Life-saving abortions - have you ever heard of one?

The result of a "life-saving" procedure.

That's how Ireland's proposal to legalise abortion with a its double-speak "Life During Pregnancy Bill" is described by an Associated Press report. SPUC has described the Bill as worse than Britain's 1967 Abortion Act. Language has been emptied of its meaning when abortion can be described as life-saving. This is the tyranny of relativism.

Advice from former Baywatch, Playboy star: "Pray the Rosary every day. Attend Mass every Sunday. Go to Confession regularly."

Donna D'Errico is now a 44 year old pro-life mother of two who wears the Scapular, goes to Mass and says the Rosary every day with her children. "I know what it’s like to be led astray and fall into a life of sin. I know how easy that is. I’ve lived it. I also know what it’s like to come back." Read more at LifesiteNews.com.

New Catholic Free School opens in Cambourne, Cornwall

ITV News has a piece on this exciting new development. It looks a delightful little school. Let's pray for its success.

Visit the school's website and facebook page.

Local Catholic's letter to local paper on contraception

Congratulations to Fae Presley, a parishioner at St Peter Cathedral Marquette, for her letter published in the August 21 edition of the Mining Journal.

To the Journal editor:

Thanks to Sandy Bonsall for her letter to the editor in the Aug. 5 Mining Journal in which she shares her thoughts regarding Catholicism and contraception. I, too, am a Catholic convert of the 1970s. I did not understand why the Church teaches artificial contraception is wrong, but I was attracted to natural family planning because of the health risks from hormonal contraceptives, risks known even in the 1970s. (The insert which accompanies the pill is a lengthy list of side effects.)

This danger compelled me as a young woman to investigate and practice NFP. When I did so, I discovered an age-old principle: faith precedes understanding. Though I didn't understand the church's teaching, I followed it for practical reasons. Then, and only then, did I begin to understand the wisdom and beauty of this ancient, yet current teaching.

Of human life, the church's primary document explaining the rationale behind its condemnation of artificial contraception, lists the certain fallout from widespread use of contraceptives. These include marital infidelity, general lowering of morals, men's loss of respect for women and coercion on the parts of governments regarding their use. Anyone can see that this has occurred in our society and around the world.

I taught NFP for over 20 years. Couples spoke candidly to me about their experiences with contraception, about how the woman felt used and taken for granted; about how their sex lives were boring and even divisive, leading to pornography use, infidelity, and divorce; and extreme regret from those who had been sterilized.

Today we know that the birth control pill is a class 1 carcinogen like asbestos which increases the risk of breast and cervical cancer, and possibly liver cancer as well. Recent research also indicates a nearly doubled risk of HIV transmission with pill use.

The Catholic Church offers a vision of human sexuality that is truly liberating in the freedom from negative health effects and that revels in the beauty of our sexuality, yet encourages responsible parenthood. The ways of goodness and truth are not always easy, as the martyrs and saints of our church show us.

Fae Presley

Negaunee

Tragedy and Truth

The Media are reporting a tragic accident in Torquay in Cornwall, England.

BBC, Irish Examiner.

A mother and father remain in critical condition after their two year old son died in a head on collision with a car being driven by a man in his 20's believed to be a Polish national who was arrested at the scene of the accident and who also later died in hospital. The media are also reporting the death of their unborn baby. The family are from Cork, Ireland and were on holiday in England.

What a terrible and tragic loss for this young couple (aged 39 and 36).

I am praying for this couple that they will both recover their health and strength and that they might have faith in God during this terrible ordeal. A loss such as this can put a lot of stress on a marriage and so I pray that they may be able to support each other in this very bad time for them.

I am thankful that all the media are referring to the loss of the couple's unborn baby. For that is what the mother was carrying within her: a little baby. This couple will for ever mourn the loss of their baby. Many also mourn the loss of their babies killed by abortion. They are generally not called "babies". One "terminates a pregnancy" but "keeps a baby". This baby was lost through a tragic accident and possibly as a result of the reckless driving of one of the drivers. Millions others are lost through a deliberate act permitted by governments.

We are bound to drive carefully for reckless driving puts not only our own lives at risk but those of others too. We may be responsible for their death, or/and the shattering of their lives.

May the Lord welcome the little children into Paradise, may He have mercy on the driver who died, and grant healing - spiritual and physical - to the husband and wife.

From wanting to die to wanting to live

This moving program from BBC World Service Heart and Soul recounts how Alison Davis who says she suffered at a level beyond 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 and tried several times to end her life. She acquired the will to live after seeing the poor in India. After checking out the Quran and Hindu scriptures, in which she found nuggets of truth, she embraced the Catholic faith, the last thing she wanted to do. Hear her moving conversion account, including her visit to Lourdes. And a moving meditation on the Crucifix.

