose Sharia in British courts – we get panicky: but we often forget the real, brutal theocracies in other countries. Here in Britain, secularism, mercifully, has by-and-large won: you can worship who you like and what you like, and, up to a point, mock others for what they believe, too. That is important. But in Iran, and Saudi Arabia, and Yemen and Pakistan and a handful of other Islamic states, the brand of God you choose to believe in can be a matter of life and death.

I want to push you towards a petition or a JustGiving site or something, to contribute to the release of Pastor Nadarkhani, but there doesn't seem to be an organised campaign and I don't know whether a petition signed by a few Britons would really make much difference. Instead, I've written to my MP, to ask him to encourage the Foreign Office to express to the Iranian government their principled opposition to the death penalty in all forms, and to its appliance for religious bigotry in particular. You can do the same at www.writetothem.com. Please do, and also read David Allen Green's fantastic blog in the New Statesman for more information.

[Update: there is in fact an organised campaign, here. Get in touch.]'

The Feast of the Archangels - Hosanna!

This picture has got an interpretation
 but really, life's too short, sorry!

The Feastday of the Archangels, Michael, Raphael and Gabriel - what power is in those names. I read somewhere in the past year that the road to salvation is made more certain by daily recourse to these three Archangels and, ever since then, I have included them in my night prayers - too good a tip to ignore methinks.

The above painting is attributed to Andrea del Verrochio and the story involves Tobias, a healing, a wicked father-in-law, a fluffy dog and a pet fish that can, amazingly go for walks on a lead sans water! Sorry to appear trite but the story in the only online version I can find is very disjointed and I am ultra busy preparing for my departure for the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma meeting on Saturday. So that's it, really.

And now for some good prayers to our great Archangels.................

St Gabriel the Archangel

O God, who from among all the Angels did choose the Archangel Gabriel to announce the Mystery of Thine Incarnation: mercifully grant that we who keep his feast on earth may feel the effect of his patronage in heaven. Who lives and reigns, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen

O Blessed Archangel Gabriel, we beseech you, intercede for us at the throne of divine Mercy in our present necessities, that as you did announce to Mary the mystery of the Incarnation, so through your prayers and patronage in heaven we may obtain the benefits of the same, and sing the praise of God forever in the land of the living. Amen.

Prayer to St. Raphael the Archangel

O glorious Archangel, St Raphael, great Prince of the heavenly court, illustrious for your gifts of wisdom and grace, guide of those who journey by land or sea, consoler of the afflicted, and refuge of sinners: I beg you to assist me in all my needs and in all the sufferings of this life, as once you did help the young Tobias on his travels. And because you are the 'Medicine of God,' I humbly ask you to heal the many infirmities of my soul, and the ills which afflict my body, if it be for my greater good. I especially ask of you an angelic purity, which may fit me to be the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Be pleased, O Lord God, to send to our aid St Raphael the Archangel: and may he, who, we believe, stands forever before the throne of Your Majesty, offer unto You our humble petitions to be blessed by You. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

Supported by the intercession of blessed Michael, Thine Archangel, we humbly beseech Thee, O Lord, that the service we pay with our lips, we may lay hold of with our minds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.
O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon your Holy Name, and as supplicants we implore your clemency, that by the intercession of Blessed Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel St Michael, You would deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who roam about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls. Amen.  

 AND ALSO, FROM THE JARROW SCRIPTORIUM COMES THIS PRO LIFE CLIP


http://www.180movie.com/



Rosary Crusade of Reparation 2011

Do try and join the 27th Annual Rosary Crusade of Reparation taking place on Saturday 8th October 2011. I attended last year's Crusade and it was very prayerful as well as being a marvellous day.  Rather excitingly, this year's Crusade will be led by Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.  Much like the LMS Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham, the intention is for the conversion of England and Wales.  The Rosary Crusade starts from Ambroseden Avenue outside Westminster Cathedral at 1.45pm and ends at the Brompton Oratory, where, last year at least, there were hymns, prayers to Our Lady and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

March with Our Lady in London October 8th

The annual Rosary Crusade of Reparation march will take place in London on Saturday October 8th.
It is a heartening and deeply spiritual experience to walk through the City's streets, singing hymns and reciting the Rosary and affirming one's Catholic faith.

Motorists stuck in the traffic will look at you as if they would like to see you re-routed via Tyburn Tree, but, no matter. They will only be delayed by a few minutes, say a prayer in response to their glaring looks.

The march leaves Westminster Cathedral at c. 1.45pm and heads off to the London Oratory where Mass and Benediction are normally offered.

And this year the march will be led by none other than the
 Rt Reverend Monsignor Keith Newton, Protonotary Apostolic and Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

So, dust off your zimmer frames and get cracking!

Introducing Brother Felix...

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "So what is this guy listening to in his white van?" This week I have been listening to The Beautiful South album 'Carry on Up the Charts' which I bought for 50p from a Car Boot Sale at the Brighton Racecourse on Sunday. I also bought The Best of David Essex, which is just pure comedy, also for just 50p. What bargains! There are, it has to be said, only two stand out tracks, of which this is probably the most outstanding. I have to buy CDs for my van because the radio doesn't have reception.



David Essex. Classic. I hear he is in Eastenders now.

George and Diane were kind enough to buy me this delightful nodding monk called (from now) Brother Felix. I love him and I'm not selling him, partly because its a gift and partly because I rather like him. Isn't he fun!? Readers, Brother Felix, Brother Felix, readers. He's good at answering questions concerning the hot Catholic issues of the day. So why not let's ask him a couple?

