Portsmouth Roman Catholic

 A friend of mine started reading about the Councils of Nicea and Trent.   He was so surprised at what he found that he put his findings on a post on Facebook.   He got so many positive responses from all over the world that he was shocked.   I told him that I had had discovered about two years books on the Early Fathers and my posts since then had had great interest from Catholics all over the world.    Now I have recently been criticising a non approach to evangelisation from those who were given the task to enable it.   What is missing in their work is the teaching of the Early Church.   Somehow they support the critics of the Church who claim that the Catholic Church made up all their teachings throughout the ages and misled the Christian people, so what must be done is to refute these teachings and put the laity in closer union with Christ.    The Church they claim is just an institution and can change its teachings according to the times.    So if Jesus Christ said divorce was wr

 There were two items on this week's Portsmouth diocese E-newsletter.   One was the report on the survey called A Thousand Voices.    A very small number took part in this, and really it presented what one person thought against the opinions of another.   Indeed the whole exercise was based on contrary opinions which took us absolutely nowhere, and what positives we can take from it is a mystery. There was another report from the Department of Evangelisation.   It was a very positive document in that it discussed nothing of any relevance.   How is our failure in Catholic Schools coming along, well it covered it the way it has for forty years, it said nothing but apparently another catechism will be introduced which will land up in a corner of the staff room like other catechisms over that period.   But it gave out good news.   The young people want climate change tackled and so they were described as 'onside' with the Church on this matter.   So if we go into the schools an

 There are very down to earth things I believe about the relationship between Jesus and Mary.   I believe that Mary was the mother of Jesus and that Jesus loved her very much.   He loved her as a son loves a mother, and more there is no evidence to suggest that in Heaven his love for his mother is not still the same as it was on earth.  The role of Mary on earth was to take this 'Son of God' as a baby into her bosom, give birth to him, and as he grew help him in his daily life to mature and grow in wisdom.   He became after the incident in the Temple where Joseph and Mary eventually found him discussing scripture, 'subject to Joseph and Mary'. At the 'enlightenment' that came in the 70's I heard feminists speak of their hero Mary, but it was not the mother of Jesus they spoke of but for some reason Mary Magdalen.    In their ignorance they thought that Mary had a wonderful life and all she had to do was keep her mouth shut, and indeed all women who kept thei

 Heretical groups, that is a Church where the people decided not to follow original teaching but introduced errors, were frequent in the early Church.    They would still call themselves Christian however, and those who remained faithful to the  teaching of the apostles, if they visited a town and asked for the Christian Church, they were often directed to these groups.  Heresies were usually confined to a particular area in the early days, and the faithful Christians could well have been unaware of these local groups.    So they decided to look for the 'Catholic' Church, those who were still in teaching and liturgy faithful to the main body of the universal Church under the leadership of Rome.    The heresies were condemned by the bishops still in communion with Rome at Councils of the Church.   Without this structure it would have been difficult indeed for the truths taught by Christ to survive, or even the Christian Church to survive.   There had to be a point of reference. 

 The Vyne, an estate in Basingstoke which Henry VIII used to visit, has just changed one of its Stained Glass Windows in the Chapel.     Henry VIII is not longer kneeling to an unknows saint but to Our Lady of Basingstoke.   It was very confusing when this saint was there for it was well known that Henry would have been kneeling to the Virgin Mary in pre-reformation days. But it is not just a statue he is kneeling before, the stained glass window is the picture of a Shrine.   Underneath an arch there is an altar, and on the altar is a pillar, and at the top of the pillar is Our Lady sitting on a Saxon throne.    I need no longer search for Virgo Immaculata, for they are one and the same. The Vyne is in Basingstoke and there can be no doubt that the Stained Glass Window is a representation of the Shrine that once stood in Basingstoke. The pictures on my PC are fuzzy, and I cannot see details very well.   But the picture is there.   Praise be the Mother of God, Our Lady of Basingstoke.

