De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

When one considers the paucity of leadership the Catholics of England and Wales are forced to endure, a couple of names consistently float to the surface. Perhaps the most concerning is Bishop John Stanley Kenneth Arnold, Bishop of Salford. Former Vicar General of Westminster Archdiocese and rumoured to deeply desire the episcopacy of that Archdiocese. He will celebrate ten years as bishop of Salford this September. Bishop John is a member of the Bishops’ Conference Department for International Affairs; Chair of CAFOD’s Board of Trustees and a Trustee of Caritas Social Action Network. At CAFOD he approved the appointment of the current director who is clearly at odds with Catholic teaching . He is also the Environmental Lead for the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales . Bishop John is clearly seriously at odds with much of the Catholic faith and overly concerned with issues best described as mission creep. He advised the Catenian Association to drop "practicing Catholic...

At the weekend, the Catholic Herald reported that 'LGBT Masses' Return to Britain. The story reports that Masses for the LGBT community have returned to Britain, almost seven years after Archbishop Vincent Nichols ended them in Westminster The article goes on: there has clearly been a shift since 2012, when Archbishop Nichols (who has since been made a cardinal) said that, while it was important to give pastoral care to “people with same-sex attraction”, the Mass was a “universal” event and so it should not be restricted to a particular group. He also implied that Catholic sexual teaching was at odds with the beliefs of some LGBT activists. This is not accurate however, as Cardinal Nichols had no intention of stopping the Masses, he simply moved the venue . You can read my full report on the consistent furthering of the LGBT agenda by the Cardinal from 2015  here . The Herald picked up this story from Lifesite 's report which I commented on and linked to here ....

As we start 2018 and Dioceses all over the UK (and beyond) are developing plans for the future (such as my own here ) we are being asked to discuss and consider a way forward as communities of believers as vocations dwindle and practising Catholics disappear even more rapidly. This has been discussed in numerous places with great clarity, perhaps most familiarly by Sherry Weddell in her book Forming Intentional Disciples , and most recently by Professor Stephen Bullivant in the Catholic Herald . Bullivant's article is concise and packed with valuable detail for anyone discerning the future direction of the Church. Key points are: There are more priestly retirements (or deaths) each year than ordinations.  A number of our seminaries have closed, the ones we still have are practically empty. Priest numbers fell between 1970 and 2014 by 48 per cent. Sunday worshippers fell by 55 per cent over the same period. In short, priest-to-worshipper numbers were better in 2014 ...

I posting this as James at Catholic & Loving it has asked for others to take up the call to promote a petition to the CAFOD Chairman, Bishop John Arnold. The reason for the petition is that Cafod are promoting the IF campaign whose supporters include organisations that support abortion. Shockingly, this campaign is being promoted by CAFOD in Catholic schools, kids in Catholic schools are going on that website and clicking 'who we are'. Those kids are being lead to logos and links of organisations that promote or support abortion. There is no reason at all for CAFOD to do this. There are plenty of ways so fight poverty and support overseas development without promoting these organisations. Stefan Giles has put together a petition to Cafod chairman Bishop John Arnold. It simply reads as follows: To: His Lordship Right Reverend John Arnold, Auxiliary Bishop - CAFOD Chairman  End the promotion of corporations supporting abortion.  Sincerely,   ...