Today he answers questions concerning the issue of homosexuality and the Catholic Faith. Brother, what say you on the thorny and troublesome issue of homosexuality and the Church's unpopular Teaching. Is She right and free from error in this matter and, indeed, all matters concerning Faith and Morals?



That looks like a yes! The Church has spoken, we had no need for a mystical friar, but a mystical friar we have in Brother Felix, who is, I think, something of an ascetic Franciscan who sits atop of my fish tank. Brother, what say you on the thorny issue of homosexuality and the Church's Infallible teaching? Do those who challenge the Church's Teaching on homosexuality have any sound theological basis for their strange doctrines? Is there any way Church teaching could or should change?



Sorry, boys. It looks like this matter is now well and truly settled. Yet will the pronouncements of this holy friar make a difference to those who seek to subvert, undermine or destroy the Catholic Church? Only time will tell...Can I get this thing blessed?

New design preview for the Union Jack

The new Union Jack - no cross, see?

Now, as any schoolboy or girl knows, the Union Flag (to give it the correct handle) is a design comprising the crosses of St George, St Andrew and St Patrick (tough luck St David and Wales, you have been ignored).

Take those crosses away and you are left with the white flag of surrender. But who would wish for those crosses to be removed from our beloved flag?

Well, we only have to look at that bastion of neutrality and dodgy banking practices, Switzerland, to see what could, just could happen here.

You see the role of the Swiss (Oh, I really am so very sorry) over the past few years or more has been one of benificence, especially towards Muslims wishing to settle in that beautiful country, home of cuckoo clocks and alpen.
They have allowed Muslims from Eastern Europe and Turkey to settle in their country and now, quite naturally, those nouveau Suisse want to place their mark on their adopted home.
In brief they want the Swiss Government to remove the white cross from their red flag because, as any fool knows, the cross is just such an awful, debasing, Christian symbol in today's world.

Ah, you say, but that is in Switzerland, a foreign country where they speak a different language and yodel instead of using cell phones - it could never happen in dear old Blighty.

Well, when they have the call to prayer echoing around the dreaming spires of dear old Oxford City and open recruitment to join jihad on the streets of London, anything can happen.

And where, if we removed our crosses would it leave us?
With a white flag, of course - how very appropriate!

Who would be pleased at such a move?
Well, yes, of course, the Muslim community, or some of them, might fire off a few Kalashnikovs down Finsbury Park way but the real winners would be the Welsh nation!
We have discriminated  against our Welsh cousins for far too long so, perhaps the new Union Flag would look something like this.....?

Yes, dear Cambrian friends, I do know that
the real Welsh flag also has a cross on it!

H/T http://www.hudson-ny.org/2449/immigrants-swiss-flag-cross

The Servant

A uniquely dark and disquieting film, Joseph Losey's The Servant (1963) is a must-see. This movie's warped take on class structure and personal dominance makes Stanley Kubrick look like Frank Capra.

Tony (James Fox), a wealthy young dilettante, hires Hugo Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) as his manservant. With a well-credentialed CV and a mild, uncomplaining manner, Hugo seems an ideal servant at first. But Tony's girlfriend Susan (Wendy Craig) senses something amiss, suspecting Hugo's civil demeanor hides something more disturbing. When Hugo's sultry "sister" Vera (Sarah Miles) arrives, it becomes clear that Hugo is playing a twisted mind game with his master.

The Servant remains a seminal title in British cinema. From "angry young man" films like The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner to social dramas like Sapphire and Victim, British films in the early '60s viciously assaulted the lingering class structure, postwar destitution and social mores. Adapted from Robert Maugham's novel by playright Harold Pinter, The Servant goes a step further, depicting British society (and human nature generally) as rotten to the core.

The Servant begs for analysis, but its caustic view of humanity is plainly evident. Tony seems a likeable dimwit at first, nursing dreams of a business deal in Brazil, but his engrained snobbery marks him as both narcissistic and naive - fair game for the vicious Hugo, more appealing than the likeable but plain Susan. Hugo and Vera are a perverse embodiment of the new generation, using raw sexuality to destroy the accepted order, bringing Tony down and loving it. Losey and Pinter make Hugo not so much an avenging lower class angel as a moral vampire, spreading decadence and decay wherever he goes.

Joseph Losey's (King and Country) direction, all brooding deep focus photography and cramped sets, creates the perfect air of tawdriness. John Dankworth's score makes excellent use of a Cleo Laine tune, warping from a sweet love ballad to a marker of moral degeneracy. The movie takes an odd turn in the final half-hour, with the increasingly dissolute Tony and Hugo wallowing in figurative filth. The perversity of these final scenes strikes a thematic chord but is dramatically awkward, Susan's actions in particular coming out of left field. Nonetheless, it's hard to imagine a more appropriate ending.

This is Dirk Bogarde's signature performance. Bogarde provides the right mixture of obsequious charm and warped decadence, making Hugo a uniquely loathsome personage. James Fox (A Passage to India) makes a perfect patsy to Hugo's scheming. Sarah Miles (Ryan's Daughter) is incredibly sultry, featuring in one of the steamiest seduction scenes in film history. Wendy Craig does well with a difficult role, the straight woman in a cast of warped characters. Patrick Macnee (Zulu) appears in a bit part.

