Portsmouth Roman Catholic

This is a Miracle of Love.   The God who humbled Himself to be born as one of us, the God who loved us so much that he died on the Cross to share in our sufferings, such love is beyond our understanding.  The third  Miracle of Love we see above, the Creator who is so obsessed with his creatures that he feeds them with the Body he took at the Incarnation.   We are not worthy of such love, we are sinners, we break his commands so many times without giving him the slightest thought then there are those who claim with utter stupidity that they are worthy of Him.   That is why kneeling was made difficult by the Reformers.   It is probably the greatest heresy that has entered the Church. Many of us still kneel, and many of us want to kneel.   It is time to give the people a choice by having a small kneeler brought out at Holy Communion so that those who want to kneel can kneel, and those who want to stand can stand.   Put to the people and not committees about 90% in any parish would ag

Christmas is over for another year.    Now we can take up our lives where we left off, there are the January sales, there are the household chores, there are the people next door to put up with, and there are holidays to plan and the need to have better phones, more luxuries in life, and flirt around with some boy or girl.   Christmas came and Christmas went. Still it is good to have a period of sentiment about babies in the manger and angels singing, messages of peace and goodwill, and forgiveness and being good friends.   But these things have nothing to do with the real world, do they?   We are back to wars, rape, knife stabbing and poverty.   So what is thIs Peace on Earth singing really mean?   We seem to have less Peace on Earth that there was at the time of Jesus. It would seem then that the coming of this baby was a failure.   He grew up and died on a Cross and for some time afterwards his followers tried to live his teachings.  In the early ages after his life Christians w

This is the Kearney Family at the Panto Snow White and the seven dwarfs. There are a few missing. Getting together for Christmas is so important. We are fortunate that we live in harmony with one another for the is not the case in so many families. Christmas is a time to put away feuds and fighting and come together. Being loved is so important for our children. There are so many separated families these days and at Christmas it is important even in these circumstances fir the children to enjoy the parents they love. Perhaps where circumstances permit ,and there are may difficult cases, the parents should get together. Perhaps just getting together for Christmas Dinner, or a couple of hours in the evening, or just going to a pantomime, would remind the parents that their children need them both

I was listening to Cliff Richard the Pop Star introducing his Carol 'A Miracle of Love' when I realised that what he said was profound.   The Carol is about Christmas being about the baby, not the tinsels nor the parties, nor the celebrations.  He went on to say that in the Carol he never mentions God - for we know who the baby is. I got his point.   When we think of the nativity we think of the baby somehow being God and yet we still think God is looking down on him from Heaven.   But the baby and God are one and the same.   The baby is God humbling himself to share in our humanity, and in doing so has become a weak, vulnerable human being.  Cliff called his song 'The Miracle of Love', for how can God the creator love those he created so much The Nativity scene is the first of two later Miracles of Love, when this God allowed himself to be crucified and suffered all the pains and anguish of his creatures, and the third Miracle of Love we find in our Tabernacles and

The above is Bishop Michael Bibi of the Cameroons.   He has been stopped twice by rebels in what is called the Anglophone district  where there are separatists trying to claim independence from the Government.   Thank God he was spared when other priests have not been so lucky.   The separatists are calling on a ban on the use of cars on the road and the closing of schools.   The Catholic Church will not close its schools and is therefore being attacked and much of its property destroyed.   The Government militia are also hostile to the Church in this conflict and have also attacked and killed innocent people.   The separatists seem to roam in gangs and just pick their targets.   We must pray for an end to this terrible situation and remember in our prayers the wonderful priests from the Cameroons who serve in our Diocese.

This is Lizzie a young enthusiastic American convert to the Catholic Faith.   She is excitable in her presentations because she is bipolar.    But the young lady really loves Jesus, the Church, and the Catholic Faith. I like her references to Polycarp and Ignatius of Antioch, especially her quote from Ignatius that where Jesus is there is the Church.   So what she teaches can only mean that the early Church worshipped Jesus as much as He is worshipped today in the Blessed Sacrament, although we have the sad exceptions.

