Portsmouth Roman Catholic

I remember once having a conversation with a journalist from the Catholic Herald.  It was text messaging.  When I put my case he replied that he could not really discuss things with me because I was not of the same intellectual level.    I replied that he should not be so hard on himself since he did at times write good articles.    But seriously I could not believe the pride and arrogance of the fellow.  But this has been in the Church now since the Spirit of Vatican II and ordinary Catholics have been downgraded in their knowledge of the Faith and replaced by so called 'experts' who must be believed because they have a degree or have sold books and ordinary Catholics are just ignorant. Let me give examples.  The expert who told us that the Real Presence is not physical or spiritual but somewhere in between.  A Strange Idea. The expert who in a local school told members of the Diocese that the priest did not change the bread and wine int...

Many blogs are hard to understand since they go into terms and theology not readily understood by the ordinary laity.    I liked this statement on Marriage however by Bishop Fellay of the Society of St Pius X.  It is clear and understandable                                                                                                                             " Given current errors and civil legislation against the sanctity of marriage and the purity of morals, the natural law allows no exceptions, because God in His infinite wisdom, when He gave His law, foresaw all cases and all circumstances, unlike human legislators. Therefore so-called situation ethics, where...

Those who did not experience the aftermath of Vatican II will never be able to comprehend how a Council of the Church was used by anti-catholics within, to abuse the laity by attacking belief in the Real Presence in the  Blessed Sacrament, smashing altar rails to prevent people kneeling, removing the Tabernacle to some other place other than the altar, attacking Catholic Devotions especially to Mary, claiming that the Catholics in the Pre-Vatican Church were living in fear of Hell and damnation, and of course 'how judgemental' they were.    Not one of these changes were to be found in Vatican II and on the contrary many were reaffirmed in the document 'The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church"   Because in the Catholic Church priests were held in high esteem by the laity they were readily believed by their parishioners.   But to be fair many good priests were led astray as 'experts' arrived from Universities and Colleges giving their worldly interpretation of th...

The Synod experience also made us better realize that the true defenders of doctrine are not those who uphold its letter, but its spirit; not ideas but people; not formulae but the gratuitousness of God’s love and forgiveness. This is in no way to detract from the importance of formulae, laws and divine commandments, but raather to exalt the greatness of the true God, who does not treat us according to our merits or even according to our works but solely according to the boundless generosity of his Mercy (cf. Rom 3:21-30; Ps 129; Lk 11:37-54). It does have to do with overcoming the recurring temptations of the elder brother (cf. Lk 15:25-32) and the jealous labourers (cf. Mt 20:1-16). Indeed, it means upholding all the more the laws and commandments which were made for man and not vice versa (cf. Mk 2:27). The above was said by the Pope after the Synod.   In its  context it is very humble and reassuring and not judgemental of anyone.   The media and the modernist p...

About half of all marriages in this country end in divorce or separation.   Thousands of children grow up without a Mum or a Dad in their everyday life.   Ask the schools in England if this is true and they will affirm this.  It has been getting worse and worse.   And children of divorced parents have a pretty greater chance of ending up divorced themselves.  They underachieve at school and they have a poor self image in many many cases.  There is so much unhappiness. We have all met them because there is hardly a family free from this curse either in the immediate or extended setting   Time and again there are pieces to pick up by parents or grandparents, there are tears to wipe or hearts to mend.  What a wonderful thing it would have been if at the Synod on the Family the Bishops had just acknowledged once that this was the real problem.   But no, it was all about the rights of divorced people to receive Holy Communion or the rights of Gays...

Let us go back to Jesus.  He is standing there before a crowd as depicted in Mark 10.  As Jews they would be following the law of Moses and there would be among them people who had divorced their wives in accordance with Jewish law by issuing a writ of divorce.  They would have compassionate families with them, who like people today regretted that the marriage was not a faithful one.  It would be very much like the congregation in many of our English parishes.   A decision was made to test Jesus and find out if indeed He was a man of compassion and would agree with Moses.   So the question of divorce was raised. Unlike many of the clergy of today however Jesus took no refuge in the subterfuge known as 'pastoral concern' which means in practice avoiding the question and remaining popular.   The Truth which Jesus had come to bear witness to was to be announced boldly and unequivocally.   Yes, there are many who finding no comfort in his answer wou...

