Bashing Secularism

Pro-Life Video

2010-07-20T12:11:00.001+01:00

John Smeaton has published a moving video that highlights the numbers of abortions worldwide each year. It was found by his son, Paul, on the That the bones you have crushed may thrill blog.

The best bit for me is at the end where a woman who amazingly survived a saline abortion says: "If abortion is merely about women's rights, than what were mine?"

Walk for Vocations

2010-07-19T15:58:00.000+01:00

The weather held out for the Walk for Vocations, which attracted more than 100 people from all over the Middlesbrough Diocese.

We set out from Madonna House at about 2.45pm and made our way to the sea front at Robin Hoods Bay. The seven mile walk along the ciff top up to Whitby was absolutely stunning. The route is part of the Cleavland Way. The coastline is rugged and there is plenty of wildlife to spot.

From what I could see the youngest participant was just a few years old while the oldest could have been in their 70s. In total, there were three seminarians from our diocese and myself, with two students for other dioceses also joining in. It was great to receive words of encouragement ahead of my start at the Royal English College in Valladolid in September. Several people said they would keep me, and the other students, in their prayers.

For the younger participants, there was an opportunity to chat with the several priests who took part, including Bishop Terry Drainey, the Bishop of Middlesbrough. Some clusters of walkers prayed the rosary together while others walked alone for a while to pray.

The weather was not too hot and there was a nice breeze along certain stretches. As we hit the outskirts of Whitby, we met some other people from Middlesbrough who had been busy and were only able to join later.

We arrived at St Hilda's, that has a papal flag flying high on a pole outside the church. There was about an hour and a half before Mass started and some of us went for fish and chips in the town I consider to be the universal home of the popular meal.

It was great to be asked to serve Mass with three seminarians. I've never served for a bishop at an official occasion before so I was kindly prompted by the other servers on when to take and receive the bishop's crosier, the job that was assigned to me.

As well as my interview on BBC Radio Humberside, Philip Cunnah, a good friend and second year student at Ushaw College, appeared on BBC York and Tees yesterday morning. He was fantastic at answering the questions in depth and managed to do so without stuttering, which I find difficult to match. Phil said some great things about the walk as being a kind of pilgrim journey towards Christ in the Mass. He was also asked about his own journey. From BBC York, he faced some challenging questions about women priests as well as the love and the sacrifice involved with Holy Orders. He gave some impressive answers. To listen to the BBC Tees interview, click and fastforward to 2.12.40. For the BBC York interview click here and fastforward to about 0.48.18.

(p.s. I forgot to take some pictures while actually on the walk. This one is outside the Church after Mass. I'm sure some of the walk will appear on Facebook and elsewhere soon.)

Vocations Walk

2010-07-18T09:08:00.000+01:00

After Mass today, I'll be picking a couple of people up on the way to the beautiful Robin Hoods Bay in North Yorkshire, where a walk for vocations for the Diocese of Middlesbrough will start at 2pm. It will follow part of the Cleavland Way to Whitby along the North Sea coast.

This morning, I was up early to get to the BBC in Queens Gardens, Hull, to be interviewed on the Sunday Breakfast programme on Radio Humberside. I was asked about the walk and my vocation. It was rather a gentle chat which was good as it was the first time I'd been interviewed live before. To listen, click here and fastforward to 1.13.37.

Invocation

2010-07-12T17:26:00.001+01:00

With religious from about 30 different orders, diocesan priests, and lots of young people, the first ever national vocations event earlier this month was a joyful Catholic weekend in the heart of England.

Invocation, that was held at St Mary’s College, Oscott, brought together more than 200 young people, many of who are discerning their vocation. And there was an added excitement with anticipation for the papal visit, particularly as Pope Benedict will speak to bishops in the college chapel, the scene of Cardinal John Henry Newman’s ‘second spring’ sermon.

There was no confusion as to what the event was intended for – to help young Catholic discern what God is calling them to do. People who signed up to go pretty much knew what they were letting themselves in for. In this atmosphere, there was nothing uncomfortable about talking to youngsters about the ‘p’ (priesthood) word or the ‘v’ (vocation) word. Everyone was generous in finding quiet time to discover - as the first speaker of the weekend, Abbot Christopher Jaimson, said – an inner sanctuary.

I went from Hull with Tom Parr from Bridlington and we were joined by Father William Massie, the Diocese of Middlesbrough Vocations director, and three others from the diocese. Apart from Fr Massie who obviously got a nice en-suite room, the rest of us took tents and camped like most of the attendees. It was that kind of event where you knew quite a few people already and were able to catch up. Also, there were a lot of familiar faces that I was finally able to put names to and chat with. It was good to meet four lads that will be going to Valladolid with me in September.

The meals were served in two tepees and the large marquee that had been especially put up for the festival. Both queuing up for lovely food and sitting down at the table made it easy for us to meet new people at each meal. Many made the point of sitting down with different people each time and introducing themselves.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, gave the keynote address on the Sunday morning. He talked about the three stages of Cardinal Newman’s conversion as an example of how to consider a vocation. He said Cardinal Newman described himself as possessing a natural religion and a having personal belief in God, which was followed by a realisation of the importance of dogmatic truth. His gift of presence with a Church of infallible teachings was the final stage at which point Cardinal Newman decided to become a Catholic.

The former archbishop of Birmingham also explored “heroes of faith”, having a goal in mind, and being in company with others in pursuit of that goal as the three themes of a pilgrim’s badge. He said that an interior space, so that people can “hear the echo” of God, was a key part of discerning a vocation.

As a ‘seminarian elect’ as I seem to be getting called this summer, I enjoyed my first privilege as being a student for the priesthood in having a special meeting with the archbishop for the seminarians who were present. Afterwards, I switched roles and went to the press conference that had been called for the event, as I was doing something for The Universe. The regional BBC were there, asking questions about the papal visit. A handful of young people who attended the event put themselves up to answer questions and do interviews if required afterwards.

There was an excellent talk by Dr Andrew O’Connell, communications director for the Presentation Brothers in Ireland, about the challenge to answer God’s call in the modern digital world. I think this presentation deserves its own blog post. Sister Gabriel Davison, a Poor Clare nun, was one of a number of religious who came out of an enclosed community for the weekend. She spoke about her own journey, from an engineering degree (finding herself the only woman in a class of 80 men) to joining the Poor Clares and taking on radical poverty. She spoke about being one among equals in the community and being in a love affair with God.

A sense of how historic and significant the weekend was came as the Holy Father’s Apostolic Blessing for Invocation was read out at the final Mass celebrated by Archbishop Nichols. Part of the message read:

“Particularly during this period of preparation for the Apostolic visit of the Holy Father, when this country has a special place in his thoughts and prayers, Pope Benedict XVI encourages all those present to continue to stay close to Our Blessed Lord as they strive to discern his will for their lives, and to put their trust in the power of the Holy Spirit who will give them the courage to say ‘yes’ to the Lord’s invitation.

“His Holiness cordially imparts to all the participants in Invocation 2010 and to their families and loved ones a special Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of abundant graces from Our Blessed Lord.”

As well as the main talks, we had the chance to go to four workshops throughout the weekend on various different topics. I went along to the ‘priesthood’ workshop. It was encouraging to see a good number of lads, between 6th Form and university student age, listening attentively to three priests and a seminarian talk about the work of a priest and the journey to ordination. There was opportunity to ask questions after each of the talks and things like a deeper explanation of the celibate priesthood were explored. I also went along to sessions on witness and the theology of the body.

