Posts

Showing posts from 2016

Let us not pretend this has nothing to do with Us

By Andrew Parrish Pewsitter.com Dec. 30th, 2016 ROME (katolisches.info) – The painful tension of doubt grows stronger with each day that Pope Francis refuses to answer the questions posed by the “Four Cardinals” regarding His Holiness’ statement on marriage,  Amoris Laetitia . The doubt itself has metastasized dramatically since the  “dubia” letter ’s release two months ago. As Church hierarchy continues to publicly declare allegiance with one or the other side, giving strength to the impression of a fractured Church, the unnecessary viciousness of Papal confidants’ rebukes to the Four, strange rumors of a Pope “boiling with rage,” a “police-state Vatican atmosphere,” and Francis apparently declaring he will “go down in history as the divider of the Church,” have all led to rapidly increasing fear and concern in this bizarre and twisting story. Most puzzling of all, to those desperately trying to preserve the benefit of the doubt, is the Pope’s continued silence. It is thus wort

THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS; On being Pro-Life, Pro-Family, and Pro-Catholic.

Even as I write this babies are being cut to pieces in the same way that Herod killed the innocent in Bethlehem.  And these babies like the Bethlehem ones are being killed for the same reason - they pose a threat.   In my younger days I worked hard in the Life movement.  I marched on the streets, wore my pro-life badge and for 4 years running i collected money at every Mass in my parish and a neighbouring one.  I gave out those little stick on Flowers of SPUC to almost everyone and only in one occasion did a feminist rebuke me although others were not quite happy and its soon ended.   "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth..." we say every Sunday.  As a Catholic I fervently believe what I say and that that little being in the womb was created by God.  Although there are Catholics who disagree thank God they are still not in the majority although they do well to silence the Church.   Again just like my argument on divorce and remarriage I do not lis

The Holy Family

Back in the 70's and 80's when the Adult Faith was discovered and conscience justified bad manners one of the subjects I heard discussed was the Holy Family  Apparently they were not real family models.  Apparently without sex Joseph and Mary were not quite what a husband and wife should be.     So they lived an unnatural life.   Well that was the Liberal extreme I suppose.  But equally I remember when one of those first Nativity stories was shown on TV where Mary was presented as young girl with the hopes and dreams of other young girls, and talked about marriage to Joseph as other young girls did, then this was also frowned on. Mary is often thought of as a serious person.   We assume she just spent her time at home and to the other girls in Nazareth she was probably the little prude who never came to play, to laugh, or to tell stories.  She was too busy being holy.   But what was Mary really like?   Was she an athletic girl who could outrun her friends?   Did she have a go

Apologia

When I wrote recently about the Pope I was responding to people in the Vatican like Cardinal Kasper who now see the question that Divorce and Remarried people can receive Holy Communion as now settled and he now wants people of other Faiths to receive in the Catholic Church. There are others like Cardinal Marx and Cardinal Schonborn who share his opinion. I never attacked the Pope openly but advised that he cannot sit back and allow the Church to be split on this issue or  the Church will cease to exist. I put forward as my defence Jesus Christ himself in Matthew 19. My opponents, and I have them, should be guided by either the scriptures or the Church. immediately after the discourse on Divorce and Remarriage people brought children to Jesus and the disciples tried to stop them coming but Jesus said "Let the children come for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs" What did he mean? He had just told people many of them who would be divorced and remarried u

THE POPE MUST SPEAK.

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH? Let me make one serious point, there is a vast difference between following the mercy of Jesus and following the natural goodness of human nature. The latter may seem to be good and kind but it often lacks the vision of the whole situation. In the Catholic Church today we have priests and bishops consumed with this natural goodness and believe in the easy solution of just allowing people to do what they want they are doing their pastoral work. The latest on Amores Laetitia is that bishops in Atlantic Canada are now proposing to give the last rites to those who have decided to commit suicide or euthanasia. Yes they are, they claim, following the spirit of Pope Francis in the document. No use trying to tell them that actually by giving the last rites you are making euthanasia something desirable and pre[judging the position of God, they are actually behaving like God. But heck it is only these bishops other bishops have their points of v

It seems it is all just a misunderstanding. It is just dissidents shouting about unimportant matters.