"All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth Go therefore 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 I am with you always until the consummation of the world" Matthew 28. The above passage is about Authority, baptising, and teaching.  And since Jesus says he will be with us all days then that Authority will be with us all days. We are talking here about the Church Jesus founded and has survived until today in the Catholic Church.  Again in the seventies and eighties the Reformers [not Vatican II where it was taught in Lumen Gentium] trashed this.  We were told that no Church had the full truth and that Protestants and Catholics shared the truth together.   And the paid bureaucracy toured the Diocese telling us that Papal Authority was in 'Love and not Doctrine'.  I heard this remark in a Catholic Church before the Blessed Sacrament and there was

Having written about and spoke about the position of Tabernacles and Crucifixes on our Catholic altars and received no replies verbal or otherwise because the position is indefensible I now have to ask why with the recovery growing inside our Churches of our Catholic Faith there seems to be a refusal to put them back on the altar.   It is now recognised more that the Church is a House of Prayer and that Jesus Christ, True God and True Man, awaits us there in his humanity.   What a treasure beyond belief!   What an awesome God who humbled himself to share in our humanity. The answer lies in a structure which was formed in parishes to ensure minority rule - Parish Councils.       Now I know there are good Parish Councils which have developed and who see their role as was intended by the Universal Catholic Church to assist the priest in the running of the parish but in the seventies and eighties too many were formed to tell the priests how they run the parish and he must fall in line

Today was the feast of the Immaculate Conception. We had a wonderful Mass and even more wonderful sermon from out priest. But no special hymn to Our Lady was sung. I therefore lit two candles and started singing one after Mass. Devotion to Mary is an essential part of the Catholic Faith and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. She was chose by God the Father to be the Mother of his Son, Jesus. She was responsible for preparing Jesus for his mission, and indeed suf fered with him on Calvary. But to be the mother of Jesus she was preserved from that weakness to sin we are all born with which we call Original Sin. Mary was preserved from this. It did not mean she could not sin but by the privilege of being born without this weakness she could better resist temptation and help Jesus. What a scandal if she had turned out to be a sinner when she was the Mother of Jesus. Our Catholic Family is just that a family. It is not a 'community' as the world sees it for Mary the new Eve is

  I recently attended let us say a 'large Church'.  On entering the church I was confronted with an altar, yes to be expected, but behind the altar there was only a large white wall which contained neither a Tabernacle or a Crucifix.   I did find them eventually on a wall which I passed on the way to the toilets.   I show the crucifix above. The defence for this action if I asked would be "Well they did not have such things in the early Church so we are not doing it now whatever the guidance of the Church is today"   But we are not in the early Church and the only question we should be asking in relation to this is whether by not displaying the crucifix has the Church gained or lost?   The matter as always is settled by the words of Jesus "By their fruits you will know them".   So is the diocese flourishing, are thousands of people returning to Mass, are there innumerable vocations to the priesthood.   When I ask this question I am always reminded of C

I was talking to a young friend recently and he remarked on the position of the Tabernacle.   I asked him "Who gave permission for the Tabernacles to be removed from the centre of the Altar"    He replied "The Church"   I told him "Wrong" I was in a position to do so because I had lived through what was called the "Spirit of Vatican II".   I witnessed the deceit and dishonesty practiced on the people with regard to the Blessed Sacrament.   It all began when the Bishops of England allowed scholars or 'experts' from universities to teach us Church History and they appeared in many Diocese with the permission of these bishops to tell us that actually Adoration and Worship of that Sacrament had begun in the 11th century and somehow went beyond the beliefs of the Early Church.   Well they were experts.   The next move was for many priests to call into question the Real Presence.    I remember in a parish magazine I wrote in defence of the su

