De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

For some reason, I keep thinking about the Letter to Diognetus (Nn. 5-6; Funk, 397-401) lately whenever I reflect on what Pope Francis has said. There's a lot of noise about his interview , given in August this year to Fr. Antonio Spadaro SJ, lots of different interpretations, concerns being expressed, different factions trying to claim his agenda is the same as their own. I was quite surprised by how exasperated he seems to be with Catholics who focus on the wickedness of the world. He thinks this attitude paralyses the Church. As he put it:  “The complaints of today about how ‘barbaric’ the world is – these complaints sometimes end up giving birth within the Church to desires to establish order in the sense of pure conservation, as a defence. No: God is to be encountered in the world of today.” This is wonderfully challenging and makes sense when one understands how this man has come face to face with the darker side of life and has spent much of his time on thi...

Some great news today: Archbishop Nichols ends ‘Soho Masses’ after six years For those who don't know, these infamous Masses have been a source of contention for six years now, and have stood in stark contrast to the courageous endeavours of homosexual Catholics by flaunting the Church's express teaching and celebrating heterodoxy. Now, you might already be backing away from this post frantically, but look, one of the most important insights I have gained over the years concerns fidelity to the Magisterium. This takes courage and the engagement of one's grey matter. You might find yourself fundamentally at odds with something the Church teaches, and you might consider it is wrong. But I promise you, that's pretty much certainly because you have not understood the teaching. I have posted on my own journey towards understanding what the Church teaches in this regard, a teaching which is subtle, nuanced and worthy of deep reflection and consideration. Th...

Here are some pictures of the Paralympic Mass held at St. George's Cathedral, Southwark on Saturday 8th September. My Bishop, Thomas McMahon, Bishop of Brentwood, con-celebrated Mass along with Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith presided. Between them the three bishops represent the Roman Catholic dioceses that cover Greater London. In his homily Archbishop Smith praised the "inspiring" competitors at the games and the selfless volunteers who had made the event possible. " Overall, my impression was that the games radiated generosity, goodness and achievement; a vision of the values and attitudes that can build up and renew society at large – a society in which everyone is welcome, everyone is respected whatever their abilities and disabilities and everybody has a real hope and aspiration of living a more fulfilled life ," he said. The Archbishop also paid tribute to the Dockhead Choi...