There seems last weekend to have been an assault on Cardinals and little people like me for daring to ask for clarity on the subject of the Divorce and Remarriage as taught in Amores Laetitia.   At the Synod we know that there all kinds of games going on where those who were appointed to talk to the media were misleading the media in what was actually happening.  There was actually little discussion the Synod members told us on the divorce and remarried yet in the media we could read that there was a cliff hanger of 50 to 50 on the subject.  But then that was just another example of the Spirit of Vatican II still alive and well in the Church.   It was not what the Bishops said it was what they meant to say.   For my part I read Amoris Laetitia with the knowledge that the contents were from the Synod of Bishops rather than the Pope himself.   Thee was of course not mention whatsoever about the divorced and remarried receiving Holy Communion.   What was mentioned was the Pastoral Are o

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

When I was 5 years old I went to a Catholic School.  It was the same school my parents had attended and even my grandparents had attended.  Communities in any part of the city of Glasgow never changed much and even the teachers did not live far from the school.  The teachers were all practicing Catholics who were completely devoted to the Catholic Faith indeed one of the reasons Catholic schools in Scotland could admit only Catholic children was that the half hour given every day to religion was taken off the summer holidays so that teachers and children always went back earlier than Protestant schools.  There is an awful lot of rubbish talked by the reformers about the Latin Mass.   People said the Rosary or just sat lost as the priest mumbled on in Latin which nobody understood.   T1!he fact is that we sang hymns at Mass and we also sang the parts the Mass that the congregation sings today.  At the Sanctus we sang Benedictus Qui vent in nominee Domine, Hosanna in excelsis.  And we4 u

Why Can I Not Kneel for Communion?

Apparently the 'scholastic' magazine the Tablet has been attacking Bishop Egan and the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate at Gosport.  There is a well written refutation of the accusations by  Ray Blake but I will put my thoughts around the subject of 'being forced to kneel for Communion' based on my personal experience.   I was at a meeting about a year ago when a lady from Gosport first raised the subject.  She complained that she was being 'forced to kneel for Communion' by the Friars and Bishop  Egan was behind it.   It turned out that she was a 'convert' and I do not know if she is the lady who was one of those making the complaint.   My past life flashed before me.   I remember the altar rails being pulled down in my parish since apparently this was the wish of Vatican II.  No kneeler was put in place for it was decided that everyone should stand and receive in the hand.  Was this the wish of the parishioners?  No, but  God help anyone who complai

WITHOUT THE SUBSTANTIAL AND REAL PRESENCE THE MASS HAS NOT MEANING.

In a past blog we looked at the prophecy of Malachi that there would be a pure sacrifice among gentile nations and how that prophecy has been fulfilled from the rising of the sun until its setting by Masses being offered up in every part of the world.  We noted how St Paul in Hebrews brought the offering of bread and wine by Melchizedek though not a Jew as proof that though Jesus was not of the tribe of Aaron he could in similar fashion be recognised by the people as a High Priest.   But why were sacrifices offered.   Was it to please God so that battles could be won, Israel coulee become powerful, or was it just a meaningless tradition.   At the very end of Machabees 2 and the last words of the Old Testament we find that Judas Machabees after a great battle gathered all the dead soldiers and  gave them burial.  He then sent offerings to Jerusalem so that their souls could be saved for as the writer said if there was not resurrection such a thing would have been foolish, nevertheless s

THIS PETITION IS VERY WRONG BUYT AFTER FIFTY YEARS OF TURNING FROM CHRIST WHO IS TO BLAME?

Lyndon Strong has been informed by the Diocese of Portsmouth (Bishop Philip) that he cannot apply for or take up the post of Head Teacher at St. Mary's RC School Gosport because of his personal circumstances Re-marriage. Mr Strong has been acting head at St. Mary's since Ms McIvor retired in 2015. He has enabled St. Mary's to express its catholicity, in a way that was never present before. He has created an atmosphere of love, kindness and a joy of learning, for both staff and children. He is an inspirational head teacher who has brought great stability to St. Mary's. This decision is a grave injustice to Mr Strong and will and will be detrimental for the  children who love and respect him. Another acting Head Teacher (already appointed by the Bishop) will be put in place  in January 2017. At no time was this discussed with the full Governing Body. THE PETITION LOOKS HONEST ENOUGH AND I AM SURE IT IS.   However what was meant by 'to express its Catholicity in

A GRAVE CRISIS IS FACING THE CHURCH.