The Servant makes for rather disturbing viewing. With its tawdry characters and bleak atmosphere, it's not an easy watch, yet it remains perversely fascinating.

"Blessed Are You When..."

Is this meant to be the Holy Spirit,  Hell or Purgatory?

Regular blog readers will be aware that Fr Ray Blake has received some astonishing emails from Anglicans involved in the 'LGBT' movement in Brighton for his commentary on the 'Illiberality of a Hove MP' who wants to see Churches that do not allow gay 'weddings' suffer absurdly severe penalties from the State.

Fr Blake's post, which really was quite mild, pointed out that the stance of Mike Weatherley, MP for Hove, was anti-liberal as well as being offensive not just to Christians, but to Muslims and to Jews as well. We all know that several Christian denominations have, let's say, softened their stance on the issue of homosexuality and on homosexual relationships. Those denominations not built on rock, but on sand, have, in the storm-tossed times of the 21st century, updated their view on this 'burning issue' of the day.

Fr Blake then received an email, among other emails, from someone called Richard Ashby and also Nigel Nash of the Brighton and Hove Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.  In the comments section of that post, Keith Sharpe, author of the 'provocative', and to say the least, 'controversial', Gay Gospels book made numerous and varied defenses of his belief that God thinks homosexual acts are just fine and dandy, just as he does, also, in his tawdry book. I did hear him give an interview on Radio Sussex recently about his book and I have to say that he received more than one phone call on the radio dismissing his ideas entirely. The presenter didn't sound particularly convinced either.

Now, Anglicans believe what Anglicans believe and despite the Anglican Communion's long historical opposition to homosexual acts, as well as its current one, depending on which Anglican with which you talk, some Anglicans (in addition to liberal pick n' mix Catholics) are always going to believe that Sacred Scripture backs them up 100% even if an Evangelical Southern Baptist and a Catholic can both agree that Scripture is pretty clear on this one. The only difference is that the Catholic would say that while God condemns as wicked the act of homosexuality, God does not 'hate fags', but rather, loves sinners. The Catholic might add that while the 'curing' of homosexuality is unlikely, as Catholics we pray 'only say the word, and I shall be healed'. Chastity is, of course, the goal. We are all sinners in the Catholic Church and it is our sins which we desire to be washed away and our souls to be healed through daily prayer and the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. Like many Christians, it is perhaps the homosexual's daily prayer to make his heart more like unto His Heart and through conforming his life to Christ, he may rightly hope for Heaven. Furthermore, some, a small minority perhaps, of homosexuals find after years that they meet someone of the opposite sex who they love, who they marry and with whom they have children. You don't hear much of that from the LGBT lobby, but it is well-known that it does happen and the LGBT community should get over it.

Fr Blake's patron's lips were padlocked

Quite why Anglicans who are homosexual and promote homosexuality in Brighton are furious with Fr Blake, a Catholic Priest, for defending Catholic teaching, as well as Islamic and Judaic teaching is still a great mystery. Did he do it in an over-arching, offensive or mocking tone? No, he most certainly did not.  Indeed, many of Fr Blake's posts which I have read have displayed a great pastoral care, sympathy and compassion for those struggling with the Cross of homosexuality. However, in this area, like so many others, unlike various prelates and priests in Holy Mother Church, Fr Blake both online and offline in the Pulpit always points to the Cross of Our Saviour and reflects in his blog Catholic teaching. What on earth else is a blogging or indeed any Catholic priest, supposed to do, but that?

One does not require a huge imagination to realise that as a Catholic priest in Brighton, Fr Blake is priest and confessor to a not insignificant number of his own flock who carry the Cross of homosexuality and who, like all men carrying Crosses, fall under its weight. From my own experience as a man who has fallen under that weight, I can tell you that Fr Blake is a gentle and merciful confessor to his people. Even the penances he gives are small and I believe he takes much more upon himself. What Fr Blake does not do is lead people into error or into sin by preaching some 'other kind of Gospel' to 'itching ears' like Keith Sharpe (I'm sure Keith can source the Scriptural references) appears to be doing. With those of his congregation who do suffer same sex attraction, Fr Blake is, I believe, on jolly good terms. He is always very joyful, kind and rather humourous company, regardless of the sexual orientation of his parishioners. He treats us all like the children of God that we are.

Sadly, this is not a photoshopped image...

Regardless of this, his commentary on the Hove MP and the comments he received in support of his piece upset the leadership of the Brighton and Hove Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and one can relatively safely assume, Changing Attitudes Sussex, led by Gay Gospels author, Keith Sharpe. The mysterious Richard Ashby emailed Fr Blake with this...

I need to tell you that your comments have caused widespread offence to members of the Christian Gay Community, and many of the comments made by other members of your blog, allowed publicity by you, are nothing less than inflammatory and inciting of hatred about members of the gay community.

It is an offence in this country to incite hatred against any group of people, and that is exactly what you are doing by allowing and promoting the kind of bigotry you are condoning. The comments are also causing grave offence to Catholics, many of whom I know are appalled by what you and fellow members of your congregation write.