For two thousand years now Christians have celebrated Christmas and announced Peace on Earth and goodwill to those of 'good will'.    We have proclaimed that Christ will reign and better things are ahead.  During that period however all that has happened is that mankind has found more efficient ways of killing and fighting one another.    The bow and arrow and the sword made way for guns, machine guns, and eventually the Atom Bomb.   Institutions set up to forward the cause of peace are taken over by those who believe that peace is established if everyone does what they are told which means of course that they are right and objectors should be silenced.  As objective morality is replaced by subjective ideology, the rights of people to speak out is more and more denied by the establishment.   This builds up resentment among ordinary people who are neither left nor right but have to be labelled as such for the sake of the advancement of that ideology.    So we have people being d

 

So you are a Catholic Parent raising your children in the Catholic Faith and you decide to send your children to a Catholic School, as the primary educators of your children what do you expect from a Catholic School? In the 1960's I was actually attending a seminary where there was about 40 students. In the Community statistics showed there was still a large number of young people attending Mass. It was about 50/50 statistically. In the 1970's my former seminary was closed down since there were only three students and in Catholic Schools it rose with amazing speed to 95% disinterested in the Church. What had caused this very rapid decline? In England it was very much the work of Corpus Christi College, Westminster who invited the teaching profession and administrators from all the diocese to attend and find out about the "Spirit of Vatican 2". People get tired of me bringing this up and since they have no answers they just get bored so let us just say that '

"Go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"  Matthew 28. But for what purpose.  Is it not just about being close to Jesus, going to Church on a Sunday, then spending the rest of our lives in worldly pursuits?   We cannot be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect so just live your lives as best you can and all will be well.   Does Jesus really expect more of us? Well certainly such a statement would meet with approval in many of our Churches.   We do not want to fast, make sacrifices, or follow the boring rules that Jesus made.   Just follow your conscience and it will all be well when you reach heaven. The problem is that Jesus laid down his rules in order to make the world a better place to live in, a world which was again his Kingdom.   Remember the Our Father "Thy Kingdom come, they willl be done on earth as its is in Heaven..."   So we pray this at Mass every Sunday and those who g

God's Plan for Peace starts with Churches encouraging marriage.   Well I am sure that some will say the Church does not discourage it, but in practice it does. Let us start with Marriage is a Sacrament and no baptised person should pay for a a Sacrament.   So what does your parish charge for a wedding, and is this charge justified.   Do you know that there are many  young people out there who do not get married because they see it as too expensive.   Certainly the culture of the Secular State encourages young people to believe that marrying is about spending money in every way possible and if others are spending enormous sums then that is expected.   So let us change this in the Catholic Church by having cheap weddings. Another subject we have to look at is our Church facilities.   Having cloisters and groups of small rooms may satisfy 'Community' but it does not cater for large functions like weddings.   Again if the Church has a hall attached to it, it can bring down t

The above is a 3d Image of Jesus Christ which was taken from the Shroud of Turin and modified but still the same 3D features as on the Shroud. The team of scientists and experts were badly shaken when in 1988 a Carbon 14 dating at Oxford University put the age of the Shroud to the 14th Century.  They approached the problem with professionalism however, if it was just anther Medieval Forgery they would quickly sort it out and if they could not then perhaps they would have to take a closer look at the Carbon Dating. Now there were many forgeries in Medieval times but they were easy to sort out for the paint and brush strokes gave the artist away in many cases,  there would not be any history prior to the historical find, and there was nothing of any note in the painting or artefact that really drew crowds of people to want to believe in it.   So that was a measure.   Many were drawn to the Shroud of Turin but at the same time it was just one of many relics in the Church in medieval

