The Dream of the Rood at Moreton, Dorset

My most favorite small Anglican church in England is at Moreton, Dorset. St. Nicholas has the fantastic, numinous engraved windows of Laurence Whistler. The original windows were destroyed early in World War II and from 1955 to 1984, these engraved windows were put into place. One must look and take time to examine the details, including the Scriptural references.



I cannot decide which is my favorite, but the Dream of the Rood window is magnificent. I have linked a photo on the poem's title above.  Here are some samples of the windows. And, I include the poem in translation.

Listen! The choicest of visions I wish to tell,
which came as a dream in middle-night,
after voice-bearers lay rest.at 
It seemed that I saw a most wondrous tree
born aloft, wound round by light,5
brightest of beams. All was that beacon
sprinkled with gold. Gems stood
fair at earth's corners; there likewise five
shone on the shoulder-span [ 1 ]. All there beheld the Angel of God [ 2 ],
fair through predestiny [ 3 ]. Indeed, that was no wicked one's gallows,10
but holy souls beheld it there,
men over earth, and all this great creation.

Wondrous that victory-beam--and I stained with sins,

with wounds of disgrace. I saw glory's tree

honored with trappings, shining with joys,15

decked with gold; gems had

wrapped that forest tree worthily round.

Yet through that gold I clearly perceived

old strife of wretches [ 4 ], when first it began

to bleed on its right side. With sorrows most troubled,20

I feared that fair sight. I saw that doom-beacon [ 5 ]

turn trappings and hews: sometimes with water wet,

drenched with blood's going; sometimes with jewels decked.

But lying there long while, I,

troubled, beheld the Healer's tree,25

until I heard its fair voice.

Then best wood spoke these words:

"It was long since--I yet remember it--

that I was hewn at holt's end,

moved from my stem. Strong fiends seized me there,30

worked me for spectacle; cursèd ones lifted me [ 6 ].

On shoulders men bore me there, then fixed me on hill;

fiends enough fastened me. Then saw I mankind's Lord

come with great courage when he would mount on me.

Then dared I not against the Lord's word35

bend or break, when I saw earth's

fields shake. All fiends

I could have felled, but I stood fast.

The young hero stripped himself--he, God Almighty--

strong and stout-minded. He mounted high gallows,40

bold before many, when he would loose mankind.

I shook when that Man clasped me. I dared, still, not bow to earth,

fall to earth's fields, but had to stand fast.

Rood was I reared. I lifted a mighty King,

Lord of the heavens, dared not to bend.45

With dark nails they drove me through: on me those sores are seen,

open malice-wounds. I dared not scathe anyone.

They mocked us both, we two together [ 7 ]. All wet with blood I was,

poured out from that Man's side, after ghost he gave up.

Much have I born on that hill50

of fierce fate. I saw the God of hosts

harshly stretched out. Darknesses had

wound round with clouds the corpse of the Wielder,

bright radiance; a shadow went forth,

dark under heaven. All creation wept,55

King's fall lamented. Christ was on rood.

But there eager ones came from afar

to that noble one. I beheld all that.

Sore was I with sorrows distressed, yet I bent to men's hands,

with great zeal willing. They took there Almighty God,60

lifted him from that grim torment. Those warriors abandoned me

standing all blood-drenched, all wounded with arrows.

They laid there the limb-weary one, stood at his body's head;

beheld they there heaven's Lord, and he himself rested there,

worn from that great strife. Then they worked him an earth-house,65

men in the slayer's sight carved it from bright stone,

set in it the Wielder of Victories. Then they sang him a sorrow-song,

sad in the eventide, when they would go again

with grief from that great Lord. He rested there, with small company.

But we there lamenting a good while70

stood in our places after the warrior's cry

went up. Corpse grew cold,

fair life-dwelling. Then someone felled us

all to the earth. That was a dreadful fate!

Deep in a pit one delved us. Yet there Lord's thanes,75

friends, learned of me,. . . . . . . . . . .

adorned me with silver and gold.

Now you may know, loved man of mine,

what I, work of baleful ones, have endured

of sore sorrows. Now has the time come80

when they will honor me far and wide,

men over earth, and all this great creation,

will pray for themselves to this beacon. On me God's son

suffered awhile. Therefore I, glorious now,

rise under heaven, and I may heal85

any of those who will reverence me.

Once I became hardest of torments,

most loathly to men, before I for them,

voice-bearers, life's right way opened.

