What happened to the Christians in Scotland?

JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR

Friday, 9 May 2014

Brainwashing children about gay marriage condemned by parents' rights group

SPUC Safe at School has condemned calls from Scottish health boards for parents to hand over their children's moral education to the state.

See today's Telegraph story, "NHS chiefs tell ministers: Change sex education lessons to make all pupils learn about gay marriage"

Safe at School said that Scotland's largest NHS boards want nothing less than to brainwash every Scottish child into accepting same-sex marriage, by setting up children to overrule their parents.

Antonia Tully, national coordinator of Safe at School, told the media earlier today:

"The NHS is demanding that parents hand over their children to state indoctrination. I believe that Scottish parents will be quick to see that this is about using innocent children as pawns to promote same-sex marriage. We will be organising meetings in Scotland to empower parents to protect their own children."

See John's blog for making comments.. 

John of Avila, Three

Friday, 8 February 2013

Part four and more on St. John of Avila

St. John of Avila writes to a lady on what holiness is. Obviously, he was aware of those stages of perfection, and so inspired St. Teresa of Avila, to whom he wrote as well. He is summarizing all three stages here, purification, illumination, and unity in love, as perfect charity comes in unity.

Here is the short letter.

John of Avila, Two

Friday, 8 February 2013

St, John of Avila, part three of the series on the Doctors of the Church

For priests, there is a wonderful letter in this book, Letters of Blessed John of Avila, found here, on preparation for Mass. Here is only one page on that selection: I like the phrase, "Retire into the secrecy of your own heart"...there is so much here. BTW, a fellow blogger of mine, Reluctant Sinner, has a good post on St. John of Avila at this site.





For the laity today, I copy a section on his comments on persecution.





To be continued...............

John of Avila, Doctor of the Church Repost One

Friday, 8 February 2013

Doctors of the Church series, part two

This is the second in a long series I am going to do here on the Doctors of the Church. Highlighting their spirituality will cover both categories of the seeking of perfection and the lives of the saints. Enjoy.

Last year, the Pope made St. John of Avila a doctor of the Church. Many people do not know him. His feast day, which I celebrated in Ireland, is on December 14th.

Here is a snippet from the Mass where the Pope made this declaration along with St. Hildegard of Bingen.

At this point, let us pause for a moment to appreciate the two saints who today have been added to the elect number of Doctors of the Church. Saint John of Avila lived in the sixteenth century. A profound expert on the sacred Scriptures, he was gifted with an ardent missionary spirit. He knew how to penetrate in a uniquely profound way the mysteries of the redemption worked by Christ for humanity. A man of God, he united constant prayer to apostolic action. He dedicated himself to preaching and to the more frequent practice of the sacraments, concentrating his commitment on improving the formation of candidates for the priesthood, of religious and of lay people, with a view to a fruitful reform of the Church.

Saint Hildegard of Bingen, an important female figure of the twelfth century, offered her precious contribution to the growth of the Church of her time, employing the gifts received from God and showing herself to be a woman of brilliant intelligence, deep sensitivity and recognized spiritual authority. The Lord granted her a prophetic spirit and fervent capacity to discern the signs of the times. Hildegard nurtured an evident love of creation, and was learned in medicine, poetry and music. Above all, she maintained a great and faithful love for Christ and his Church.

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20121007_apertura-sinodo_en.html

St. John was going to be a missionary, but was asked to stay and help restore Catholicism in Andalusia. He is important to me as he wrote on Christian perfection, which is a theme of this blog.

His sermons and writings influenced SS. John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Francis Borgia and others.

More later...

.

I would like to have a copy of "Audi Fili", a perfect book for Lent,  English translation, 1620) and "Spiritual Letters"English translation, 1631, London and Stanbrook Abbey, 1904, if someone has those laying about.....and not using them. I think of all the books in the libraries of monasteries being ignored, simply because those coming in are so few, or that they need the basics of the Catechism, the milk and not the meat, yet.

Here is a selection from an online book found here. To be continued..................

Wake-Up, Catholic Parents in Great Britain

JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR

Friday, 9 May 2014

Respond to inquiry into compulsory sex ed

The Education Select Committee of the House of Commons has launched an inquiry into personal, social and health education (PSHE) in schools. PSHE covers a number of topics such as drug education, healthy eating and so on. Sex and relationship education (SRE) is also covered in this topic.

We are very concerned that this inquiry will be used to make sex education a compulsory schools subject. This would mean that children as young as five years old would have to learn about sexual matters. Parents would be unable to protect their children from inappropriate teaching.

