De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Above: The Marian Franciscans at last year's March4Life where I last met them. Has Bishop Egan completely capitulated to progressivism? Is he under pressure to conform to the establishment? Is he trying to be "inclusive"? Is he in the running for Westminster, perhaps? I honestly never thought I would find myself concerned with the bishop of Portsmouth, Philip Egan. When discussing who Catholics can trust in the episcopacy, his name is always mentioned as a solid bishop. Egan, 67, has been bishop of Portsmouth diocese since 2012 and has long been considered a safe pair of hands by faithful Catholics. In a 2014 interview, he generated controversy for his views that MPs who voted for same-sex marriage should be banned from receiving communion . He also wrote to PM David Cameron regarding so called same sex marriage. He has a decent record of standing up for the faith, but something seems awry lately . For example, I hear whispers that there is a serious disregard for catec...

If I'm honest, finding it really hard to love the Church at the moment. I feel like a large part of my life - the sacramental part of my life - has been taken away from me without any explanation, substitution or warning. It really feels like the bishops have closed down Catholicism, withdrawn from every day life and have made little or no effort to engage, encourage or provide any spiritual substance for the laity in the absence of a public Catholic life. The slack, thank God, has been taken up manfully by so many of our priests who have acted swiftly to provide online liturgies and I think that people could be exposed more than ever before in their lives to adoration, benediction, the divine office and Mass. Meanwhile, on social media, many of the Catholics I so admire and know have a real and devout faith seem much more interested in fighting each other than those betraying the Church.  Despite all this, I never find it hard to love Jesus. So I speak to Him & tell h...

My friend Clare Short was recently privileged to get to interview Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth Diocese. Bishop Egan was consecrated as the eighth Bishop of the diocese at St John’s Cathedral, Portsmouth on 24 September 2012, the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham. At the time of his appointment Egan was serving as the Vicar General of the Diocese of Shrewsbury. Bishop Egan has often been the subject of blog posts here because he is brave, erudite and faithful. He has seen great strides forward in his diocese on evangelisation and vocations even in the short time he has been in charge, proving once again that faithfulness and orthodoxy foster fruit. This interview provides some keen insight into the man and his vision. I hope you enjoy it and please do leave any comments you feel are relevant.

Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth has been interviewed in the National Catholic Register (read the full interview here ). The 8th Bishop of Portsmouth is a virtually lone voice amongst the English episcopate addressing this issue which is of primary importance and concern for the laity, who entrust their families to clergy & the structures of the Church. Bishop Egan's words are extremely welcome to concerned Catholics and he clearly understands what is going on, comparing the state of the Church in the early 21st century to that of the late 15th century. Bishop Egan reminds us in his interview of the words of the philosopher Bernard Lonergan, who once spoke of the “shabby shell of Catholicism.” He puts his finger right on the heart of the problem here: The structures of the Church are there, but have some of the home fires gone out? Many Catholics, including members of the clergy, no longer believe the Church’s teaching, especially on matters of personal morality. There...

Shockingly, at Gosport hospital it has been revealed that Dr Jane Barton has been implicated in the deaths of 656 patients. A report has now been published which describes an institutionalised practice and urges police to act. The Times has a good article on the scandal here  (behind a paywall unfortunately), but it does say: Caroline Farrow made this very apposite comment on Facebook: "650 people were killed prematurely in Gosport Memorial hospital. 650 people. Junior whistleblowers silenced for their impudence. Difficult patients bumped off. These were the actual findings of the enquiry. Yet because the patients were elderly, no-one seems all that bothered. Certainly the authorities aren’t interested in prosecution and the legal system complicit in protecting Dr Jane Barton. The culture was rotten. Why are we assuming that this was confined to Gosport. Especially when we hear that the syringe drivers were known to be hazardous & linked with fatal overd...

There is a huge lack of engagement with the serious cultural issues society faces today from a Catholic perspective. As I blogged recently , engaging with these ideas and leading the way forward is the job of our bishops, however, apart from a tiny vocal minority, we hear only silence. This is once again true with respect to the recent Jacob Rees-Mogg interview . Both Bishop Egan Well done Jacob Rees-Mogg! Thank you so much for standing up for Catholics and clearly yet gently proclaiming the teaching of Christ. — Bishop Philip Egan (@BishopEgan) September 6, 2017 ...and Bishop Davies have spoken out supporting the Conservative MP's Catholic line on abortion and same sex marriage amid a storm of vitriol from all corners suggesting Catholics are not fit for public office. From everywhere else, Westminster and Southwark included, (so far) silence. Dan Hitchens found the most interesting dimension to JRM's public profession of faith – as with the rage against Tim Farro...

Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth Diocese has issued a Pastoral Letter (14th May 2017) entitled God is Calling You . In it, he discusses vocation and challenges us all to pray for vocations, and offers some important questions which we can put to those who are seeking election to Parliament in June. I found an interesting correlation with this and Dr Joe Shaw's most recent post on Fatima  which talks about the potential of Catholic Social teaching, properly lived out, to fundamentally change the world for the better: As a former active and senior member of the Communist Party, both in the Spanish Civil War and in industrial Glasgow, Fraser was particularly interested in the connection with the conversion of Russia. He goes on to argue that, quite aside from any spectacular supernatural intervention, Russia's conversion would be inevitable if the Church's social teaching was manifested in the daily lives (including the work lives) of Catholics around the world. P149 I...