Youth 2000 had a lot of input into the liturgies, but there was a mix of ‘praise and worship’ and more traditional hymns at the Masses. In the large marquee on the Saturday night, there was a moving reconciliation service. Dozens of priests were dotted around inside and outside and there was some reflective praise and worship music as confessions were heard. Afterwards, there was a Blessed Sacrament procession around the college grounds, ending with Benediction and a blessing for Birmingham.

The college’s chapel was full for the three Masses, two of which were celebrated by Archbishop Nichols and Archbishop Bernard Longley respectively. The sight of people standing outside the doors to the chapel for Mass and for morning prayer highlighted how encouraging the numbers were.

There was no sense of teenagers being badgered by their diocesan vocation directors or by the representatives of the different orders. Instead, all were easily available for youngsters to chat to for information and about what their calling might be. Evenings in the bar provided a more informal setting for people to chat to priests and seminarians. To see a Catholic event dominated by young people who were actively open to the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood or religious life was a delight. Father Stephen Langridge, staff and students at Oscott College and volunteers who helped organise and run the event should be warmly congratulated.

New deputy speakers

2010-06-10T00:15:00.001+01:00

The good thing about John Burcow's election and re-appointment as speaker of the House of Commons is that a strongly pro-abortion politician became non-partisan. He cannot take part in debates or vote on any issue (unless there is a tie) and has an obligation to be impartial. The Rt Hon Burcow has been an outspoken pro-abortionist and supported the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. It is good that he is now effectively "nutralised".

On Tuesday, the three deputy leaders of the House of Commons for the new parliament were elected. These stand in for the speaker when he is busy with other things or is on leave. One of the new deputies is Dawn Primarolo. The fact that she has been "neutralised" is great news.

Ms Primarolo was the minister in charge of that hideous Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Bill that removed the need for a father, legalised the creation of human/animal hybrid embryos and widened the scope for human embryonic experimentation. As I reported at the time, she claimed that the bill was "a handshake" between science and ethics.

The MP for Bristol South is also pro-abortion, voting against all amendments to lower the time limit for abortion (even thought, as I've said many times, these proposals were the wrong way to go in attempting to restrict the Abortion Act). The fact that she will no longer be able to vote on these issues (unless there is a tie when she is in the chair) confirms that there is one less pro-abortion member of parliament who can have their say.

However, another new deputy speaker, Nigel Evans, appears to be a loss to the pro-life lobby. He was one of only 72 MPs that voted for a reduction in the time limit to 12 weeks, indicating he is sympathetic. In addition, the winner of the deputy speaker election, Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle, also appears to be a loss. He was a rebel on the Mental Capacity Bill and even called for a free vote on the clauses that legalised euthanasia by omission. He also voted against several aspects of the HFE Bill and wrote to the Prime Minister to ask for a free vote. However, he did not vote for the 12 week clause.

I qualify my observations by saying I don't have any detailed knowledge of these two MPs views on the all important life issues (please leave comments if you know anything more).

Since 1801, there have been only 49 instances of tied divisions. Interestingly, however, one of the last occasions came on 21 June 1990, on an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. If it comes to that sort of scenario again, I think we've got a better chance with Evans and Hoyle than Primarolo and Burcow.

Personal announcement

2010-05-25T23:57:00.000+01:00

Today has been a very joy filled day. As some of you may already know, I have been applying for the seminary for the Diocese of Middlesbrough and Bishop Terry Drainey today accepted me. I'll be studying at the Royal English College in Valladolid for a year, starting in September.

I would say that my discernment has grown more intense over the last two years as I found myself deepening my prayer life and asking God what he wanted of me. A sense of a vocation to the priesthood started to niggle away at me to the point at which the most comfortable thing to do was apply.

As I've said all along in interviews, the main reason I can give for going for priestly formation is an understanding that, as a Catholic, you want to do God's will whatever vocation that may be. I have developed a sense that God is directing me towards priesthood and, as a natural conclusion, and through a lot of prayer, I am where I am today.

It's a particular joy to make this decision during the Year of the Priest. Many priests have been a great example to me over the years and their ministry has inspired me to consider a vocation to the priesthood. I would like to thank all those who have helped me encounter Christ and deepen my knowledge of the faith. And, of course, I continue to ask for your prayers.

Abortion advert letter

2010-05-21T23:23:00.000+01:00

Readers will have heard the sickening news that Marie Stopes International is to air an advertisement on Channel 4 on Monday evening to promote abortion. SPUC is urging people to write to the Secretary of State for Culture to ask him to use his powers to stop the advert from being broadcast. Details of how to write to the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP can be found on John Smeaton's blog. Here is my submission sent tonight:

Dear Mr Hunt,

I am writing to plead with you to intervene to stop the scheduled Marie Stopes International advertisement from being broadcast on Channel 4 this Monday. I find this development deeply concerning and would ask you to use your powers relating to OFCOM to prevent this shameful commercial from going ahead.

Last year, a public consultation on the question of allowing abortion advertising received more than 4,000 submissions, most of whom opposed the proposed move. The Broadcasting Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) was so inundated with responses that they had to put back the conclusion of the consultation. Now we have it confirmed from the Advertising Standards Authority that non-commercial providers, or “charities”, are permitted to advertise “post-conception advice services”.

Marie Stopes International might be a registered charity, but it also has a financial interest in the abortion industry. This advertisement will help the organisation to cash in on the killing of innocent and vulnerable human beings and on the distress of women in crisis pregnancies. Marie Stopes is an abortion provider; its crisis pregnancy advice is centred on the abortion option. The general TV watching British public should not be fooled into thinking Marie Stopes will provide impartial advice. Its advice centres are essentially abortion factories.

According to English law, abortion is a criminal offence. The 1967 Abortion Act only allows the procedure to be carried out in certain circumstances. Advertising of a criminal offence is not permitted and Monday’s proposed advert should be treated no differently to this. European law also prohibits the advertising of restricted medical procedures, such as abortion. In addition, the Broadcasting Act 1990 requires that advertising is not offensive or harmful. Abortion is offensive to the countless women damaged by it and is deadly to the hundreds of unborn children aborted every day. There is no sound legal basis open which this commercial should be allowed to be broadcast.

The advert will be deeply immoral because, by implying that abortion is a way out of a crisis pregnancy by not actually mentioning the procedure, it will mislead viewers about the reality of abortion, which is the brutal killing of unborn children.

For these reasons I ask that you act immediately to prevent this advert from being aired on Monday evening.

Yours Sincerely,

Richard Paul Marsden

MPs in new parliament

2010-05-20T12:48:00.000+01:00

MPs have this week begun work in Westminster and yesterday and today, many of them have taken the oath of allegiance to the queen as is required before members take their seat in the House of Commons. It's interesting to note who "affirms" and who "swears" on the bible or some other "holy book". MPs can choose to swear on either the New Testament, the Old Testament (in English or Hebrew), the Koran, the Granth, the Welsh Bible or the Gaelic Bible.

Yesterday, following the Speaker, it was first the turn of the new cabinet to take the oath. Only Nick Clegg and Oliver Letwin took the affirmation, with all other cabinet members "swearing by Almighty God" on a holy book. Even the new Prime Minister, David Cameron, asked for the help of God when taking the oath. By contrast, I counted only four of the Labour front bench that swore, with the rest "truly, sincerely" declaring and affirming. Bear in mind that most of these were government ministers before the general election.

