De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

I would highly recommend you read Countercultural Father: Shooting Ducks in a Barrel . In it, he addresses the huge disparity and duplicity in a comment by the Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton in London and Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Religion, Society and Human Flourishing, Tina Beattie in The Tablet.  As an interesting aside, my Bishop asked me if I read The Tablet last week, I said "Only if I have to!". In other words, only ever (it seems) in complete dismay. It seems to have a political agenda completely aside from the faith which is so disappointing and misleading. Much like Tina's comments really. I'm sure Tina is a lovely lady, but I really struggle to understand why anyone who considers themselves Catholic would be even mildly interested in what she has to say, except to condemn it, or to distance themselves from it. I can't imagine being lectured to by her, I would be in a constant state of...

In an hour long question and answer session with journalists on the way home from his visit to the Holy Land, Pope Francis has described the crime of child abuse as a betrayal of the Lord’s body: "Sexual abuse is such an ugly crime ... because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord. It is like a satanic Mass," At a briefing in the Vatican on Tuesday, Father Lombardi discussed some of the highlights of Pope Francis’ interview and explained that for a believer, equating the crime of sexually abusing a child with the sacrilege of celebrating a satanic mass, is arguably the strongest possible condemnation. I agree and I think his turn of phrase here articulates a basic truth about this sort of crime: it is diametrically opposed to everything the Church holds and teaches. Abuse does so much harm, literally destroying lives. This is true in any context, but surely more especially in the context of love and trust which constitutes the relationship of a priest...