It is absolutely vital that there is an overwhelming response from parents, grandparents, teachers, clergy and all concerned citizens saying "no" to compulsory sex education. Compulsory sex education will sever parents from the moral upbringing of their children. And the innocence of children will be wiped out by ever more sexual content in the classroom.

Every school will be affected by this. Every child deserves to be protected.

Please download SPUC's briefing to help you respond to this inquiry. Please circulate the briefing as widely as possible asking others to respond to the inquiry. The deadline for responses is the first week of June (see the briefing for further details).

P.S. You may have seen this frightening report today by The Telegraph:
"NHS chiefs tell ministers: Change sex education lessons to make all pupils learn about gay marriage"

The NHS in Scotland wants:

• all children to learn about gay marriage in sex education lessons
• children to be given the power to overrule their parents
• a stop to parents campaigning against the content of sex education lessons
• training for teachers to help them overcome their objections to gay marriage.

Read SPUC Safe at School's reaction "Brainwashing children about gay marriage condemned by parents' rights group"

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk 

Update on Pope's Address

http://southernorderspage.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-pope-speaks.html

New Book To Read

I am very excited about a new book I am borrowing-For Altar and Throne: The Rising of the Vendee by Michael Davies, one of my heroes.

God willing that I can continue blogging, I shall share the details of the book with you all.

Glorifying Evil

One of the things wrong with continually looking at and complaining about the abuses in the Church is that it focuses our attention on evil. We must focus our attention of Good, Who Is God.

Focusing on Christ is the job of the Christian. When we focus on Christ, even in days of suffering, we are practicing the virtues of faith, hope and love. Hope, especially, is honed in suffering.

Hope is believing in what we do not see.

If we cannot see success or even goodness in a situation, we can hope that good will come out of evil.

By constantly looking at evil, we become despondent and can even lose our way on the road to perfection.

By looking at the Beloved, we become like Him we adore.

By concentrating on evil, we glorify evil rather than good.

The center of our lives should be the Good.

From Colossians 4:4-7

⁵ Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.^[a] 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.

Serious Problems

A computer guy has been helping me with a series of viruses for two days now. Some have come back. Please pray I can get all these out, or I may have to switch the blog to another place. I do not have the money to buy something sophisticated and am not sure what to do.

The virus is connected to Google and Chrome. Of course, this is a google blog. Pray I can save all and if I have to start anew, that I would get the help I need.

Please, please pray that my Google accounts have not be infected.

All part of spiritual warfare, I am sure.

Pray for all bloggers.

Pray for me that I can continue blogging.

Also, pray for me to be able to get a Mac.

Thanks so much.

Good News-I have other reasons....

No Catholic can support CC. Others are revolting for various reasons...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-sleep-which-leads-to-death.html

Chicago Teachers Union Breaks With Common Core

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2014/05/chicago_teacher_union_breaks_w.html

By Anthony Cody on May 8, 2014 10:24 AM

Yesterday, in a vote that shows democracy is alive in the American Federation of Teachers, members of the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates voted -- reportedly unanimously -- to join the growing national resistance to the Common Core standards.

A statement released by the union says,

Now that the resolution has passed, the CTU will lobby the Illinois Board of Education to eliminate the use of the Common Core for teaching and assessment; and be it further and will work to organize other members and affiliates to increase opposition to the law that increases the expansion of nationwide controls over educational issues.

Local president Karen Lewis said,

Common Core eliminates creativity in the classroom and impedes collaboration. We also know that high-stakes standardized testing is designed to rank and sort our children and it contributes significantly to racial discrimination and the achievement gap among students in America's schools.

One prayer answered..

Little baby girl is home and getting better. Thanks for all your prayers. Keep praying of the woman who is considering the abortion. Also, pray for me.

Ta, STM

On A Serious Matter

Archdiocese of Boston

18 hrs · 

The Catholic community in the Archdiocese of Boston expresses its deep sadness and strong opposition to the plan to stage a “black mass” on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge.

For the good of the Catholic faithful and all people, the Church provides clear teaching concerning Satanic worship. This activity separates people from God and the human community, it is contrary to charity and goodness, and it places participants dangerously close to destructive works of evil.

In a recent statement, Pope Francis warned of the danger of being naïve about or underestimating the power of Satan, whose evil is too often tragically present in our midst. We call upon all believers and people of good will to join us in prayer for those who are involved in this event, that they may come to appreciate the gravity of their actions, and in asking Harvard to disassociate itself from this activity.

See also

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2014/05/08/harvard-extension-cultural-studies-club-hosting-satanic-black-mass/

Abortions in 2014-Will God Ignore This?

James Toups@Toupsfamily    no He won't. We are approaching the 500,000 and 15,000,000 point this year in the US and worldwide.