Then it was the turn of other members of the Privy Council and those who have been members for the longest time. Watching on Parliament Live TV, I heard a handful of members ask for a "Catholic bible" as opposed to the King James edition. Labour MP for Ealing North, Stephen Pound, who describes himself on the "liberal" wing of the Catholic Church, said the words slowly and carefully and afterwards made the sign of the cross.

For a lot of the members who swear on the Bible, their belief in God may be a nominal one like Mr Cameron, for instance, who said a few years ago that he tries to get to church a bit more than Christmas and Easter. Their belief in God might not even translate into pro-life voting records (certainly not in the case of Mr Cameron). But does the fact that all but two of the cabinet members swore on a holy book fill us with a bit of hope for the future? Will members of the cabinet who believe in God affect decisions that the government takes. Probably not but who knows?

New Government

2010-05-11T23:53:00.000+01:00

So, there we have it. New Prime Minister, new Government, even if it's not made up with one single party. But, as I write this, it's not clear who exactly will make that administration up yet. Before we reflect on this, it's a good time to say good-riddance to the last lot.

Under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the last Labour Government has been the most anti-life in British history and arguably one of the most anti-Catholic since Penal times. They have legalised euthanasia by omission, allowed children as young as 11 to get abortions and morning after pills without parental consent, legalised the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos and the further manipulation of human embryos and financially supported China's horrendous one-child policy. They legalised same sex civil partnerships, made law the sexual orientation regulations meaning the end of the road for Catholic adoption agencies and pushed (thankfully unsuccessfully) for a law that would have forced Catholic schools to teach how to get an abortion.

Now for the continuing bad news. Contrary to many well-thought but mislead Catholics, today's Conservatives are by no means guaranteed to be any more "pro-life" than the majority of Labour were(n't). Their support from the Lib Dems on forming a government makes that even less likely. As I write, several anti-life politicians seem to have gained key departments. For a start, new PM David Cameron supports the law that allows abortion up to birth for disabled children. The surprise deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, believes that faith schools must teach that homosexuality is normal and harmless. He has also voted for the 24 week limit to be maintained.

Perhaps the most significant posts in these areas, Health Secretary, appears to have been secured by Andrew Lansley. He has a weak "life" voting record and promoted early abortion in 2008. He even supports relaxing the laws on abortion. Despite this issue usually being a matter of a free vote on any change in the law, it's certainly a disaster for the country to have yet another pro-abortion MP as health secretary, unless, of course, he's had a radical u-turn on his thoughts.

One of the things we can hope for is that the current economic situation will take full precedence and that matters such as sex education can be put on the back-burner for now. I think however, that this issue in particular will come into the limelight at some point and, with the Liberal Democrats taking hold of key cabinet posts, the fear is that the pressure will be more intense to legislate in this area. I just hope that this, and other "life" areas, hasn't been mentioned in some deal between the Tories and Lib Dems. I'm afraid to say that it's also very unlikely that the hideous things mentioned above that have been ushered in by Labour will be reversed. Time will tell on how things pan out.

David Cameron has pledged to "aid the vulnerable". Let us pray that this statement extends to unborn children and embryos.

Pro-life chains

2010-05-05T23:36:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, April 24, SPUC branches across the country stood on roadsides in their areas for two hours with billboards to make up the annual pro-life chains. This year there was a special significance with the election around the corner. The intention is always to generate thoughts in people's minds and discussion among families when they see messages like "women deserve better than abortion" and "abortion kills children and hurts women". But the hope this time around was to also get people thinking about these crucial issues when they go to the ballot box.

I joined the chains in Hull at Raich Carter Way, in Kingswood. There were about 20 people who lined the roadside. It's about the fifth time I've done one of these things and I always say it's something I can't stand doing, but something that needs to be done. In fact, two hours a year is the very least you can do to carry out public witness for the unborn, who have no voice of their own.

With experience at doing the chains comes a good idea of what to expect. Most of the locations are places where there are not likely to be many pedestrians and this is certainly the case with the chosen spot in Hull. When you take part, you learn very quickly why this is the preferred option. Having the vs flicked at you and various other hand gestures coupled with unpleasant language being shouted out the window are all fairly common reactions. Unfortunately, this time, one of our members got a milkshake and a bottle of coke thrown at him. The gentleman was sitting down in a fold up chair and the missiles hit his placard and splashed up onto his clothes. Nothing serious - but an indication of the kind of abuse you can get.

However, most of the reaction is of a reflective nature. The majority slow down a little, drive past the placards, take the message in and go on their way. And, I would say about 15 to 20 per cent, is positive reaction with people either beeping their horns and putting their thumbs up or simply nodding their head in agreement.

Whatever the response, the experience is a fascinating one, but also a type of penance. It's pretty borning holding a placard for two hours and therefore is a good time to pray and reflect, particularly parts of scripture that warn Christians that they will be ridiculed in the cause of right. We estimated that we must have reached out to at least four or five thousand people in those two hours. Who knows what the conversations are in the cars further down the road. But we can be sure that these pro-life chains generate at least a pin prick in the conscience of our nation.

(I apologise for the lack of pictures. I haven't been able to afford another camera since my other one got lost on the way to the Holy Land)

Lyveden New Bield

2010-04-18T23:47:00.001+01:00

In an isolated part of rural Northamptonshire, an Elizabethan lodge house in the shape of a Greek Cross dominates the countryside. When Sir Thomas Tresham died in 1605, those who were working on Lyveden New Bield downed their tools and left as they would no longer be getting paid. The "new build" was left half built and has remained virtually unaltered since Tudor times.

The plan consists of five equal squares and each arm ends in a bay with five sides each measuring five feet, making a total of 25 feet. This is no accident - it relates to the 25th of December and 25th March, the date of the Nativity and the Annunciation. This is just one of the numerical features of this intriguing building, designed by Sir Thomas as a visible dedication of his Catholic faith.

During my visit recently, I walked around the perimeter of the structure at least three times and noticed something different each time. Everywhere you look there are visual expressions of Sir Thomas's faith. A carved frieze between the ground and first floor has seven emblems of the Passion repeated around the outside of the building based on designs by Italian architect Serlio. Thirty pieces of silver surrounding an image of Judas's money bag is one carving, while the scourge, pillar, crown of thorns and sceptre of reeds make up another. The sacred monogram IHS and the letters "XP" representing Christ are two more patterns.

To get inside the house, you have to go through the servants' entrance at the back which involves ducking your head as the doorway is so small. Inside, you get the impression that Lyvden was intended to be a fully habitable house. There is a kitchen with a fireplace carved out and a bake oven at the back. In the east wing, an open bay window is decorated with the coats of arms of Tresham and his wife Muriel Throckmorton. In the lobby, there is a niche in the corner all ready for a statue of Our Lady to be put up. The holes drilled to hold the statue are still visible - but obviously they never got round to installing it. This is just one example of subtle hints of Catholicism at Lyveden. When looking up, you can see how the lodge's first floor was planned out but never finished. Noticeably, there is also no roof. The views from the open windows over the valley are spectacular.