Indeed, Glory's Prince, Heaven's Protector,90

honored me, then, over holm-wood [ 8 ].

Thus he his mother, Mary herself,

Almighty God, for all men,

also has honored over all woman-kind.

Now I command you, loved man of mine,95

that you this seeing [ 9 ] tell unto men;

discover with words that it is glory's beam

which Almighty God suffered upon

for all mankind's manifold sins

and for the ancient ill-deeds of Adam.100

Death he tasted there, yet God rose again

by his great might, a help unto men.

He then rose to heaven. Again sets out hither

into this Middle-Earth, seeking mankind

on Doomsday, the Lord himself,105

Almighty God, and with him his angels,

when he will deem--he holds power of doom--

everyone here as he will have earned

for himself earlier in this brief life.

Nor may there be any unafraid110

for the words that the Wielder speaks.

He asks before multitudes where that one is

who for God's name would gladly taste

bitter death, as before he on beam did.

And they then are afraid, and few think115

what they can to Christ's question answer [ 10 ].

Nor need there then any be most afraid [ 11 ]

who ere in his breast bears finest of beacons;

but through that rood shall each soul

from the earth-way enter the kingdom,120

who with the Wielder thinks yet to dwell."

I prayed then to that beam with blithe mind,

great zeal, where I alone was

with small company [ 12 ]. My heart was

impelled on the forth-way, waited for in each125

longing-while. For me now life's hope:

that I may seek that victory-beam

alone more often than all men,

honor it well. My desire for that

is much in mind, and my hope of protection130

reverts to the rood. I have not now many

strong friends on this earth; they forth hence

have departed from world's joys, have sought themselves glory's King;

they live now in heaven with the High-Father,

dwell still in glory, and I for myself expect135

each of my days the time when the Lord's rood,

which I here on earth formerly saw,

from this loaned life will fetch me away

and bring me then where is much bliss,

joy in the heavens, where the Lord's folk140

is seated at feast, where is bliss everlasting;

and set me then where I after may

dwell in glory, well with those saints

delights to enjoy. May he be friend to me

who here on earth earlier died145

on that gallows-tree for mankind's sins.

He loosed us and life gave,

a heavenly home. Hope was renewed

with glory and gladness to those who there burning endured.

That Son was victory-fast [ 13 ] in that great venture,150

with might and good-speed [ 14 ], when he with many,

vast host of souls, came to God's kingdom,

One-Wielder Almighty: bliss to the angels

and all the saints--those who in heaven

dwelt long in glory--when their Wielder came,155

Almighty God, where his homeland was. 

 

Translation copyright © 1982, Jonathan A. Glenn, who I knew at Notre Dame. 

Visiting Cranborne

I cannot describe adequately the beauty of Cranborne Manor Gardens in Dorset. As one walks from one garden room to the next, one is overcome with either the simplicity of the beauty, the history of the walks, or the romantic drama of these separate Edens.

One can take time and walk and think and enjoy the beauty, which is a gift of God, who is Beauty.

On a late Spring day, I visited these gardens recently and was overwhelmed with a soft, gentle quiet. The word I would use is homey. These gardens are like comfortable blankets, surrounding one with beauty and peace.

I was fortunate to be there with a friend and more frequently than not, we were the only two on the walks.

The purple beeches. like magnificent knights, guarded our way. I share some photos and hope you will enjoy the peace and romance of each walk.

I can hardly believe this place was the home of one of the most anti-Catholic of Elizabeth's reign. Robert Cecil's father was the  William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and he was influenced by Sir Francis Walsingham, the hunter of Catholics. How strange that hundreds of years later, an ardent Catholic like me can walk the grounds and feel the peace of God out of this violent history of religious persecution.

Letting God Be God-a Second Conversion

I had an insight into the real power of  the Passion and Death of Christ. God died. We have emphasized the Humanity of Christ so much in the last two centuries, that we Catholics have forgotten, as our abuses in the Mass reveal, such as noise in the Church, and the lack of reverence, that Christ always was, is and will be. He is the Second Person in the Holy Trinity. He was present at the origin of the material universe. He died.

Now, at the Passion and Death of Christ, Christ did not reveal His Godhead. He did not reveal Himself as He truly was and is. He let Himself be denied by His Own People. He let Himself be abused, tortured, killed by His relatives in the flesh and in the Spirit.

