To Hyde Park & Beyond

Come to Hyde Park to support the Pope!

"I would get a better view on television",
EWTN will no doubt show a rerun of the live programme, so you don't need to watch it live.

"I'm too young/old",
I'm going with a 3 year old and an 83 year old!

"I don't have a ticket",
see yesterday's post & contact Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP

"I'm playing football...",
oh stop now, see you in Hyde Park on Saturday 18th September 2010!

Government, Bishops, Priests or Faithful to Blame for Poor Papal Turnout?

Much has been written about the organisation of the Holy Father's visit to England. I have heard that the Government wants to limit the number of the faithful attending, to make it look like a flop. I have heard the same said of the Bishop's Conference of Wales & England. I have heard of Priests at the Altar asking for names of people who wanted to go, but putting some off with a lot of negativity. "It will be a very long day...there will be no seats.....there will be a long walk as part of the day at Hyde Park.....there will be a long coach journey to Birmingham....bla, bla, bla". Rumours that there would be no toilets were thrown in for good measure!

All of this may be true, but so what! A convert, Cardinal Newman, to the One True Faith is going to be Beatified by Christ's Vicar on Earth here in England(Birmingham 19th September). At Hyde Park, London 18th September, the successor of Saint Peter will lead over 80,000 Catholics in Adoring the Real Presence of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. So as Henry Root would say, "Here's a pound [ten for Hyde Park] let's go!"

If your Parish has run out of tickets, phone around other local Parishes and ask them if they have any. I was talking to a good Priest earlier this week who was saddened by the small number of tickets he has been asked for by his Parishioners. If you cannot get a ticket, come to Hyde Park anyway! I was very heartened to receive an email today from Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP who will be leading 50 of the faithful to the Vigil with the Pope, but went on to say, there "surely could and should be many more coming than 50. Even if this means that we pray the Rosary in an other area of Hyde Park (i.e. outside the official registration zone), it will be very significant to be a very very large crowd there. In some years, we want to be able to look back on this First Papal State visit in Great Britain and say: ‘I attended’. Clergy from the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter will accompany the ‘Non registered’ group. Other clergy welcome. Persons under 18 years of age are welcome under the responsibility of their parents. Specific meeting location will be communicated later on."

So there you have it, ticket or not every Catholic to Hyde Park 1pm-9pm Saturday 18th September 2010.

Church Same-Sex Weddings?

The Bishop of Paisley (Scotland), Philip Tartaglia has written to David Cameron, quoting comments the Prime Minister made during a Gay Pride reception at 10 Downing Street in June.

Cameron said then: “I am pleased to announce that we are taking a further step, and I think a good step and a right step – ­and I say this as someone who believes in marriage, who believes in civil partnership, who believes in commitment –­ and that is to say that if religious organisations, if churches, if mosques, if temples want to have civil partnerships celebrated at religious places of worship, that should be able to happen and we should make that happen.”

Now the Bishop of Paisley (Scotland), Philip Tartaglia has written to Cameron, saying: “Your statement is vague enough to have more than one outcome in practice. But you and your Government need to be aware from the outset that the Catholic Church will not register civil partnerships nor celebrate same-sex unions: not now, not in the future, not ever, no matter what legislation or regulations your Government enacts or endorses.”

(Thanks to John Smeaton for the link to this story)

Godless Britain & The NewStatesman

Yes that front page got me to read part of The NewStatesmen last week. The interview with Ann Widdecombe was worth it for the quote, "Secularism means everybody is infallible except the Pope. Crazy"

The Big Society....Oh Go On Then!

David Cameron, Pro-Death leader of the Con Dem coalition government here in London has been talking about what he calls The Big Society. As you don't get much bigger than GK Chesterton, I assumed he was talking about the Catholic GK Chesterton Society, but not so. It seems that in fact he wants people to volunteer to run local services etc, some cynics say it is just to save money for the government!

Well just to say, I don't mind being Prime Minister as a volunteer if it will help and as we don't really want to live in Downing Street we could let out number ten to raise a bit of cash to help the Poor Starving MP's Expenses Fund!

On a serious point, volunteering is important for our own good, as well as the good of those we help. To volunteer contact Good Counsel or The Helpers of God's Precious Infants.

July Day of Prayer and Fasting for Life

Saturday 24th July 2010, the Vigil of the Feast of St James, is this month's National Day of Prayer & Fasting For Life. It is the day before the Bishops Day for Life and the 42nd anniversary of Humanae Vitae. See

Welcome to Hell...No Sorry This Is The North East!

My Wife, my 3 year old son and myself just had to spend a long weekend in the North East of England. We arrived at our hotel only to be told that our room would not be ready for half an hour. We then saw a number of men in their twenties or thirties wander past us into the hotel bar a few at a time. The fact that they wanted a drink at 2pm was neither here nor there, but as they were wearing mini-skirts, bikinis and other women's clothes we were a bit put out!

A little later, when we went in search of a park so that we could all unwind after our long journey, it seemed to us that everyone in the City Centre was either out on a Stag Night or Hen Night. When we finally got to the park we found that it had been taken over by a free and very noisy homosexual/lesbian festival.

It just seemed like hell to me as stag nights, hen nights and all of the other goings on that weekend didn't lend themselves to saving sex for Marriage, babies and beyond.

It was not all bad, we had the choice of two Old Rite Sung Masses on the Sunday. As we don't have even one on a Sunday in Westminster, I didn't know if I should stand or kneel for The Asperges and we were at the front!

The Passion of The Christ Film on Television

Just on the off chance that someone out there has not seen this great Mel Gibson film, it is on Film4 (in the UK) tonight at 9pm. I texted my agnostic Mum to let her know and she said, "Yes, but too bloodthirsty". I was just happy that she has seen it and will now get back to her about why it is bloodthirsty. As this is a mainsteam film, do tell your non-Catholic friends and family that it is on.

Here is a trailer.

Belloc, Baring And My Introduction

In my Introductory blog post, my 7th post chronologically speaking, it may seem to some that Belloc was a bit harsh to Maurice Baring at their first meeting in what he said. Belloc told Maurice Baring (a non-Catholic son of one of Europe's most celebrated banking houses) that he would certainly go to hell. What Baring wrote to Belloc many years later, in 1934 needs to be remembered if we are to engage in fruitful ecumenical dialogue.

“I realise and give thanks for the privilege of having known you; and be sure of this, but for you I should never have come into the Church: you were the lighthouse that showed me the way, the beacon; and once I was there you remained a tower of strength in times or moments of difficulty, and we both agree that that is the only thing that matters.”

Catholics Don't Take the Pill or The Tablet Part II

Further to my post, Catholics Don't take the Pill or The Tablet I have written to the Parish Priests where I mostly attend Mass. I have asked one to stop selling The Tablet and asked the other Priest to stop leaving his old copy out at the back of the Church and asked him to cancel his subscription. I enclosed a printout of my post so as to make the reasons clear, please do the same if you know a Priest (or anyone else) who reads or sells this rag. I will be writing to my local WH Smith this week to ask them to stop stocking it or loose my custom, do let me know what reply you receive from your local WH Smith and from your Priests.

World Population Day

Please see what Chesterton had to say on this.

Bishop Leads Pro-Life Vigil in England!

I would like to report that the Bishop of Brentwood, Thomas McMahon, along with half the Priests of the diocese and 10,000 of the faithful went in prayerful procession today to Marie Stopes abortuary in Buckhurst Hill.
But I would be lying.
Bishop McMahon did lead 50 or 60 of the faithful to the said abortuary. We prayed in procession going there and said 15 decades of the Rosary at the site. A female member of staff was clearly upset by our presence. She came out of the abortuary and escorted any girls she could see into the abortuary, or away from it when they were leaving so as to avoid them being offered help by the pavement counsellors. I didn’t see any dramatic turnarounds, but who knows whether anybody just drove past and did not go in as a result of their Shepherd being there. As we processed back to the Church I did notice that one other Cleric was present (apart from the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who are always there).
It was quite moving to be singing “Faith of Our Fathers” the day after the feast of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More. This is yet another example of a small number of the faithful bearing witness to the Faith.
As Bishop McMahon said in his homily the first time he went to this abortuary the word “Martyr” means witness. We are all called to be martyrs and whilst I don’t go to the abortuary as often as I should, I am aware that we should all go there more often than we feel we have time to.
I was rather proud of the 20 miles (each way) I had travelled to attend, only to find two people who had travelled 100 miles from Birmingham along with somebody else who had travelled form Guildford or thereabouts, which is a fair old step as well. For your local vigil see The Helper of God's Precious Infants who will no doubt have better photos, as the one above was taken on my phone!

Ending Abortion

One Priest, one MC, 4 Servers, 4 in the Choir, an Organist in the loft and just 17 people in the pews. That is part of how we will end abortion in this country. Yes I have just been to the Monthly Good Counsel Networks' Old Rite Mass at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, London organised by the Latin Mass Society. As today is the Feast of Ss John Fisher & Thomas More it was a Sung Mass, most months it is a Low Mass.

This Mass takes place at 6.30pm on the 2nd Friday of each month and has done so now for more that ten years! You are more than welcome to join us for the next one on Friday 13th August.

The reason that I believe this will help end abortion is quite simple, it is quiet, it is almost hidden, it is just like Our Lady. It is also simply the power of the Holy Sacrifice of The Mass!

All Pro-Life work is vital, but if it is not grounded in prayer then it will come to nothing.

Going to Mass with a 3 Year Old

I went, with my 3 year old son to a weekday Mass in my local Parish last week. As the moment of Consecration approached I quietly insisted that my son kneel properly, he was not happy with this. I said very quietly,”everyone else is kneeling”, he pointed towards the Altar and said, “They aren’t!” He has only just turned 3! We had a long talk on the way home about the Priesthood.

One of the bidding prayers also made me smile, ‘Let us pray for those who make our laws and those who execute them.’ But it also reminded me of how wise the Church is in forbidding Priests from opening up these prayers to the floor!

Holland in The World Cup Final

Further to my post about the Anti-Catholic English FA putting England out of the World Cup, it was interesting to read that Wesley Sneijder, of Holland has become a Catholic! It seems that the Dutch FA have not made a fuss about it and they are now in the final!

I may not be supporting them in the final as they invaded the British Isles in the late sixteen hundreds and helped enforce protestant rule, by overthrowing James II the rightful Catholic King. But who am I to hold a 300 year old grudge!

Catholics Don’t Take the Pill or The Tablet

There is a custom in the Catholic Church of a Month’s Mind Mass, which liturgically is the Mass on the 30th day after death or burial. As ‘The Tablet' finally died as a Catholic magazine with its 5th June 2010 pro-abortion issue, today is it’s Month’s Mind. Others will write, and have written, long polite articles explaining The Tablet’s long and painful spiritual death. So I will focus on a couple of points; personal insulting of women and what is to be done now.
My Wife and I lost a child two years ago through an ectopic pregnancy, for The Tablet to try and use this to promote abortion (by claiming this is an example of the Church permitting “abortion”) is at best evil. This is an insult to countless couples who have had to live through this tragic situation. The only thing that could be worse than this is to think of the Priests & Bishops, under whose pastoral care we are, showing us and our deceased children nothing but contempt by reading this rag.
It is a sin to read this rag or to allow it to be sold in your Church. “But I don’t read all of it, I just like the articles by.....” To support evil financially is not okay even if you don’t read all of it. “I’m just the Curate, not the Parish Priest there is nothing I can do about it.” So ask the PP to stop selling it and if he won’t, ask your Bishop for a transfer! That may ruin your career Father, but Hell is full of the prudent who tolerate evil. “If I stop selling it that will upset some of my parishioners.” Oh dear! Human respect leads to Hell.
“What about the right to debate and free speech?” I doubt that The Tablet will print an article by Bishop Richard Williamson SSPX on World War II or Nick Griffin (BNP) on Race-Relations. No reasonable person believes in unlimited ‘free speech’.
I will stop now, the bottom line is; if you have a subscription to The Tablet cancel it today, if you read it stop today, if you sell it stop today, if you write for it stop today.

4th July!