De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

If you ever wondered why Catholicism, once the faith of British intellectual elites like Newman, Tolkien, Belloc, Chesterton and Muggeridge, became something so hated and maligned in our culture, you only have to look at the silent "teachers", our bishops and British Catholics with a platform like Catherine Pepinster.  Pepinster was the first female editor of The Tablet in the newspaper's 176-year history. In 2017 she published the book The Keys and the Kingdom: The British and the Papacy from John Paul II to Francis . Pepinster would be the first to admit she has problems with some areas of Church teaching, and The Tablet has long been a forum for such discussions to take place. Although I personally welcome such discussions (I see them as the place where evangelisation takes place in the present cultural milieu), I do feel it is essential that we are properly informed about the issues. I would argue that while The Tablet has been a place where this has been discussed...

Father Alexander Lucie-Smith has written an important article in the Catholic Herald about "McCarrickism". He says : ...McCarrickism: the rise and predominance of a certain kind of prelate. First of all, they handle money well; they raise funds with ease; they know all the right people, all the powerful politicians, all the millionaires and all the influencers; they do not rock the boat, they do not challenge the spirit of the age; rather they get on very well with the lords of this world. These prelates do not often share “Uncle” Ted’s proclivities, nor is soft living the absolute norm. What McCarrickism always means is a spirit of accommodation with the world and the spirit of the age; a worldly wisdom; the ability to get on equally well with the Bushes and the Clintons. Above all, it means not taking sides, even when one of those sides would seem to be that of the Catholic Church; or if stands are to be taken, they are on the most fashionable of causes – McCarric...

Breaking news from The Catholic Herald Cardinal Pell is at it again, teaching the Catholic faith, holding true to the deposit, taking back out social capital! Thank God for him! The cardinal said the culture wars are entering a new phase which can only be fought by lay people The Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy has said that the outcome of May’s same-sex marriage referendum in Ireland and the decision of the US Supreme Court on the same issue clearly show the extent to which Western society is abandoning many of its Christian legal foundations. In his address at the Fota VIII International Liturgy Conference in Cork, Cardinal George Pell called the Irish referendum “a victory for John Stuart Mill and utilitarianism.” He told the conference delegates and speakers that the so-called culture wars “are entering a new phase of political struggle which can only be fought by lay people.” Speaking about the importance of recovering the mission of the laity and drawing f...

Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith, doctor of moral theology and consulting editor of The Catholic Herald has posted in the Catholic Herald today on the wonderful news that Mgr Scicluna has been appointed Archbishop of Malta as I posted last Wednesday . Fr. Alexander makes the following excellent points: At a time of crisis in leadership in both Church and the world, Charles Scicluna has shown himself to be both brave and tough. As the Vatican’s chief prosecutor in matter of child protection, when working for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, he more of less single-handedly (it must have felt like that some of the time) took on the consensus that child abuse was not a problem, and shattered that consensus. Above all,  Mgr Scicluna argued for accountability from bishops, a concept that to some seemed revolutionary. Well, in that the revolution has taken place, and that bishops are now accountable, we should all be grateful to Charles Scicluna. That there has...

There is little doubt in my mind about the threat to the Catholic way of life posed by increasing pressure from a modern secular agenda which promotes sexual deviancy as a norm and undermines marriage, fidelity, respect and honour. At Buckfast , Cardinal Pell explained that Catholics must  be vocal and take the intellectual high ground on these issues, or we risk having our social capital continually eroded until our way of life is outlawed completely. In this excellent article , Antonia Robinson gives flesh to the spectre stalking Catholic social capital in our schools. She explains: Moral teachings have always been the front line of conflict between Catholic schools and state regulators: the difference now is that what is proposed would give the state powers that it didn’t have before. In the context of the consultation “British Values” are largely defined by the 2010 Equalities Act, already used as a big stick to beat Christians. The disingenuous use of “British Values...