God let Himself die at the hands of humans, so that we would be fully human and regain our divine life, lost in Eden.

If we let God be God in our lives, if we do not play God by ordering our lives merely by our own lights, we allow the Crucified One to live, to be Resurrected in our own lives. We allow God to be God in our lives. God is a Living God. And, we live in Him.

Here is the new insight. God allowed Death to have a moment of victory, just a  moment, three days, so that we are not doomed to plan our own lives (sorry,Sartre). Christ died to free us from our own self-will. our own puny ideas of ourselves, of others, our own desire to play God.  Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane saw the entire world's humanity's efforts to be God-and to play God is to sin, to be presumptuous, to fall into pride or despair.

Christ became Man so that we could become Sons and Daughters of God. We, who were made in the Image and Likeness of God, again regained the ability, the chance to regain that image and likeness.

Such happens in the Sacrament of Baptism. If and how we cooperate with the graces of Baptism is our response to God.

My insight is not new or original. But, we must all come to the personal appropriation of Truth. Some come to this earlier than I have. Those live in trust, in hope, in faith, in love. These are the saints. I am just beginning life over again.

For Greater Glory-the Cristiada Martyrs

There are 37 martyrs beatified from the time of the Cristeros. There is an encyclical on the persecution of the Catholic Church in Mexico (see below). The martyrs were from many types of people-lay, priest, seminarians. One was thirteen years old. Here is a partial list of the saints. I leave the links. The first, Cristóbal Magallanes Jara (1869–1927), may be the most well-known, as well as Blessed Miguel Pro, whose photo is on another post below. 

• Román Adame Rosales
• Rodrigo Aguilar Aleman
• Julio Álvarez Mendoza
• Luis Batis Sáinz
• Agustín Caloca Cortés
• Mateo Correa Magallanes
• Atilano Cruz Alvarado
• Miguel De La Mora De La Mora
• Pedro Esqueda Ramírez
• Margarito Flores García
• José Isabel Flores Varela
• David Galván Bermudes
• Salvador Lara Puente
• Pedro de Jesús Maldonado (1892–1937)
• Jesús Méndez Montoya
• Manuel Morales
• Justino Orona Madrigal
• Sabas Reyes Salazar
• José María Robles Hurtado
• David Roldán Lara
• Toribio Romo González
• Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo
• Tranquilino Ubiarco Robles
• David Uribe Velasco
• 
  

Tomorrow in the States, the movie on the Cristeros movement or the Cristiada in Mexico open. Link is on name. I have seen some trailers. It may be too violent for the children, so parents, see it yourselves first, which is what my parents did and what I did. Go to the link and follow the timeline. Home schooling mom alert---this would make a good section of your American History curriculum.

The movie has a timely opening date, as the theme is the war for religious freedom in Mexico. Here is a blurb from the website linked above. Comments welcomed for those who see this film. I would like some feedback

In addition, there is the encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the persecutions, on the Vatican website.

Here is a section of Iniquis afflictisque:

6. Referring now to certain notorious facts concerning which We have already raised Our voice in solemn protest and which even the daily press recorded at great length, there is no need to take up much space in telling you of certain deplorable events which occurred even in the very recent past with reference to Our Apostolic Delegates to Mexico. Without the slightest regard for justice, for solemn promises given, or for humanity itself, one of these Apostolic Delegates was driven out of the country; another, who because of illness had left the Republic for a short time, was forbidden to return, and the third was also treated in a most unfriendly manner and forced to leave. Surely there is no one who cannot understand that such acts as these, committed against illustrious personages who were both ready and willing to bring about peace, must be construed as a great affront to their dignity as Archbishops, to the high office which they filled, and particularly to Our authority which they represented.

7. Unquestionably the events just cited are grave and deplorable. But the examples of despotic power which We will now pass in review, Venerable Brothers, are beyond all compare, contrary to the rights of the Church, and most injurious as well to the Catholics of Mexico.