Dear Nigel Nash, quite probably Keith Sharpe and Richard Ashby, whoever on Earth you are, I need to tell you that your intimidation and threatening actions against Fr Ray Blake have caused widespread offense to members of the Catholic community. Many of the comments you have made on Fr Blake's blog and not to mention your emails are nothing less than inflammatory and inciting of hatred about members of the Catholic community. There are plenty of homosexuals in Brighton who believe what Fr Blake believes. What on Earth gives you the idea that you speak on behalf of all gay men, nevermind all gay, Christian, men and most especially all gay, Catholic, men? It is an offense in this country to incite hated against any group of people and that is exactly what you are doing by promoting the kind of bigotry you are condoning. You and your Brighton 'LGBT' Anglican friends are incredibly bigoted against the Catholic Church and Her loyal Priests who hold fast to the Teachings handed on by the Lord Jesus Christ to St Peter and the Apostles and to his and their Successors today.  The Reverend Ian Paisley's more chilled out about the Catholic Faith than you lot and he's more honest about his prejudices!

You cannot bear to hear the truth of the Gospel! It is your ears, not his, which are burning and you cannot bear it when the Gospel is preached in its entirety! In what sense are you Christians?! Because you say that you love?! How can you say that you love?! You despise the truth that comes from God and you persecute those who proclaim it even mildly, gently and, yes, even those who work tirelessly for Christ and His Gospel, ministering to homosexuals with great compassion and with the tender love that comes from God! You want us to believe what you believe, but you say nothing that is new - you just spread your sin around and then you have the audacity to call it virtue and write books about great it is, even blaspheming the Holy Name of Our Blessed Lord, only to express surprise and shock when people, religious or not, tell you that that is not Christianity!

Were you to lead others and, indeed, us, you would lead them and us to our own Oblivion - that, that is how loving you are! To you, love is something that takes place when a man gets physical with a man or when a man condones it or promotes it and the only 'woe' to you is toward those who disagree with it or suggest that it is in any way sinful. That is not love! Love is about self-sacrifice, self-denial and the desiring only of the spiritual and temporal good of another!

For Heaven's sake, get a grip of yourselves, grow up and please accept and respect that even the Office for National Statistics revealed recently that most certainly not all people believe what you believe and that some people are Catholic. Some, like me, are Catholic and carry the Cross of homosexuality. Get over it and most of all get over yourselves! You can call me a bitter old queen if you wish, but believe me when I say that I have nothing, absolutely nothing on you!

If you must pick on someone, pick on me, or are you really like the devils who enjoy concentrating on Catholic Priests?! If you want to get to Fr Blake, because it is obvious from your email that you want his Bishop to close his blog down because you are just 'so offended' (pass me the sick bag), then believe me when I say you will have to get through an army of us, to whom Fr Ray Blake is a holy confessor, confidant in times of need and perennial teacher of the Most Holy Faith. I've seen at least one gay man other than myself crying on Fr Blake's shoulder, so before you try and drag his name through the mud because he said something that 'offended' you, remember that his supporters are plenty and plenty of them are homosexuals.

'The Gay Gospels', indeed! What a joke! There's more 'Gospel' in this blogpost than there is in your entire book, Keith. Just who are these charlatans who imagine, for a second, that the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton is going to listen to their tiresome 'hate speech' fairytale, rather than defend a popular Priest loyal to the Pope, the Magisterium and to the Heart of Jesus!? LGBT surveys?! On your bike, lads! No Catholic Bishop worth his salt would countenance such a thing! Sling your hooks! We're Catholics and we tend to all love one another at Christ's command despite our varied weaknesses and sins! We don't need to hold a sodding 'LGBT forum' just to prove to men that we endeavour to carry out Christ's command of holy charity. It is obvious to us that it is you who are lacking in love, not us and most assuredly not Fr Ray Blake!

Anyway, we're usually too busy discussing the Faith with Fr Ray after Mass at a nearby pub for all that LGBT nonsense. If you want to spout your gay lifestyle-affirmation agenda, it is a free country and you may do so, at your own spiritual and indeed, eternal peril, but please, for Heaven's sake, leave the Body of Christ - the Catholic Church - and Her loyal priests, alone, until the day, God willing, that you repent of your heresies and join the rest of us sinners in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I'm done...Oh, and by the way, why have you left the transgendered and bisexual communities out of your organisation's name, 'Brighton and Hove Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement'? They must feel terribly excluded and 'deeply hurt and offended'. And more than that, whatever will become of Portslade and Peacehaven? What shall become of those towns without you?

Amateurs! Moreover, losers! Take it away, Freddie!

Why in Latin?

Fr Clement Tigar SJ was a great priest and a great writer on all matters theological. For many years he was Rector at the seminary for late vocations, Campion House at Osterley, West London and, as a very young man, I often passed him in the street but he was distant and aloof; his mind was ever on a higher plane (certainly higher than mine).

One of his lighter (but no less interesting) books is called Papist Pie, a collection of questions and answers about the faith published in 1945.

Here is the chapter on "Why in Latin?"

"Why are all your services in a language no one can understand?

They are not. The evening service always contains prayers in English.
The Mass, which is the central act of worship, is in Latin, for many reasons. The Catholic Church is not just the church of this or that country, it is world-wide. Its members feel at home, because they can take part in the same service, in the same language, all over the world.

Again, Latin being a dead language, is free from those changes in the meaning of words, inevitable to a modern language, and is therefore more suitable for expressing with exactitude those doctrines which never change, because eternally true.

Catholics attending Mass do not need to follow every word of the Mass. They understand that it is the official act of sacrifice, instituted by Christ, which the priest offers up in the name of Christ, for the people. They can either follow English translations in their prayer books, or join their own private prayers, in their own private way, to the official prayers of the priest.