 It is very difficult sometimes to keep faithful to the Teachings of Jesus.     Especially when the Church is under attack as it is this moment in Poland,  where EU sanctions are to be put in place if the country does not adopt a gay agenda.    If I agree with Poland I am labelled a fascist bigot, and perhaps like many Catholics in Poland I would rather that the Government just allowed the gays their marches and their pride.    And of course within the Catholic Church there are those who feel more comfortable in this role and would prefer His teachings on adultery and marriage to disappear.   The trouble is that if you disagree with the gay life style it means you hate gays, and this will be the only argument thrown at you.   So perhaps you should say nothing.  I would certainly be happy just to answer "Sex according to Jesus Christ, whom I follow, is against the law of God Whom I follow.    Jesus taught that God made them male and female and a man must cleave to his wife so that

 Having abandoned temporarily the project I had been involved in concerning the Mother of God, which I will not name  for fear of Google picking it up, I was surprised when I went into my search engine and found a headline telling me why I was the only one digging.    The firm were happy that they had taken the stained glass windows and done a wonderful job of cleaning and restoring them and there was no stain glassed window of the kind I had mentioned, and as they asked 'Why was I the only one who was digging?    Now I knew very well that they never worked on that stained glass window.    It is certainly true that the windows were thrown into the river well after the Reformation, but I also knew that the stained glass window I referred to, was not one of them. It was all about the Reformation period, it was at this time that the image of Our Lady was removed from the Chapel and that of St Bidolph put in its place.   Lord Sandys had commissioned these windows before the Reformation

 I have just read about 'A Thousand Voices', a Survey which took place in the Diocese at the beginning of 2021.   I wonder how many people like myself never heard about it at the time, and this could well have been why there was a very small response.   But credit to the Bishop for trying to get to know his people and what they thought.   The answers were what is called 'all over the place', and you could not detect whether answers were objective or just 'self opinion', that is someone just giving a reason from the top of their head for not attending Church.     In the light of the coming parish participations in the Synod this greatly worries me.   We have already had one diocese jumping the gun and well known people standing up to state their views on the Church, but how did the Bishop quantify how many opinions of the speakers are shared by his Catholic people, or indeed how man actually oppose the speakers and their views?   It is far from an easy task.  Ano

 At the Protestant Reformation took the writings that the Catholic Church had put forward at the Council of Carthage in 419AD as the Word of God and declared they were the only guide to the Christian Faith (Sola Scriptura).   The Catholic Church argued that this was not enough, and that we needed the witness of the Christians over the centuries to ensure that the Truth had been passed down to us today.   This was called Tradition. I have in my blog over the past year written on Tradition.   I have written and quoted the Early Fathers on what they believed about the celebrating the Mass and how they described the consecrated host as the Flesh of Jesus, and condemned those who would not receive communion because they did not believe the consecrated host was changed.    I have quoted Justin Martyr, not only on this, but on how the early Christians did not divorce after marriage but followed the teaching of Christ and that those who did not marry remained chaste for the rest of their lives

Before Vatican II we used to celebrate the Latin Mass on a Sunday.   Before Holy Communion the altar cloth would be put over the rails to give the impression that we were kneeing at a table.  From this kneeling position we would receive the Flesh of Jesus Christ.   Now since the Flesh of Jesus Christ is God made Man coming to me, a mere creature with Love and Mercy, I did as a Young Man kneel when we were told to stand, for how I greet my God is my decision and with my love for Jesus I could do no other.   There were mumblings about coming forward as a Community and nothing really happening when you receive Jesus, which is complete and utter nonsense.   His flesh is joined to mine and I greet him as the God who loves me.     It was, we were told, when we returned to our seats and became part of the Community that something happened, though just what happened was never quite explained.   But again we were ridding ourselves of that horrible Catholicism and many embraced this strange teac

 Irenaeus goes on to attack the Gnostic teaching on the corruptible body.     "For as the bread which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God is no longer common bread but the Eucharist consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly, so also our bodies when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible having the hope of the resurrection to eternity"    Remember Irenaeus is speaking in the 2nd century, 100 plus, and he is telling us of the consecration of the bread into the Body of Christ by someone using the words of God, that is of Christ.         But Irenaeus goes further to talk about the teaching of St Paul on Re-capitulation or a re-heading up  of the human race - Christ was the New Adam restoring a new humanity to the human race which could free itself from sin.    He tells us Jesus had an accomplice in his rebellion.   In his renewal and recapitulation of all things, God has not only given the the human race a new Adam but a new E

