On this day of St John Henry Newman, I write my own Apologia
I came down to London in the early 1960's to find work. I was very much on my own but I joined the parish Legion of Mary and soon found myself with many many young friends of my own. That is what the Church was like in those days, there were many young people who attended. Indeed it was through the Church I found my wife.
One day I heard a talk on an audio tape recorder from Cardinal Heenan. He had just returned from Vatican II and was addressing the priests in his diocese. I and many others were shocked by what we heard. He did not mention any changes in the Mass, the bulldozing of altars, standing for Holy Communion, the removal of the Tabernacle from its place as head of the community or his Body. What he did speak on was the German bishops who stood up to oppose a schema on Our Lady in the Church. "This will put the Ecumenical Movement back ten years" they cried. The Cardinal went on to say that if we lost devotion to Mary we would lose devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Now under Pope John XXIII I was quite keen on the Ecumenical Movement, it was good to speak to Protestants heart to heart on religion without any of the tension of the past. But I recognised that the German bishops were NOT engaged in ecumenism as they said. Ecumenism is the acceptance of another's right to believe in their own Church whatever they believe. It is their right to believe and not the belief itself which is important. Nobody can believe two things that are contradictory at one and the same time. No, what the German bishops were put to was the wholesale abandonment of the Catholic Faith and Truth itself in order to create a new Church.
However when I moved from London to my present town my Catholic Faith was bitterly attacked The first step was people who were called experts going into the schools and telling them that the
childish devotions must end. We were now a mature and adult Church. So devotion to Mary was abandoned. This was followed, of course, as Heenan had pointed out, by a ferocious attack on the Blessed Sacrament. There was no way of protesting, since in true revolutionary spirit a Council was formed to run the parish made up of those who agreed that the former Catholic Church had corrupted doctrine, and brought in all the novelties like devotion to Mary and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Of course to add to the menu all Catholic Children were threatened by Hell and Damnation. It was no use contradicting them. It was no use telling them that in the early Church Mary had been seen as the New Eve who was born Immaculate and was faithful to God, whereas the old Eve was born Immaculate and was unfaithful. and Mary was therefore the Mother of a new Creation called Christians who by receiving Holy Communion become her adopted Sons and Daughters. No, they would just sneer. Of course I had compassion for them. Despite their new Church, the children had fallen away in large numbers yet this went unnoticed and nobody was allowed to ask questions, but it is not for me to judge them, for why should they listen to me or anyone else when the clergy guided by the bishop, the very people given authority by Christ, were telling them to ignore me. Because of the loss of the young, there was then very few young people who entered the priesthood, and to the shame of the Catholic Church in England many good Catholic young men were turned away when they were asked by a woman, yes a woman, "How will you get on working with women priests?" At one stage in the eighties it seemed to be all done and dusted that there would be women priests. Indeed in our own diocese a Catholic Teachers Training College was set up for this very purpose. I attended meeting to hear the various speakers so I can tell you this from my own experience.
Perhaps my worst moment was when I was on a Parish Catechetical Course I was not meant to be on. Only catechists of the new church were meant to be there. It is a long story of how I got there. But of course the 'expert' told us how at Vatican II the Fathers had decided that The Catholic Church did not hold all the truth but parts of it were held in other Churches. I did offer the thought that maybe Vatican II did not say such a thing. You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed then the usual 'argumentum ad hominem ' burst forth. "Do you think that you are the only one going to Heaven?" Now I was never taught that only Catholics go to Heaven and said "NO". At the end of the course one of the Catechists chosen to teach the children almost shouted. "The Church will have to change its teaching on Contraception, Abortion, and Divorce". She was almost stamping her feet.
Someone who disappointed me said "It is the Holy Spirit, John".
So I have shown how I have earned by reputation. I have omitted many other happenings whee the person or persons can be identified today. But what we have in the Church is a battle between those who want to destroy the Catholic Faith, reduce the Church to just a giving society while destroying the great mystery of Faith, and those who want to hold on to the moral teachings and authority of th true Jesus Christ, and want to build a Kingdom of Jesus Christ, based on the justice and human rights given to us in the teachings of Jesus Christ. A Church that has always given to the poor. A Church with the great treasures of Jesus and Mary.
