De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Andy Burnham says he lost his Catholic faith because of the Church’s teaching on sexuality. But what if the real issue is not sexuality at all, but a civilisation that no longer understands the human person? My latest article explores the collapse of Christian anthropology in modern Britain: the confusion of love with desire, freedom with autonomy and affirmation with truth. It examines why Catholic teaching on marriage, sexuality and the family cannot simply be dismissed as an outdated “obsession”, but instead rests upon a coherent vision of human nature, reason and moral order stretching from classical philosophy through Christianity itself. At a time when pornography saturates culture, families fragment, birth rates collapse and even the meaning of man and woman is contested, perhaps the Church’s warnings appear less irrational than prophetic. Read the full article here .

A brilliant piece by Fr. Robert McTeigue in Homeletic Review offers a composite picture of our beloved Catholic Church which, he proposes, is suffering from a problem with prayer. Or a lack of prayer. Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi is the old maxim which has long proven true: how we pray is how we believe and thus, how we live. But, asks Fr McTeigue, what happens if we are not praying? Or, if our prayer is fundamentally deficient, won't that have a clear and obvious effect on the belief and therefore the way we live? His first example for analysis is the practice of the Saturday vigil Mass: "We’ll start with Saturday, the time of the Vigil Mass. The legal fiction behind this practice is rooted in passing reference to the ancient practice of the observance of sabbath starting at sunset. But what can this mean for people who have no practical observation of the sabbath in mind?" This is a great point. Since I have been a father, I have always tried to make a point...

This is an article written by Roderick Blyth on 15 September 2010 and constitutes what he describes as a damascene moment for him. It is particularly pertinent today I think because it demonstrates where, precisely, the rot has set in and in doing so demonstrates that Pope Benedict XVI knew where it was and had a strategy to deal with it (through the catechism and his beautiful exposition of Jesus, for example).   ''On 9 September 2010 a BBC journalist called Mark Dowd presented an interesting survey of the different voices within the Catholic Church in Britain. In a passage dealing with the attitudes of the young, Mr.Dowd visited St.Benedict's Catholic School in Derby, and questioned two teenage students, shortly to form part of a delegation of young people who were to met the Pope, and then Father Joe Wheat, the Director of Youth Services in the Nottinghamshire Diocese.   'Here is the text of the interviews copied down as accurately as I could record them: 'Dowd: ...

Cardinal Raymond Burke is a most excellent shepherd of the Church. He is not the most engaging speaker, not the most charismatic individual you will ever meet, but he is, nevertheless, very inspiring, because he is intelligent, wise and courageous in his preaching of the Gospel. This is an excellent recent homily from him which must be listened to carefully. He berates those who spread confusion about what the Church teaches, responding to the laity not as shepherds, but as secular managers. Incredible that Cardinal Burke makes these points now, I have been thinking along similar lines for a while now. I feel hurt by those who constantly work to obscure the crystal clear truth of the Gospel by constantly adding "nuance". Jesus says: "Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one." (Mt 5:37)   When studying the faith, I was blown away by how coherent, clear & reasonable it is. Those who work to occlude that clar...

You might recall this post from 17th January " Things just get darker for Catholic Ireland " where I noted the lack of support given for the excellent Jason Evert from the establishment in Ireland after he had some talks cancelled. The Tablet reported that when they contacted the diocese on the issue they were told that the usually vocal bishop of Waterford & Lismore did not want to comment, apparently a spokesman for the Diocese told The Tablet: “Bishop Cullinan does not wish to comment on this matter.” Bishop Cullinan has made numerous spirited defences of the faith which I noted in the post  and I wanted to follow up on that point, given that he has just released a New Year's Pastoral Letter which you can read in full for yourselves here . In it, he seems to echo the title of that blog post and, to his credit, takes direct aim at that dark, modern Irish society telling the people of his diocese that the culture of 2020 is trying to ‘undo the truths’ of...

There has been a new Pew Research study released . It pertains to Catholics in the US and contains some shocking truths which I would argue are as relevant to the UK & Europe as they are to the US: Only 31% of Catholics personally believe that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Jesus Christ. 69% - more than two thirds - of US Catholics believe it is a symbol. What makes this study different is that they also asked if people understand what the Church's actual teaching was. It is revealing that 22% of US Catholics know what the Church teaches and reject it, while an additional 43% of Catholics both believe that the Eucharist is symbolic and that that is what the Church actually teaches (i.e. they are confused). And there's a real stunner: only 63% of those who attend Mass once a week or more believe that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Jesus Christ! The Catechism of the Catholic Church , citing Lumen Gentium n.11 teaches "The Eucharist is ...