8. In the first place, let us examine the law of 1917, known as the "Political Constitution" of the federated republic of Mexico. For our present purposes it is sufficient to point out that after declaring the separation of Church and State the Constitution refuses to recognize in the Church, as if she were an individual devoid of any civil status, all her existing rights and interdicts to her the ac quisition of any rights whatsoever in the future. The civil authority is given the right to interfere in matters of divine worship and in the external discipline of the Church. Priests are put on the level of professional men and of laborers but with this important difference, that they must be not only Mexicans by birth and cannot exceed a certain number specified by law, but are at the same time deprived of all civil and political rights. They are thus placed in the same class with criminals and the insane. Moreover, priests not only must inform the civil authorities but also a commission of ten citizens whenever they take possession of a church or are transferred to another mission. The vows of religious, religious orders, and religious congregations are outlawed in Mexico. Public divine worship is forbidden unless it take place within the confines of a church and is carried on under the watchful eye of the Government. All church buildings have been declared the property of the state. Episcopal residences, diocesan offices, seminaries, religious houses, hospitals, and all charitable institutions have been taken away from the Church and handed over to the state. As a matter of fact, the Church can no longer own property of any kind. Everything that it possessed at the period when this law was passed has now become the property of the state. Every citizen, moreover, has the right to denounce before the law any person whom he thinks is holding in his own name property for the Church. All that is required in order to make such action legal is a mere presumption of guilt. Priests are not allowed by law to inherit property of any kind except it be from persons closely related to them by blood. With reference to marriage, the power of the Church is not recognized. Every marriage between Catholics is considered valid if contracted validly according to the prescriptions of the civil code.

9. Education has been declared free, but with these important restrictions: both priests and religious are forbidden to open or to conduct elementary schools. It is not permitted to teach children their religion even in a private school. Diplomas or degrees conferred by private schools under control of the Church possess no legal value and are not recognized by the state. Certainly, Venerable Brothers, the men who originated, approved, and gave their sanction to such a law either are totally ignorant of what rights pertain jure divino to the Church as a perfect society, established as the ordinary means of salvation for mankind by Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer and King, to which He gave the full liberty of fulfilling her mission on earth (such ignorance seems incredible today after twenty centuries of Christianity and especially in a Catholic nation and among men who have been baptized, unless in their pride and foolishness they believe themselves able to undermine and destroy the "House of the Lord which has been solidly constructed and strongly built on the living rock") or they have been motivated by an insane hatred to attempt anything within their power in order to harm the Church. How was it possible for the Archbishops and Bishops of Mexico to remain silent in the face of such odious laws?

10. Immediately after their publication the hierarchy of Mexico protested in kind but firm terms against these laws, protests which Our Immediate Predecessor ratified, which were approved as well by the whole hierarchies of other countries, as well as by a great majority of individual bishops from all over the world, and which finally were confimed even by Us in a letter of consolation of the date of the second of February, 1926, which We addressed to the Bishops of Mexico. The Bishops hoped that those in charge of the Government, after the first outburst of hatred, would have appreciated the damage and danger which would accrue to the vast majority of the people from the enforcement of those articles of the Constitution restrictive of the liberty of the Church and that, therefore, out of a desire to preserve peace they would not insist on enforcing these articles to the letter, or would enforce them only up to a certain point, thus leaving open the possibility of a modus vivendi, at least for the time being.

11. In spite of the extreme patience exhibited in these circumstances by both the clergy and laity, an attitude which was the result of the Bishops' exhorting them to moderation in all things, every hope of a return to peace and tranquillity was dissipated, and this as a direct result of the law promulgated by the President of the Republic on the second of July, 1926, by virtue of which practically no liberty at all was left the Church. As a matter of fact, the Church was barely allowed to exist. The exercise of the sacred ministry was hedged about by the severest penalties as if it were a crime worthy of capital punishment. It is difficult, Venerable Brothers, to express in language how such perversion of civil authority grieves Us. For whosoever reveres, as all must, God the Creator and Our Beloved Redeemer, whosoever will obey the laws of Holy Mother Church, such a man, We repeat, such a man is looked on as a malefactor, as guilty of a crime; such a man is considered fit only to be deprived of all civil rights; such a man can be thrown into prison along with other criminals. With what justice can We apply to the authors of these enormities the words which Jesus Christ spoke to the leaders of the Jews: "This is your hour, and the power of darkness." (Luke xxii, 53)

12. The most recent law which has been promulgated as merely an interpretation of the Constitution is as a matter of fact much worse than the original law itself and makes the enforcement of the Constitution much more severe, if not almost intolerable. The President of the Republic and the members of his ministry have insisted with such ferocity on the enforcement of these laws that they do not permit the governors of the different states of the Confederation, the civil authorities, or the military commanders to mitigate in the least the rigors of the persecution of the Catholic Church. Insult, too, is added to persecution. Wicked men have tried to place the Church in a bad light before the people; some, for example, uttering the most brazen lies in public assemblies. But when a Catholic tries to answer them, he is prevented from speaking by catcalls and personal insults hurled at his head. Others use hostile newspapers in order to obscure the truth and to malign "Catholic Action."