When a faithful Catholic broadcasting corporation like EWTN finds itself floundering to make sense of what is happening at the Synod of the Family then we know the Church is in great danger.   We were slow to catch on to the corruption which took place during and after Vatican II because we trusted that the Church was united at all levels including the Vatican.  We were unprepared for the onslaught of those prelates planted by Soviet Russian or from the intrigue of Freemasonry.  We believed all in the Vatican were holy men doing their best and truly Catholic in thought word and deed.    What a shock we got as the teachings of Christ were abandoned and Catholic devotions were mocked as childish by these new 'mature adults'    Now in many parishes we who have remained faithful are mocked as pitiable by ruling cliques who have 'moved on'.    They may not be able to change us but they have our children in the schools and in preparation programmes...

We now know that only one in five people crossing into Europe are fleeing the war in Syria.   This is from Eurostat the publication of the irresponsible European Parliament which started the mess of human trafficking in the first place by announcing an open border.   The United Nations warned them in April of the folly, many MEP's warned them, but they decided to take the Moral High Ground nevertheless.    Once the numbers of immigrants started increasing there was panic.   Even the welcoming Germans at last saw the folly and set up borders especially when their police was faced with immigrants waving ISIL flags.   That of course is something the European Parliament has completely ignored - that they have brought the war in Syria into Europe and we are now waiting for the bombs to go off. Having said this I will be immediately accused of scaremongering by those on the moral high ground.    Let me assure you that I have every sympathy for the man...

From the Polish Bishops there is no condemnation of the divorced and remarried but rather encouragement                                                                                                                                                                               "The situation of divorced persons living in new unions would then be a situation in which they are deprived of the sacramental grace linked to the sacrament of marriage, the sacrament of Penance and Holy Communion, but they should not be, by definition, deprived of God’s grace in gener...

I found myself in a difficult situation this morning when I approached the altar to receive Holy Communion.   I suddenly found that the priest was not distributing the host.   This was no fault of his since he was an old man filling in and did not have the legs to stand but hobbled around on a stick.   Facing me with the hosts was a woman who had professedly 'moved on' from the Catholic Faith and who certainly did not share the Catholic belief in the Holy Sacrament.  There was also a very young man distributing but he was too young and I did not know his beliefs.  I decided to refrain from receiving and just walked around the first bench and back up the side aisle.    I do not think anyone noticed. But is it not something scandalous when people with anti-catholic beliefs have such a grip on the parish that even reverence for the Blessed Sacrament has gone.  Any Tom, Dick, or Harriet can handle the Body of Christ and become what is called a "Euch...

In his speech to the Conservative Conference today David Cameron spoke about solving the social problems of the nation.   It was a touching speech and he obviously was sincere.  What did he talk about.   He was talking about children in care growing up almost inevitably to live in poverty, and so many committed suicide, while 70 per cent of prostitutes grew up in Childrens' Homes, you can add to his list drugs, failed relationships and single mothers if they are allowed to keep their offspring.   It it just one terrible mess.   Of course this is another group of people 'just outside the Church door' that few Church people give any attention to whatsoever.  If you can't raise funds or sell cakes it seems in a Church without vision there is nothing we can do. But yet again the answer was given by Jesus Himself and the answer is marriage and family.   the moral teachings of Jesus are dismissed too easily these days as ideals we can forget about for they...

Today the Synod began and in the Churches in England and Wales the Gospel was on Mark 10 and the unequivocal condemnation of Divorce by Jesus.  Well we know his position but then many priests will woe that they have to preach on this and many others will just ignore it.  They will be facing congregations where half will be divorced and their minds will be filled with thoughts of not being popular, so they will not teach as Christ taught, and it was all right for Christ to risk unpopularity but they cannot possibly hurt people - it is not Christian or should I say Xtian.   Well perhaps I am being too judgemental but one thing should be faced up to by these clergy and that is that they are in this mess because THE CHURCH FAILED TO TEACH THE GOSPEL AND WHEN THE GOSPEL WAS CHALLENGED THEY DID NOT HAVE THE GUTS TO STAND BESIDE JESUS.   So they carry on being popular and doing absolutely nothing to change the situations that time and again they find themselves in - just be...