There are so many prayers being offered today for peace in the world. In the Catholic Church we have many prayers including the Rosary but perhaps we should look a little more closely at the teachings of Jesus. Jesus spent three years teaching his disciples before dying on the Cross and then sending the Holy Spirit upon his followers. It seems an awful lot of hard work so that we could all be loving and forgiving and kind to one another. "Go therefore 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. Well that is fair enough, so what has he commanded. Is it just to be loving and forgivig and being nice to one another. If we examine the gospels we find there is much more but somehow it is not the kind of subjects we talk about today. He talked about marriage, he talked about God meaning marriages to last and spoke fiercely about divorce. Even his disciples were upset at t

It is now well established by a Pennsylvania Court that the victims of abuse in the Church were young boys in puberty and teenagers , yes and even seminarians. They accounted for 4 out of 5 of the victims. I can almost hear the moans from some as they read this, "I do not want to know" They will turn to another blog that will say the things they want to hear. Certainly not this stuff. But let me put it another way "Where would Jesus stand on this issue?" Perhaps that will not work either because they want the unity of the Church to be the major issue in this, not the abused victims. Well maybe that is too strong. But we have lovely little communities that we go to on a Sunday where everyone is nice and if you talk about this some will not be so nice to you. The truth is that we do not care for the victims. We do not put them first and we support the prelates who cover up the brutal assaults on young men because they are all very nice people our prelates

The greatest scandal in the history of the Church is about to explode on us. But are we prepared? While the media is ignoring it because of its homosexual content and the need to her politically correct the young people who have been and are being sexually abused seem to have no voice in the matter. So let me tell where I stand. Sexual abuse leaves young people emotionally scatted for life and they seldom recover from the outrageous attack on their bodies. So I will put them first and I will not support any Pope, Cardinal, bishop, or priest who had used his position of trust to abuse the faithful. I am appalled at what I read and I pray that those who committed such acts on young boys and seminarians are brought to justice. There are all sorts accusations going on. There is even an attempt to bring the late St John Paul II into the blame list. That I do not believe in any way. What I pray for is a cleansing of the Church from the errors of the past 50 years which gave rise t

I have been looking over the subjects I have posted on this blog. There were some that I found great interest in from the 'audience" I had. These were the subjects about the teachings of the Church and many wanted to read these to find if my views on the sacraments and Catholic Teaching matched theirs. We are very divided on such matters However there are matters which we would rather not comment on. These posts are usually about the plight of young people in the Church. Perhaps it is just that everyone knows about young people and how they are neglected but feel helpless and would rather not comment or get involved. That will never be me. I have a very small life in this planet and the people I know are but a drop in the ocean of humanity. But when I find in this small setting there are so many suffering children I have to ask what is the universal picture if everyone in their small circles knows young people to a smaller or greater extent than mine. So let me go t

We have a society today where thousands of young people are drawn to drugs, prostitution, alcohol, and self harm all at record levels.   Many young girls become pregant and either have an abortion, that is kill the baby growing in them or become single mothers and struggle to fulfil the role of a father and a mother, and although many do a good job far too many still put their children second when it comes to relationships and the children have "uncle after uncle' sometimes with dangerous consequences.    Sexual relationships before marriage lead to unfaithfulness within marriage and the couple split as they look for new experiences.     This causes children to grow with no appreciation of marriage whatsoever nor what love between two spouses looks like.   Even in Catholic School there are figures which show that at least half of the children come from poor homes, that is single parent homes, where children without fathers become jealous of those who have.    Some may say that

The inquiry will examine “the failure of those at the top of the church either to be able or willing to exercise any form of control or even refer allegations made to them directly to the relevant body,” he added. He said that those who instruct him “take the view that the evidence so far presents a picture of the church as a clear and present danger to children as it is structurally organised. “It is an organisation that is fundamentally structurally incapable of implementing minimum standards of child protection consistently and there is no evidence, in my submission, from the church that that is not the case.” Cardinal Nichols can only answer the above state sponsored bigotry by by telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.   The use of the word 'children' shows the refusal of the members of the enquiry to look at what is really happening by the use of this word is telling.   They are again using the word 'children' to escape the truth the