London Mayor accused of Censorship by Anglican Mainstream

Anglican Mainstream is accusing London Mayor Boris Johnson of censorship by his decision to pull adverts from London buses even after they had been approved by advertising standards watchdogs.

They claim that even Stonewall admits censorship is wrong:

Dr Sugden claimed even Ben Summerskill, Chief Executive of Stonewall, admitted censorship was wrong. Since the ban, the group told us they are delighted the issues surrounding homosexuality and the extension of same-sex marriage are being addressed in the public square. However they are concerned debate on therapeutic and other forms of help for those with same-sex attraction is continually ruled out because it is deemed politically incorrect.

I like the way the promoters of these ads are using the politically correct language that others use in promoting their causes (my emphasis added):

Anglican Mainstream and Core Issues Trust believe it is important to help those unhappy with their homosexual feelings to ‘develop their heterosexual potential’.

And further:

Director of Core Issues, Dr Mike Davidson, disagreed with Stonewall’s reaction to the proposed legislation on marriage: “Their campaign rides roughshod over individuals who by conscience reject the simplistic notion that their choice to move out of homosexuality is because of internalised prejudice taught by society.. 

If you can't beat them, join them!

By the way: I have it on good authority that my blog has been blocked in a certain area because of comments concerning homosexuality deemed unacceptable. So much for free speech.

Laurel and Hardy on Gay Marriage

This found at Catholic and Loving It.

Why Whitney Houston Died - according to Bill O'Reilly

A parishioner commented before the evening Mass today that she was watching Houston's funeral and it was "awful". I guess that it was probably all that a Catholic funeral would not have been. And we have had three funerals in as many days so our parishioners should know a thing or two about Catholic funerals. I think we need to be warning our youth about the dangers of the celebrity lifestyle. Yes, pray for her soul, but certainly not hold her up as any kind of example. In our local Mining Journal, I found that this column by Bill O'Reilly seemed to sum it up for me.

Belfast school students launch internet prayerclub

Some of the boys on a pilgrimage to Rome give a gift to a young deacon
seminarian at the Irish College.

Students at De La Salle College, Belfast, have launched an internet prayerclub: De La Salle College Prayer Club Belfast! I happen to know that they (or at least some of them) are from Year 9 as they regularly check my blog and sometimes leave comments too. Their teacher (I'm not sure if she would like to be named) found my and, since then, even though we have never met, we keep in regular touch, corresponding on matters to do with faith and education. She takes the boys on pilgrimages to Rome, ensures they meet priests and seminarians capable of inspiring them to an authentic Catholic life and, God willing, a response to a calling to be priests themselves, etc. In his 2010 message for World Communications Day, Pope Benedict spoke about the importance of using the modern media, including the internet, as a means of evangelisation:

Responding adequately to this challenge amid today’s cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communications technologies. The world of digital communication, with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more Saint Paul’s exclamation: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16) The increased availability of the new technologies demands greater responsibility on the part of those called to proclaim the Word, but it also requires them to become become more focused, efficient and compelling in their efforts. Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word.

Among these young men might be some future priests who will harness the rich possibilities that modern communications techonology offers for evangelisation.

Cause of beatification of British Nun who hid Jews from Nazis moves forward

This from the Daily Telegraph today:

A file on Mother Riccarda Beauchamp Hambrough has been sent to the Vatican to be studied by historians and theologians.

Her cause for sainthood was opened in July 2010 by the Diocese of Rome along with that of Sister Katherine Flanagan, marking the first phase of the investigations.

In a significant development, the causes of both women have together been sent to the Holy See’s Congregation of Causes for Sainthood, marking a significant, but early, step forward in the long road to becoming saints.

If it is concluded that the pair lived lives of “heroic virtue”, the Pope will declare the London-born nuns to be “Venerable” and the search will begin for two miracles to first declare them Blessed and then saints.

Both nuns belonged to a revived order of Bridgettine sisters nicknamed “the hot cross bun nuns” because of the distinctive crosses covering the tops of their wimples.

Mother Riccarda helped to save the lives of about 60 Jews by hiding them from the Nazis in her Rome convent, the Casa di Santa Brigida.

She born in 1887 and was baptised in St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Brighton, at the age of four years after her parents converted to the Catholic faith.

Yesterday Father Ray Blake, the parish priest of St Mary’s welcomed the progress of her cause. “I think it is fantastic,” he said.

“Here is Brighton we are following her cause with great enthusiasm and see her very much as our local saint.

“When I tell people at Mass that that her cause is going forward I’m sure that they will be overjoyed.”

