Portsmouth Roman Catholic

 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