For the Tudor aristocracy, competitive building projects was a popular activity. Sir Thomas was acquainted with neighbours such as Sir William Cecil, secretary of state for Queen Elizabeth, and lord chancellor Sir Christopher Hatton. Both men were influential builders of the period, with Cecil's Burghley House at Stamford and Hatton's Kirby Hall near Corby as two examples. Tresham, whose residence was Rushton Hall, built three houses that were all an expression of his Catholic faith. The first was the Market House in Rothwell and then came Triangular Lodge, an expression of his devotion to the Holy Trinity and a structure that I have blogged about before.

Work on Lyveden started in 1594 and was still in progress when Tresham died in 1605. Sir Thomas did enjoy a lavish lifestyle, despite being jailed or subject to house arrest for recusancy for several years. One historian that features on the very useful audio guides at Lyveden says that Tresham's apparent obsessiveness with numbers could have come from all those months staring at four walls. When not incarcerated, he would entertain friends and even people not known to him. Sometimes, up to 100 people went to his parties. He feasted on more than 50 cattle and 200 sheep in a single year.

His intention at Lyveden was to create a striking building that would serve as a garden lodge. The idea was to create a half a mile build up to the venue from the manor house, or Lyvden Old Bield, with the purpose of entertaining guests. The walk would go through the orchard, that was also unfinished, and would lead up to a mound. A first glimpse of the lodge could be caught when guests reached the top of the raised terrace walk. The stroll would then continue over the moat, also only 75 per cent completed, and to another mount overlooking the new bield.

The story behind the lodge opens up whole new chapters about how Catholicism survived in the Midlands during penal times. Sir Thomas married Muriel Throckmorton, a family based at Coughton Court in Warwickshire that I have also blogged previously about. The Throckmortons and the Treshams are two of the most important Catholic families in England, committed to harbouring priests, providing places for them to say Mass and being holy men and women themselves. Putting aside Sir Thomas's son Francis' alleged involvement with the Gunpowder Plot, these two families might not have had martyrs among their numbers, but both largely remained faithful to the Catholic faith and were key players in the underground church.

Election

2010-04-08T13:56:00.000+01:00

So, there we have it - the election campaign, or should I call it game, has started. There's only four weeks left before we get the chance to wander down to our community centre, school or church hall to vote.

No sooner had the election been called for May 6, I received in my inbox an email from David Cameron with the subject line "Richard, Let's win it for Britain". God only knows where he, or should I say the Conservative Party, got my email address from. I'm not or never have been a member of the party. I guess they must have got it from Facebook or something. Having a read through the email, it reminded me of just how party political and presidential British politics has become.

I really do worry that people will be considering the looks, personality and ability of party leaders and using these feelings as a basis to decide who to vote for. Of course, these judgements must form a part of the deliberations, along with the policies of parties on big issues like health, law and order, immigration and the economy. But the country really seems to have lost the notion that the primary purpose of a general election is for people to elect a politician in their constituency who will represent them in parliament. They really don't seem concerned that their future MP could be an absolute idiot.

For Catholics who are concerned about voting with their consciences, deciding whose name to put their cross against on the ballot paper is a difficult task. Traditionally, the most important issues of our time like abortion, euthanasia, embryo research and cloning have been issues subject to free votes. This tradition has been increasingly wrecked by the Labour Party in recent years with the Mental Capacity Bill, for instance, that legalised euthanasia by omission. At third reading, the bill was whipped while it still had clauses to legalise this kind of euthanasia. This caused a handful of party members to rebel. Despite other serious moral issues, such as same sex civil partnerships, appearing as party policy, matters of conscience in reltation to the life issues are not usually clearly visible in the manifestos of most parties, with some exceptions. Therefore, it is up to the Catholic constituent to find our their candidates stance on these issues.

Sometimes, if the present MP is going to stand for election again, an idea of their position can be gathered by looking at their voting record on recent pieces of legislation, such as the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. But even then it is difficult to find out the voting intentions of these candidates on some issues they might not have been confronted with in the Commons to date. The best way to discover their position is to seek a meeting with them. This might prove increasingly difficult, but there will be a chance to grab a few minutes with them if they knock at your door or you see them in the street.

In terms of questions, it's no good asking "What do you think about abortion"? These people are politicians and they want you to vote for them. Those who are not pro-life will fudge the question by saying something like: "I think the number of abortions is something that needs to be looked at" or "I think the time limit should be reduced". Often these phrases can mean nothing. To get a more accurate reflection, ask about particular voting intentions, for instance: "Would you support or oppose moves aimed at ending all direct abortions?" or "Would you like to vote for an extension of the types of places where abortions are performed?"

If you are not satisfied that you can vote in conscience with any of the candidates standing in your constituency, still go along to vote but spoil your ballot paper by putting a line through the whole page or whatever. By doing this, at least we can say we have been responsible in making the effort to vote but were not satisfied with any of the candidates so didn't give any of them a cross.

As Catholics, it is important for us to make candidates aware of our deep concerns about the sanctity of human life being undermined 600 times a day in abortion, through the destruction of human embryos in the name of research and with euthanasia by omission in our hospitals and hospices. Even if they are not on board with the pro-life ethic, at least they will think about the issues and be aware that, if they get elected, they will be lobbied by Catholics, other Christians and people of good will.

Sex abuse stories

2010-03-30T00:46:00.002+01:00

The constant drip of stories about child sex abuse by priests and the alleged cover up by the church is a sorry state of affairs. Of course, at the heart of this, we have to remember and pray for all the victims of sexual abuse, that those who have been betrayed by people in the church will seek a loving encounter with Jesus Christ and find the courage to turn back to the church if they find it difficult to be reconciled.

Over the last few weeks, with the high-profile news reports gaining momentum, I'm sure many Catholics like me have had a real sense of the church under a new wave of attack on this issue. You have probably encountered gossip and ridicule but have had to do your best to defend the Catholic Church as best you can. I've found it's so difficult to respond to news reports that point the finger at Pope Benedict, because it is pure speculation. Basically, whatever you say in response to a discussion in the workplace or in the pub about the latest stories, you find there is new criticism about a different aspect. Just one comment trying to compassionately respond to apparent claims and defend the pope can open you up to attack in another sense. And the arguments are not just with non-Catholics, they are with lapsed Catholic friends too. It's a no win situation.

However, I suppose we must be doing something right if we are getting ridiculed for trying to defend the faith, as Christ does warn us in the scriptures that the Church will be abused and persecuted. Because we might not know the ins and outs of what has gone on in various places, it can be difficult to respond, especially when the matter at hand is about priests horribly abusing their position of authority. But we must ask the Holy Spirit to help us to give a compassionate but firm response when challenged and prevent us from getting hysterical.

I'd like to make a few observations about the journalistic side of things. It really does seem as though (and now I'm opening myself up to more criticism, but it has to be said) that the media is using this issue as a way of attacking the pope and the church. Yes, it's true that it's horrible that child abuse goes on, and in some cases is covered up, in a church that preaches the fundamental importance of the dignity of the human person etc. But it does seem that the British media is certainly "out to get" Pope Benedict ahead of his visit here in September.

There has also been some awful, speculative journalism in all of this. Take, for instance, several news items about the Papal Mass on Palm Sunday. The BBC reports Pope Mass hints at fightback against abuse critics while the Guardian goes for Pope dismisses 'petty gossip' of sexual abuse allegations. The intro starts:

Pope Benedict, facing the worst crisis of his papacy as a sexual abuse scandal sweeps the Catholic church, declared today he would not be "intimidated" by "petty gossip"...

No he didn't. If you actually read the homily, he was preaching the faithful to seek the truth from Jesus Christ.