 So I quoted the Bible in my last post.   I put Malachi, John 6, and the Last Supper together to show how an impossible prophecy became a reality, but then I was guided by the Holy Spirit.    Yet were this blog to be published and read by everyone, I am sure that many, also claiming to be guided by the Holy Spirit, would be ready to agree with me.   There would certainly be 25,000 Protestant Sects ready to dismiss my findings, but I have no quarrel with my Protestant neighbours, they were not brought up in my faith and have never had the Catholic Faith taught to them.   I have met many good Protestant people and I am sure I will meet them again in Heaven.   I was brought up by teachers in my Catholic School who were very much under the influence of the Catechism of St Pius X, who taught that people who lived good lives and sought the truth were gifted by the Baptism of Desire whether they were Catholic or not and would find Heaven. So whom do I quarrel with?    I quarrel with Catholics

 There were many prophecies in the Old Testament that before the coming of Christ could not be explained.   One of them was the prophecy of Malachi.   Now Malachi was in dispute with the Jewish priests about the worthiness of their sacrifices.   He accused them of not choosing animals that were perfect and sound for the sacrifices but rather cheating God by choosing the sick and the lame which contradicted the spirit of sacrifice.   In Malachi 1.10-11 his prophecy is the following which would happen in the future.   "From the rising of the sun until its setting, my name is great among the gentiles and everywhere there is offered sacrifice - a spotless victim".   As you can see this prophecy spoke not just of Jews offering sacrifices to God, but the whole world.   How it could be fulfilled was indeed a mystery beyond the imagination of the Jewish people.   Today the priest before he consecrates the bread and wine speaks the words of Malachi.   "From the rising of the sun

 As we have seen from the letter of Justin, the early Catholic Church was rigid in following the commandments of Christ as regards to marriage and chastity.   Of course it was surrounded by a pagan society where trying to abort the babies was acceptable.    Those who failed would bring the baby to a part of Rome where babies were abandoned, but pimps came to claim the girls to be prostitutes from an early age, or the boys were brought up to serve the needs of homosexuals.   Sexual orgies of course, flourished in Rome.   Perhaps the most important reason for the Christian Faith to flourish was its very opposition to these practices within its community.   On the other hand, perhaps the failure of the Christian Church today is its failure to promote these values.    And yet the Church through the centuries has always failed at times, and it was scandals among the clergy that was responsible for  the Protestant Reformation.   But we know from history that there is always a 'cleansing&

Yet again and I have lost count of the number of times I have listened to sex educationalists  over the years, schoolchildren will be taught about sexual relationships in a new programme, but this time there is a slight difference in that there have been complaints that schoolgirls have been abused and complained about the abuses have been made.  Of course with the use of reason we can also ask how many girls have been abused and yet never complained.    To be fair to the sex education 'experts' they have admitted that they do not know any other way to tackle the problem than to start  talking about consensual sex.    But having instructed them in the use of contraceptives and safe sex, having seen how older people behave and they want to act older, watching the culture of sex on TV where relationship means being sexually active, and indeed in our Catholic Schools which should be listening to Jesus Christ and His teachings on sex and marriage but fail miserably to follow, the S

 Looking forward to a large Synod in Rome in 2020, the bishops of the world have been asked to permit every parish they are responsible for, to conduct their own Parish Synod and Bishop Egan has announced the beginning of this project in our Diocese. The first step I expect to be a period of prayer.   I was listening this morning to a Service of Prayer from the Cathedral of Armagh in Ireland.  It was about reconciliation between the Protestant and Catholics on that Island.   There were representatives from different denominations who led us in prayer and gave us their heartfelt pleas for peace, but for me the most meaningful words came from a Protestant Evangelical Minister, who raised the question of the Grace of God being the only means of reconciliation.   Grace is not talked about very much in my Church today, and yet the purpose of grace, a gift to our souls from Jesus, comes through the Sacraments we receive, especially through the reception of Christ in Holy Communion, when His