While Mother Riccarda spent most of her life in Rome, eventually becoming the head of the order, Sister Katherine was at the forefront of efforts to open Bridgettine convents around the world some 400 years after the Reformation nearly wiped out the order.

Judith Whitehead, a niece of Sister Katherine, said she was astonished that the first phase had concluded so quickly.

“I am surprised that it has moved to the next stage in my lifetime,” said Mrs Whitehead, 73, of Shaftesbury, Dorset, who had given evidence to the initial inquiry.

“I thought that the progression of looking into her life would take about 10 years,” she said.

“It is amazing to have someone in your family who was so revered by everybody … the Bridgettines obviously think that she is going to become a saint.”

Father Simon Henry, the parish priest of St Gregory’s Church, Earlsfield, south London, where Sister Katherine was baptised, said: “To have a possible saint from the parish is wonderful.”

Born Florence Catherine in Clerkenwell in 1892, Sister Katherine trained as a dressmaker before she left the family home for Rome at 19 years with the aim of becoming a nun.

She went on to become the first prioress of new convents in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire; Lugano, Switzerland; and Vadstena, Sweden - where she died in 1941.

A year after Sister Katherine joined, the future Mother Riccarda - born Madaleina Catherine - also journeyed to Rome.

Because of her talent and intelligence she soon became deputy of the Order, called the Most Holy Saviour of St Bridget, and remained at the mother house in the Italian capital.

When the Nazis took control in Rome in 1943, and began to round up the Jews of Rome for deportation to Auschwitz, Mother Riccarda risked her own life by smuggling fugitives into her convent.

Some Jews who gave evidence to the initial inquiry spoke of Mother Riccarda's kindness, saying they nicknamed her “Mama”.

She died in Rome in 1966 at the age of 79 years.

Cardinal Elect Timothy Dolan - a nice, fun TV interview

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Keys of the Kingdom on Fox UP Premieres Sunday Dec. 11th 11:30am

KinGdomLOWERHarbor from Gchild Productionz on Vimeo.

The above is a trailer. Kevin Branson is founder of "Claves Regni Ministries" and Father Ryan Ford is Associate Pastor at St Peter Cathedral, Marquette.

Courageous - a movie for Dads

It's showing in Marquette starting tomorrow.

Find out where it is showing near you.

Theme of World Communications Day 2012: Silence!

St Anne inviting us to be silent (as found at Reluctant Sinner).

Well, actually: "Silence and Word: Path to Evangelisation".

Silence is very difficult to achieve in our day. Last week much of Gwinn, MI, experienced a power outage following 70+ mph winds which brought trees down over power lines, resulting in loss of power. The lack of electricity certainly was not without its inconveniences: no hot water, no lighting, no possibility of cooking, loss of food in the freezer, etc. But one blessing it did bring was silence: no radio, no TV, no internet... just the possibility of reading by candle light (or kindle-light!) and working quietly during the day. One was able to listen more to one's thoughts and the voice of nature.

Pope Benedict has chosen a very important theme concerning communication. Communication is thought to be all about words. But how important silence is too.

The Vatican's news release on the subject states:

The extraordinarily varied nature of the contribution of modern communications to society highlights the need for a value which, on first consideration, might seem to stand in contradistinction to it. Silence, in fact, is the central theme for the next World Communications Day Message: 'Silence and Word: path of evangelisation'. In the thought of Pope Benedict XVI, silence is not presented simply as an antidote to the constant and unstoppable flow of information that characterises society today but rather as a factor that is necessary for its integration. Silence, precisely because it favours habits of discernment and reflection, can in fact be seen primarily as a means of welcoming the word. We ought not to think in terms of a dualism, but of the complementary nature of two elements which when they are held in balance serve to enrich the value of communication and which make it a key factor that can serve the new evangelisation. It is clearly the desire of the Holy Father to associate the theme of the next World Communications Day with the celebration of the forthcoming Synod of Bishops which will have as its own theme: 'The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith'.

How quickly people react to sound bites. The Pope himself has experienced misunderstanding of statements he has made, the result of a lack of that "discernment and reflection" that is mentioned above.

Silence is also key to prayer, as I have mentioned recently. I look forward to reading the forthcoming message of Pope Benedict which is customarily published on the memorial of St Francis de Sales (January 24th), patron saint of writers. World Communications Day itself is kept on the Sunday before Pentecost (May 20th in 2012).

Reluctant Sinner has further comment.

Second Missionaries of Charity house in Moscow threatened with demolition

The Moscow authorities demolished one house just over a week ago because of lack of permits, and now the city has initiated criminal proceedings against the MC's over the remaining property.

The Archbishop in Moscow, Mgr Paul Pezzi, refers to a "dictatorship of law".