13. If, at the beginning of the persecution, Catholics were able to make a defense of their religion in the public press by means of articles which made clear the truth and answered the lies and errors of their enemies, it is now no longer permitted these citizens, who love their country just as much as other citizens do, to raise their voices in protest. As a matter of fact, they are not even allowed to express their sorrow over the injuries done to the Faith of their fathers and to the liberty of divine worship. We, however, moved profoundly as We are by the consciousness of the duties imposed upon Us by our Apostolic office, will cry out to heaven, Venerable Brothers, so that the whole Catholic world may hear from the lips of the Common Father of all the story of the insane tyranny of the enemies of the Church, on the one hand, and on the other that of the heroic virtue and constancy of the bishops, priests, religious congregations, and laity ot Mexico.

14. All foreign priests and religious men have been expelled from the country. Schools for the religious education of boys and girls have been closed, either because they are known publicly under a religious name or because they happen to possess a statue or some other religious object. Many seminaries likewise, schools, insane asylums, convents, institutions connected with churches have been closed. In practically all the states of the Republic the number of priests who may exercise the sacred ministry has been limited and fixed at the barest minimum. Even these latter are not allowed to exercise their sacred office unless they have beforehand registered with the civil authorities and have obtained permission from them so to function. In certain sections of the country restrictions have been placed on the ministry of priests which, if they were not so sad, would be laughable in the extreme. For example, certain regulations demand that priests must be of an age fixed by law, that they must be civilly married, and they are not allowed to baptize except with flowing water. In one of the states of the Confederation it has been decreed that only one bishop is permitted to live within the territory of said state, by reason of which law two other bishops were constrained to exile themselves from their dioceses. Moreover, because of circumstances imposed upon them by law, some bishops have had to leave their diocese, others have been forced to appear before the courts, several were arrested, and practically all the others live from day to day in imminent danger of being arrested.

15. Again, every Mexican citizen who is engaged in the education of children or of youth, or holds any public office whatsoever, has been ordered to make known publicly whether he accepts the policies of the President and approves of the war which is now being waged on the Catholic Church. The majority of these same individuals were forced, under threat of losing their positions, to take part, together with the army and laboring men, in a parade sponsored by the Regional Confederation of the Workingmen of Mexico, a socialist organization. This parade took place in Mexico City and in other towns of the Republic on the same day. It was followed by impious speeches to the populace. The whole procedure was organized to obtain, by means of these public outcries and the applause of those who took part in it, and by heaping all kinds of abuse on the Church, popular approval of the acts of the President.

16. But the cruel exercise of arbitrary power on the part of the enemies of the Church has not stopped at these acts. Both men and women who defended the rights of the Church and the cause of religion, either in speeches or by distributing leaflets and pamphlets, were hurried before the courts and sent to prison. Again, whole colleges of canons were rushed off to jail, the aged being carried there in their beds. Priests and laymen have been cruelly put to death in the very streets or in the public squares which front the churches. May God grant that the responsible authors of so many grave crimes return soon to their better selves and throw themselves in sorrow and with true contrition on the divine mercy; We are convinced that this is the noble revenge on their murderers which Our children who have been so unjustly put to death are now asking from God.

17. We think it well at this point, Venerable Brothers, to review for you in a few words how the bishops, priests, and faithful of Mexico have organized resistance and "set up a wall for the House of Israel, to stand in battle." (Ezech. xiii, 5)

Assange and Occupy International-an Interview

Today, I have watched an exclusive interview with Julian Assange on RT.  That the Russian television station would show an exclusive interview is not an accident. The Friends of Occupy were at the interview-Occupy New York and Occupy London. Assange and others explained how Occupy came to be and where it is going.

It is a global movement starting in Tunisia, moving from there to Greece, Italy, Spain and other places. The Day of Rage in 2010 was also a beginning. Social media and what is called "swarms", that is movements. These people are against nation-states. They claim that that national leaders are no longer accountable, that the institutions are not viable. IMF, WTO etc are which groups they see as the real leaders. While some conservatives may agree on who is really running countries, the language and agenda of the Occupy is very different than, let us say, tongue-in-cheek, the Acton Institute.

