De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

This morning in The Tablet , Clifford Longley the veteran journalist appeals to the new Archbishop of Westminster-elect to change the whole focus of the Church to social justice. He wants more of what has killed the Church. In this essay , I explain just how wrong he is. "When the Church ceases to speak first and last of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen, she does not become more compelling. She becomes redundant. And when Christ is displaced from the centre, another cause will always rush in to occupy the vacuum... A Church that forgets her Head must invent a mission. A Church that remembers Him does not need one." Read the whole thing HERE .

A group of loyal Priests have written two letters supporting an authentic, Scripture based interpretation of Marriage, grumbles Christopher Lamb in a rather disparaging piece in  The Tablet . The article states that Priests in England and Wales are being urged to sign a letter calling on the next Synod on the Family to proclaim the Church’s unchanging moral teaching and resist any move allowing Communion for the divorced and remarried. The first letter is a draft that is to be submitted for publication in the press, while the second, signed by the 12 clergy, sets out the reasons for agreeing to the first. It urges those who participate in this year’s synod of bishops to end confusion that was caused at last year’s gathering, as well as pledging help to those struggling with the demands of the Gospel in an increasingly secular society. The 12 priests – who include the Dominican theologian Fr Aidan Nichols, Fr Daniel Seward, Provost of the Oxford Oratory and Canon Luiz...

And this , my friends, is why no faithful, intelligent Catholic should ever buy or even read The Tablet . I mean, how on earth did Christopher Lamb get to this ridiculous leap of logic from Pope Francis' words, words which reaffirmed his rejection of population control programmes as an example of “ideological colonisation” and praised Blessed Paul VI for defending Catholic teaching against contraception?!! The Pope is asked a question on a plane, the question is this: Christoph Schmidt: Holy Father, first of all I would like to say: Thank you very much for all the impressive moments of this week. It is the first time I accompany you, and I would like to say thank you very much. My question: you have talked about the many children in the Philippines, about your joy because there are so many children, but according to some polls the majority of Filipinos think that the huge growth of Filipino population is one of the most important reasons for the enormous poverty in the c...

Tina Beattie, Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Religion, Society and Human Flourishing at the University of Roehampton, has posted a blog in The Tablet which makes an excellent point, demonstrating the hypocrisy of the outcry at Oklahoma's botched execution  for a couple of reasons. First of all, she highlights the fact, reported in the Guardian , that British companies had been secretly exporting potassium chloride to America for use in executions. Next, Beattie makes the link between the use of this drug in US executions and the fact that it is also used in this country to inject the foetal heart in cases of late abortion. The website of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists offers this advice: For all terminations at gestational age of more than 21 weeks and 6 days, the method chosen should ensure that the foetus is born dead. This should be undertaken by an appropriately trained practitioner. Intracardiac potassium chloride i...

It's hard to do anything but shake one's head at the unbelievable arrogance of muddle-headed hippy, Hans Küng. It wouldn't be a problem if he wasn't so shouty. But he is. Very shouty. For me, his shoutiness means that unless there is a voice to put his opinions in some sort of proper context, all the faithful hear is  dissidents and schismatics seeking to diminish the faith, like The Tablet , The ACP and ACTA expressing how heroic he is and describing his position as a much respected theologian, and such like. Of course ACTA  and The Tablet love him! He is their leader!! Probably this stems from his consistent opposition to much of what the Church teaches and most recently, and most vocally, Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI's papacy. In 2012, Küng called for open revolt to unseat Pope Benedict, which, of course, went nowhere. Because the only people listening are people his age, who stand against the transformative truth of an authentic, orthodox, Catholic li...

I promised Father Dominic and Father Graham that I would not use my blog to attack people, but instead to give good positive witness about my life as a devout practising Catholic, and how positive this has been for me. That is why I am not going to post any invective about THIS  even though I really, really want to (mainly because it is in my diocese, and I know that people are laughing at us, and that I want to defend the many really good and holy priests we have in this diocese). EXCEPT to say that he is supposed to be a servant of the Church, commissioned to act under obedience to the Holy See, and to proclaim what the Church teaches not what he thinks is best. Perhaps he should remember that he took a public oath, with one hand on the altar, which in part reads… ‘Moreover, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the College of Bishops enunciate when they exercise their authentic Magisteriu...

I was sorely tempted to title this post "Know Your Local Heretic". Recently, I drew attention to the fact that Jean Riordan, the Chair of A Call to Action’s National Steering Group, has sent out an email to its 1,200 registered members encouraging them to form a group in every diocese to spread its mission of dissent, or as they frame it, ‘dialogue and openness’. Jean Riordan also wants ACTA members to tell other parishioners about ACTA and invite local priests and members of religious orders to join as well.  Are our bishops happy about a dissent group establishing diocesan groups with representatives pushing their agenda in every diocese in our country? I noticed a comment on Protect the Pope's post regarding Bishop Conry's alleged endorsement of ACTA where the poster said they were unaware of any ACTA activists in their diocese, so, in order that we can all be clear, here is their own public list of people they term diocese coordinators, and which w...

A friend sent me this link to a video of the Tablet's Vatican Correspondent, Robert Mickens address to the City Club in Cleveland on “The Vatican Implosion.”: This is very interesting. I also find it disturbing. The Tablet is described as a "revered publication"...Surely this should be "reviled"? I know an increasing number of priests who refuse to have this pamphlet of dissent and confusion in their churches. I have heard that they keep their numbers up by sending free copies to churches to 'sell', when then rot at the back until thrown out. This serves the purpose of keeping their circulation figures up and helping procure advertising revenues. The Tablet has become increasingly hysterical over the last few years as the tide continues to move very firmly against their brand of anti-catholic "believe whatever you like" theology and back towards orthodoxy.  Mickens thesis in this talk is as follows: "I’ve chosen to speak to ...