De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Introduction Welcome to an account of a deeply saddening and frustrating situation that has unfolded in the heart of Walsingham, England’s Nazareth. I am Alex Cooper, the founder of Smoke & Stone Pizza and Smoke & Samphire Catering. Our kitchen, nestled at the Back of Dowry House, has been our haven for the past few years. It has been a place where we've had the honour of serving thousands of pilgrims who make their way to Walsingham, a revered pilgrimage site for Anglicans and Catholics since 1061. The Walsingham Trust (which until recently included the disgraced Bishop Robert Byrne ), the entity that owns the building we operate from, has abruptly decided not to renew our licence agreement, leaving us perplexed and disheartened and causing severe disruption to a young man’s apprenticeship. Serving the Community Beyond catering to the faithful, we have also delighted holidaymakers with our culinary offerings. Moreover, we take immense pride in our commitment to the local...

Back in May I was part of a weekend seminar for educators and governors held at the Christian Heritage Centre at Stoneyhurst College. The venue really is outstanding and we had a particularly excellent collection of speakers delivering superb material. One of the speakers I was particularly excited to hear was the Rev Dr Stephen Morgan, Rector of  the University of St Joseph in Macao, who delivered a superb talk entitled Educating to be a Catholic in Contemporary Society. You can see us giggling at the back of the photo at the start of this blog. You might be interested in the text (although it lacks Stephen's witty ad libs and insights. I am happy to reproduce the full talk here with his permission. In the 1955 musical Oklahoma!, Gordon McCrae, playing the charcter Curly, sang a number entitled “All er nuthin’.” It contained this line repeatedly, “With me it’s all er nuthin’; it’s all er nuthin’ with me.” It’s a song sung by a man who objects to his girlfriend flirting. It’s a jo...

If you have read my recent Catholic Herald article , you will probably be aware of the bishop of Tyler Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland. As I mentioned, on a recent trip to the USA two things became increasingly obvious. Regular Americans of all stamps are frustrated that bishops seem to be endorsing error and failing to stand up for the faith. Bishop Strickland is considered the most vocal episcopal voice for the faith in the USA. This has led to him being dubbed "America's Bishop", a title last applied to the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. Bishop Strickland recognises the consternation American Catholics feel when their bishops endorse Father James Martin SJ, whose voice grows louder and louder, especially on social media, where he is regularly attacking the deposit of faith, calling Scripture into question , this from just a couple of days ago: ...And this is not a one off, he does it all the time, here is one from last year: I wrote a blog about that incident here , asking...

From my latest article in the Catholic Herald : Bishop Strickland was reported to be supportive of a lay initiative to protest the The LA Dodgers Baseball Team's invitation of a group of anti-Catholic drag queens called the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” to their June 16th Pride Night to present them with the Community Hero Award.  The group have staged events mocking Catholic symbols and rituals. They call themselves an “Order” and takes considerable delight in mocking Catholic customs and traditions by dressing up as nuns, calling themselves “sisters”, their leader “abbess” and mis-quoting the Bible verse, “go and sin no more”, changing it to “go and sin some more.” This has caused considerable backlash from lay people and the US bishops appeared not to know which way to turn, the LA Diocese distanced itself from the rally urging prayer, not a rally while both Bishop Robert Baron and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone urged public witness against the Dodgers. The rally was a h...

Introducing a new project! We hope to produce a regular video aimed at Catholic men. In this episode I talk to Catholic businessmen James Leatherland, Alex Cooper and Sam Baker.  We aimed to cover the following topics, which we sort of did, even though we may have achieved it in a meandering way:  1. Establish what we know: that masculinity is in crisis. Even the secular world is wringing its hands about it but can’t necessarily put its finger on the cause or the solution. It often focuses on mental health issues (the symptoms) and advocates men’s groups as a way of getting in touch with emotions. Men like Andrew Tate promote an aggressive appropriation of perceived masculine values, such as wealth, power, prowess and strength as a way of re-establishing male integrity. Somewhere in the middle are a few groups and individuals recognising that a lack of present fathers and good fathering is what is tearing society apart. They’re often working frantically on the frontline with y...

  Cardinal Gregory of Washington DC restricted the Traditional Latin Mass but has given permission for “Pride Mass”. Here’s link to the parish: https://t.co/vxbuCmbvVN for info. The fact that these people attack the Latin Mass shows you who follows Satan and who follows Christ. pic.twitter.com/FHJjtExxo5 — Dr Taylor Marshall™️ (@TaylorRMarshall) June 9, 2023 On April 4, 2019, Pope Francis named Wilton Gregory as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington. On October 25, 2020, Pope Francis announced he would raise Gregory to the rank of cardinal at the consistory of November 28, 2020. On July 22, 2022, Gregory promulgated liturgical norms in accordance with Traditiones custodes . His swift restriction of the Traditional Latin Mass stands in strict contrast to his lackadaisical enforcement of canonical norms regarding the liturgy, as Taylor Marshall notes above.  Gregory has also been a key figure in undermining the ruling by Archbishop Cordileone that Nancy Pelosi should ...