Portsmouth Roman Catholic

When some time ago Kerry came on a fact finding mission to Syria he was looking for the moderate fighters to back against Assad.  When the Christians told him there we no moderates and they were persecuted by all the uprisings he left the room and reportedly slammed the door.   This was not what he wanted to hear.  But the answer was easy for him - just ignore the persecution of Christians and do not make it a measure of how tolerant or intolerant any faction might be. When the European Parliament decided on an open border despite advice from the United Nations that it would prove a disaster thousands came over the Mediterranean.   Among them were Christians hoping also for a new life.  There were reports of some being thrown overboard on the journey.  Then came the clashes in Germany where two ISIS flags were waved at the Police and Merkel at last realised that perhaps David Cameron by insisting on security could have been right.  She then raised the borders.  Meanwhile there were c

The eleven made their way to the mountain.."And when they saw him they fell to their knees though some hesitated"  Matthew 28. The words of the title refer of course to what St Paul wrote and the hymn is sung in many Christian Churches though the knee does not bow for that is something Roman Catholic.  In St Matthew  we read how the eleven fell to their knees.  Why?   Because this was not just a human but God Made Man and they knelt in submission and humility.  Yes, some hesitated, they still had doubts, but it was just a hesitation and eventually they too knelt with the others sharing that humility. When scripture attests to it, when generations practiced it, when God Made Man is present in the Sacred Host as He was on the mountain, why in the Portsmouth Diocese are there those who would come between Christ and his people.   Who would make us stand when we want to kneel, who would our God Made Man from the altars so that we cannot pray and Adore Him, and Yes, we even hav

He condemned abortion, he condemned the enforcement of Western lifestyles on the weaker nations, he could have mentioned though it was blackmail for Aid.   But on the whole the Pope was very orthodox when it came to Catholicism, as indeed he always has been if you find out what he said rather than listening to what some said he said   This is why he was elected Pope, to teach the Catholic Faith. Unfortunately when he tries to be an expert on matters he has no calling to, such as Climate Change he makes matters very difficult for himself.  Very few members of Congress or the UN really cared about Catholic Teaching on morality and politely clapped and wished him well, but no thank you.   The business about Climate Change however was something they could use - yes, after a campaign of refusing Universities any grants if they did not teach Climate Change and humans being responsibility, after using the standard plan of telling a lie over and over until it became the truth, and after sneer

In my town there is the beautiful Church of the Holy Ghost.  When my new daughter-in-law of just last Saturday wanted to marry, coming from a non religious background she went around Basingstoke to decide which Catholic Church she wanted to marry in.   One was a most definite no and in that she has followed many, one was a maybe, but the winner by far was the Holy Ghost.   It is a Church full of beautiful religious art.   Although the altar rails were smashed by the Spirit of Vatican II people it remains a beautiful place to worship God. When the parish relocated to another part of town the Holy Ghost was left empty although services are held there and Masses said a couple of times each week.    Now I know many will be asking why did they not ask a religious order to take over?  The answer is that the powers that be did not ask any and to ease their conscience said no Order would be interested - although one already was.     The truth is that religious orders are very risky for they c

"We must not get involved, we only make matters worse!"   That is the usual response to any question of military involvement against ISIS.    Well it is true our interventions have usually made a mess of things but that is because we always attacked the wrong people.    There is a mental disease that makes the Western leaders think that all they have to do is set up democracies.    They do not understand the tribal nature of peoples in the middle East that makes peace between them impossible unless there is a dictatorship. But there is another point that the West ignores.  Under both Saddam Hussein and Giraffe Christians were free from persecution and could practice their faith freely.   When both of these were removed Christians were rounded up, told to move on, or executed.   Saddam Hussein did not do this, Giddafi did not do this, and President Assad of Syria does not do this.   Yet while Christians are tortured and beheaded or crucified, women, girls and young children

One of the memories of a former bishop of the Diocese was a movement he started which had something to do with Bearing Fruit.  Those who refused to join his march forward were described in his book as people preferring the safety of their huts than coming out into a great new world he was leading us towards.    Seeing what was going on I figuratively bolted the doors in case I was dragged out. But time moved on and the promised fruits never materialised but what did was a diocese financially and spiritually bankrupt.   One could hope that even the most anti-catholic in the parishes would have looked back in shame at how so many young people were estranged from the Church and simply ask the question why, but no, they are still there guiding and misleading the parishes and openly attacking  Catholic teaching.  Now in my parish Alpha has been introduced which claims to be the Catholic version.   Alpha was started by the Evangelical wing of the Church of England and is devoted to the Hol