 "We need a Church which is the same, but different" "Everyone must be consulted.  Faithful Catholics, unfaithful Catholics, lapsed Catholics, and any kind of Catholic who wants to speak" "We must consult Protestants who disagree with the Catholic Church and listen to what they have to say" "Indeed if anyone wants to speak, whatever their background, we must listen" The above is the proposed consultation for the great Synod of the Catholic Church.  It is just like making soup.  You boil water, then put every ingredient you have at hand into the soup, and you come up with a taste that suits everyone.   You have a Church that appeals to everyone.   Well you will still have those immature and traditional Catholics, who will insist in being faithful to Christ, but they do not know that he was swept aside after Vatican II by the Catholic intellectuals.    Nobody who is mature listens to all that nonsense about sin, and committing it even if  you look

 In my last blog I was drawing attention to how the whole issue of poverty was defined in political terms and the real issue of the destruction of marriage and relationships was ignored.   I will now turn to another issue which again is politicised and the social factors underlying it go unnoticed, I was once a Councillor.   I remember I was appointed to the Housing Committee and at my very first meeting found myself in trouble by asking the wrong question, something not unusual in my life.   A figure was brought forward about couples and single parents with children, who were priority for housing.   It was about 400.   Quite innocently I asked if this figure could be broken down into how many couples and how many single parents.   Well to say there was anger around the room was putting it mildly.   The Director of Housing replied in a fluster "Well, I have never been asked that question before"    Another Councillor shouted "Look it up in he Library".   I am sure t

 When you listen to the News and they talk about poor families, have you ever noticed that the mothers in the poor families are always single parents.    Well have you noticed?   It is just amazing to me that the we are almost trained not to notice.   We are carried along by political arguments, proving that this party or that party does not really care about the people, but the subject of the argument is superficial to the reality underneath.   Women are no longer valued by men, who just walk out if there is any pregnancy, or if they meet someone else they just walk out on their wives or partners and their children.    I am speaking of something here that everybody knows, but somehow ignores as they get on with their own lives, being guided by work and political pressure whether right or left.   There are plenty of willing people ready to help, thank God, but they cannot solve the problem of a selfish part of society,   How men just use women as bodies for pleasure and then move on wi

 There is a great deal of confusion going on in the Church today.    What has been picked up by the media is that Pope Francis has called for a Synod of the Church to take place after the different dioceses in the world have taken part in local synods.   The confusing part is that every diocese is instructed to let every other religious body comment, and even lapsed Catholics or Non-Catholics.   Those who see sense in this are planning some kind of pan-religion, which will turn the Catholic Church away from Christ and become a secular institute where every belief and any belief is acceptable.   Just look at the suggestion that there is no need for a priesthood to celebrate Mass.  From the very beginning it was by the  Apostles and other eminent men who,as Pope Clement wrote to the Church in Corinth, when they tried to sack their appointees, that they were appointed especially to be priests and offer sacrifices.  That was in 96AD.   The ignorance of the Early Fathers and Church history

  “I had expected to find a very unhappy, deprived group who would have significant medical and especially psychological complaints and special needs. I was, therefore, surprised to encounter a group of ladies who appeared to be quite happy and content with their current environment and who presented with the type of symptoms and problems that reflected those of the wider Practice population.” “My expected image of them all looking the same in drab uniform was quickly dissipated when I observed that each one presented dressed in colourful clothes and those who came directly from the Laundry were wearing a type of overlapping protective overall or apron, under which I could notice that they were wearing a variety of more personal choice of clothes.” “Whenever I sensed that one of the ladies had something personal or sensitive to discuss, I always asked the Nurse or Nun to leave and afforded them the opportunity to elaborate in confidence. Interestingly, I cannot recall any occasion that

