Portsmouth Roman Catholic

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person — among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life. ... Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law...Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense” ( CCC 2270 - 2272 ). There is not room for conscience in this.  If you love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, then you love all He creates, even the baby in the womb.

At the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under The earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10,11 One day every parish priest will put down a kneeler to facilitate Roman Catholics who want to knee..  Those who believe they are equal to God and stand can take their chances at the judgement but let Roman Catholics practice their Faith.

It is nice to be nice.   It was a relief for many 'catholics' when the lie was spread after Vatican II that the Church no longer considered itself to have the 'fullness of revelation'   That it was a lie is easily proved by the document on the Constitution of the Church which went through teaching and emphasised the infallibility of the Magisterium.    But as I say it was much nicer to lie and be liked than be faithful to Christ and being disliked.   Those who held on to the truth were dismissed as 'triumphalist' and treated as the lowest of the low.     We had a new Church based on what an educated elite wanted and the teachings of Jesus were dismissed. But when did this begin.  It started with a small band of well organised bishops at Vatican II who quickly seized control and ran the whole affair.  When a document on Our Lady was being introduced the German bishop, Karl Rahner, stood up and stated that this would put the ecumenical movement back ten years.  

"All Authority is given to me in Heaven and on Earth go then to all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all I have commanded  you, and behold I am with you always, even until the end of the world"  Matthew 28. The above is what Jesus Christ commanded his Church to do. and so when the question is asked "What makes a parish pleasing to God?" then this is His answer.  There is a going out to preach his word, there is the acceptance and baptising of people, and there is the authority of his preaching being   taught to the people. So how does your parish and your parish priest follow Christ?.   Does your priest teach with the Authority of Christ or does he mumble something about not 'forcing' anything on people and not preaching on Catholic matters because it might offend someone and put a halt to a happy community. Does he care about the lack of young people in his Church and th

This afternoon I went to the reception of the body of a very good friend John Crawley into St Josephs. In about 3 months he had died fro Pancreatic Cancer. He now lies in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. His funeral tomorrow is at 1.30 pm. I reflected on how quickly death can come when we are old and how many of the people I knew at St Josephs who were members of the Rosary Group have now passed on. The strange thing is thatI I can now reflect on my own  death with few misgivings. Perhaps I have about ten years left and although I will not be leaving instructions for my Canonisation I trust God will be kind to me despite my faults which were all too obvious to others. I will be leaving the world to the young, many who believe that it will be almost an eternity before they are old. But when old they will ask why time flew so quickly. Many of them may feel they do not have the same chances as I had or someone else has but I say to them do not live with the head but live wi

In the days when young people found the Church attractive, before the 'scholars' came along and drove them out, there was a great deal of interest in an 11 year old Italian Girl who had died defending her purity.  Her name was Maria Goretti.   For some time a 21 year old neighbour Alessandro had been trying to seduce her but she had resisted.  Eventually he caught her alone in her house.  He attacked her and she struggled and pleaded "Alessandro, if you do this you will go to hell"   She continued to fight and eventually he took a knee and stabbed her 14 times.   Later in hospital as she was dying Maria was asked about Alessandro.  She replied "I forgive him and I want him to be in Heaven"   Alessandro was imprisoned and told people that it was Maria who attacked him and she was a slut.  Then one night he had a dream.   He saw Maria coming towards him with a bunch of 14 Lillies.   She gave them to him one by one, a forgiveness for each stab wound.    Alessan

The title was the answer Jesus gave to the rich young man when he asked what was the greatest Commandment.   He went on to say "And the second is like unto this, you will love your neighbour......" How many actually grasp that the second actually comes after the first.   That the first thing in any Christian life is to love God.   Many priests and bishops are very good at telling the people that God loves them and then going on to deny the existence of sin and hell, and anything that is disagreeable and would make them not very popular.   It is an easy role.  We can say many lovely things about God in our lives and arouse the feel good factor and teach people to be very smug in the knowledge that God loves them and that is the only thing that is important.   What is not so good is that we almost have a duty because of His love to love Him in return. But how can we show that we love God.  Now that is very difficult today since Catholics take their values  in England more fro

When tongues of fire appeared over the Apostles it was their Confirmation ceremony.   They were given the gift of spreading the Gospel through the gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Council, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord.  It was not just a speech by Peter that made the crowds convert it was the Apostles going among them and answering their questions, meeting their objections, and with the Holy Ghost in fire in them bringing people to the Kingdom. They were just ordinary fishermen with no degrees or great learning and many of them probably could not read or write, but the graces they had from God were sufficient. I remember once being in Newcastle as a lay person working in a parish.  A lady had asked myself and a partner to visit them in the evening since she felt her husband might want to talk about the Catholic Faith and she was eager for his conversion.   I was just in my early twenties and my colleague was a girl of eighteen.  Nevertheless we offered prayers in

In that letter we find written: ‘The final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about Marriage and the Family.’ Don't be afraid, she added, because whoever works for the sanctity of Marriage and the Family will always be fought against and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue. Then she concluded: ‘nevertheless, Our Lady has already crushed his head’.” Cardinal Caffarra added that “speaking again with John Paul II, you could feel that the family was the core, since it has to do with the supporting pillar of creation, the truth of the relationship between man and woman, between the generations. If the foundational pillar is damaged, the entire building collapses and we're seeing this now, because we are right at this point and we know it.” “And I am moved when I read the best biographies of Padre Pio,” the cardinal concluded, “about how this man was so attentive to the sanctity of marriage and the holiness of the spouses, even with jus

It was nearly forty years ago when I saw a girl about 11 on top of a 9 yer told girl on the pavement smacking her on the face.    I separated them and they told me they were sisters.  "I'll get her when you're gone" snapped the older girl.  "No you will not, I will walk her home"  I replied. It turned out they were daughters of a struggling single mother who had very little support in her own life.    As I got to know the family better I realised that the children were so deprived of the things other children had that any hope that they would grow up, marry, and live a secure life were very slim indeed.   The children actually went to a Catholic School and there were I am sure very caring people in that school who did their best for the children but I am sure in their hearts they knew what I knew that the future of these girls for a fulfilled life and a happy marriage were slim indeed.   They did not have a Father to come home and lift them up and cuddle th

We read the Gospel of Matthew today and something struck me about the passage that had never struck me before.  The reading was about the Son of Man taking his place on the Throne and separating the nation's, some on his right hand and some on his left.   Separating the sheep from the goats.  And he will say to the those on the right, "Come you who are blessed by my Father for I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me".  I was suddenly aware of something I had never understood in what followed.  When the people on the right asked "When were you hungry and we fed you, thirsty and we gave you a drink, a stranger and we welcomed you, naked and we clothed you"  You would think they would have known exactly what he meant.   But strangely they did not.   What was happening here was that their were such goodness in them that good works was not something they planned or thought through, nor  shou