Here's an opportunity to listen to this fantastic EWTN GB interview with Fr Guy de Gaynesford, MA, BTh, STL Rector of the school, & Dr Caroline Farey BA(Hons), M.Phil(Cantab), STB, STL (Leuven), PhL (Maynooth), PhD (Lateran) Director of Studies from The School of the Annunciation on #CelticConnections  https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/67313872/fr%20guy%20test%205.mp3 A very inspirational interview!!

Foundations in Faith for the New Evangelisation. A great new 18 month distance learning course for all Catholics who want to systematically explore their faith and be able to explain it clearly to others. Ideal for anyone involved in parish ministry, parents, grandparents, catechists. 4 study weekends in Nelson Lancs beginning in June. See below for more details. http://www.schooloftheannunciation.com/site.php?id=135 Learning the faith is a surprising source of joy & comfort, don't delay, sign up today and begin an incredible voyage of discovery!

It has just been announced that, by special request, an exciting new Catechetics course is being offered by SoTA at Buckfast Abbey in early October. Full details are available on the SoTA website here . Given that the course will take place very shortly, please help to get the word out to priests, catechists and all others interested in faith formation. The course will be packed with sessions from prominent clergy and scholars explaining the four dimensions of the Christian Life. Learn to transform your vital ‘explanations’ of the Faith into ‘Good News’ of the Faith. Explaining our faith to a sometimes hostile culture goes back to the days of the Early Church. The accusations of the world can be turned around by new methods of transmitting the positive and beautiful teachings of Jesus Christ. Learn why to teach everyone the ‘four dimension of the Christian life.’ The four pillars mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church are there to support and defend life. They ...

I often wonder if there is a certain amount of insularity which is unavoidable for the episcopacy. Given the position of our bishops, it would concern me, from the position of a business leader, that organisationally, they might lack self-evaluation and perspective. In this regard, one has to look to the recent influx of new bishops, and hope that they bring with them some external perspective which could prove invaluable to the Bishops Conference of England and Wales. Fundamentally, what I am getting at here is my old clarion call about catechesis-- or the extraordinary lack of it we have experienced, and continue to experience. It's not just me either. Clare Short is a Catholic mum of three beautiful children and has been married for 14 years. She blogs over at Faith in our Families , always a good read. The other day she posted a really insightful reflection from the trenches , if you like, that is, from those who are in the muck and bullets, about the Synod on ...

Dr. Petroc Willey is the Acting Director of Maryvale , and has recently been at the International Congress on Catechesis in Rome, where he gave delivered a beautiful address entitled ‘God Searches for Man and Reveals Himself to him’. Afterwards, Petroc got to meet Pope Francis himself, which was a great honour. Of course, this event constitutes further recognition of the importance and value of the Maryvale Institute's contribution to catechesis in the worldwide Catholic Church. Dr. Willey’s opening address was well received and noted by many of the bishops present at the Congress for Catechists in Rome. Maryvale really is the place to study if you want to deepen your knowledge and understanding of the faith, and offers a wide range of under-graduate and post-graduate courses. Maryvale is both a place of worship and a specialist Institute, providing distance learning opportunities in Catholic Theology, Evangelisation, Catechesis, Philosophy, Ministry and Religiou...

So last night was the first session in my parish's presentation of Fr. Robert Barron's Catholicism Project . I felt extremely nervous yet also very privileged to be introducing the programme, but I had some amazing partners: Fr. Kevin, James Devor (assistant organist at Brentwood Cathedral, Composer, and RE & Music Teacher at the Campion School , which is where I went to school), Liam Connelly, Director of Adult Education at Southwark Diocese and lecturer in Catechetics at Maryvale, Mary Laverty, (long time teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes School), Bridget Huggins (a long time parishioner) and Jan Lewis (the Parish Secretary). Father opened the evening with a prayer, and then I gave the following introduction to the course which I based on Catholics Come Home 'Epic' advert : Welcome to what I hope is the beginning of a stimulating journey we are going to make together over the next few weeks. For me, being Catholic is about living my life the best way...