He leads us to what is great, pure, he leads us to the healthy air of the heights: to life according to truth; to the courage that does not let itself be intimidated by the gossip of dominant opinions; to the patience that stands up for and supports the other. He leads us to availability to the suffering, to the abandoned; to the loyalty that stands with the other even when the situation makes it difficult.

Who says he was referring to the abuse scandals here? The BBC actually implies that the pope was talking about his own personal faith, saying:

At a Mass in Rome's St Peter's Square, he said his faith would help give him the courage to deflect "petty gossip".

Then it admits he didn't refer to the sex abuse scandal directly. Here we have a case of the BBC rewording a quote to suit their headlines. Not the first time this has happened.

Then we have the reports that are borderline libelous. In a web address I noticed on the Guardian, we have http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/26/pope-accused-priest-sex-abuse-germany, implying to anyone just reading that strapline that the pope is an abuser himself.

I'm now going off to pray for the Pope...

Solemnity of Saint Joseph

2010-03-19T23:02:00.001Z

For my confirmation, I chose the name Joseph. I considered him as a brilliant role model. It's a great blessing that the Church declares this day a Solemnity and that, during Lent, you can say the Gloria at the Mass.

First and foremost Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary, was faithful and committed to God. Think about the eyebrows that would have been raised towards Joseph in Nazareth once the community discovered Our Lady was with child before being married to him. He could quite simply have left them. Yet Joseph, through the message of an Angel through a dream, committed himself to assisting Mary in bringing up the infant child Jesus, the Saviour of the world. It is this commitment to God that gives us such a fantastic example.

When in the Holy Land, I did not reflect much upon the role of Joseph so much because you become so immersed in the conception, birth, childhood, public ministry, Passion, death and Resurrection of Christ when moving from holy place to place. But now that I've had time to reflect on some of the significant moments involving St Joseph, the experience of the Holy Land enriches a devotion to this earthly father of Jesus.

During the visit to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, we went down to the crypt of the Catholic Church that is next door to the grotto. Before celebrating Mass in the Chapel of St Jerome, we were shown the altar to St Joseph, where he is said to have had the dream warning the Holy Family to escape to Egypt. Joseph clearly recognised these dreams as messages from angels directing him which move to make next amid vulnerable surroundings, with more than 150km and a desert separating them from home. His response reminds us as Christians to do what we think God's will is and yearn to come closer to Jesus. It is also an example for us to defend Christ and our faith in a humble but clear way in times when we are attacked.

In Nazareth, we were able to visit the house of the Holy Family. In this place, all western perceptions of what Nazareth is like are eradicated. In essence, it was a group of a relatively small number of caves. It was a poor place. We don't hear much about Jesus growing up, but what we do know is that Joseph is a vital figure in the early life of Our Lord. As the opening line of the hymn for today's morning prayer of the church states:

Joseph wise ruler of God’s earthly household,
Nearest of all men to the heart of Jesus,
Be still a father, lovingly providing
For us, is brethren.

Government spins media

2010-02-23T21:51:00.000Z

This morning's headlines about the Government granting a so-called opt out for faith schools on sex education are a worrying example of how the media can be so easily spun by the executive. Nearly all the reports about today's Children, Schools and Families Bill detailed the row resulting from education secretary Ed Balls' "u-turn" on forcing faith schools to comply with compulsory sex education. His comments have resulted in criticism from Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain and Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, among others. Then we have a claim from the Catholic Education Service that the amendment comes about as a result of their lobbying.

Astonishingly, or perhaps not, it seems news organisations have been taken for a ride by Mr Balls' amendment and have let the Government appeal to be reasonable towards faith groups and securing their right to teach sex education according to their beliefs. However, nothing could be further from the truth. News agencies have simply missed what the story is here.

Let's have a look at what Mr Balls actually said to Radio 4 this morning (thanks to John Smeaton for this summary):

        * "If you are currently a Catholic school ... you could choose to teach only to children that contraception is wrong, homosexuality is wrong. That changes radically with this bill."

        * "A Catholic faith school can say to their pupils we believe as a religion contraception is wrong but what they can't do is therefore say that they are not going to teach them about contraception to children, how to access contraception, or how to use contraception. What this changes is that for the first time these schools cannot just ignore these issues or teach only one side of the argument. They also have to teach that there are different views on homosexuality. They cannot teach homophobia. They must explain civil partnership. They must give a balanced view on abortion, they must give both sides of the argument, they must explain how to access an abortion, the same is true on contraception as well."

        * "To have the support of the Catholic Church and Archbishop Nichols in these changes is, I think, very, very important, is a huge step forward."

        * "[Catholic schools] cannot teach that homosexuality is wrong and that therefore it is OK to discriminate on homosexuality"

Reading these points, I fail to understand what the secretary of state is reassuring faith schools about. It does seem from what he is saying that he is effectively rendering his own clause meaningless. This has been a smokescreen that the media has been fooled by.

Church of Dormition

2010-02-21T23:39:00.000Z

From Gethsemane, the coach took us to the other side of the city to Mount Zion. Our first stop was the Church of Dormition, said to be the place where Our Lady lived after the Resurrection and fell asleep for the last time. The church is a fortress-like structure with a high bell tower and a dome. It certainly stamps its authority over the Jerusalem skyline.

Picture from Jake Wood, our American friend

The church is in the hands of the German Benedictines. The land was acquired by the German emperor Wilhelm II and given to the German Holy Land Society. In 1906, the first group of monks arrived and the church was consecrated in 1910. The apse above the altar includes pictures of eight prophets who announced the coming of the Messiah: Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.

The crypt has a statue of Our Lady asleep in the centre. We knelt down at the side of it and Father David Grant led a decade of the rosary. In the dome above the statue, a mosaic represents Christ surrounded by six women from the Old Testament: Eve, Miriam, Yael, Judith, Ruth and Esther. Around the edge of the crypt are various altars to Mary donated by countries such as Hungary, Austria, the Ivory Coast, the USA, Brazil and Venezuela. Some, dare I say, are more tasteful than others.

Visiting this church made me realise how the early Christians took great care in passing on information about the locations of almost every significant place in the life of Jesus, and in this case, his mother. As a first-time pilgrim to the Holy Land, you would expect to make a pilgrimage to the stable in Bethlehem, the grotto of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Calvary, the empty tomb and so on. It is an extra treat, therefore, to discover other sites that tell stories that are integral to God's plan in sending his Son (in this instance, the Immaculate Conception of Mary and, therefore, the necessity of her being Assumed into Heaven).

The Agony in the Garden

2010-02-19T00:10:00.001Z

He then left to make his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, with the disciples following. When he reached the place he said to them, 'Pray not to be put to the test.' Then he withdrew from them, about a stone's throw away, and knelt down and prayed. 'Father,' he said, 'if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine.' Then an angel appeared to him, coming from heaven to give him strength. In his anguish he prayed even more earnestly, and his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. (Luke 22: 39-44)

The very rock on which Our Lord sweated blood was the place where we celebrated our first Mass of the pilgrimage. The stone is surrounded by a crown of thorns in wrought iron, a reminder of what suffering Our Lord was to endure the day after that night. As Fr Lawrence Jones who was presiding and preaching said, "It is wonderful to be here." He added that it was okay for us to be emotional, even though it wasn't very British to do so.

We got to the Knights' Palace hotel in Jerusalem the early hours of our first day and, after the long journey, it was time to sleep. The hotel is situated in the Christian quarter within the Old City walls and is next door to the Latin Patriarchate. His Beatitude Archbishop Fouad Twal is the current patriarch of the city. After breakfast, we set out on the coach to the other side of the city walls towards the Mount of Olives.

Walking straight through the Garden of Gethsemane (only to come back after Mass), we came to the front of the Church of All Nations. It was built by the Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi between 1919 and 1924. Barluzzi designed quite a few of the 20th century churches in the Holy Land. He wanted to convey the atmosphere of the particular event that happened at each of them. Fitting in with this, the Church of All Nations, also known as the Basilica of the Agony, is fairly dark, bare and simple inside, with minimal natural light. It lies on the foundations of two earlier churches: a 12th-century Crusader chapel abandoned in 1345 and a 4th-century Byzantine basilica, destroyed by an earthquake in 746.

In a sense, this was a bit of a strange place to start our Holy Land journey. On reflection, in another way it was the ideal place to start. This was the moment when there was no going back for Jesus. To the Father, He said "Thy will be done." By taking us here, Amer certainly did throw us into the spiritual deep end and got us into the prayerful mood.

As Mass started, recollections of time spent at every single Altar of Repose at different churches on Holy Thursday were foremost in the mind. We hear from Matthew that Our Lord said: "So you had not the strength to stay awake with me for one hour? Stay awake, and pray not to be put to the test. The spirit is willing enough, but human nature is weak." On mulling over these words came the realisation that you were actually sitting next to the Rock of Jesus' agony in the garden. Christ's ultimate sacrifice a few hours after the drama of Gethsemane was made a sacramental reality through the Sacrifice of the Mass. Our Lord was made truly present again in that place in the Eucharist, as He no doubt is every day in that simple but significant church.

As with many of the six occasions will celebrated Mass at the holy places, tour groups and independent visitors from all kinds of nations came and went in a respectful manner, joining in universal words like "Alleluia" when sung in the Mass. We sat around the rock on the sanctuary, where Masses for groups are celebrated. Afterwards, there was a chance to go closer to the rock to pray, touch, kiss and place rosary beads on the surface.

Once outside, reflections on that most holy of nights continued in the surroundings of the garden itself.

Then he came back to the disciples and said to them, 'You can sleep on now and have your rest. Look, the hour has come when the Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let us go! Look, my betrayer is not far away.' And suddenly while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared, and with him a large number of men armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and elders of the people. Now the traitor had arranged a sign with them saying, 'The one I kiss, he is the man. Arrest him.' So he went up to Jesus at once and said, 'Greetings, Rabbi,' and kissed him. Jesus said to him, 'My friend, do what you are here for.' Then they came forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. (Mt 26: 45-50)

Looking back towards the old city on a bright morning, you could see which route Jesus would have been taken to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest. The word "Gethsemane" comes from the Hebrew "Gat Shemen", that means "olive press". This is a clear reference to the natural abundance of these trees in the garden. Olive trees last for centuries, making it probable that the very trunks we stared at were there on the night of agony. If only trees could speak.

Holy Land review

2010-02-16T11:35:00.000Z

We touched down at Newcastle airport last Monday from our amazing pilgrimage in the Holy Land. It is difficult to describe how brilliant the week was. We all said that the visits to the holy places had brought the gospels to life for us. Just to see the geography of the key places in Jesus' life has deepened my understanding of his ministry and his ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross.

Now that I've had a week to catch up on some sleep and reflect on what we experienced out there, I'm going to start delving deeper into our explorations, from the origins of our redemption in Nazareth, to seeing the empty tomb in Jerusalem. I must say that I still feel I'm out there, particularly when I think about the Sea of Galilee and the place where we stayed on the shore near Tiberius for three days. It was heavenly. You can certainly understand why Christ chose this region to exercise his public ministry.

Unfortunately my camera was not at Father Lawrence's house, so it must have got lost between Newcastle and Tel Aviv. I was so annoyed when rifling through my bag on the first night in Jerusalem only to realise that it wasn't there. I got some pictures on my mobile phone camera but they are not great. However, nearly every other pilgrim had a camera and plenty of photos were taken. There's been a steady flow of some coming through on email and Facebook in the last few days, so I should be able to illustrate each of the places with photos. I'll acknowledge who they came from and hope they don't mind me using them!

Our guide, Amer, is a Catholic from Nazareth. We all agreed that he was fantastic, reeling dates and facts off without any notes. He also had some interesting insights into Jewish law and tradition, the difficulties of being a Christian living in the Holy Land and his own reflections on the gospels. I regret not taking notes while he was talking, but I did take a few notes when back on the bus. I'll do my best to go into as much detail as possible, but some of the historical facts might be a bit general.

Primacy of Peter

2010-02-06T16:22:00.000Z

Today we went to one of the most important sites for us Catholics in the world - the place where the papacy was established. With a stunning backdrop of the Sea of Galilee, we celebrated Mass outside the Church of the Primacy of Peter. This is the location where Our Lord appeared to some of his disciples after the Resurrection and told Saint Peter to feed his lamb and sheep.

Like with many of the holy places, the church is fairly modest but includes a rock on which Jesus and the disciples ate their meal together. We sang a hymn that asked God to bless the Pope and we held His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in our prayers. Afterwards we got the chance to walk along the shore where the boat came in after the catching of the fish.

The next incredible experience was a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. We heard the reading on the calming of the storm. The pilot produced a Union Jack and played the national anthem for us to sing! We then went to sample Saint Peter's fish with chips, one of the main things to encounter on a trip to the Holy Land.

Earlier in the day, we went to Capernaum, effectively the birthplace of Christianity, and saw the ruins of Peter's house as well as the site of the synagogue. We're staying at the Pilger House, a lovely place that overlooks the Sea of Galilee. You can tell why Jesus chose this region to exercise his public ministry.

Tomorrow we're going to the place where it all started, the Church of the Annunciation.

Galilee

2010-02-06T11:08:00.000Z

We've just come off a boat trip on the sea of Galilee.We made our way up here yesterday after celebrating Mass at the Church of the Nativity, the highlight of the week for me so far. We sang Christmas carols during mass in the Chapel of St Jerome before going to visit the site itself.

Bethlehem

2010-02-05T05:57:00.000Z

It's nearly 8am in Bethlehem and we're about to set off to the Church of the Nativity for Mass and a visit to the Grotto. We'll be singing carols, making it like another Christmas Day. This afternoon, we're moving up to Galilee.

Live from Bethlehem

2010-02-04T20:10:00.000Z

I'm writing from the Shepherd Hotel in Bethlehem where we are spending tonight, midway through an amazing pilgrimage in the Holy Land.