The Mass is an act rather than a prayer.

It is both reassuring and good to see the clarity of Fr Tigar's reasoning and, though basic, the teaching is as true today as it was then.

"The last good Pope" (according to Calvin)

There is little doubt that Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great) was a truly great Pope and leader of the faithful.
His reign was from 590 AD to 604AD, 14 glorious years in which time he wrote copiously leading to him being dubbed "The Father of Christian worship"

He cultivated art within the Church at a time where there was considerable dissent as to whether Catholic churches should be adorned with paintings and statues - but this Pope stood firm and was responsible for the beginning of a rich history of artists, sculptors, architects and, of course, musical composers.




The thought of a Catholic church without statues is almost impossible to consider but here is an account of how Pope St Gregory I  handled the matter....


"On one point nearly all Early Christians agreed - that there should be no religious statues. So recently in their memories lived the idea of the worship of images that no reminder on this plane could be tolerated.

Many went further and would have no pictures either. Here the Pope saved the cause of sacred art for all time.
He reminded those who were against all  art that there were many people who could neither read or write, and for them pictures were of the greatest assistance.
Painting can do for the illiterate what writing does for those who read...."

Pope Gregory's heritage,
7th Century Basilica of today's Saints,
Cosmas and Damian - Rome

The League of Gentlemen

Basil Dearden's The League of Gentlemen (1960) is an excellent film. Dearden mixes an enjoyable crime story with a subversive edge.

Colonel J.G.H. Hyde (Jack Hawkins) has recently been drummed out of the British Army, and decides to get his own back by organizing a bank robbery. He recruits several fellow veterans for the job: Race (Nigel Patrick), a cultured cynic and black marketeer; Lexy (Richard Attenborough), an ace radiographer; Rupert (Terence Alexander), a sad sack cuckolded by his materialstic wife; Mycroft (Roger Livesey), a pornographer turned priest; Porthill (Bryan Hill), drummed out for an apparent war crime on Cyprus; Stevens (Kieron Moore), an outed homosexual; and Weaver (Norman Bird), an explosive expert. Hyde believes that the authorities will be no match for the ex-soldiers, and indeed their planning and heist seem to succeed brilliantly. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details.

The League of Gentlemen is a cracking heist film that gets everything right. British entries in the genre (The Day They Robbed the Bank of England, The Lavender Hill Mob) generally rely on cunning rather than the violence of American counterparts, and this film is no exception. A preliminary heist to steal arms from an army depot (shades of The Dirty Dozen?) is pulled off through bluff and cunning, our protagonists easily outwitting gormless garrison troops. Bryan Forbes's script provides its share of droll humor, with careful, inventive plotting: the heist goes off without a hitch, and things unravel in a clever and unexpected way.

League is also noteworthy for its edgy content. The opening, of Hyde creeping out from a manhole into a Rolls-Royce, sets the subversive tone. The story is a damning indictment of post-war England: its military heroes have been forgotten or deliberately cast off, forced into menial jobs in an impersonal welfare state. There is overt sexual inneundo in characters' dealings with women, and Hyde gets a big laugh with a surprising profanity. Stevens is openly homosexual, subject to slurs from his colleagues and blackmail from criminals. (Dearden built upon this in his next film, Victim.) 1960 audiences must have been jolted.

Jack Hawkins is ideally cast, subverting a career's worth of military roles (Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia) in a stroke. Droll Nigel Patrick (The Sound Barrier) and chummy Richard Attenborough (10 Rillington Place) provide a perfect foil to Hawkins's professionalism. Terence Alexander (The Day of the Jackal), Norman Bird, Bryan Forbes (The Guns of Navarone), Kieron Moore (The Day They Robbed the Bank of England) and an antiquated Roger Livesey (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp) play other members of the team. Attentive viewers can spy Nigel Green (Zulu) and Oliver Reed (Lion of the Desert) in early roles.

The League of Gentlemen has just about everything you'd want from a heist film. Its clever plotting and edgy thematic material make it among the genre's best.

"Blogging should be made a serious criminal offence" states priest

Yep, this is true, or at least the statement is true. All will be revealed next Friday 30th September in a post I am working on regarding exorcists - until then, please keep me in your prayers...who knows what one may find when you begin looking under stones?

And on a lighter, more positive note.....

It was reported in Saturday's Daily Telegraph that London's Hyde Park is to introduce a series of 'natural' features to enable children (not kids, please note) to understand and learn about the wonders of nature.



'Glory be to God for dappled things..'

 The features will include that modern version of the village pond now known as a 'dipping pond' and, get this, children will be able to slosh around collecting water boatmen, caddis larvae and all manner of aquatic creepy crawlies - marvellous.
If you want to learn about Almighty God and you are six years old then a dipping pond is a brilliant place to begin.

Please God the Health and Safety fascists and the Nanny Society will not get to hear about this.

Drive

Drive is the best movie I've seen in theaters since True Grit. There's probably some deep existential meaning to it all, but I just enjoyed it as a stylish, superbly crafted action film.

The Driver (Ryan Gosling) is a garage mechanic and part-time stunt man who serves as the getaway driver for some small-time hoods. Shortly thereafter, his boss Shannon (Bryan Cranston) gets him mixed up with film producer/crime boss Bernie (Albert Brooks), who wants to sponsor him as a stock car driver. The plot thickens when the Driver gets involved with his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), whose husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) was just released from prison. To held Standard escape a loan shark's wrath, Driver agrees to take part in a $1 million heist, which lands him in deep trouble with Bernie and his underboss Izzi (Ron Perlman).