Given Bishop Philip Egan's tweet this morning, there can be no doubt that interpretations of Amoris Laetitia are making it really difficult for relations between bishops & priests. People are genuinely confused and that confusion is only being exacerbated by bishops giving differing interpretations, with Bishop Egan, for example, interpreting Amoris Laetitia in the context of Church teaching, s ee here , but Archbishop Scicluna stating publicly that "Whoever wishes to discover what Jesus wants from him, he must ask the Pope, this Pope, not the one who came before him, or the one who came before that. This present Pope." Which is not what the Church has ever taught! Now we are left wondering, does Cardinal Müller speak with an authoritative voice?  Some claim that his interview  presents an authoritative perspective on Amoris Laetitia , but if that is in fact the case, why a newspaper interview and not a CDF notification? Of course, the latter is t...

Since I have started paying attention to such things, it has become very obvious that the Catholic Church, like pretty much every organisation in the world, has good leaders and bad leaders. bishops who do what they are supposed to do and some other bishops who do not. I think many, many (the majority?) of faithful Catholics today would bemoan the dearth of solid teaching from Bishops of England and Wales, to the extent that, when one of these bishops does actually say something Catholic, there tends to be much publicity. Of course there is, we aren't used to hearing them say anything much, let alone something as scandalous and revolutionary as the teaching of the Church! It is my own opinion that this lack of connection with the important and challenging truth taught by the Church—let's say on Contraception in the context of the goods of Marriage and the importance of children and family—leads to a tacit condoning of sin which stands in direct contravention to fundamen...

Lent is a time when we should be looking to give more. I don't think this necessarily means just financially, but most of us will do our best to support a favourite charity at this time. Quite some time ago now, I remember someone questioning my charitable donations to a certain organisation, inferring that they might not be spending the money I donated in all good faith as wisely as I might like. I was a bit upset at the time, after all, I am doing something good, aren't I? The point is, if we are not discerning about who we give our money to, and it is used for evil purposes, we defeat our very purpose in giving in the first place. To this end, SPUC have published a very useful guide to the activities of charitible organisations which shows the discerning giver exactly where the money goes. It is very worthwhile checking it before you give. Have a look now, you might be surprised how "un-catholic" some of these charities actually are! Today, the Cath...

The School of the Annunciation are holding a Guild Day this Saturday, 31st January at St. Patrick's, 21a Soho Square, London W1D 4NR. This will present an excellent opportunity to spend a day deepening your faith and networking with other Catholics. The day will constitute a conference on the New Evangelisation with the wonderful Bishop Philip Egan of the Diocese of Portsmouth as keynote speaker. Bishop Egan will present a discourse on Evangelii Gaudium , 27. A particularly interesting paragraph of Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation as it speaks of the indispensable contribution to ecclesial renewal made by mission. This may come as a surprise to many Catholics and others who read the news headlines, as opposed the Pope's actual words. He has been quoted as saying that he “ doesn’t want to convert Evangelicals ”, although, as usual, once one reads behind the report of a remembered conversation someone had with the Pope, we find a different story . In any case, I ...

The Catholic Herald reports that Bishop Philip Egan VG BA, STL, PhD has led the way once more today, asking parishes in his diocese of Portsmouth to hold a Holy Hour of prayer on Thursday night before assisted suicide is debated in the Lords on Friday. In a message to those in his diocese he wrote: “Even if you are unable to join the community for this Holy Hour, please at least pay a visit to the Blessed Sacrament that day. In meeting Jesus, the Son of God, in the Holy Eucharist to receive His love and life, we are also contemplating the Perfect Human Being. “Jesus is the One who shows us in His humanity the Way to true happiness and human flourishing. He calls us to live not for self and for transient goals, but for God and for the love of others. “When you meet Him, please pray that Parliament will firmly reject this Bill. Pray too for the terminally ill, and for the generous and selfless doctors, nurses and medical staff who care for them. Pray for those who will die to...

Pro-life leaders announce the declaration May 3rd. From right: Virginia Coda Nunziante, Marcia per la Vida; Colleen Bayer, Family Life International New Zealand, John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews.com; Joseph Meaney, Human Life International. Yesterday Lifesitenews carried the story from the first annual Rome Life Forum in Vatican City that fifty-two pro-life leaders from sixteen nations called on the bishops of the Catholic Church to deny Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians in a spirit of love and mercy. The leaders signed a declaration noting that it is out of concern, and indeed love, for those same politicians that the pro-life leaders ask for this wake-up call to invite pro-abortion politicians back to authentic faith. This is important in the context of the recent too & fro within the Bishop's Conference here in the UK. The excellent Bishop of Portsmouth, The Rt. Rvd. Philip Egan, clearly stated the position of the Magisterium regarding this issue in an inter...