See AsiaNews.it for more.

See how America Magazine mis-represents Vatican II

In a post dated October 10th 2011 (it's only October 3rd as I write) entitled Save the Altar Girls, the editorial reports on the decision by the rector of Ss Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix, Arizona to restrict serving at the altar to boys. This, of course, was always the Church's practice until a 1994 decision to permit girls to serve.

Now, the Second Vatican Council was concluded in 1965 and it made no mention of allowing girls to serve at Mass. Yet America Magazine writes:

These moves to limit laywomen’s access to the altar threaten to drag the church back into the pre-Vatican II world. One wonders if next the altar rail will return, another barrier between the priests and the people.

Where was the removal of altar rails mentioned in Vatican II? It wasn't.

This is a so-called "Spirit of Vatican II" article which bears no resemblance to the letter of the Council.

The editorial makes the following case:

The key issue is the status of the baptized: that the laity may be called by the Spirit to offer their talents in various roles. The rejection of altar girls disregards the counsel of the Second Vatican Council that the charisms of the baptized “are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation.” By virtue of baptism, the council reminds us, “there is neither male nor female. For you are all ‘one’ in Christ Jesus.” There is “a true equality between all with regard to the dignity and activity which is common to all the faithful in building up the Body of Christ” (“Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” Nos. 12, 32).

But this argument could be used in support of a campaign for the admission of women to the ranks of the priesthood, yet this is clearly not possible. There is no distinction between male and female in terms of their equal dignity before God, but male and female not only have different physical attributes (only one can be father/husband and only the other mother/wife), they have distinct sacramental attributes to, signs of Christ as bridegroom and the Church as bride respectively.

Clearly America magazine is worried that the Phoenix decision might lead to a trend, and I think they are right to be worried as many of the innovations made over recent decades are being re-examined and rolled back. Whatever their views on girls and altar serving, they should not be invoking the spirit of Vatican II. Altar rails are making a come back too.

All faithful Catholics are bigots - according to CNN's Piers Morgan

If, like me, you accept the Church's teaching that homosexual activity is immoral and that the orientation itself is disordered (prepare for hateful comments now - in spite of the fact that homosexual orientation is not the only disordered orientation: so is paedophilia, addictions to alcohol, drugs, temptations to beat your spouse, or to kill your unborn child, or to steal - these are all disordered in need of healing and amendment of life), you're a bigot.

CNN's Piers Morgan: “I guess one of the reasons it’s troubling and difficult for people to come out [as gay] is because of the level of bigotry that’s out there against them. I have to say that your views you espoused on this issue are bordering on bigotry, aren’t they?” Morgan asked the candidate.

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum: “Are you suggesting that the Bible and that the Catholic Church is bigoted? Well, if that’s what you believe, fine. I think that—I shouldn’t say ‘fine!’ ... Saying a church is bigoted because it holds that opinion that is Biblically based I think is in itself an act of bigotry”

And this after the following exchange when Santorum demonstrates the true charitable attitude that all should have - far from bigoted:

MORGAN: How many sons do you have?

SANTORUM: We have four boys and three girls. [Large family by many standards. Presumably he knows a thing or two about bringing up a family.]

MORGAN: How would you feel if one of your sons turned around one day and said, "Dad, I'm gay"?

SANTORUM: I would embrace them, love them and try to help them through what I would see as a very difficult and troubling time in their lives. I know a lot of gay people. I know a lot of the folks that I've talked to who have gone through this, go through a lot of very difficult times in their life in coming to that decision and struggling with it even after admitting it. So, this is a difficult issue. I understand it's difficult issue. And my job as a father is to love my son unconditionally which I do and would do, and would continue what I could do to support him so he could live a good, a healthy and decent and faithful life.

For a CNN interviewer (who himself professes to be catholic) to be allowed to get away with calling his interviewee - and, by implication, all faithful catholics - bigots is, unfortunately, not beyond belief. It's the age we live in . Freedom of speech if you espouse the relativistic politically correct policies of the day, but not if you hold views that correspond to eternal truths, in this case concerning marriage.

As long as we know, that's fine. We can be prepared for martyrdom, if the Lord considers us worthy of such an honour.

See Lifesitenews.

Father Barron on the obsession of atheists with religion - and why we need to pay attention to them.

Thanks to Accepting Abundance.

Father Z defends himself

It seems that the National Catholic Reporter is planning an attack on Fr Z, author of the informative blog What does the prayer really say.

Fr Z gives a full account of himself in his post Waiting for Zagano.

I am certainly happy to assure him of my support in prayer. The NCR is a liberal "catholic" journal that takes many an opportunity of questioning the Church's teaching as you will find by reading Fr Z's account.