De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

 Matthew 7:1-6 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you." I wanted to share this Tim Mackie exposition of judgement which I found profoundly helpful. Even if it is not true, the impression most non-Christians have of Christians is that they are judgemental, hypocritical & anti-gay. Westborough Baptists then: a vocal minority. Tim, quite shockingly says we are guilty of judging other Christians way...

  Another great take from Brian Holdsworth. In this video he asks some very important questions based on the vast wealth of knowledge available to Catholic Christians from the Magisterium: the teachings of the Church. The intellectual tradition, teaching & dogma of the Church is like a 2,000 year old library. No other institution has been thinking about thinking for as long as the Catholic Church. Why then, specifically with regard to the ridiculous "Synod on Synodality", would we seek to add detail before we understand the great wisdom we already hold? Synods historically are called to address heresy and controversy. The Church does not speak unless there is a challenge, she doesn't when it is not necessary: she lets the library speak for itself and invites us to study it. A Church that seeks to be synodal for no reason appears to be ignoring the content that exists and instead adding contemporary content.  What evidence is there that those seeking to add to the libr...

Another first for Pope Francis last Sunday. On the Baptism of the Lord, a versus populum altar was wheeled out for the Pope's Mass in the Sistine Chapel. Apart from its use at the end of conclaves, Holy Mass has always been celebrated at the main altar of the Sistine.  Perhaps it's just a coincidence that the new papal MC has a doctorate in liturgical studies from Sant'Anselmo? The change in orientation necessitated covering over a good chunk of the beautiful mosaic floor in a bland concrete grey coloured frame and, as Messa in Latino remarked, not even a crucifix on the altar. I can't help but find some poignant symbolism in what appears to be a forced modernism in one of the best known chapels in the world. A turning away from what is there and a covering of it, to what end? What do we gain? Pope Francis baptised a 16 babies, the first time he has done so since the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. In a brief, off-the-cuff homily beneath Michelangelo’...

  For just how long will the Catholic faithful accept a bishop who is consistently problematic before they start to speak out? This weekend, Cardinal Blaise Cupich spoke at the March for Life rally in Chicago. He was heckled and booed and eventually led away by security. Catholics clearly have had enough. Cardinal Cupich started the day off with a VERY pro-abort tweet (corrected after outrage but awful nonetheless): CNA wrote a decent report on this which presents the reasons for Cupich's poor reception from marchers:  Cupich was criticized by some in the pro-life movement last year for leading an effort to head off a direct confrontation between the United States Conference of Bishops and President Joe Biden, who as the country's second Catholic president has pursued policies at odds with official Church teaching against abortion and same-sex marriage. A year ago Cupich took to Twitter to issue a scathing criticism of what he called an "ill-considered" statement the...

  Eamon Martin KC*HS (born 30 October 1961) is an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Archbishop of Armagh and the Primate of All Ireland since 2014. The above is a recording of his Midnight Mass 24th December 2021 broadcast into every home in Ireland. If you are wondering why there are no vocations in Ireland, look no further than this. Can you honestly say this is a religion that can be taken seriously? It is the Irish Church’s failures which have caused people to pick secularism over faith and this shows why. Irish Catholic Church has been decimated and will close 1200 churches over the next 30 years. With the Vatican issuing clamp downs on the faithful who value reverence and orthodoxy, this is what the Primate of all Ireland gives us on Christmas Eve. In 1975, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship issued Dance in the Liturgy , which it declared is to be treated as “an authoritative point of reference for every discussion on the matter....

The beautiful Crib at Our Lady of Lourdes & St Joseph, Leigh on Sea The Christmas liturgy includes these beautiful verses from the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Wisdom:  "For while all things were in quiet silence and the night was in the midst of her course, thy almighty word leapt down from heaven from they royal throne..." The passage, brimming with the mystery of the Incarnation, is wonderfully expressive of the infinite stillness that hovered over Christ's birth. For the greatest things that are accomplished in silence — not in the clamour and display of the superficial eventfulness, but indeed the clarity of inner vision; in the almost imperceptible start of decision, in quiet overcoming and hidden sacrifice. Spiritual conception happens when the heart is quickened by love, and the free will stirs to action. The silent forces are the strong forces. Let us turn to the stillest event of all, stillest because it came from the remoteness beyond the noise of any...

  Damian Thompson has followed the career of Archbishop Arthur Roche for many years. He is not a fan. Roche had earned a reputation for incompetence when bishop in Leeds. This 2014 article, from The Tablet reports on his legacy of debt. He also controversially closed almost half the parishes in the diocese in a brutal campaign which caused a great deal of hurt and frustration. Following the Responsa ad dubia this week, Damian has released a new podcast which talks about the man and his experience of him as well as what this means in the wider context of the Catholic Church under Pope Francis. Here's a hint: it isn't good! Listen here: