Comments?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10700499/Scotland-vote-threatens-to-derail-2015-election.html

Challenge to British Readers

What has happened at the Catholic Herald?

Once the best of a bad lot of Catholic publications in Great Britain, the Catholic Herald is beginning to sound more and more like The Tablet.

Perhaps it is time for a group of Catholics who are Catholics to begin a new Catholic newspaper or journal.

I would be glad to help any English person who is interested in setting up a really new paper which has an editiorial policy of printing Catholic news from a Catholic point of view.

Anyone interested? I want to start a Catholic newspaper in Great Britain which is really Catholic. I want this to be the vanguard news source for Catholic issues, full of excellent Catholic commentary and articles by such good priests who celebrate the TLM.

Any takers? Are there any donors out there who would help with this venture? I can start with a website, but I need a donor.

Perhaps the collapse of the last really Catholic newspaper is a sign either that a new one is necessary, or that is the age of the news blog.

Ideas, comments?  Many think this age is, indeed, of electronic newspaper. What do you all think?

I want to start up a website newspaper for English consumption. Who will help with this? We would need a person in Rome, to start with....and money. I would, as you all know, be willing to relocate to the EU asap.

I think paper is not the way to go....

Perhaps, that the CH is in demise as a really Catholic paper, shows that the electronic media is the only means of reading really Catholic news and opinion.

Perfection Series II: liii

A dangerous position for writers studying the path of holiness is that scholarship overtakes experience. I have tried to hold back on writing on the Illuminative State, as, obviously, I am not "there". But, for those of you who are on a path beyond where I am, and for those of you aspiring to holiness, I can share the outlines of this remarkable state.

The Illuminative State involves the end of the active types of prayer and leads one into the passive type of contemplation. This type of prayer happens when Christ, the Bridegroom, takes over prayer, and the soul remains in the passive position of the Bride.

Some of the great saints, such as Bernard of Clairvaux, experienced this state, before moving on to the Unitive State, very early in life, of course, and were fortunate in their ability to share in words what this stage involved.

God allows Himself, finally, to be found, to be apprehended by the soul, which is now purified. God can take over the soul and loosen the bonds which held back the complete life of the virtues. The second chapter of the Song of Songs delineates the Illuminative, and finally, the Unitive State. Once the soul, mind and body are pure, God allows us to find Him.

4 He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me.

5 Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love.

6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.

7 I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the harts of the, fields, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please.

8 The voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills.

9 My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the lattices.

10 Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come.

11 For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone.

12 The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land:

13 The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come:

14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely.

Garrigou-Lagrange notes these characteristics of the Illuminative State:

time of contemplation which is no longer active but infused;
gift of wisdom under practical form (especially for those in the active life);
extraordinary visions and revelations attached to contemplation;

One thinks of Padre Pio and his great gifts in the confessional, along with his ability to bi-locate, for example. That he attained the Unitive State is heralded by the Church in his canonization.

Gemma Galgani reveals the Illuminative and then the Unitive State. Like Padre Pio, the complete union with Christ may involve the saint suffering the real pains of the Passion of Christ.

However, in the Illuminative State, one is still not in complete union, or union as it is possible while one is still on earth, body and soul.

Again, I have met a few people who have attained this state-very few. One was an Opus Dei priest, whose wisdom and deep spirituality in the confessional provided me with great guidance when I was in Ireland.

Pray for the purgation necessary to reach this state of Illumination. Then, truly, you will be building the Kingdom of God, allowing God to use you, now stripped of all egotism and the predominant fault.

To be continued....

Why are priests not asking for prayers for our brothers and sisters from the pulpits?

Human Rights Watch says in a report that the attacks by Boko Haram are having a devastating impact on the population of north-eastern Nigeria.

Quoting United Nations figures, it says some 300,000 people have fled their homes over the past year.

"Even if the government can't stop the attacks, at the very least, it can meaningfully assist the people who have been most devastated by them," says HRW's Africa director Daniel Bekele.

Boko Haram was founded in Maiduguri in 2009. It wants northern Nigeria to become an Islamic state.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26575428

Perfection Series II: lii

Perhaps the most obvious state of perfection to see in the world is the Illuminative State, or stage. At this level, the Catholic works in obvious ways to build up the Kingdom of God. As noted before, this is the stage of the foundation of orders, the formation of schools, hospitals, as well as the work of holy scholars.

One can see the Illuminative State physically and spiritually in the person who lives the life of virtue easily, without any barriers, having had sin and the tendencies to sin cleansed from the imagination, intellect, soul and body.

One point, which must be made, involves the fact that some saintly people at this state suffer intensely. Suffering may be found in all stages of holiness, which confuses some people, who expect saints to stop suffering after years of purification.

By the way, some good works can be done purely out of faith, such as the foundation of orders when the founder remains in the Dark Night, without the release of the virtues witnessed in the Illuminative State. However, this phenomenon would be rare, and God would allow this to teach the Church that living solely by faith in God, while in great darkness and without any consolations, forms a great good. Such a journey was seen in the life of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whose long, long Dark Night of fifty years, did not hinder her from creating a new order. God allowed her to suffer those long years of solitude in darkness to teach the Church to have faith in dark times.

Her long suffering matches the long years of physical suffering of Blessed John Paul II. The public suffering of this Pope reveals, again, that suffering is necessary for holiness. 

Too many priests teach that saints are imperfect. This is not the view of the writers we have followed on this blog. Preaching that one does not need to actively seek for purification and perfection may be one reason why the Church remains so weak. People say, "Would it not be a good time for a great saint, like Ignatius or Augustine, to renew the Church?"

Yes, it would be, but we are the people who God calls to be saints, and to sit in mediocrity, aiming only at
getting into purgatory, remains one of the sad lies of our century.

To respond to the call of saintliness means that those in the Church are willing to say "yes" to the suffering necessary to arrive at the Illuminative and Unitive States.

I have met a few people in the Illuminative State. I have not met anyone in the Unitive State. Why?

Saints respond to the call of God, through suffering, to the life of the virtues.

to be continued....

London no longer number one?

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-03-15/new-york-steals-london-s-mantle-as-world-s-top-financial-center

Repost of a repost mark two

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Perfection Series II: xxiii

Posted by Supertradmum

Thoughts on Sunday morning re-post

When I was in the monastery, I was allowed time for reading and personal discernment. I read many books, 

mostly on the nature of the religious life and the way of perfection. As a person seriously considering and being considered, I had to write notes to Mother Prioress on my progress. We only spoke rarely, but it is the duty of the postulant or seeker to share insights and problems. However, for that order, as explained to me, the Rule of St. Benedict lived daily provides discernment, as well. If one manages to live by the Rule and is inspired by the 

Holy Spirit the Rule is actually a daily way of examination of conscience which happens immediately, all day long. 

For me, obedience was not difficult. But, God deals directly with a person under obedience in two ways. 

One way is directly through the Rule and, in one's superior. The second way of obedience is through one's direct relationship with God especially in deep prayer. The Tyburn order has the great advantage of daily long hours of Adoration, providing time for the postulant to wait on God for insights and direction. Lectio Divina and one's personal reading and to spiritual growth and formation. 

A lay person seeking this perfection, which we are all called to do, must do. to be continued... By the way, 

I heard a fantastic sermon this morning which I shall share in the next post.

Remember, all the laity are called to perfection, although the convent and monastery are short-cuts.

All are called to be perfect. What is hard is to persevere seeking Christ the Beloved without the short-cuts.

For those in the Dark Night stage, this chart may be useful. Found in Garrigou-Lagrange, part four....

Signs of the passive purification of the senses
Psychological Description According to St. John of the Cross	Theological Explanation By the Gifts of the Holy  Ghost
3. Great difficulty in meditating discursively, an attraction for the simple affective gaze toward God.	Inspiration of the gift of understanding, beginning of infused contemplation.
2. Keen desire to serve God, thirst for justice, and fear of sin. Resistance to temptations.	Inspiration of the gift of fortitude, which in the midst of difficulties preserves the hunger and thrist for justice, and influence of the gift of fear to resist temptations.
1. Sensible aridity, no consolation in the things of God, or in created things.	Inspiration of the gift of knowledge, which shows the vanity and emptiness of everthing created, the gravity of sin, whence the tears of true contrition.

40. Cf. R. de Sinety, Psychopathologie et direction, 1934, pp. 66-87.

Helping the Confused on the Levels of Prayer

The last stage of the Illuminative State is when people start working for God full-blast, without egotism. This is the time when such saints as Thomas Aquinas wrote the Summa, Benedict set up his Rule, Ignatius began his order and so on. At that last state, one is no longer actively praying, but praying in passive contemplation. The Unitive State is when one actually becomes a saint, and one can see in lives, such as John Paul II, public purgation, which resulted in Illumination and finally, Union.

SYNTHESIS OF THE TREATISE ON THE THREE AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE BY GARRIGOU-LAGRANGE
(To be read from the bottom up)

Unitive life of the perfect ◊ full ◊ extraordinary, e.g., with the vision of the Blessed Trinity ◊ weak ◊  ordinary • eminent contemplative form • apostolic form ◊ initial ◊ not very continual union, often interrupted

Illuminative life of proficients ◊ full infused contemplation ◊ extraordinary or accompanied by visions, revelations ◊ ordinary •clearly contemplative form • active form, or form ordained to action, e.g., gift of wisdom under practical form ◊ weak ◊ transitory acts of infused contemplation (d. The Dark Night, Bk. I, chap. 9) ◊ initial ◊ passive purification of the senses more or less well borne (initial infused contemplation)

Purgative life of beginners ◊ full or generous ◊ fervent souls pious and devout souls ◊ weak ◊ tepid or retarded souls, not without relapses ◊ initial ◊ first conversion or justification

Repost of a repost

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Repeat Post on Prayer

Posted by Supertradmum

Sunday, 29 September 2013

The Next Levels of Prayer-After the Dark Night

Posted by Supertradmum

People ask me is God can skip steps. God can, but people cannot. We are made up of body and soul, and our nature is such that we grow in steps spiritually as well as physically. The timing of the steps can vary, of course, with great young saints, such as St. Gemma Galgani reaching great heights through grace quickly.

God decides our time-table, but, we must cooperate. Too often, we choose not to cooperate, as it is too hard to face the purgation which must happen in the Dark Night. Now, some people, especially young saints, do not have much purgation. Obviously, the more sinful we are and the older we are having lived, perhaps, unreflective lives, the more intense, and, therefore, perhaps, the longer the Dark Night. We cannot imagine so wonderful a soul as Blessed Mother Teresa as being in the Dark Night for such a long time, but that was God's Will for her.

After the Dark Night, the infused prayer of the passive recollection occurs, which is the beginning of contemplation. This is a prayer of quiet and these stages are part of Mystical Prayer.



St. Teresa describes initial infused prayer, that of supernatural or passive recollection, which precedes the prayer of quiet, as follows, with Garrigou-Lagrange's comments towards the end:

This is a kind of recollection which, I believe, is supernatural (like the prayer of quiet). There is no occasion to retire nor to shut the eyes, nor does it depend on anything exterior; involuntarily the eyes suddenly close and solitude is found. Without any labor of one's own, the temple of which I spoke is reared for the soul in which to pray; the senses and exterior surroundings appear to lose their hold, while the spirit gradually regains its lost sovereignty. . . . 

But do not fancy you can gain it [this recollection] by thinking of God dwelling within you, or by imagining Him as present in your soul. . . . By the divine assistance everyone can practice it, but what I mean is quite a different thing. Sometimes, before they have begun to think of God, . . . the soul is keenly conscious of a delicious sense of recollection. . . . Here it is not in our power to retire into ourselves, unless God gives us the grace. In my opinion, His Majesty only bestows this favor on those who have renounced the world. . . . He thus specially calls them to devote themselves to spiritual things; if they allow Him power to act freely, He will bestow still greater graces on those whom He thus begins calling to a higher life.(30)

The saint adds: "Unless His Majesty has begun to suspend our faculties, I cannot understand how we are to stop thinking, without doing ourselves more harm than good," (31) for then we would remain in idleness or the somnolence of the quietists.

"The supernatural recollection" which St. Teresa describes in the preceding passages is clearly a mystical prayer, the beginning of infused contemplation, for which simplified affective meditation prepares the soul.(32)

Now, I have written on quietism on this blog before-it can be a dangerous trap. The real infused recollection, leading into infused contemplation and the prayer of quiet are the fifth and sixth states of prayer found only in the Illuminative State. This can happen according to some writers after the complete purification of the senses and before the complete purification of the soul, while some authors state that the purification of the senses and that of the soul happen together before the Illuminative State.

In other words, the Dark Night would, in either case, completely finished before the Unitive State, and before the levels of prayer in that state, the subject of the next two posts on this subject.

To be continued.....

Get The Ways of Mental Prayer which Fr. Ripperger recommends. I have not read this myself, but would love to do so

Confusion on The Levels of Prayer

I have been following Garrigou-Lagrange's charts on the levels of prayer. There is a bit of complication regarding that great author's definitions and those of Dom Vitalis Lehodey. Now, the complication is not a contradiction, but merely different ways of explaining similar levels of prayer.

If you want to go back and look at the series on prayer, check out the dates of September 29th, September 30th, 2013 and February 9th and 10th of this year.

However, let me clarify a few points again. First of all, Affective Prayer comes during the Dark Night of the Soul, when one can no longer meditate and one can only give God loving "glances" as well as short prayers. The suffering of the Dark Night takes much energy, as purification is painful.

That this type of prayer is simple means that it is not the complex type of either active contemplation or passive contemplation.

It is interesting that Lehodey believes that Affective prayer happens in the Illuminative State and he follows it with the prayer he calls simple prayer. In Garrigou-Lagrange, simple prayer is found in the beginning states, before the Dark Night and before the Second Conversion. The Illuminative State at the last stage is truly one of power and getting things done. In other words, this state is one of true light and life.

To use these terms is, therefore, confusing for some who go to spiritual direction and are told to engage in simple prayer.

I would avoid the term simple prayer or the prayer of simplicity. To move from Affective Prayer to Active Contemplation, one is in an active state of prayer. Not so with Passive Contemplation. This latter type of prayer is not one of striving, but waiting on God.

Active Contemplation, and this is repetition of earlier posts, demands that the one praying is thinking on the Attributes of God, such as Beauty, Truth, Goodness and so on.

This happens in the Illuminative State. Affective Prayer according to Lehodey begins in the Illuminative State, but according to Garrigou-Lagrange, it happens in the Dark Night of the Spirit. This makes more sense, as loving, short prayers to God during the day is all one can do in the Dark Night.

Active Contemplation is the last level of the Dark Night of the Spirit and the Passive Contemplation marks the entrance into the state of Union with God.

to be continued....

Repost on virtue formation

Monday, 30 January 2012

Perfection Part Three-Thomism and the Spiritual Life

Posted by Supertradmum

The concept of grace is rarely taught in catechesis and yet, a Catholic needs an excellent grasp on the concept of, especially, sanctifying grace, in order to grow in the interior life. The other concepts which an adult Catholic needs 

to understand are the virtues, or the life of virtue. The title of a key book, based on many sources, but none more than St. Thomas Aquinas, is Garrigou-Lagrange's The Three Ages of the Interior Life. When St. Paul writes of 

giving his converts "meat", this is meat, not milk. And, a caution to the pilgrim is that one can learn something intellectually and not have such concepts actually be part of the interior life of the soul, but only head knowledge. 

An excellent spiritual director is a necessity and good luck trying to find one in this day and age. Also, before one engages the ideas of Garrigou-Lagrange, I highly suggest at least the lay version of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, again under a director. Again, good luck trying to find an orthodox, conservative director and not one 

involved in New Age interpretations of the classic thirty day retreat.

In a mini-series, of which this is the third part, I want to cover a basic approach to perfection, with an emphasis 

on the life of the virtues. One can read the complete discussion in Garrigou-Lagrange's great book, but I shall 

outline a few things on this blog just to interest readers. In this installment, I want to look at the infused virtues 

and in the next posting,  the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which we all receive in Baptism. Here is a useful chart 

from the book:

V I R T U E S		Theological		Charity -->  Faith -->  Hope -->	Gift of Wisdom Gift of Understanding Gift of Knowledge Gift of Counsel Gift of Piety Gift of Fortitude Gift of Fear		G I F T S
		Moral		Prudence -->  Justice  - Religion -->  - Penance  - Obedience  Fortitude -->  - Patience  Temperance-->  - Humility  - Meekness  - Chasity

The Theological Virtues are infused, that is given to us by the Father. These are, of course, Faith, Hope and Charity. St. Thomas and Garrigou-Lagrange explain that the Theological Virtues are directed towards God as the End. 

We are given these virtues, but we must use and incorporate them into our souls. This is the job for each one of us, given these wonderful virtues at Baptism. One can read Garrigou-Lagrange for more detail. 

The Moral Virtues, however, help us get to Heaven-these are a means to that end. I highly recommend Josef Pieper'sThe Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, a book I have used in class with 

great success in the past. These Cardinal Virtues may be considered Moral Virtues, but there are more Moral 

Virtues, while there are only the Four Cardinal Virtues.  I am not going into the entire list here. You can look here. 

One cannot be in mortal sin and develop the acquired Moral Virtues. Here is Garrigou-Lagrange: a man must no 

longer be in the state of mortal sin, but his will must be set straight in regard to his last end. He must love God 

more than himself, at least with a real and efficacious love of esteem, if not with a love that is felt. This love is impossible without the state of grace and without charity.(4) But after justification or conversion, these true acquired

 virtues may come to be stable virtues; they may become connected, relying on each other. Finally, under the 

influx of infused charity, they become the principle of acts meritorious of eternal life. For this reason, some theologians, such as Duns Scotus, have even thought it not necessary that we should have infused moral virtues.

As much as I would not like to do so, I shall leave Duns Scotus for another time. But, notice two words being used here-acquired and infused. Even pagans, state Aquinas, using Plato and Aristotle, can acquire virtues; however, 

an example from Garrigou-Lagrange helps here: As St. Thomas remarks,(8) acquired temperance has a rule and formal object different from those of infused temperance. Acquired temperance keeps a just medium in the matter 

of food in order that we may live reasonably, that we may not injure our health or the exercise of our reason. Infused temperance, on the contrary, keeps a superior happy mean in the use of food in order that we may live in a 

Christian manner, as children of God, en route to the wholly supernatural life of eternity. Infused temperance thus implies a more severe mortification than is implied by acquired temperance; it requires, as St. Paul says, that man chastise his body and bring it into subjection,(9) that he may become not only a virtuous citizen of society on earth, but one of the "fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God." (10)

Part of the distinction here is the "end", the "reason" for the virtues. The Moral Virtues are practical to a certain 

extent, but if these are directed towards God, these become steps to heaven. Although the atheist, for example, 

may eat in a temperate manner, he is not directing his actions towards the Almighty and eternal life. He is acquiring virtue rationally, but without the supernatural motive. This is one of Aquinas' examples, as seen above.

There is a difference between motives and action. The Christian does all for the love of God and others, and not 

merely for one's self. Before moving on, I want to refer to a footnote here. Babies who are baptized receive all these virtues. This is why it is so important to have babies baptized and for parents to raise their children with the idea of cultivating these virtues. Here is the note:

Clement V at the Council of Vienna (Denzinger, Enchiridion, no. 483), thus settled this question, which was formulated under Innocent III (Den­zinger, no. 410): "Whether faith, charity, and the other virtues are infused into children in baptism." He answers: "We, however, considering the gen­eral efficacy of the death of Christ, which is applied by baptism equally to all the baptized, think that, with the approval of the sacred Council, we should choose as more probable and more consonant and harmonious with the teachings of the saints and of modern doctors of theology, 

the second opinion, which declares that informing grace and the virtues are bestowed in baptism on infants as well 

as adults." By these words, "and the virtues," Clement V means.not only the theological virtues, but the moral 

virtues, for they also were involved in the question formulated under Innocent III.

As I wrote earlier this week, there is no reason why a child cannot become a saint.

St. Artemius Died at AgeTwelve

And, it is imperative that Catholic parents are aware of the life of the virtues in order, not only to become holy themselves, but to nurture holiness in their children.

The virtues grow together and are all based on love, the love for God and neighbor. If one advances in one virtue, one will advance in all. But, it is imperative that the person is in sanctifying grace, receiving the sacraments regularly, and praying. Too many Catholics believe all this life in the virtues will "just happen". Not so. And, sadly, many Catholics do not even realize that the life of virtue must be lived in order to become perfect, as we are all called to be. We are all called to be perfect. Even those who could not read in the Middle Ages looked towards their books of stone for these truths. We have or are in danger of losing these truths today. We see a crisis in character formation all around us, in politics, in youth, in ourselves. Without virtue, there is no character. To be continued..

to be continued...

Any Catholic Who Would Vote for This Person Must Be Excommunicated

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/hillary-clinton-tells-un-no-human-progress-without-abortion-on-demand

NEW YORK CITY, March 13, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is expected to be the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, believes it is a “bedrock truth” that abortion restrictions hamper human progress, and any efforts to improve women’s rights must begin with increased access to contraception and abortion.

Addressing the United Nations for International Women’s Day, Clinton told her audience, “There is one lesson from the past, in particular, that we cannot afford to ignore: You cannot make progress on gender equality or broader human development, without safeguarding women’s reproductive health and rights.  That is a bedrock truth.” 

Expanding access to so-called ‘family planning services’ like contraception and abortion, Clinton said, “must be the starting point for work today” when it comes to women’s rights.

Clinton said that even the United States, which has some of the most lenient abortion laws of any developed Western nation, falls short when it comes to giving women free access to abortion-on-demand.

“This remains the great unfinished business of the 21st century,” Clinton said. “No country in the world, including my own, has achieved full participation.”

More on the website found above.

More signs of the times

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ffea2660-ab9e-11e3-aad9-00144feab7de.html

OK-Need more prayers, please

Please, please, please pray I can meet the people to help me get back to Europe. I am flummoxed as to how to get back. The only way is to have property in England and a permanent address, I was told by an immigration guru.

And, I still want to start up the House of Adoration and the house is still for sale.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-23465169.html;jsessionid=0D3E5470868C89F06004D01FB9CAB775?premiumA=true

Anyone interested in helping?

Covering two birds with one stone....



God bless you.

"Yes we can" is now ICANN

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/us-to-relinquish-remaining-control-over-the-internet/2014/03/14/0c7472d0-abb5-11e3-adbc-888c8010c799_print.html

sinister, folks, very....

Get Ready, Folks

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-14/fed-custody-holdings-record-decline-fuels-russia-speculation.html

This is not my Church

http://new.livestream.com/randomhouzeproductions/recongress2014

Obviously, no one has opened a GIRM manuel here and all have ignored the Pope Emeritus' comments on what are liturgical instruments and what are not....

Sad days, sad...and the music is awful----if it is music.

Will the Catholic Herald delete this comment of mine today?

The Catholic Herald is praising Tony Benn. Man...this paper use to be the best Catholic paper in GB. No longer, imo. 

Let us see if my comment is deleted again...

Has anyone on the Catholic Herald read all of the statements made by every pope since 1848 against socialism, as a movement directly in opposition to the teaching of the Catholic Church? Why are you lionizing someone who added to the destruction of charity, the promotion of the anti-life movement, the undermining of the dignity of individual human beings, and the infiltration of anti-religious curriculum in all the schools?

The government of Great Britain is now in open war against real Christian morals-those held dear by the one, true Church, the Catholic Church.

What blindness.

I agree with Aelfric the Saxon's comment. The writers do not seem to be thinking like Catholics.

From LifeSiteNews-Link on URL-Interview with Bishop Egan

PORTSMOUTH, England, March 13, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “When people are not in communion with the Catholic Church on such a central thing as the value of life of the unborn child and also in terms of the teachings of the church on marriage and family life – they are voting in favor of same-sex marriage – then they shouldn’t be receiving Holy Communion,” said Portsmouth Bishop Philip Egan in a wide-ranging on-camera interview with LifeSiteNews last week.

Bishop Egan explained that rather than a punitive measure, the denial of Holy Communion is “always an act of mercy.”  It is done, he said, “with the hope and prayer that that person can be wooed back into full communion with the Church.”

“Nobody is forced to be Catholic. We’re called by Christ and He’s chosen us, it’s a free choice. We live under the word of God. It’s not my truth, its God’s truth,” he said.

“One would hope that in that case it would encourage someone to come back to seek communion with the Lord with the truth and say I’m sorry I got lost.”

The difficulties faced by Catholics and other Christians in an increasingly secular and intolerant Britain are keenly felt. Bishop Egan has been outspoken in his defence of life and family, writing to the Prime Minister and speaking eloquently on the issues.  He has himself experienced backlash both in terms of “unpleasant correspondence” and even a confrontation at the Cathedral.

We must not go looking for a fight, “but we will, being Christian, have to suffer, and have to go to the cross,” he said. “This is one of the ways, particularly as a priest or a bishop, in which that cross is going to come out, because you have to witness to the truth.”For him, however, the duty to witness to the truth in love is not an option despite the persecutions that may come.  Christians, he says, “are bound to come into conflict” with the secularized culture.

From the martyrs at the time of the Reformation, he said, “we can take consolation and solace.”  In addition he said, “A relationship with Christ is essential where we are truly united in the heart of Christ. … With prudence, wisdom, praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we support each other in that and in our suffering.”

Bishop Egan stressed that the witness to truth in the Church is made in love for “all persons especially those of same-sex attraction.”  He noted that God has designed us for happiness and that “happiness is found only in God -- it is found ultimately in our relationship with God.”

He suggested attempting to draw society back to the Christian roots of the concepts they now use to discriminate against people of faith.  Concepts such as equality and tolerance, diversity and respect, are taken from Christianity, he said. 

“So often the words they use, used with a totalitarian edge, they are awash on a sea of relativism,” he said. “Somehow,” he said, we must “draw them back to Christian underpinnings. … Otherwise we’re going to be heading into a police state if we carry on in these directions.”

Looking to the future for Catholics in England, Bishop Egan’s views are mixed.  He is at times “not very hopeful” because of the fact that “in the Catholic community we’ve not effectively communicated the beautiful vision of marriage and family life that Christ gives us through the teachings of the Church.”  Bishop Egan said that in order to evangelize and woo people toward Christ and the truth, Catholics themselves must first be convicted.

However, he adds “the prospects are still good if we can hold the line and not lose our nerve.” 

For example, while the UK government is mandating sex education in Catholic high schools, Catholic schools are able to provide programs that fit the government targets “but clearly within the marriage and family life context and values of the Catholic community.”

“We must say look, these are our values, we have to have the freedom to teach and educate and form our children in the Catholic way of life.”

As to the future regarding withholding Holy Communion from Catholic politicians who support abortion and same-sex ‘marriage’, Bishop Egan says, “I personally would be in favor of saying that somebody should not be receiving Communion myself here within the diocese.”

He added however that he’d “have to act really with the other members of the bishops’ conference.”

“We need to discuss this as a bishops’ conference,” he said. “I’ve already indicated to you my sympathies – if somebody is not in communion with the Catholic Church they should not be receiving communion.”

Shocking News

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