Note from another blog

JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR

Thursday, 8 May 2014

Welcome for decision not to fund abortion of Northern Ireland babies

Pro-life campaigners in Northern Ireland have welcomed the decision by the High Court in  London to reject claims that women from the Province should be  entitled to "free" NHS abortions in Britain. The Court ruled that there is no legal obligation on health services in England and Wales  to provide publicly funded abortions which would be unlawful within  Northern Ireland.

Liam Gibson, the development officer for SPUC in Northern Ireland told the media earlier today:

"While this result is what we  would have expected had it gone the other way it would not only have led to more children being killed but it would had serious implications for the rule of law and the value of Northern Ireland's devolved institutions. This case is merely the latest effort of abortion advocates in Britain to undermine our law. We have every right to defend our unborn children by law and the High Court recognised that.”

Liam said he believed that the real motivation behind the case was the potential increase in revenue for English abortion providers:

"Over the years it has been the strategy of abortion providers to  make money from the tax-payer by billing the NHS for abortions. This case was about organisations like Marie Stopes International angling for more money from the NHS. Despite enormous pressure from the pro-abortion lobby the number of women  seeking abortions in Britain has continued to decline. The figure for 2012 was down by about one third of what it was 10 years earlier.

More and more people, and not just in Northern Ireland, are appalled by the culture of abortion which has taken root in Britain where around 98 percent of abortions performed fail even to meet the legal criteria. Under the Abortion Act disabled children in Britain can be legally aborted right up to birth but the British Government has even been ambivalent about ending the scandal of sex-selective abortions where babies are targeted simply because they're girls. Nor has the health department taken action against doctors who break the law by pre-signing abortion forms. To see what liberal abortion laws can do to a society the people of Northern Ireland only need to look across the water to Britain. We are determined that that's not going to happen to our country," said Mr Gibson. “Women in crisis pregnancies don’t need free abortions, they need  help and support so that they don’t feel they have no choice but to kill their babies.”

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk

Where Were Your Ancestors In....

...the English persecution of Catholics, the English Civil War, the French Revolution, the Marxist take-overs, the Nazi regime?

When your children grow up, will they be able to look back and say with pride, "My parents lost their jobs, their houses, their status for the Faith."  Or, "My parents are martyrs."

Read about the recusant families, like the Throckmortons or the Mores or people like Henry Vaux.

Where will you stand when the crunch time comes?

Check out this blog for recusant houses.

http://hadland.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/strongholds-of-catholic-recusancy-in-oxfordshire/

And this article....

http://www.berksfhs.org.uk/journal/Sep2002/CatholicRecusancyInBerkshire.htm

If someone has this book and would like to part with it, or can find a less expensive one, please consider sending one to me. Thanks.


http://www.printsasia.com/book/catholic-gentry-in-english-society-the-throckmortons-of-coughton-from-reformation-to-emancipation-catholic-0754664325?utm_source=googlebook&utm_medium=opf&utm_campaign=feed

Pray for Sems Today

Many are taking exams this week. Please remember these good men in your prayers.

Have you removed yourself from the protection of Rome?

I am a daughter of the Church. I do not think I am better or holier than any bishop or cardinal. How could I think that and still be pursuing holiness? Yes, I can point out errors in actions, but I cannot judge anyone's soul.

Objectivity is part of holiness. It means that one sees one's own sins first.

To point out the sins of others without humility and love is hubris.

I am very concerned with the growing rebellion against this pope, about which I have written on the blog many times. Here are a few posts on this subject.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-adversarial-spirit-in-traditional.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-sins-of-fathers.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/03/evangelizing-baptized-two-extrinsic.html

Too many Catholic bloggers are so concerned with the evils of certain churchmen, that they are forgetting about their own road to holiness.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/04/very-significant-perfection-post.html

We now all know the serious problems of the Church and in the Church. Those who romanticize about a Church without heresies, heretics or problems do not know their history of the Church.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/04/chaos-vs-discernment.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/05/several-reposts-on-athanasius.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/why-catholic-cannot-discern.html

Ask yourselves these hard questions and I give some answers.

1) Are you calling Francis a false pope? If so, you have removed yourself from the Church and are in serious sin.

2) Are you claiming that you are as holy as Catherine of Siena or Bernard of Clairvaux and therefore, in a position to constantly point out the sins of others? If so, you are sinning with the sin of presumption and possibly pride?

3) Are you forgetting that all the heretics thought they were holier than Rome? If so, you are identifying with the wrong group and possibly risking your own salvation because you think you are holier than those in Rome.

4) Are you working hard in your own parishes to bring about God's Kingdom, or at work? If not, your own salvation is at risk, as that is the call of the laity.

5) Do you pray for those you criticize? If not, you are sinning against charity.