When I read Amoris Laetitia I had no trouble with it.  As far as I was concerned I understood what accompanying people who were divorced and remarried really meant.   I had a case in my family where my son was living with an already married woman and they had two children together.   Could they go to Church?  Yes.   Should the priest encourage them?  Yes.  Why?  For the sake of the children and as the relationship changed with time they too would find it possible to live as sister and brother.  Perhaps I was reading the document with the Church as indeed when young I was encouraged to read the Gospel with the mind of the Church.   Unfortunately there are bishops in the Church who wanted Communion for the Divorced and Remarried.  From a human point of view of course it can be seen as caring and compassionate, but we are not part of a human organisation we are following the teachings of Jesus Christ which if implemented could change the word.  Jesus wanted a world without divorce and i

More on the Mass

Hebrews 7:15-17 And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."  ( NIV ) Jesus was never ordained a priest of the Jewish Faith.   He did not belong to the tribe of Aaron so his blood line did not allow him to become a Jewish priest.    The quote from St Paul then is to justify the title they were giving to Jesus as a priest who had offered himself and was calling others to do likewise who were not of that blood line.   But who is this Melchizedek? We have to go back to Genesis to find him.   A great battle had been fought, four kings against 5 in the land where Abram, later Abraham, In the land occupied by Abram's son Lot.   Although Abram was not involved his son Lot, his goods, and his women and servants were taken as

GREAT NEWS FOR THE PORTSMOUTH DIOCESE.

When the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate were appointed by our Bishop to Gosport they were an order under attacks which reached the level of the Satanic.  The media in Italy through every calumny against them which included misusing funds and property, cruelty in their order, rape, and even attempted murder.  A judge has recently put their case to the archives saying that  there is no evidence whatsoever against them and they have no case to answer   Our bishop is to be congratulated for bringing this wonderful order into our Diocese.  And now for the good news.            Radio Immaculata – “Bringing forth Christ through Mary” launches on 8th December, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception - an important day for both the Friars and the Diocese. The Marian Franciscans in Gosport are preparing to launch an all New Internet Radio Station, Radio Immaculata offering a mixture of live broadcasting and aud io on-demand. With all kinds of programmes, there should be something for e

WHERE DID THE MASS COME FROM?

In the early 1980's when my sons were young and attending a Catholic Primary School I attended a meeting of parents.  It was to discuss a new program 'Here I Am' on the Catholic Faith which was anything but.  One of the main concerns I and many faithful Catholic had with the programme is that the most important teaching on the Blessed Sacrament was missing in fact all teaching on the Blessed Sacrament had been omitted.    I expressed my concern that this would greatly destroy the Faith of the children.  Of course my words went unheard among the reformers and academics.   The Real Presence, the reverence and the Adoration that was part of my Catholic upbringing was removed from Catholic schools, to remove adoration the Tabernacle was moved in many parishes into a corner, and the inevitable happened -  and children lost their Faith.    Since it was not part of their teachings in school young people viewed as old fashioned the idea of the substantial presence of Jesus in the B

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR POPE FRANCIS

. The “Dubia” 1.    It is asked whether, following the affirmations of "Amoris Laetitia" (nn. 300-305), it has now become possible to grant absolution in the Sacrament of Penance and thus to admit to Holy Communion a person who, while bound by a valid marital bond, lives together with a different person "more uxorio" (in a marital way) without fulfilling the conditions provided for by "Familiaris Consortio" n. 84 and subsequently reaffirmed by "Reconciliatio et Paenitentia" n. 34 and "Sacramentum Caritatis" n. 29. Can the expression “in certain cases” found in note 351 (n. 305) of the exhortation "Amoris Laetitia" be applied to divorced persons who are in a new union and who continue to live "more uxorio"? 2.    After the publication of the Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Amoris Laetitia" (cf. n. 304), does one still need to regard as valid the teaching of St. John Paul II’s Encyclical "Veritatis S

MORE ON THE SUFFERING OF CHILDREN.

