De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

 A message of hope from Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury given on Remembrance Sunday

Some really good news from yesterday, Dr Gavin Ashenden was received into full communion with the Catholic Church by Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury Diocese. Gavin is someone I have posted about quite a few times in the past ( just do a search ). The way the world works now I have been able to be a friend on Social Media of his and to follow his efforts to speak out about the immense value of Christianity in building culture. He is a brave & convinced disciple of Jesus Christ and it is very exciting to me to see him come into full communion with the Catholic Church. I have said to Gavin myself that we need him. We need his calm, reasoned approach and his courage to stand up for what the Church teaches. I am sure that, were the Church more confident in what it stands for and teaches, it would be ever more attractive to committed disciples like Gavin. I know a good number of faithful Christians who are dissuaded from converting simply because the Catholic Chur...

The Rt. Rvd.  Mark Davies, 11th  Bishop of Shrewsbury. On Saturday afternoon, Pope Francis proceeded with the presentation of the official Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy,  Misericordiae Vultus  (The Face of Mercy) , set to begin December 8. The purpose of this special Jubilee year is to highlight Christian teaching on God’s mercy that the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective…opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness. The wonderful Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury Diocese has struck while the iron is hot, with this brilliant Pastoral Letter , in which he does just that. I have reproduced the text below in red, along with my own thoughts on it in black. My dear brother and sisters, I write to you on this Divine Mercy Sunday with the happy news that Pope Francis formally announces today a “Holy Year of Mercy” to begin on 8 th  December 2015 under the patronage of Mary...

I must share with you this wonderful pastoral letter from Shrewsbury Diocese which was read at all Masses there today. I have copied it from the Shrewsbury Diocesan website in order to further publicise this important message from the wonderful Bishop Mark Davies: My dear brothers and sisters, On this Remembrance Sunday we recall the great crises faced by generations before us in the conflicts of the past century. Last month, Pope Francis invited bishops from around the world to meet with him in Rome to address what we might call a crisis of our time: the crisis of the family. This is experienced in some parts of the world in poverty, war or persecution; but in western countries like our own, it is a crisis most often caused by ideologies opposed to the sanctity of human life and the institution of marriage and the family. The Catholic Church has long opposed these mentalities and the devastation they have wrought on individuals, societies and especially among the young an...

One of the traits of the lack-lustre, post Vatican II, happy-clappy, change the Church movement, is a conviction that the Church is dying and in desperate decline. They suggest the answer to this decline is more "Spirit of Vatican II" type changes, in other words, just the sort of thing which has done the damage up to now. The talk is always of "managing the decline", indicative of a defeatist attitude which capitulates the faith in the face of changing societal mores which it sees as undefeatable. This is one example of this capitulation and the effect it is already having on the Church at large. In the face of this depressing trend, we find the orthodox, faithful, Catholics, who really understand what it is all about in terms of humility before almighty God, support for His Church, against which the gates of hell shall never prevail, and the realisation that with Him, all things are possible. In orthodox parishes, attendance is high, involvement is high, reve...

Courage and constancy will guarantee the future of the Church, says Bishop Davies   This Sunday, on the Feast of Christ the King, the wonderful Bishop of Shrewsbury will call on Catholics of the Diocese to profess their faith with “courage and constancy” amid a climate of increasing hostility towards Christianity in British life, according to the Diocese of Shrewsbury's website . The Rt Rev. Mark Davies will say that he has “no doubt” that the future of the Church in this land depends on the commitment Catholics made to their faith today, in spite of the hardships that they might experience along the way. How wonderful to hear this important message articulated so clearly. Bishop Mark is absolutely correct in my opinion, as I have said on every possible forum, we need to start being more explicit about the Gospel and the message of what exactly the Christian faith is and does. It is not about making your own mind up, the Gospel is about knowing the truth and that truth setting...

Bishop Mark Davies' Homily at Youth 2000 Prayer Festival, Walsingham, 25th August 2013 “Your Kingdom Come” With more than three million in Rio last month and with more than a thousand in Walsingham this weekend, we might not really feel like a minority but that is what Christians are about to become in this country of ours. By 2020, if the analysis of the recent census is to be believed, most people in this land will no longer identify themselves in any way as Christians. It’s a situation you already know well as young people of 21st Century Britain. A situation which will surely demand of new generations of Catholics a clear stand, an inspirational lead and, as the Gospel reminds us today, a human struggle! Jesus tells us “try your best to enter by the narrow door” (Luke 13:24). And let’s be clear: this “narrow door” Our Lord proposes is not a narrowness of mind but the reverse. To be ready to say “your Kingdom come, your will to be done …” is to open our minds and hear...