There are different streams, as the persons in the groups stated, galvanized into one large movement. This is a global movement, which the Americans do not understand. The Indignatos, for example, were in New York, anarchists travelling. Egyptians were in Occupy Wall Street. The European movement is connected. They admitted that without the new media, without the Internet, twitter and other stuff, they would not have made the main media at all. This was an online movement which moved offline.

What Assange talked about was political techniques. These people are the grandchildren, spiritually. of  Saul Alinsky. Street drama, hand waving, etc. are planned--communication for online audiences is planned. These Occupy leaders are against all coercion, and have no real plan except creating consensus online.These young people have memorized Rules for Radicals.

They are in some ways naive--they are engaging in what they call the political imagination. They are in some ways extremely good at what they do. They are not (quote), "talking about legalities" with regarding to occupying places, but about defiance. They do not accept the existing order at all. The Occupies are, as Assange said, "mini-states" which the Occupiers control. They want it to be serious. They do not want nutsy people or naked people, for example, as they do not want their movement ruined. There were drummers, for example, and they negotiated with the drummers. Without rules, there is anarchy. But, that is what this is all about--different levels of anarchy.

There is a worry from Assange that nutsies will rise to the top.

In three weeks, there were 800 worldwide Occupies...one of the members said the "enemies are worldwide".

I want to say and this is a quote, that they want the "end of capitalism".


Of course, they blame the police for all the violence. Watching Occupy Rome in the Autumn and the violence was not started by the police. Some want violence and some do not. Some what to push the envelope and see how far they can go.

They are against all the structures which govern the world at this time. Wake up Europe, wake up America.

Update: I am adding Dr. Sanity's excellent article here. It is connected.

Update Two on Occupy Bilderberg 2012: Check out this article.

Joy is a sign of Christian belief

Reason 23,976 why I am a Christian. Joy is a sign of Christian belief. You won't believe this unless you read it. http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/05/pakistan-muslim-clerics-sentence-4-women-and-2-men-to-death-for-singing-and-dancing-at-wedding.html

British Government Attack on Freedom of Conscience Heats Up

There are many ways to try to destroy the Catholic Church. None have worked. Many have caused pain and misery for Christians through-out the ages. We are heading for a remnant Church.

Things are heating up in Great Britain and in Ireland as to persecution of the Catholic Church. There are three areas of attack with endanger religious freedom in these two countries.

The first is the push for civil marriages for homosexual and lesbian couples.
The second is the increased interference in so-called Catholic schools regarding the curriculum.
The third is the restriction of conscience protection for doctors and nurses.

Here is a complete article from LifeSiteNews on the latest and on-going attack. To use the word attack is not to exaggerate. Those who can should act now, especially voters. Do not ignore this period of consultation. Make your views known, please.

Doctors must refer for abortion, perform ‘gender reassignment surgery’: UK draft guidelines

Thaddeus Baklinski

Tue May 29 16:25 EST

Abortion

LONDON, May 29, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A draft of new guidelines titled “Personal beliefs and medical practice” issued by the UK’s General Medical Council warns doctors that exercising their conscience rights to not prescribe contraceptives, including the abortifacient morning after pill, as well as not referring for abortion or performing “gender reassignment surgery,” could endanger their license to practice.

“Serious or persistent failure to follow this guidance will put your registration at risk,” the document forewarns.

Under the guidelines, some circumstances allow a doctor “to opt out of providing a particular procedure because of your personal beliefs and values.” However, this provision is set aside in the case of gender reassignment surgery because, say the guidelines, refusal would amount to discrimination against an identifiable group of patients.

“The exception to this [opt out] is gender reassignment since this procedure is only sought by a particular group of patients and cannot therefore be subject to a conscientious objection. This position is supported by the Equality Act 2010 which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of gender reassignment,” the draft states.

While physicians can refuse to participate in abortions under Section 4(1) of the Abortion Act 1967, the new guidelines state patients seeking “a procedure you have a conscientious objection to” must be referred to another doctor who will carry out the procedure.

The draft guidelines also state that doctors “may have a conscientious objection to providing contraception.” However, they “cannot be willing to provide married women with contraception but unwilling to prescribe it for unmarried women. This would be a breach of our guidance as you would be refusing to treat a particular group of patients.”