We've just spent three nights in Jerusalem. On the first day, we went to the Garden of Gethsemane and had Mass at the rock at which Christ sweated blood. You practically had to pinch yourself to realise that you were in such a holy place. As Father Lawrence Jones, the leader of the pilgrimage, said - it was wonderful to be there. For the rest of the first day, we went to the place of the denial of Peter, the place of the Last Supper, and, movingly, we went to the place of flagellation and imprisonment of Our Lord. At the end of the day, our excellent Catholic guide, Amir, took us near to the top of the Mount of Olives and pointed out that we could see Christ's journey from the Agony in the Garden to the Resurrection within view. It was simply incredible.
Yesterday we headed out of the city and into the desert, stopping first at Qumran, the place where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. In the middle of the day, we got to Jericho, the oldest continually-inhabited cities on the face of the earth. After Mass and lunch, it was on to the Dead Sea and the weird sensation of being able to float on water. Father David Grant was the only priest from the group to take a dip, which certainly was entertaining.
Today we had the awesome privilege of following the stations of the Cross up to Calvary. There was Mass at the place where Jesus was condemned. We then prayed each station along the way in amidst the tacky shops and dirty streets. At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there was a long queue to venerate the place where the Cross is said to have stood. There was an even longer line to get into the tomb, that our guide described as the highlight of the pilgrimage, to see the tomb empty.
The group arrived in Bethlehem this afternoon. It is sad to see how the wall around the town has made the birthplace of Christ a virtual prison for the residents, who are, I think, only allowed out twice a year. Before dinner, Fr Grant, myself and David, who is also on the pilgrimage, went to the birthplace of Christ. Tomorrow, we will get a more detailed look with the guide and will also celebrate Mass there.

The group is mainly from the north east and they are a fantastic bunch of people, with a lot of banter taking place between them and myself and Fr Grant (Yorkshiremen).

I'll blog in much more detail next week when I get back to the UK. Unfortunately I left my camera at Fr Lawrence's place in Morpeth but there's plenty of people who are taking photos.

Holy Land

2010-01-31T11:54:00.000Z

I am just about to set off from Hull to Bridlington to meet up with Father David Grant. He is then driving to Morpeth where we will stay the night before flying to the Holy Land on Monday from Newcastle. It's a week long pilgrimage for young adults (and a few priests) and I'm very much looking forward to it, particularly as it's my first venture outside of Europe.

The pilgrimage is being led by Father Lawrence Jones and we are due to go to Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Tiberias among our travels. I will keep the intentions of all readers of Bashing Secularism in my prayers at the Holy places. I am told there is the odd internet cafe about, so, if I get the chance to post, I will. I'll have a lot to write about when I get back next Monday, that's for sure.

Dawkins' "fetish" over labelling children

2010-01-22T00:19:00.002Z

Richard Dawkins has been at it again - trying to push religion to the fringes of society and the family. This time, it was an appearance on the BBC's The Daily Politics on Wednesday, where he reiterated his efforts to prevent children from being identified according to the religion of their parents. He clearly got very hysterical and worked up when challenged by the learned politician, Norman Tebbit, about his seemingly insignificant point, which really didn't lead anywhere.

In addressing the question about whether children should be beyond the reaches of religious identification, he said:

"If feel very strongly that it's wrong to label children with the opinions of their parents. Nobody minds labeling a child an English child or a French child or a Dutch child. But you would think I was mad if I started talking about a postmodernist child or a Keynesian child or a monetarist child or a liberal child or a Conservative child. And yet the whole of our society, quite happily, buys into the idea that you can talk about a Catholic child or a Protestant child or a Muslim child or a Hindu child. That's surely got to be wrong - to assume that a child will automatically inherit the opinions of its parents about the universe, the cosmos and morality. This must be something that should be rectified."

He said he was not talking about "state coercion" but "consciousness raising", just in the same way feminists did when the drew attention to the "one man, one vote" phrase. "I want someone to flinch when they start to hear someone talking about a Catholic child, a Protestant child or a Muslim child," he said.
"We even baptise children, thereby condemning them to an assumption that they will inherit the religion of their parents for life."

Back in the studio, he was asked what harm there is in labeling a child. He said it becomes divisive, especially in places like Northern Ireland and the Middle East, where automatically a child belongs to the same party of thought as your parents.

Developing his line of thought, Dawkins said: "You wouldn't talk about an ornithologist child or a stamp collecting child. Why is religion the one thing..."

Interestingly, when asked: "What did you do with your own family?", Dawkins answered: "I'd rather answer the more important question." He described himself as a “cultural Christian” but obviously not a believing Christian.

When asked if there is a problem in making an assumption and labeling children, Mr Tebbit, the Conservative peer, said: "Of course there isn't. After all we find a child who comes ethnically from Africa, who is born in Britain and we call him a British child."

He added: "Dawkins seems to have a problem with the fact that those of us who have grown up in a society which essentially has Christian, Judean values will tend to teach those values on to the next generation. And so we call it a Christo-Judean society. I think that's what we've been living in. It's just bilge to think there's some dreadful sin in describing the child who is a Muslim child or a Hindu child."

Now really on his high horse, Dawkins asked Tebbit if he would refer to a Conservative child or a Keynesian child? "No because that's nothing to do with culture," Tebbit said. "It's a triviality when concerned with the whole of the massive culture. Of course he might reject it in the same way he might accept or reject anything else but I can't see what damage it does." He then went on to say: "I fear that Mr Dawkins has got a fetish [about this]."

Mr Tebbit's conclusion about the whole business seemed rather appropriate. During his five minute rant, I would like to think that few people watching would consider this as a major issue. How many children have been upset by being called a Christian? What is there to get concerned about? However, reading Dawkins' official website and some of the comments in support of his argument, I fear that a large minority actually agree with his dangerous argument.

Of course, the arch-secularist's outrage with baptising children is not a surprise. We Catholics would respond by saying that bringing a child into God's family is the best thing a parent can do. Dawkins needs to realise the parents have a responsibility to bring up their children, and that Catholics have a duty to encourage and facilitate their children's relationship with God. It is unfortunate, though again not a surprise, that Dawkins has again been given the platform by the BBC to promote his quest to eradicate religion from these shores by whatever means possible. But thankfully, he looked pretty pathetic.

Pictures from Stonyhurst

2010-01-04T19:13:00.000Z

Here are some more pictures from the Faith Conference at Stonyhurst. Most of them come from Father Chris Findlay-Wilson, although a couple are ones that I snapped. Here is the procession as Mass on one of the days:

Here is the journey out to the village for some people on the middle afternoon:

But some stayed in the college to try out their football skills:

Here is the Mass again:

Here is a shot of the chapel from the organ loft just before the Reconciliation Service:

Many of the classrooms in the college are named after English and Welsh martyrs. Most of us had out discussion groups on the middle afternoon in one of these rooms. Our group met in the St Ann Line room down one of the corridors. You'll find her story in one of my 40 Martyr Reflections (which are still not finished, I promise!). We discussed the church's position on married priests, women priests and the theory that Christ was predestined from the beginning of creation:

Here is Father William Massie, the coordinator of the conference, giving the final remarks, thanks and announcements after Father Stephen Brown's talk. Pictured on the left is conference chair, Clare Loughlin:

The priest and his loving

2009-12-31T23:37:00.000Z

Closing the Faith Conference on Wednesday morning, Father Stephen Brown, Catholic chaplain to the University of Bradford, began by recalling his own diaconate ordination, at which he made his promise of celibacy. He knew he had sensed the call of Christ to priesthood and that celibacy was integral to that vocation. It was his will to embrace this wholeheartedly because he wanted to imitate Jesus Christ.

Father Brown explained the range of types and degree of love. Love of football, chocolate and deep fried squid is really a misuse of the word "love". We have love of persons in family relationships and among friends. Catholics have a love of the Holy Father and of the Church and the saints. But, overarching them all there is, or should be in a human being, the love of God. Moving on to the love of a priest, he said:

"If a priest is another Christ, a living icon of Jesus Christ, which he is by virtue of his ordination; then it’s not rocket science to work out that his way of loving must in some way be related to Jesus Christ's way of loving."