Drive is a first-class production all around. Nicholas Wending Refn makes a unique-looking film, from the moody urban mis-en-scene to the expressive editing scheme, with its slow-burn dissolves and non-linear sequencing. Refn stages impressive set pieces, especially the curtain-raising getaway drive and an exciting chase scene halfway through, and some unexpectedly graphic violence gives the action a real kick. Occasional artistic ostentation - a groan-inducing scene where a bemasked Driver walks slow-motion into a carefully framed window comes to mind - does not detract from Refn's superb direction.

What really sets Drive above its peers, however, is Hossein Amini's script. Elliptical in plot and character motivations, it smartly transcends cliche by building on familiar material. The well-drawn ensemble cast helps immensely: the Driver-Irene romance is sweet and avoids a cliched love triangle. Characters are largely drawn by relationships: Irene's affection for her husband and son and attraction to the Driver; Bernie and Izzi's tense partnership; Shannon's pathetic toadying. A leisurely pace immerses the viewer in the story, a welcome change from fast-cutting shakycam blockbusters. The climax feels a bit rushed but the ambiguous ending is a perfect coda.

Ryan Gosling gives a knockout performance. In Gosling's hands, the Driver becomes a fascinating protagonist, a deconstruction of the standard Hollywood action hero. He's likeable enough in his early scenes with Irene, but his effortless transition into a vengeful murderer is chilling. Gosling's controlled, monosyllabic performance makes both sides of his character credible: a character so emotionless and nonexpressive could be hiding anything. It's been a big year for Gosling, and this film should catapult him into the top tier of Hollywood stardom.

Gosling is backed by an interesting supporting cast. Albert Brooks steals the show as the psycho crime boss with a knife fetish, quite a turnabout from his usual comedy roles. Carey Mulligan (Public Enemies) is sweet and quietly vulnerable. Oscar Isaac (Robin Hood) handles a difficult role with sensitivity: he avoids the temptation to make Standard a cranky cuckold or a sad sack. TV favorites Brian Cranston (Breaking Bad), Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy) and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) feature in key supporting roles.

Drive is an excellent film all around. If nothing else, this and The Debt prove that an action movie doesn't need lots of CGI robots or explosions to be fun.

Welcome to hell - have a nice eternity!

You're enjoying your life, you are successful, have plenty of money, a fast car, house in the stockbroker belt, 3 children and a beautiful wife...pretty damn good eh?

Only trouble is, you no longer practice your faith (well you do go to Midnight Mass at Christmas and you do give the children Easter Eggs) and, to cap it all you have had an affair at the office (over now, of course) and you did have to stick the knife in on Johnson in Marketing  so that he got the push and you got his job - but then, that's business isn't it?
Confession is just a distant memory and the reception of Holy Communion, likewise.

And then, just as you are en route to a meeting that could result in a massive bonus for you - Wham! Crash! Bang! - you have just stepped out in front of an eight ton London Transport Bus and you are mutton, deceased, dead as a parrot.

Now you are coming to...aaargh! blinded by a bright light and then the vision and then...ten seconds later........you are in HELL!

Come on in, things are just hotting up!

Reality begins to set in....you are here for eternity, like forever....longer than forever...and there's no get out of jail card, no plea bargaining, no time off for good behaviour...just eternal fire, demons, souls in agony, torments, tortures....pain, humiliation, degradation, no day or night just sheer hell.

H/T to Fr Z for his one liner on the subject that set my mind racing.
Like most people, my faith is a bit of a struggle at times but I have never wavered from the fear of the prospect of eternal damnation brought down on my own head by my own deeds.

I have weighed up the various options (like missing Mass on Sundays or robbing a bank) but alway, always come to the conclusion that the effort to stay in a state of grace is so well and truly worth it.

What kind of omadhaun would play Russian roulette with a revolver that has all the chambers full?

 Not me.

Regular Confession, Mass and Holy Communion - no worries mate!
 As they say in New Holland.

See also Fr Dwight Longenecker's post

BTW - a typo on Fr Z's post regarding Fr Ray Blake and his attack by the homosexual lobby - the headline reads:
"Fr Blake of Brighton taking flake (sic) from bullies for being Catholic"

'flake' huh?  is that the homosexual version of flak?

Pray for the Holy Father in Germany

I've read some interesting blog posts today, among which A Reluctant Sinner writes an excellent piece on the rough treatment of another brave Priest by his Bishop, following complaints from vociferous elements of the gay community. He preached Catholic Faith and paid the price. This is what we usually say of Martyrs who suffer at the hands of the godless. Sadly, today, the virtuous suffer at the hands of even their own Shepherds.

Another good read is James Preece's post on the new website from Catholic Voices that, somehow, against all the odds, fails to mention either Our Lord Jesus Christ or Our Blessed Lady. Were it not for the fact that the Catholic Voices project was launched in order to represent the Faith in the media during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, I doubt it would mention the Holy Father either, but let us not be too critical, because after all, Austen Ivereigh's new Catholic Voices website does talk very eloquently about the project becoming a school of "new Christian humanism". I hate to be dismissive of Austen's projects, but "new Christian humanism" does sound like the kind of thing Hans Kung might invent or say he invented. Hey! Now, I think about it, maybe he did invent it and Austen is just re-inventing it and re-packaging it!