The Heartbreaking Rise of Suicide Among Young People Blessed are the children for whom the unconditional love of parents – and of God – reign supreme. Marcia Segelstein The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released statistics revealing that children ages 10 to 14 are now more likely to die from suicide than from traffic accidents.  The New York Times  called it an “unprecedented rise in suicide among children at such young ages.” In 2014, the CDC reports that 425 children in that age group committed suicide. And while more boys took their own lives than girls, the rate of increase for girls was sharply higher, tripling since its last report. Just a couple of weeks ago Kathy Schiffer  detailed  the tragic suicide of 11-year-old Bethany Thompson in Ohio, who was bullied by classmates over her “crooked smile.” While the reasons for suicide are complex, stories like Bethany’s and others often include reports of taunting and mocking by peers, either in person or

A Roman Catholic View on the American Election

It was perhaps the most vile election in modern times.  Both candidates were hell bent on destroying the character of the other that real discussion on policies never surfaced.   False accusations of what the other person stood for were common place.   What divided them for me was my Roman Catholic Faith.  On the one hand there was Hilary Clinton who seemed to think she had the infallibility of the Pope in the world arena when she said "Babies in the womb have no human rights".   She was a backer of free abortion in the Obamacare package but went much further.   She wanted to use her Clinton Foundation to spread free abortion throughout the world.   She was a great supporter of Planned Parenthood and had nothing but praise for the selling of the body parts of the babies, for after all the babies had no human rights.   Her e-mails were not criminal but in the last week the stories that emerged from the ones she claimed did not exist but were found, showed she had made a real m

The Masonic Lodge, the Papacy, and a new Ecumenical Church..

Because of some strange headlines I tuned in recently to a speaker for the Seventh Day Adventists and he was complaining about Ecumenism bringing about a  Christian Church that would then be under the Pope.    "That is why he was in Sweden celebrating the Reformation for that is what many Protestants want" I doubt if this is what many Protestants want but it sure is what the Freemasons want and in the Vatican they are pushing the buttons of Pope Francis.  I remember being at a meeting in a Church some time ago where local well paid bureaucrats of a former bishop were putting forward that the Pope's Supremacy was in love and not authority.   I had no idea what supremacy in authority meant but it seemed to mean nothing and anyway the audience did not question this - they no doubt understood because they were 'mature',   So there us a pattern here which started shortly after Vatican II.   Get rid of devotions, get rid of a Mass that Protestants do not understand,

What are the teachings that Jesus called His Gospel.

When the Reformers took over in the seventies in England there was a great deal of talk about the radical teachings of Jesus as regard to improving the equality of wealth.   Devotions and the Catechism and indeed the spiritual life itself was abandoned in order that the Church could play its part in relieving world poverty as the radical Jesus had apparently taught.   Of course appealing to our common humanity has its merits but soon this approach was not proving as popular among young people as they Reformers had hoped.  Not that they noticed mind you, even although young people were leaving in droves.  What they failed to notice is that the very things Jesus did champion was chastity and the indissolubility of marriage.   Sin was unimportant now since we could all buy our way into heaven by giving to the poor.   Unfortunately it was the children in the parishes they were making poor as marriage collapsed and they did nothing, as chastity destroyed our young people they claimed it did

CARDINAL NICHOLS: An out of touch voice in the Church of Today.

The BBC showed an interview this evening where Cardinal Nichols was discussing with an interviewer his thoughts on refugees.   He seems to have been asleep for a long time.  There has been substantial thinking about refugees among many people and distinctions made between refugees, economic migrants, and Islamic extremists.   He seems unaware that the figures given by the EU themselves show that 70% of the migrants are  young men, many having left their families behind and it is among these that the revolutionary Moslems are hiding.   He seems unaware of the criminal behaviour of these young men in Germany and Sweden and other countries   He also seems unaware that bombs are going off in France and Belgium which is causing fear among many who would otherwise be ready to invite them into their country.   He blames a climate of fear that has been created.   The climate of fear was not created by any group in this country it was caused by the terror they are seeing in the wake of the mi

Jesus, Our Eldest Brother

A great deal of responsibility is always placed on older brothers and sisters when looking after younger siblings.  They are older, stronger, and wiser and many girls will model themselves on their older sisters and boys likewise.   Although Jesus did not have brothers or sisters when he grew up he would have spent time with children of his own age and played their sports and laughed with them.   We have no record of Jesus as a child but when he visited his own town during his ministry they remembered him as the little boy growing up there who did not seem to be different from anyone else and no doubt thought that the was full of nonsense and this idea that Jesus was the Messiah, the boy who ran messages for his parents, and worked in the Carpentry business was just too much for them.   They only saw the very ordinary Jesus they had always known.    So Jesus our brother was just like everyone else as a boy and in his early manhood, so what happened.    People have scratched their heads

Mary the Mother of Jesus. The Greatest Saint Yet We Will not Listen to Her. She is not Ecumencal.

