De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

My Third son John has discovered denominations and is fascinated about what different Christians believe. This developing interest has led us on a bit of a journey over the last few months. After Mass this morning, we drove past a Congregationalist chapel. "con-greee-gaT-on-el" enunciated John, trying to get his tongue around the unfamiliar word. "Are they popular Dad?". John knows how to ask a question in a way which puts me least at ease. I don't know what the Church attendance is like there, but it is one of four chapels along this short stretch of road in Leigh, famously densely populated with religious communities of all persuasions. Given the proliferation of alternative religious options versus the number of potentially attending human persons in Leigh, I find it difficult to imagine they have anything more than a handful of devoted attendees. "They're Protestant, right Dad?" Is John's next enquiry.  "What do you think that means, J

Pope Francis dropping the hammer on the #SynodalWay , with an ultra clear statement its present path is to schism, unless it abandons its errors. https://t.co/8WJaxqiORL pic.twitter.com/s6dj0T7Dn0 — Scott Smith (@hf_222222) July 21, 2022 Not really a hammer, more of a vague telling off, published today on the Vatican website here . My translation: In order to protect the freedom of the people of God and the exercise of the episcopal ministry, it seems necessary to specify that the "Synodal Path" in Germany has no power to oblige the Bishops and the faithful to adopt new ways of governing and new approaches to doctrine and moral. It would not be lawful to initiate new official structures or doctrines in dioceses, before an agreement agreed at the level of the universal Church, which would represent a wound to ecclesial communion and a threat to the unity of the Church. As the Holy Father recalled in the letter to the people of God who are on their way in Germany: "The

Some more difficult news broke over the weekend for Traditional Catholics. Sorry it has taken me so long to get this post out; I still feel it is important to post it, for the record. Last Friday the bishop of Savannah, Georgia, posted a letter  updating instructions on the use of the 1962 missal in the diocese. Bishop Parkes wrote to the Congregation for Divine Worship (now the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments) in mid-April to request permissions for specific parish churches in his diocese. In late May, he received a response from Rome containing the following: The Mass according to the  Missale Romanum of 1962  may be celebrated at the parish of Sacred Heart (*) in Savannah on a weekly basis until May 20, 2023. The Mass according to the  Missale Romanum of 1962  may be celebrated at the parishes of Most Holy Trinity in Augusta, St. Joseph in Macon and St. Anthony of Padua in Ray City on a monthly basis until May 20, 2023. * In implementing the permissions

  Today, Birmingham Archdiocese have published an independent review undertaken by Barnardo’s on behalf of the Archdiocese in relation to the management of concerns about Joseph Quigley, a priest in the Archdiocese. As stated in the report, Quigley was convicted at Warwick Crown Court of four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, two counts of sexual assault, one count of child cruelty and two counts of false imprisonment. He was sentenced, in January 2021, to 11 years and 6 months for his offences and will be required to sign the sexual offenders register on his release.  This was 12 years after the Archdiocese discovered he was an abuser, and did nothing. What it doesn't say is that Quigley is the author of the Birmingham Archdiocese's first foray into sex education, All That I Am , a programme which was highlighted as deeply worrying by numerous blogs after its release. In the programme, published in 2001, Quigley (diagnosed as "a sexual sadist & voye

Anthony Stine reveals that a number of Jesuit publications, including La Civilta Cattolica   (a periodical published by the Jesuits in Rome), and the notorious America Magazine , are boasting that Pope Francis is planning on releasing a new encyclical which will attempt to overturn Humanae vitae . He suggests we listen to what these people are saying because they would not be speaking so boldly unless this was really happening. It also makes sense - much of what Pope Francis has been doing has been eroding moral theology and settled Church teaching. In short, Pope Francis is working to conform the Church to the world.