6) Is your own house in order? Are the members of your immediate family pursuing holiness because of you? If not and your are blogging as a mom or dad, you are a hypocrite if you constantly throw stones at the clergy.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-forgotten-past-has-been-romanticized.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-trad-blind-guides.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/03/are-you-fighting-wrong-battles-could-be.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/03/challenge-to-laity.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-age-of-laity-is-not-liberal-trend.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/it-is-duty-of-laity-to-pray.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/open-letter-to-laity.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/05/on-evil-humans-and-our-decisions.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/03/catholic-amish-leaving-or-leaven.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/05/becoming-ones-enemies.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/08/many-catholics-will-fall-away-in.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-factions-rumours-quarrels-divisions.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/03/on-discernment-and-prudential-judgement.html

Living in History

As a child, we would travel to the Hennepin Canal area and hike. My dad would fish there with his brothers. Father Hennepin was a local hero of mine and you can read about him here.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07215c.htm

The Hennepin Canal Trail.

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/hennepin-canal-trail

Another piece of history is this dam, which spans the River (and if you live next to the Mississippi, it is always referred to as "the River", right at Davenport.

I always need to live near water....it is in the psyche of us who grow up on the Mississippi.

Lock and Dam No. 15 is a lock and dam located on the Upper Mississippi River. It spans the river between Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. Lock and Dam 15 is the largest roller dam in the world, its dam is 1,203 feet (366.7 m) long and consists of nine 109 feet (33.2 m) non-submersible, non-overflow roller gates and two 109 feet (33.2 m) non-submersible overflow roller gates. It is unusual among the upper Mississippi River dams in that it has only roller gates, has different sizes and types of roller gates, it is not perpendicular to the flow of the river and is one of the few facilities that has a completed auxiliary lock. The main lock is 110 feet (33.5 m) wide by 600 feet (180 m) long and its auxiliary lock is 110 feet (34 m) wide by 360 feet (110 m) long.^[2] In 2004, the facility was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as Lock and Dam No. 15 Historic District, #04000175 covering 3,590 acres (1,450 ha), 2 buildings, 9 structures, and 1 object.

Thanks to Wiki for photo and text: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock_and_Dam_No._15

Yeah, Francis!

Pope Francis, whom conservatives in the Roman Catholic Church have accused of not speaking out forcefully enough against abortion, on Monday called the practice "horrific."

'Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as unnecessary.'- Pope Francis

The pope made his toughest remarks to date on abortion in his yearly address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, a speech known as his "State of the World" address.

"It is horrific even to think that there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day," he said in a section of the speech about the rights of children around the world.

• Abortion, he said, was part of a "throwaway culture" that had enveloped many parts of the world.

"Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as unnecessary," he said.

http://linkis.com/www.cbc.ca/WoKDE  More here...

Can You Move Fast?

Acts 8:26-40

Douay-Rheims 

26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying: Arise, go towards the south, to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem into Gaza: this is desert.

27 And rising up, he went. And behold a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch, of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge over all her treasures, had come to Jerusalem to adore.

28 And he was returning, sitting in his chariot, and reading Isaias the prophet.

29 And the Spirit said to Philip: Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

30 And Philip running thither, heard him reading the prophet Isaias. And he said: Thinkest thou that thou understandest what thou readest?

31 Who said: And how can I, unless some man shew me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

32 And the place of the scripture which he was reading was this: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb without voice before his shearer, so openeth he not his mouth.

33 In humility his judgment was taken away. His generation who shall declare, for his life shall be taken from the earth?

34 And the eunuch answering Philip, said: I beseech thee, of whom doth the prophet speak this? of himself, or of some other man?

35 Then Philip, opening his mouth, and beginning at this scripture, preached unto him Jesus.

36 And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water; and the eunuch said: See, here is water: what doth hinder me from being baptized?

37 And Philip said: If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answering, said: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch: and he baptized him.

39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing.

40 But Philip was found in Azotus; and passing through, he preached the gospel to all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

I love this passage for many reasons. The first is that Philip was free enough to be used by God wherever God wanted to put him. Second, Philip was in the Illuminative State, so that he could explain the Scriptures with infused knowledge. Third, God chose a Eunich to bring the Gospel to others in Africa. Fourth, Philip was obedience and pliable enough to end up in Azotus.

It is 4,033 km from Ethiopia to Azotus. Would you be free enough and willing enough to let God take you where He wants the Gospel to be preached?

Too many of us get bogged down with where we think God wants us to convert and evangelize.

We stick around too long, as I wrote yesterday and last week and in February, when we should move on.

Pray for discernment and an obedient heart.

Where is God telling you to go, now?

Learn to move fast in the Spirit.