I wonder how many remember the seventies like I do.   There I was a Catholic trying to practice my faith and suddenly my parish was almost invaded by revolutionaries.   The Church had changed we were told, all those devotions and stuff are no longer necessary, and forget all that about the One True Church we do not have a monopoly of truth any more.   And by the way Mary is just a woman, a human like us.   Then Feminists from places of learning came long to talk about married priests and women priests and how celibacy was not really necessary.   Then all this Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament - it is only bread so why worship bread   Now they were charitable at times and realised as they said that some people did not take change easily.   My problem was that I did not take lies easily either.   But it was all very exiting - just like the French Revolution and although those of us as they described us 'were stuck' at least we were not taken to the guillotine, we were just igno

Your Anti-Catholic Candidate in the Election - Hilary Clinton. Has the Catholic Church the guts to fight back or is it now dead?

Adrienne – a visitor to our site from Destin, FLorida – writes: “ I’m deeply concerned by the anti-Church activity of our brother in Christ John Podesta and his friends. It is even more dangerous than their support for abortion and same-sex marriages, by itself. And I don’t want this issue to be talked round and forgotten. I’d be very glad if you could publish my piece, because the mood of ordinary believers is quite an important thing that unfortunately haven’t been properly covered by our media.” Clinton against the Vatican. Will the Holy See withstand? According to the  e-mails published by Wikileaks on October the 8th , Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chief John Podesta is the most influential man in Soros’s war against the Vatican. Having close financial ties between them, both the “left” billionaire and the Democratic Party leadership are in favor of legal widely available and federally funded abortions as well as of full public acceptance of same-sex marriage. At

TIM KAINE; THERE IS A HIGHER COURT THAN THE SUPREME COURT..

While professing to be a Catholic Tijm Kaine the would be Vice President demonstrates a violent hate for the Catholic Church.  Indeed he wants the Church outlawed if it maintains its stance on Gay Righyts and no doubt he enjoys like Hilary the thought of thousands of babies being butchered in the name of Women's Rights.  In his and Hilary Clintons opinion they are not human, so it is all a matter of opinion but her opinion but their opinions can be and will be enforced on the Catholic Church. What a dreadful pair. What is the Catholic stance on Gay Rights? It is that all Gays and LGBT people are children of God with all the dignity and rights that God who made them human gave them. God wants to build happiness in society and he made them male and female drew attention tu Himself by calling Himself a Father. In other words he built the world on the model of a family and gave us a mother in Mary. What does he ask of Gays and LGBT? He asks them to take part in the building of that  j

PRAY LIKE A CATHOLIC, EVANGELISE LIKE A CATHOLIC, BE AN APOSTLE AND SPREAD THE GOSPEL.

THE STREET ROSARY..........Started saying the Rosary in town this afternoon. A small beginning, I just sat on a seat and said the Rosary holding my beads. No fuss, just a small whisper to myself. But I am sure Mary was pleased. Why did I do this? The reason young people have no interest in the Church is that it is seen as something passive. You just go to Church and everyone is nice to you and you may be told Jesus loves you. But there is no feeling that there is a nything of importance they can do. Actually we are called to be apostles to spread the message of the Gospel, And the message of the Gospel is the you must take up your Cross, that is all the little sufferings you have you can offer untlimately to God, and in many cases like my own through Mary. WE are often quite happy to do the wrong things, the negative things, but reluctant to rejoice at the good things we do and offer them to God. It could be something as simple as being happy to wash the dishes instead of moaning. Offe

Mary of England

Mary of England, honoured was your name When first the Saxons to our Island came Kings knelt in homage, peasants sang your praise O how they loved you, in those bygone days Through fields and woodland pilgrims made their way Angelus bells rang people stopped to pray This was your Dowry, your beautiful place Mary of England, Hail Full of Grace Mary of England, come to us once more Shine brightly on us as you did before Gather your children, lost and torn apart Keep us together in your loving heart Lead us to Jesus take us by the hand How much he loves us, help us understand We need the warmth of a mother’s embrace Mary of England, Hail full of Grace. Mary of England as we sing your praise Nature’s great chorus joins in our Aves Birds from the tree tops sing so soft and sweet Flowers of great beauty bend before your feet Look down upon us from your throne above Joyful we send you rosaries of love Give us in darkness the light of your face