De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Today at 11am, Father Robert Byrne, a close friend of my close friend and Parish Priest, will be ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham. Watch the Episcopal Ordination here . Father Kevin referred to this important event in his homily on Sunday, saying: On Tuesday one of my oldest friends is going to be consecrated a Bishop; he will become the new Auxiliary in Birmingham. I am sure it will be a moment full of rather mixed emotions: we’ve know each other since we were students and seeing someone who is close to you being given the dignity of an Apostle is something that doesn’t happen everyday.  He explained to me how he was called see the Papal Nuncio in London who read him a letter from the Holy Father appointing him; and he said in a few minutes my life had changed dramatically.   You might think being made a Bishop is something someone might aspire to or desire; it obviously isn’t something you apply for! To fulfil the role of an Apostle, is to acce...

Here's a true story that a member posted on our Facebook Catholic's page, requesting prayers for a particularly difficult situation that has arisen in his life. I think it demonstrates how messed up our society is regarding right and wrong and what's best for any individual. It is reproduced here with permission: I'd like to bring a quasi-personal matter to the group and ask for prayers, please. My wife and I are friends with a young woman, now in her mid 30s, who is nominally Catholic. I'll call her Anna, but it's nothing like her real name. Anna was born with cerebral palsy, caused by a drunk driver who hit the bus queue that her mother was standing in when she was six months pregnant. Anna is hemiplegic and part of the right side of her brain is missing. A couple of years later, her mother gave birth to twin girls,who contracted meningitis at the age of six months. One died and the other has been left with severe learning difficulties, as well as a...

I have to say that I found Fr. Kevin's homily particularly moving today, so much so that I wanted to be a priest by the end of it! He invoked the Curé of Ars in his exposition of the priesthood for Vocations Sunday and the words stopped me in my tracks. Lots of fellow parishioners and parishioners from surrounding parishes often comment to me on Fr. Kevin's homilies; that they are instructive, that they recognise the faith being preached (the kerygma ), that they inspire, and that they make you think. Today's homily certainly made me think. By kind permission, he has allowed me to share it with you all here to read, reflect and pray on. I hope you find it inspiring and that it inspires you to pray for our priests and bishops: On Tuesday one of my oldest friends is going to be consecrated a Bishop; he will become the new Auxiliary in Birmingham. I am sure it will be a moment full of rather mixed emotions: we’ve know each other since we were students and seeing someon...

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...

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...

A NATIONWIDE PETITION calling on the government to uphold the right of parents to withdraw their children from sex education in schools was launched on 30th April at the Emmanuel Centre in London. The petition to Education Secretary, Michael Gove, was launched by  C2PC , the Campaign to Protect Children, at its 'Stolen Childhood Conference'. The conference examined, from a range of perspectives, the dangers to which our children are being increasingly exposed, and the reasons for this, with strategic action and change proposals at both government and family level.   The petition asks the Government to resist the aims of pressure groups to make sex education compulsory with increasingly explicit material introduced to primary school children. 'We very much support this petition which seeks to prevent schools undermining the authority of parents to protect their children from unacceptable, explicit sex education which is damag...

I thought this was worth sharing this morning from Twitter: What does “evangelise” mean? To give witness with joy and simplicity to what we are and what we believe in. — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) May 5, 2014 Simple, a beautiful sentiment to express, and a powerful idea to share!