 I had been following the abuse scandals by the Church in America, that my attention was never turned to France.   The statistics startled me.   About 3,000 priests abusing children over 70 years.   The average age of the children was ten and four out of five were boys.   When I was reading about the abuse in America the statistic there was that in the population 80 per cent of the victims were girls and 20 per cent were boys.   When however you examined abuse in the Catholic Church sixty per cent were boys and 40 per cent were girls.   In France we now see that the figure for boys has risen to 80 per cent.  Now I am not going to go into arguments that I am anti-gay, for I am not.    But I will say that a gay lifestyle in the Catholic Church without a deep love of chastity and commitment to the love of Christ is obviously a threat to every Catholic child. But then I dared to print the world 'chastity'.   I remember someone laughing at me in my parish some time ago because I dar

 You probably have not heard the story of the man who spent his day at home, hour after hour, swatting flies.   He just went on day after day until a friend turned up and asked him "Why do you not close the window where they are getting in?".    I feel a little like that every Sunday when I go to Church.   I watch all those good people, and I do admire them, cleaning up the Church for the next Mass with their cleaning liquid and dusters, and yes, doing it for love of God, and yet like the man swatting flies, they do not realise they have left the window open.    Seating in my Church is for 72, and when that number is reached nobody else is allowed in, and it is no use claiming you have been vaccinated, for they make no difference between the vaccinated and non-vaccinated in their entrance policy.  Despite the low rate of infection they see the Covid Virus everywhere in the Church.    So they help those who are still fearful of the virus by terrifying them, though they plead t

 The Battle for the survival of the Catholic Faith in England has now begun in earnest.   The Pope has announced a Synod in the Church with, let me say, 'very loose' parameters.    Everyone will have a say, whether you are Catholic or Anti-Catholic, whether you practice the faith or not, whether you are of another Faith or not. Of course who would be the first bishop to react and be obedient to this call of confusion, none other that the former secretary to Bishop Hollis in the Portsmouth Diocese, Bishop Declan Lang.  He now has his Cathedral in Bristol to play with, and tries hard in his pretence to  follows Christ. So he gets down to business.   His Diocesan Synod.   His root and branch Synod - consisting of pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ+ clergy and laity, claims to be implementing the Pope Francis reforms and he is inviting other religions and denominations to take part and address the synod including a female Anglican Bishop.   O what an example of open mindedness and charity

 Did yo know that the parishioners at the Cathedral are not turned away from Mass on Sunday?   When they turn up at the door, they are not asked their telephone number,  test and trace is not longer used anywhere in this country, because the Vaccine has made it unnecessary, ad 80% of the country have been vaccinated and need not isolate.   But that does not mean that you can just walk into the Cathedral.  You are asked to give proof that you are vaccinated.    Vaccinations have also meant that the distancing rule has been abolished and people can now come within a comfortable distance of one another.   But if anyone at the Cathedral is uncomfortable at people being too close, they can put a card down on the seat beside them as if it was a place reserved for others.    Handwashing is of course carried out before and after Mass.   It seems to me a very good system meeting the advice of the Government and Health experts.    Now why do we not have this in my local parish?     But more impo

The decision given against young Heidi Crowther, a person with Downs Syndrome, in the High Court was a strange one.    The judges, no doubt afraid of a backlash against them, claimed they could only act in accordance with the law, and yet were ready to give opinions which were outside the law.    In my reading of the case on a BBC website there was a paragraph which said 'The Government maintained there was no evidence the law discriminated against Downs'.   Just read that again 'There is no evidence the law discriminates against Downs'.   Well we must admit the obvious, the law does not discriminate against Downs, it also aborts babies with other conditions.   You must excuse me using the word baby instead of foetus for I have seen too many scans on pregnant women which show me there is little difference between a baby in the womb and a baby in a pram.   I am not into mental gymnastics.    But maybe I am being harsh for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service told the B

 It was good to hear on TV that the problems of young people in schools is at last being recognised.  Young girls from the age of  13 are having explicit e-mails sent to them by boys, and parents are furious that the schools are doing nothing to protect their children.  There have been cases of sex abuse and even rape.   Now the exposition of such things happening and the finding of parents that schoolteachers do not take them seriously, indeed one parent resorted to law, is all fine and good, but there was an obvious question that was not being asked.    How many girls do not complain because having just entered into puberty they are flattered by the attention they get, especially when they come from unhappy homes.   I have been blogging on this subject for about 30 years on my blog, and I am certainly not the toast of many Catholic school teachers or priests, when I pointed out that their refusal to give sound moral teachings, in accordance with the teachings of Chris,t was leading m