As a matter of fact, another post I read today, I forget where I read it, concerns the very same Hans Kung, of Germany, who has been speaking out about the "Putinization" of the Catholic Church under the reign of Pope Benedict XVI. It really is one of the slimiest interviews I have read in a good, long while.

The interview is with Der Spiegel and you can read it here, if you can bear it for Friday penance. There is so much that Kung says which is objectionable, but even the prospect of a relatively successful Papal visit to the Successor of St Peter's homeland seems to get Hans into a lather. Of the 70,000 attending one of the Holy Father's Masses, Kung says...

"They're not all believers; the crowd will include many curious onlookers. The believers who will attend are mainly conservative Catholics with no interest in reforms. There are also notorious young, hysterical Benedict fans who are also always present at the major papal events. Most of them are recruited from strictly conservative groups."

Supporters of the Holy Father are "notorious, young and hysterical". Is that "rad, trad and dangerous to know"?  Every fibre of my being desires to be charitable to Hans Kung, but so far my body isn't responding to my brain's signals. What really comes across is the carping bitterness of the modern German theologian whose great vision of the Church in the 21st century is now in decline, while desire for sound, orthodox teaching and liturgy is on the increase. It is so sad that after the colossol failure of the Vatican II experiment whose adherents still dominate the Catholic Church in the West, Kung and his supporters are still blaming traditional Catholics in the Church for the lack of new Priests coming through. Come on...liberalism has been the default setting of the Church on the ground in parishes and Dioceses for a long, long time. Does he really think that it is the failure of modern Catholic liberalism to totally capture the heart of the Supreme Pontiff that is to blame for a dearth of vocations? Could the problem not be liberalism and its tenets that are to blame?

The abuse crisis occurred under the watch of liberals within the Church, even at high levels of the hierarchy, but for Kung the abuse crisis has no link to the trend within seminaries for seminarians to believe and be taught, from the 1970s onwards, that Heaven and Hell were quaint fairytales believed only by medieval anorexic mystics who were mad anyway. No...

"If you put it that simply, I'll give you a simple answer. Ratzinger's predecessor, John Paul II, launched a program of ecclesiastical and political restoration, which went against the intentions of the Second Vatican Council. He wanted a re-Christianization of Europe. And Ratzinger was his most loyal assistant, even at an early juncture. One could call it a period of restoration of the pre-council Roman regime."

Make sense? No, the answer to the question about the abuse crisis does not make sense. So, it isn't just one Pope, the current, reigning one, but two that Kung dislikes immensely. He speaks as if the re-Christianization of Europe is, like, er, a bad thing. Do read the interview, but don't if you have a heart condition. It really is an exercise in maintaining your composure and, to be honest, if you are unable to do so, you've passed the test. Catholics should be horrified by the flagrant disloyalty of Kung and the downright disgraceful assertion that Pope Benedict XVI behaves like a former shady KGB man who rose to the top of the Church and now bullies Her into submission to his will and whim.

The opposite is, in fact, true. If it were not, he would not have given Holy Communion to a dissident in the hand today when it was totally and utterly obvious that it is his preference to distribute Communion to the Faithful kneeling and on the tongue. He is always gentle, even with those, even in authority in the Church, who deserve to have their heads knocked together. It is so sad that Kung cannot see that the liberal experiments which damaged the Church so badly and ruined the faith of so many is not the answer to the restoration of the Church. It is, he, sadly, who is intransigient to reforms - not the Holy Father and his "notorious, young, hysterical" supporters in the laity, the Priesthood and in religious life. By the time you get into the second page of the Der Spiegel interview it really does begin to sound as if Hans Kung has been possessed by the spirit of Martin Luther, but one fears that that might have happened about 40 years ago. Poor man. Pray for the Holy Father in Germany. May God bless him and preserve him and give him long life. Long may His Holiness reign. May it be long and continue to be glorious.

At least we can rest assured that the man in charge of the Catholic Voices project is poles apart from Hans Kung's disastrous, dissenting theology and that as far as the East is from the West, that is how far apart are Austen Ivereigh's views and those of the embittered and rather sad modern theologian, Hans Kung, though it possible that they could discuss, amicably and in a spirit of fraternal affection, a "new Christian humanism".

Violence, pornography and sex at the cinema - but no smoking please!

Licenced to kill, seduce, lie and cheat - but not to smoke!

Yes, this says it all really. The fact that those in authority who seek to invoke the nanny state on the one hand but open the door for Satan on the other are now about to set another silly piece of regulation into force.....films showing people smoking are to be censored and issued with a classification code alongside PG which stands for 'Anything goes' 15, meaning 'you are 15 years old so it's about time you learnt about depravity and 18 meaning 'be prepared to come face to face with Lucifer'.

Ah me, at times I do long for those days of innocence when a man and  a woman were handcuffed together for night time scenes.....I'm talking about 'The Thirty Nine Steps' what were you thinking?

Honi sont qui mal y pense!

Fear not Father Ray Blake.......

..........there's an old RAF saying.....

WHEN YOU START RECEIVING FLAK YOU KNOW YOU ARE HITTING YOUR TARGET!

stop press...stop press.....stop press......

SPACE JUNK HIT IN WEST WALES!

Awoke today full of apprehension after hearing news that various bits of  old satellites and space stations are about to enter the earth's atmosphere and make contact with terra firma (should that be terror firma?).