There is a great battle raging in the Church about the Pope and his statement on streamlining Annulments.    He is making it too easy cry some; he is simply making welcome changes cry others. For those of us who live in the real world and listen to its voice Annulments have been one of the greatest scandals in the Church over the past fifty years.   Such was the ease that they were granted in many dioceses that if a couple split up then their relatives immediately told them that they should get an annulment and start again.  Indeed many young men and women took this for granted.   What amazed me was the number of Catholics even in my own family who would still claim that an annulment was not a divorce.   And Protestants just laughed at such hypocrisy.  Of course if the Bishop is following Christ and the Church and not his "I know better mentality" then there is no problem.  People just worry about the bishops who being more human than Jesus will had them out with ease.   Bu

I am one hundred per cent behind the Pope on this.  If religious communities, but let me go further "parishes", use property for profit then they should not receive tax exemption.   But the Pope was speaking in the context of the refugee problem and certainly using property for profit instead of using such property as a charity is unchristian. I may have made myself unpopular recently by pointing out that such properties exist within  Catholic parishes, but I can now today quote the Pope in my defence.     Let us not start yet again raising money from parishioners then rushing to the housing market until other means have been identified and the clergy played their part.  

All AUTHORITY is given to me in Heaven and on Earth, go therefore and baptise all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL I HAVE COMMANDED YOU.   MATTHEW 28. If anyone says they will take you back to basics on the Catholic Faith that is where they must start.  They must recognise that Jesus passed on His AUTHORITY to the Church.   He did not authorise a book to be written and leave each individual to struggle with the book and at the end 'follow their own conscience' He did not just teach people to love one another and give to the poor He wanted his Will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.    What would his will be?  That through a moral framework we would indeed be able to find Heaven on earth and he gave us this moral framework in the things he had commanded to the apostles which his followers would observe. This moral framework is built around the family.   Mark 10 tells us how Jesus spoke out fiercely ag

Readers will know that over the past few weeks my faith in British MP's has been at an all time low.  It was therefore a very pleasant experience for me to listen to the debate this morning in Parliament on the Assistant Suicide Bill.   There were to my surprise many doctors and nurses among the members who in talking about the Hospice Movement and Palliative Care made defeat of the Bill inevitable.   At the moment we have a bereavement in our family and I was struck especially by an SNP member Philippa Whitford who gave an amazing account of how Hospices also worked with families throughout the care of their loved one.  I really learned so much.    What keeps assisted suicide in the headlines is the fear of death experienced by the family and that feeling of hopelessness.   She gave much hope.   I will be writing to her.   Of course Christians should not fear death and we should see dying as a time of love and mercy and be there with our prayers and for the warmth we can bring to

I really got angry this morning.   The Biased Broadcasting Corporation I am used to but when politicians jump in with their nonsense trying to prove their humanity I reach for the sick bowl.   We have a situation in Syria where people are being rounded up and murdered, where men are being beheaded by savages and some put in a net and burned alive.  Where women, girls and even children are being shared out as sex slaves, not to mention the usual killing by bombs and bullets.   It is from this that the refugees are fleeing and we are being so very kind, yes, you can come into my home but please do not ask us to get involved in a war we would just make the region unstable.   I have never heard such hypocrisy.  What could be worse than the brutality the people in Syria face.  What could be so worse that it destabilised the region?    But again wearing their 'humanity' on their sleeve, certain politicians began attacking the 'real' enemy - the Conservatives.    The public wa

Like most people I was horrified by the sight of a child dead on the beach.    Like most people I would gladly open up my home to many of the refugees.  Like most people I deplore the war in Syria and the savagery of ISIS.   However I go further and ask questions which the BBC and the Left do not want asked.   Certainly Germany was very generous in its willingness to accept refugees.  But we heard nothing from France or other European countries, they were deaf to Chancellor Merkel.   In Britain of course David Cameron became a figure of hate because of his refusal to get involved in the European crisis.    Instead he sought the poorer immigrants who are suffering in camps bordering Syria and do not have the money to pay for passage over the Mediterranean.    Was this wrong?   Certainly the left would have you believe this to be the case even though the European migrants are paying their way to Germany.  But why did the President of Hungary say he did not want Moslems.   Was he just bei

Let us give the benefit of the doubt to the Pope.   He has introduced a Year of Mercy and he seems to know what he wants from it although it is not quite clear to the rest of us.   Perhaps there are people in our lives we need to reconcile with whatever their offences against us.    Perhaps we will be called to give just a little more of our time to our neighbour and do the Spiritual Works of Mercy to those in need.   Yes, I am sure there are lots of things, good things we can do.    The trouble is that at this moment it is a fuzzy and the Pope is very unclear in what he expects. Unfortunately the first things he has pointed to has only sown more confusion.    Yes, it is good that he has declared ordinary priests can now forgive abortion in Confession for those who have repented but the confusion is that priests already do this and if there are bishops who have reserved the right to forgive abortions to themselves or delegates nobody has yet pointed to one.   So who is Francis gettin