De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Some great news! Further to Thistles Shopping Centre in Stirling banning a Christmas Nativity Scene so as not be seen as "promoting" a particular religion (as I reported here ) the Centre released a statement today saying that they had changed their minds and would allow a representative from the Legion of Mary to set up a nativity scene as part of their Christmas decor. “We’ve listened carefully to everyone who contacted us about the installation and have decided to reverse our original decision," it said. "We have offered Mrs Patterson the opportunity to host a nativity scene at the centre this Sunday in line with her original request and we are delighted that she has accepted,” it continued. Thistles Centre’s decision not to permit the display on the grounds that it “prides itself on being religiously and politically neutral” made national headlines and was covered on LifeSiteNews. On Monday, Scottish Catholics John Mallon and Elena Feick turned up ...

My attention was drawn this morning to a Pastoral Letter for the First Sunday of Advent, written by the (relatively) new bishop of Lancaster , the Right Reverend Paul Swarbrick. It's not horrendously long, you can read a pdf of the whole letter here , but it does remind us of some simple, yet eternally powerful and fundamental Christian teaching. Teaching that seems to be seldom (if ever) heard these days. Teaching which is being constantly undermined by church-men who seek to modify the Gospel. To temper the life-changing power of the Cross with what they tend to term "radical inclusion" but which in actuality amounts to nothing more than confusion and an abandonment of the Gospel message. Bishop Swarbrick's letter begins with this: Beginning our journey towards the crib at Bethlehem, the Church reminds us of God’s call for each one here to safeguard a sense of the sacred. Each one is called to know the Holy One. Each one is called to be holy. But this is no...

The Thistles Shopping Centre in Stirling, Scotland, has made worldwide headlines this month by banning a Christmas nativity scenes from it's premises. Managers at Thistles in Stirling declined a request to host props and figurines representing the first ever Christmas, saying customers would not approve. A spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh told the Scottish Sun: "At this time of year, Christmas cribs grace many public squares all across the British Isles, bringing joy to nearly all who encounter them, regardless of their religion. "It seems just a wee bit, well, Grinch-like for the Thistles Shopping Centre to ban the Christmas crib and, in the true spirit of Christmas, we would certainly ask them to reconsider their decision." Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Church of Scotland told the newspaper: "We find it very disappointing that the true meaning of Christmas has been completely lost here. You can read more here ...

In a pastoral letter marking the first Sunday of Advent, Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury dedicated 2019 as the diocesan Year of Holiness, calling attention to the Second Vatican Council's emphasis on the universal call to holiness. “It is this universal call to holiness which I wish all of us, clergy and people, to focus upon anew. It is striking that, amid all the crises of the 20th Century, the central message of the Second Vatican Council was that every one of us, in every state of life, is called to the fullness of the Christian life and the perfection of love: that is, called to become nothing less than a saint ,” Bishop Davies wrote (emphasis mine). “Advent is a time of renewed hope leading us to the light of Christmas,” he said. “It is a journey we make in the darkest days of our year. Such days evoke the dark shadows in the world around us, and those failures in the lives and witness of Christians which have at times cast dark shadows over the face of the Church, obscur...

Much effort has been made to disassociate homosexuality from paedophilia to the point where this has become received opinion: There is no connection between being a homosexual and being a paedophile. You are conflating two different things. — LondonInternetChurch (@LInternetChurch) December 3, 2018 This predominantly secular paradigm has been adopted by the Bishops of England & Wales, who in 2010, publicly broke with the Vatican directive banning men with a deep-seated same-sex practice to be allowed into Seminary. In 2010, Marcus Stock, now the tenth bishop of Leeds, then appointed General Secretary for the Bishop's Conference of England & Wales by Vincent Nichols (a well worn career path) stated : "To the best of my knowledge, there is no empirical data which concludes that sexual orientation is connected to child sexual abuse. "The consensus among researchers is that the sexual abuse of children is not a question of sexual 'orientation', ...

Today there's been a bit of a Twitter Storm (when isn't there if we're honest) about this Tweet from Cardinal Napier: “The World Over” hosted by Raymond Aroyo is like a throwback to the 1960’s & 70’s, when Ian Paisley & his ilk were fulminating against the Catholic Faith in general, & Pope Francis in particular! I’ve still to hear a programme that does report negatively on or attack the Pope! — Cardinal Napier (@CardinalNapier) December 3, 2018 It is widely rumoured that there is a bit of a campaign against Arroyo, who has been reporting goings on at the Vatican in a very clear, straight-forward way, without any gloss whatsoever. Cardinal Napier is known for being rigorist in defending Pope Francis. He tends to take a legalistic approach and demands specific evidence. This in direct contrast to this particular Tweet attacking Arroyo, which offers no evidence and seems plainly political in its motivation. Could this be anything other than bare-faced ca...