Portsmouth Roman Catholic

I am, as my readers know, very faithful to the traditions of the Catholic Church.   I did not like the changes brought in by the Spirit of Vatican II, and since I was never allowed to discuss them in the parish I resorted to the pen which is mightier than the sword and upset many. There is one thing that I did not openly criticise and that was the use of girls as altar servers.    Listening to the objections of other traditionalists I was never quite convinced of their arguments.    Yes parents were enthusiastic about their sons being on the altar for being an altar server was seen as the first step towards the priesthood.    Yes, and in many cases it worked.   It helped the boys discern their vocation and move on, but what about the possible religious vocation of the girls?   Then there was the argument that the sanctuary was a male only place.    Yes, I have some sympathy with this one since I am totally in agreement that priests and deacons are 'in persona Christi', and sh

A mother is vital to a family.   If the children  have lost something they turn to mother and she usually knows where it is.   Mother ensures their clothes are washed and ironed, that they are ready for school, that they go to parties properly dressed, that when they return from school they are looked after and have a dinner provided for them if she cannot be there.   She worries about them most of the day and she is there to comfort them when they are hurting inside.   Mothers are ready to die for their children. But what happens when mother is not there?   OK, there are good fathers and a few may be the exception to my next remark but on the whole that emotional comfort a mother can give is almost irreplaceable.   Mothers are natural homemakers.   I am writing this in a country where an establishment is brainwashing the nation into thinking there are no differences in gender.   While it is not all their fault since so many of them have been deprived of a normal family life, what

Why does Mary want her children to say the Rosary?  She appeared and said the Rosary with Bernadette at Lourdes, and to the children of Fatima she gave herself the title of Our Lady of the Rosary.   One would expect within the Catholic Church then that every Catholic would be only too willing to say the Rosary.   One would also expect that in Catholic Schools there would be time set aside for the recitation of the Rosary.    Yet this is not the case, though there is a growing number of teachers who do   When the Reformers took over the Church and Catholic Education in the seventies they followed up the claim that Mary was bad for Ecumenism by claiming we did not really need Mary at all.    I remember speaking up at one stage when even  the recitation of the Hail Mary after the bidding prayers at Mass was being dropped.    And yet still devotion to Mary is attacked, though thank God by a smaller number of people. I remember someone speaking up once to a group of people and saying &qu

As I continue my reading of the Glories of Mary many things I understood roughly have become clear.   Alphonsus quotes many theologians and saints who tell us that the Church began on Calvary when the work of Redemption began.   Jesus in his humanity suffered for the world but the offering of Himself to the Father was in some ways patrolled by the offering of Jesus to the Father by Mary through her own sufferings.   She stood at the foot of the Cross for all mankind and for all who have offered Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offering their own hearts and souls. Then Jesus turned to her and his disciple John.   "Woman behold your son, son behold your Mother"   Notice that he did not say Mother behold John, John behold your Mother.    He used the word first quoted in  Gnesis about a Woman who would crush the Serpents Head while it lay in wait for her heel.   He was addressing Mary as that woman.   Then he referred to John as Mary's Son and goes on to call him Son

The Glories of Mary is book written by St Alphonsus Liguori.   He wrote as he approached his death because of the wonderful part Mary the Mother of Jesus had played in his life.    He wanted to explain the role that Mary played in our salvation and the wonderful relationship she had with her son Jesus As a Catholic I grew up hearing phrases like Mary is a Co-Redemptirix or the Mediatrix of All Graces and the vague ideas I was taught made sense and I was ready to believe.   But this book proved very challenging even in the Pre-Vatican II world because it took the vague ideas and put more reality onto them.   As a young man I thought perhaps it was all over the top which is why recently I remembered the book and decided that with the 'wisdom of age'  I would read it again.   This time I am enthralled.   Alphonsus goes into the debt Jesus owed her for undertaking to be his mother and making the Salvation of Mankind possible.   There is a wonderful description of Jesus being th

Homosexuality is a difficult subject to discuss   There are those who will be reading this to criticise and object if I say one word wrong and are ready to call he police or the press and others who will be criticising and objecting if I do not fiercely condemn the action..    So we are all inclined to keep our heads down. Most of us think of the type cast like "The Only Gay in the Village' in Little Britain and believe this represents homosexuals.   Or perhaps those walking naked in Pride Marches who have 'come out'  and now defy society are our models.    But there are a large number of Gays who do not behave in this way, and believe that their sexuality is their own private affair and they do not see it as the most important thing in their lives.   There are also the 'forgotten ones'  those who have homosexual attraction but practice celibacy. But in whatever way they deal with the same sex attraction they are people created by God, loved by God, and Jes