The Today programme news was less than helpful, they reassured their audience by stating that the fragments (some the size of a bus) would only weigh in the region of tens of hundreds of pounds when they hit earth.

Phew, for one minute I thought they might be dangerous!

And then...I looked out of my window only to see a large lump of twisted, rusty metal in our front drive! Goodness, (I thought), it didn't even wake me up.

And then I realised in the grey light of dawn; it was only my car.

FEAST OF ST PIO! A SAINT OF OUR TIME!

"Prayer is the best weapon we possess, the key

that opens the heart of God"

The feast of a great saint, one who died only in 1968 and whose funeral is recorded on film.
The accounts of Padre Pio, the miracles wrought through his intercession, the episodes of bilocation and his ability to read the souls of men are almost too numerous to select any particular one. So I have chosen to feature an extract regarding the day that he received the stigmata (20th September 1918)

It was June 15, 1921, and in answer to a question posed by Bishop Rossi, Padre Pio said: "On Sept. 20, 1918, I was in the choir of the church after celebrating Mass, making the thanksgiving when I was suddenly overtaken by powerful trembling and then there came calm and I saw Our Lord in his crucified form.
"He was lamenting the ingratitude of men, especially those consecrated to him and favored by him."
"Then," Padre Pio continued, "his suffering was apparent as was his desire to join souls to his Passion. He invited me to let his pains enter into me and to meditate on them and at the same time concern myself with the salvation of others. Following this, I felt full of compassion for the Lord's pains and I asked him what I could do.
"I heard this voice: 'I will unite you with my Passion.' And after this the vision disappeared, I came back to myself, my reason returned and I saw these signs here from which blood flowed. Before this I did not have these."
Padre Pio then said that the stigmata were not the result of a personal request of his own but came from an invitation of the Lord, who, lamenting the ingratitude of men, and consecrated persons in particular, conferred on Padre Pio a mission as the culmination of an interior mystical journey of preparation.

This video clip (sorry about the awful and inappropriate guitar twanging) gives a very moving picture of the piety and devotion this great saint had when celebrating the Holy Mass, the Mass of all time, the Tridentine Latin Mass - "he suffered at every consecration during Mass". Worth remembering that Vatican officials treated him abysmally and, for many years he was treated as an outcast, even after his death.

Padre Pio, St Pio - Ora pro nobis

Are you tempted?

It is not, of course, a sin to be tempted but it could be a sin if we yield to our temptations depending upon what form they take.
It would also be a sin to dally in the shop window of temptation - the occasion of sin!

No, dear they are not halos!

Remember that Our Lord was tempted in the desert and remember also, who it was that tempted him, it is the self same devil that tempts us.
The trials of temptation should, according to Thomas a Kempis, be used against the devil. How? By offering our torments, (for such they can be) as an act of penance. That is not to say that we should wallow in temptation but that we should regard it as one might regard a disease or illness.

"Bear it and offer it up" was the mantra learnt at my Mother's knee and it's not a bad one to abide by although, a scraped knee is perhaps easier to bear than a fixation on drugs, detraction, food, gambling, pornography or alcohol (or doughnuts).

By accepting the sacrifice of temptation we turn the fire back on the enemy; we make the torture bearable, even, in a spiritual sense, enjoyable -
 "Bring it on - nothing can hurt me, God is my Father" goes the cry.

                                          On resisting temptation
   
                                           by Thomas a Kempis


As long as we are in this world we shall always have to face trials and temptations. As it says in the Book of Job - "What is man's life on earth but a time of temptation?"
That is why we should treat our temptations as a serious matter and endeavour by vigilance and prayer to keep the devil from finding any loophole. Remember that the devil never sleeps, but goes about looking for his prey.
There is no one so perfect or holy that they never meet temptation; we cannot escape it altogether.

Yet temptations often bring great benefits, even if they are disagreeable and a great burden; for in temptation a man is humbled, purified and disciplined.
All the saints passed through many trials and temptations, and that was how they made spiritual progress, while those who could not stand up to temptation fell away and lost their salvation.

However holy a religious order may be, however remote a place, temptations and difficulties will still be found there.
Man is not entirely safe from temptation as long as he is alive, because the source of temptation lies within us - we are born in concupiscence.
When one trial or temptation leaves us, another takes its place, and we will always have something to endure, because we have lost the blessing of human happiness.

Many people try to run away from temptation and all they do is fall more heavily. We cannot be victorious if we only run away, but patience and true humility will give us strength to defeat every enemy.
A man will not make much progress if he rejects the actual temptation but fails to root out its actual cause. The temptation will soon come back and he will suffer worse.

It is by slow degrees, by patience and long suffering with the help of God that you will win the victory, not by harshness and impatience.
When you are tempted, seek guidance often from others; and do not yourself deal harshly with someone else who is tempted, but comfort him as you would wish to be comforted yourself....

...For this reason we should not despair when tempted, but beseech God all the more fervently, to aid us in His mercy in every kind of distress; for, as St Paul says:

"With the temptation itself, He will ordain the issue of it, and enable you to hold your own"

...Trials and tribulations test what progress a man has made; it is there that merit is found, and virtue better revealed.
It is no great thing for a man to feel fervour and devotion to God when he is not troubled; but if he patiently maintains his spiritual state in a time of adversity, then there is hope of great progress.


And do not forget, either, your Guardian Angel:

O my good Angel whom God hath appointed to be my Guardian.

Enlighten and protect, direct and govern me this day/night and for evermore.

Amen