Paragraph 54 of the guidelines sums up the restrictions on doctors acting on their personal beliefs with the statement, “You must not express your personal beliefs (including political, religious and moral beliefs) to patients in ways that exploit their vulnerability or that are likely to cause them distress.”

Chief Executive of the General Medical Council, Niall Dickson, said in a statement, “We know that personal beliefs are central to the lives of many doctors and patients.

“Our draft guidance seeks to balance doctors desire to practise medicine in line with their own personal beliefs, whilst ensuring that they are providing patients access to appropriate medical treatment and services.

“We do want to hear what doctors and patients think about the draft guidance and we hope as many people as possible will respond to our consultation by 13 June.”

Bishop Tom Williams, Chairman of the Bishops’ Conference Healthcare Reference Group, criticized the draft guidelines and urged Catholic healthcare professionals to respond to the General Medical Council consultation.

Bishop Williams said in a statement that the GMC guidance “does not have a balanced or positive appreciation of the value of religion,” and that, “Both religion and conscientious objection seem to be treated as problems to be minimised and circumscribed as much as possible.”

He said the guidelines fall far short of achieving their stated purpose and instead have the possibility of creating “an atmosphere of fear in which doctors are prohibited from ever expressing their own religion,” with the result that they “would directly discriminate against certain categories of doctor and indirectly discriminate against patients who may be deprived of a healthcare professional from their community who understands their concerns.”

“It is important that the voice of Catholic doctors and patients is heard in this consultation, which ends in mid June,” Bishop Williams concluded.

Dr David Albert Jones of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, a Roman Catholic academic institute that engages with the moral questions arising in clinical practice and biomedical research, has produceda document outlining key issues of concern in the GMC’s Personal Beliefs guidelines in order to assist healthcare professionals and patients to understand the issues and to respond to the General Medical Council consultation.

“The Anscombe Bioethics Centre echoes this encouragement [of Bishop Tom Williams] to respond to the GMC consultation, as the Personal Beliefs document will be of great and lasting significance for doctors and for patients. The more people who are able to respond, the more evidence this will provide to the GMC of the serious concerns of doctors and patients on these issues,” Dr Jones said.

The Anscombe Bioethics Centre’s “Notes and Key Points on Personal Beliefs and Medical Practice” is available here.

The link to the General Medical Council (GMC) Consultation on Personal Beliefs and Medical Practice explanation page is available here.

The link to take part in the Consultation is available here.

The General Medical Council’s document titled “Personal beliefs and medical practice” is available here.

The Boredom of the British

The British are so weird and get bored easily. I just learned today that in 1809, two bored men bet that one of them in competition could make a house the most famous house in London. The bet was horrible as the man who one the bet did not even use his own house, but his neighbors, Mrs. Tottenham. The poor widow even received at least one coffin on this day. Now, that is mean. Here is the article in wiki on it, but I have heard of this crazy story from others.

Why the British do such weird things is beyond me. But, maybe someone could do this and irritate a famous person in the White House. Security wouldn't allow it.

The Berners Street Hoax was perpetrated by Theodore Hook in the City of Westminster, London, in 1809.^[1][2] Hook had made a bet with his friend, Samuel Beazley, that he could transform any house in London into the most talked-about address in a week, which he achieved by sending out thousands of letters in the name of Mrs Tottenham, who lived at 54 Berners Street, requesting deliveries, visitors, and assistance.^[3]

On 27 November, at five o’clock in the morning, a sweep arrived to sweep the chimneys of Mrs Tottenham's house. The maid who answered the door informed him that no sweep had been requested, and that his services were not required. A few moments later another sweep presented himself, then another, and another, 12 in all. After the last of the sweeps had been sent away, a fleet of carts carrying large deliveries of coal began to arrive, followed by a series of cakemakers delivering large wedding cakes, then doctors, lawyers, vicars and priests summoned to minister to someone in the house they had been told was dying. Fishmongers, shoemakers, and over a dozen pianos were among the next to appear, along with "six stout men bearing an organ". Dignitaries, including the Governor of the Bank of England, the Duke of York, theArchbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Mayor of the City of London also arrived. The narrow streets soon became severely congested with tradesmen and onlookers. Deliveries and visits continued until the early evening, bringing a large part of London to a standstill.^[4]

Hook stationed himself in the house directly opposite 54 Berners Street, from where he and his friend spent the day watching the chaos unfold.^[4]

People who have time like this now blog.