Who is responsible for the Catholic Education of your children?   When I grew up it was assumed that the responsibility lay with the priest and the schools.   It seemed to work very well and the parents were satisfied, but then they never questioned what their role was.     They took their children to Mass on Sunday, they talked to their children about the saints in heaven, about the Sacred Heart of Jesus and what it meant, they had statues of Mary in their houses, and many said the Rosary.   But they never saw this as 'education', that belonged to the educated teachers and priests.   But their role as educators was vital.    Now that worked really well however when the Church really was a 'community',  In many parts of the UK children grew up in the same areas their parents had grown up,  their parents had gone to the same schools, their teachers were also living in he same areas and attended and led them in the Sunday Childrens Mass, explaining what was happening on t

I received some 'comments' recently.  One was the reconstruction of a post I had done on another blog.   In case it appears again I will give my 'Mea Culpa' since I did nothing wrong and when I do nothing wrong I carry on as usual.   It happened when I was standing for a Councillor at Winklebury in Basingstoke.    I was out canvassing when I received a call to ring the UKIP office.    It seems that The Guradian newspaper had given me a mention in their newspaper. As a Candidate for UKIP the media were going crazy about UKIP candidates in an effort to stop the rise of this party.   The advise was not to worry and carry on.    So I carried on.   At the same time a young student stood for Brighton Hill and he was favoured with a news item telling of a facebook blog where he had fallen out with his girlfriend and thought all women in Basingstoke were ugly.    The result of these intrusions I may say was that I got a higher vote than I should have, the no hope student won Br

I did not attend the Eucharist Congress in Liverpool so I only know what went on from reports I have heard.   Many topics seem to have been covered and on the Blessed Sacrament there seems to have been a positive outcome in so far as I have heard, one report of a catechist deciding to teach children Adoration is very welcome.    However since this Congress was centred around the Blessed Sacrament will we find priests and bishops going back to their dioceses to put the Blessed Sacrament back at the centre of our altars and at the centre of our Faith? Adoration is at the very heart of the Catholic Faith because we believe in the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ being present in the Sacred Species.   That is the authoritative teaching of the Catholic Church.   Now when we say we Adore Jesus by kneeling before Him in the Blessed Sacrament we are one of two things.    We are  Idolatosr because we are kneeling and adoring a piece of bread when Adoration belongs to God alon

It is a horrible moment when you look into another human being’s eyes and Satan looks back at you. It is a faith-destroying moment when those eyes belong to a man wearing a Roman collar. But just as Satan is real, and more often than not walks into our lives on two feet, the Holy Eucharist is real and comes to us from the hands of a priest. When those priestly hands belong to an apostle of Satan, it’s a crazy-making thing. But don’t let it make you crazy. The wheat and the tares, the good and the bad, the evil and the holy, will live side by side in this world until Christ comes again. Jesus told us this Himself. I will not leave the Church because Jesus is really and truly present, under the appearances of bread and wine, and I can touch him. I will not be a fool for corrupt men in collars. But I will stay. Because the Holy Eucharist is Jesus. And I will not leave Jesus.                                                                                                      

I was just a young man in my early twenties when a priest who had learned I could write shorthand asked me to write out a talk by Cardinal Heenan to the priests of his Westminster Diocese and send it to another priest.  The talk was on one of those tape to tape reels.   This was about 1966 and he was talking about his recent experience of the Vatican Council II.   Now I had had a good Catholic Education and believed in the unity of the Catholic Faith but for the first time I was shocked.      It was not because of the Latin Mass being replaced, because the bishops had never discussed the matter, but deceit and dishonesty were becoming common in the Church.   The Cardinal was unaware of this at the time.   What he did say that shocked me was that at the beginning of the Council a Document on the Virgin Mary was to he introduced but was bitterly opposed by certain European Bishops, mostly German.  They cried out "THIS WILL PUT THE ECUMENCAL MOVEMENT BACK 10 YEARS"   An unprepar