A recent discussion on Facebook really spoke to some of the thoughts I have about the Holy Father. So much so I thought it was worth sharing some of the ideas, considerations and conclusions from that discussion here. When you think objectively about Pope Francis, you encounter a bit of a paradox - I know I do. The attitudes and behaviour which cause most comment often stem from what can easily be seem as a his conviction that these replicate those of the Saviour. The striking witness of his washing of the feet is an example of this, his kissing the feet of South Sudanese politicians , arguably even more so. Striking displays of humility....Right? There is more. Much more. His evident dislike of ‘theologians’, is perhaps intended to mirror Our Lord’s dislike of the ‘doctors of the law’; his dislike of ‘clericalism’ (especially in dress) echoes the Saviour’s contemptuous remarks about (the Scribes and Pharisees (see esp Matt: 23:5). His ‘preferential option for the poor’, witnessed in

The Pope continues, day by day, to dismantle Catholic authority and legitimacy. EWTN's World Over Live provides an expert regular round up of what is going on in the Church. It has become a kind of cataloguing of the weekly errors coming out of Rome. The episode below covers some of the things I have not had a chance to post on over the last couple of weeks. Indeed, I haven't really had the heart! The Pope's long interview with Reuters is covered along with his lack of continuity with regard to abortion and Holy Communion. Robert Royal nails it when he says the Pope does not have a clear position on this issue . The Pope's words mean nothing if he is going to act against those words. Pretty much everyone I have spoken to about this is simply disgusted by the Pope's actions. The silence of the Church standing against this issue: if there is no penalty for contradicting doctrine, what's the point of having it even? On the Pope's involvement of women in choos

Father Jesusmary Missigbètò discusses why he continues speaking out against Pope Francis, even as he's been banned from saying Mass, preaching, and hearing confessions. It is hard to escape the impression that this is very personal from Pope Francis. He does not like criticism, despite his calls for parrhesia , which, at this stage of this papacy appears as a kind of foil, as if Jorge Bergoglio knows what his shortcomings are and spun early on in the opposite direction to cover them. Surely a pastoral pope, a man who took the time to ring a divorced woman to tell her "a little bread and wine does no harm" encouraging her to go to Holy Communion, could take a few moments to call a brother priest and discuss his concerns? Concerns which such a man has devoted his whole life to? Instead, the Holy Father does personally intervene, but to remove this holy priest from any work in Christ's vineyard.  In this interview, Father Jesusmary Missigbètò makes clear that he is no

Pretty much every single priest I know thinks Pope Francis is an utter disaster. I am aware of a few who don't think that, or, at least, they don't openly say that he is a disaster. Instead they talk about how wonderful he is and promote him and his globalist objectives (#LaudatoSi and all that). You can easily recognise these priests because they are the ones who are either openly ambitious and place their ambition way above their belief in Christ and the Gospel, or they simply stopped bothering years ago and are trying to push the Church in a different direction, usually a direction which suits their own sin. The vast, vast majority I know are utterly devastated. They might discuss this with people they know and trust, but why not more openly? Why, if the Pope is so wrong, don't they actually come out and say so? Well, there's canon law for one thing. Canon 273 states: Clerics are bound by a special obligation to show reverence and obedience to the Supreme Pontiff and

 Is the tide finally beginning to turn? Are people finally starting to see sense? We can, I think, be cautiously optimistic. Why? Well, I think we were pretty much sunk by a careful & clever approach that sought to obfuscate the truth about certain lifestyles, subcultures and their consequences and portray such people as victims. This approach was highly successful, but the nature of progressives is to constantly push that boundary. You are never progressive enough for them and they are always pushing forward and leaving that which was progressive last week behind. If you're not on the crest of the progressive wave, you quickly become a bigot yourself. Thus we have seen LG, then the addition of B, then T, then Q, etc etc etc. The problem is, there is endemic and logical inconsistency in the gathering of these disparate terminologies. One group promotes an epistemology which cannot coexist with the other, and vice-a-versa. For example, the homosexual "born this way" on

One of the things I have really noticed lately is that, as the hierarchy melts into meaningless apathy, terrified of Francis, the Dictator Pope, lay people are stepping into the void. They are standing up for the faith that they love and they are speaking out, in place of the bishops, against the struggles that we face as Catholic families every day. People like One of Nine  Robert Nugent Brian Holdsworth Katherine Bennett Tim Gordon And, probably my current favourite; Trent Horn . All these producers are providing an invaluable service by creating and contributing to a vibrant online Catholic community, sharing the beauty of truth and discussing issues that are interesting and appropriate to Catholics.  Sadly we see our bishops addressing these issues less and less, and crapping on about climate change and illegal immigration more and more. A MASSIVE issue facing Catholic families is the LGBTQI+ political ideology which is an avalanche of wrong-headed madness being foisted on Catholic