 I have recently discovered why we are not following the bishop.   Apparently when he issued his guidelines, and he was following the guidelines of the Bishop's Conference, 'that local conditions must be taken account of when putting into practice safety measures against Covid', the Bishop welcomed everyone back to Mass, for conditions in the diocese were favourable and people were returning to normal activities in society.   They were returning to pubs, clubs, restaurants, Churches in normal numbers, large numbers were attending festivals and music events, and there were large crowds attending football matches.   Social Distancing was abandoned in every day life, and because of the success of the Vaccine, we were as we should have, getting back to as normal life as possible. It seems however that certain priests in the diocese were unhappy with the Bishop following the rest of society.   They decided on a plan of 'virtue signalling'.    Our first priority was not g

  CATHEDRAL OPENING TIMES Monday to Friday the Cathedral will be open 10am – 4pm Saturday & Sunday 10am – 7pm Confessions times have resumed - Saturdays from 11:00 -12:00 and 17:00-17:45 in St John’s Chapel. Now why have I advertised the  opening times of our Cathedral in Portsmouth.     As you can see the Church is open daily, there are confessions and there is no mention of a limit on the numbers of people who can attend.    Portsmouth Cathedral is following the guidelines laid down by the Conference of Bishops, there is no major outbreak of Covid in the area, and the Government guidelines that we must learn to live with the virus provided we are aware that the outbreak is low in your area, and if that changes we change,   What does live with the virus mean?   It means we carry out our normal everyday lives though having regard to the safety of others by wearing masks in certain situations.    I watched last Saturday the Last Night of the Proms, and there were thousands inside th

 I was so pleased with this young girl Emma Raducannu.    She was a young girl who worked very hard at her tennis and because she had put so much into it she won the American Open.      Now there are thousands of young people who have been inspired by her example and wish to to do just what she did.    She is a figure of the success they want, and they have vowed to follow her example.    She is venerated by them.   They hold her in high esteem, and that is what the word venerate means. Now that is how our young should be looking at the saints of the Church.   Like Emma they are just human beings and will always be human beings, but they shaped their lives to be close to God, and found themselves in love, the love they had for Jesus, and the love Jesus had for them.   "There is a greater joy in Heaven over one sinner who does penance, than over ninety nine just people who need not penance"   What this passage from scripture means is that all in heaven know what is going on in

In the beginning God made them male and female.     Every animal and every human being.    I am saying God because I am not a  Christian, I am a Catholic and I identify with the Church that goes back to the teachings of the Apostles, and has passed down those teachings for 2,000 years. Now when I turn to the  Early Church, I find the writings of the Early Fathers who all speak of the beauty in the teachings of Christ.   And must I speak again of the beautiful letter of Justin, who told the pagans just how the early Christians were faithful in receiving the Flesh of Jesus, followed the commandments of Jesus in living chaste lives, and in being faithful to their marriage vows as Christ had taught.   This was the Church that Christ had built for all time, and in which he promised he would live for all time. Just think of how attractive that Church must have been.  People completely devoted to Jesus, and living lives to be envied, and loving one another even to death.     The children grew

 In the Early Church there was a heresy called Arianism.    Far from being a heresy confined to a location as most heresies were, this heresy spread throughout the church.   Indeed many bishops succumbed to it, but the Pope in Rome opposed it with all his might, along with many bishops including St Augustine.     One of the things that destroyed this heresy was the faithfulness of the people to the Pope and bishops like Augustine, they were not themselves theologians, but somehow they knew who was in the right.    This is known as the 'sensus fidelium'.   An inner sense of the people as to what is right and wrong.   If someone is in disagreement with the Church, and putting forward  reasons, this is not the 'sensus fidelium', no the sensus fidelium is not a rational thing, it is a sense inside guided by the Holy Spirit granted to faithful Catholics, fidelium means the faithful, that the Church cannot err in what she teaches for these teachings come from Christ. There is