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One day I heard a talk on an audio tape recorder from Cardinal Heenan. He had just returned from Vatican II and was addressing the priests in his diocese. I and many others were shocked by what we heard. He did not mention any changes in the Mass, the bulldozing of altars, standing for Holy Communion, the removal of the Tabernacle from its place as head of the community or his Body. What he did speak on was the German bishops who stood up to oppose a schema on Our Lady in the Church. "This will put the Ecumenical Movement back ten years" they cried. The Cardinal went on to say that if we lost devotion to Mary we would lose devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Now under Pope John XXIII I was quite keen on the Ecumenical Movement, it was good to speak to Protestants heart to heart on religion without any of the tension of the past. But I recognised that the German bishops were NOT engaged in ecumenism as they said. Ecumenism is the acceptance of another's right to believe in their own Church whatever they believe. It is their right to believe and not the belief itself which is important. Nobody can believe two things that are contradictory at one and the same time. No, what the German bishops were put to was the wholesale abandonment of the Catholic Faith and Truth itself in order to create a new Church.
However when I moved from London to my present town my Catholic Faith was bitterly attacked The first step was people who were called experts going into the schools and telling them that the
childish devotions must end. We were now a mature and adult Church. So devotion to Mary was abandoned. This was followed, of course, as Heenan had pointed out, by a ferocious attack on the Blessed Sacrament. There was no way of protesting, since in true revolutionary spirit a Council was formed to run the parish made up of those who agreed that the former Catholic Church had corrupted doctrine, and brought in all the novelties like devotion to Mary and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Of course to add to the menu all Catholic Children were threatened by Hell and Damnation. It was no use contradicting them. It was no use telling them that in the early Church Mary had been seen as the New Eve who was born Immaculate and was faithful to God, whereas the old Eve was born Immaculate and was unfaithful. and Mary was therefore the Mother of a new Creation called Christians who by receiving Holy Communion become her adopted Sons and Daughters. No, they would just sneer. Of course I had compassion for them. Despite their new Church, the children had fallen away in large numbers yet this went unnoticed and nobody was allowed to ask questions, but it is not for me to judge them, for why should they listen to me or anyone else when the clergy guided by the bishop, the very people given authority by Christ, were telling them to ignore me. Because of the loss of the young, there was then very few young people who entered the priesthood, and to the shame of the Catholic Church in England many good Catholic young men were turned away when they were asked by a woman, yes a woman, "How will you get on working with women priests?" At one stage in the eighties it seemed to be all done and dusted that there would be women priests. Indeed in our own diocese a Catholic Teachers Training College was set up for this very purpose. I attended meeting to hear the various speakers so I can tell you this from my own experience.
Perhaps my worst moment was when I was on a Parish Catechetical Course I was not meant to be on. Only catechists of the new church were meant to be there. It is a long story of how I got there. But of course the 'expert' told us how at Vatican II the Fathers had decided that The Catholic Church did not hold all the truth but parts of it were held in other Churches. I did offer the thought that maybe Vatican II did not say such a thing. You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed then the usual 'argumentum ad hominem ' burst forth. "Do you think that you are the only one going to Heaven?" Now I was never taught that only Catholics go to Heaven and said "NO". At the end of the course one of the Catechists chosen to teach the children almost shouted. "The Church will have to change its teaching on Contraception, Abortion, and Divorce". She was almost stamping her feet.
Someone who disappointed me said "It is the Holy Spirit, John".
So I have shown how I have earned by reputation. I have omitted many other happenings whee the person or persons can be identified today. But what we have in the Church is a battle between those who want to destroy the Catholic Faith, reduce the Church to just a giving society while destroying the great mystery of Faith, and those who want to hold on to the moral teachings and authority of th true Jesus Christ, and want to build a Kingdom of Jesus Christ, based on the justice and human rights given to us in the teachings of Jesus Christ. A Church that has always given to the poor. A Church with the great treasures of Jesus and Mary.
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