Jesus Christ gives an ordinary man His own identity and makes the man’s soul a reflection of Himself so that He can continuously bring His redeeming love to the world. This is the type of love that must inhabit the priest. The way a priest loves is unique to that vocation, just as married love is unique to that vocation. Many people are misled into seeing priestly celibacy as a necessary but terrible sacrifice, "as a purely negative renunciation of married life".

"Any real and genuine love is going to involve sacrifice – most especially in a world disfigured by sin and evil. All authentic love is going to “cost” something. Mum or dad getting up at 2am to see to their baby “costs” them, but they are motivated by love... The point is, that where there is genuine loving, there will always be parallel joy, and there will be fulfilment, since authentic love binds a person to God."

Talking about the mirroring of Christ, Father Brown said the priest does more than represent Him.

"Prince Charles can represent the Queen at certain events she can’t attend, but his identity is not that of Elizabeth II – he can only ever be Charles. Its different with the priest, he mirrors Jesus Christ, and that is a much deeper identification."

He said Christ gently probes people’s hearts and souls in order to draw them to Himself or free them from what held them captive. This is what priests can and should also do. For example, he said the priest has an interior happiness when they take a young person along to a retreat or conference and they say they enjoyed it at the end.

Talking about celibacy itself, Father Brown said it is not a denial of love. "...It is chastity embraced for the sake of the Kingdom. It is a positive choice, expressing a willingness to love in the way that Christ loved." As the love of a priest closely mirrors that of Christ himself for his people, there will also be sorrows.

"Bringing salvation into people’s souls [salvation in its fullest sense] or, if you like, carrying Jesus Christ into people’s souls, it is the same thing, involves exercising this unique love, a wonderful love. To be aware of Christ loving people through your ministry, which you do for love of Christ and His people, is profoundly humbling and fulfilling. I didn’t have this awareness when I was first ordained a priest, it grew."

He explained the distinction between chastity and chastity under vow. The latter is when a person consciously and personally dedicates all the powers of body and soul to God, for the sake of His Kingdom.

Father Brown also addressed the issue "giving up sex is not giving up love". He said the widespread belief that there is no greater expression of love between human beings than having sexual intercourse is an extremely narrow vision of love. Sex, or sexuality, has a much wider sense "in which the love held within the soul is expressed through our sexuality in warmth, affection and tenderness, without an erotic element, and done so in an appropriate way depending on the persons involved".

The priest renounces sex in the sense of expressing love and making families. "But he is not therefore deprived of love or unable to love in an appropriately deep, warm, or affectionate way." On the subject of marriage and the priesthood, Father Brown said:

"While giving up a wife and family of his own, the priest does indeed receive a hundredfold in terms of love. I would say he shares in the love that people have for God, which is a love beyond all others, there is nothing else like it on the planet. For the type of relationship which it creates between priest and people is precisely a Christ relationship; and a love which doesn’t just encircle the hearts and souls of others, or skim the surface, but which, like a spiritual laser beam, cuts through to the awesome inner sanctuary of the human heart, where each person stands alone with God."

The priest cannot be possessed in love by any one human person, he added. Their specific love is directed towards cherishing the interior life of individual souls, "to the further deepening and refining of their personalities in the knowledge and love of God". While accepting that the Church allows married priests in certain circumstances, he said he didn't believe that priestly loving can be lived to its perfection if the priest’s heart is being pulled towards all that is expected of him by Christ and His people, and towards his wife and family, who have every right to expect total commitment.

He said the vocation of priesthood does not stand without the vocation of marriage.

"A man is taken from among the people of God, transformed into a living icon of Christ and given back to the people in this new relationship. He is then called to carry Jesus Christ into their lives, so that people may come into contact with the One in Whom they were designed to live."

He said a Catholic priest is not a guru. He is approached by the faithful because he is the “Messenger of the Lord of Hosts” and men “seek instruction from his lips” on the mysteries that Christ has revealed.

"As you know, I am a university chaplain, and so most of my daily life is taken up with ministering to twenty-somethings. I find this wonderful... There is enough age difference between me and them so that I don’t have to worry about being “cool” – the very idea borders on the grotesque. And I have this unique relationship to them because I’m a priest. They expect me to put before them the Truth, they expect me to be available for them whenever they happen to need to speak to a priest, or have their sins forgiven. I take their needs and worries to the altar and offer them up with Christ’s sacrifice. This is my ordinary bread-and-butter daily ministry."

Concluding, he said:

"When the world ridicules celibacy and shouts and clamours for its abolition, it does so in a state of spiritual sickness and ignorance. That alone should lead us to conclude that we should do the very opposite – re-affirm the importance, meaning and necessity of celibacy in the catholic priesthood."

Faith Winter Session at Stonyhurst

2009-12-30T23:07:00.000Z

There were some noticeable absentees among the big-hitters in the Catholic blogsphere at this year's Faith Winter Conference that took place from Monday until today. The likes of the Hermeneutic and Mulier Fortis were sorely missed. So, it's up to the part timers to give reports on the session.

I headed up to the stunning (but very cold) Stonyhurst College on Monday evening after work. Unfortunately I only got to junction 29 of the M6, two away from the turn off for the venue, before my car broke down. The alternator belt's life had ended. Luckily, I was only stranded for about 20 minutes before my breakdown recovery firm's contractor got to me and towed me to the college. Thanks to some great help from the college receptionist, a garage was found in Clitheroe on Tuesday morning and the problems were sorted by the afternoon. However, the usually unwelcome bill was a bit of a blow. But my panicking about the car didn't get in the way of having a great conference.

The subject was on priestly loving, to coincide with the Year of the Priest as announced by Pope Benedict XVI. Unfortunately, because of my troubles, I missed the first talk by Father Kevin Douglas on "Christ the High Priest". The second talk by Father Mark Vickers explored Priesthood in the New Testament.

Father Sean Riley spoke movingly about the Life and Work of the Priest. He pointed out that society's view of a priest is someone similar to what happens on Craggy Island, the home of Channel 4 TV comedy sitcom character Father Ted and company. The view from outside the church, he said, was that priests say Mass on a Sunday and then stay in bed and watch television for the rest of the week. Fr Sean went on to explore why that was far from the truth. He said an hour of a priest's life could consist of sharing the joy of a newly married couple one minute, to consoling the bereaved the next.

To conclude the session, Father Stephen Brown made his full debut as a Faith conference speaker with a fantastic talk on the Priest and his loving: The nature and purpose of celibacy. As you may have guessed, I wasn't taking notes on any of the talks but Father Stephen has kindly emailed me a copy of his. I don't have enough time to blog on it extensively tonight, so I'll do another post on it tomorrow evening. To give you a flavour, he presented celibacy as a positive, alternative form of loving to marriage as opposed to merely a sacrifice of the priest. He said:

"The love of the priest for his people is different, because it is fused into the love which Christ bears towards His people. It is wide ranging and carries a personal authority which comes from God. This kind of love sees what is good and true and of God in others and wants to build that up, take it further and deeper into the life of God and even challenge people to relinquish what is spiritually harmful to them. It is not a love between equals, as married love is; it necessarily has an element of leadership in it, precisely because it is a Christ relationship. The priest cannot be possessed in love by any one human person. His specific love is directed towards cherishing the interior life of individual souls, 'to the further deepening and refining of their personalities in the knowledge and love of God'.”

A special guest came with his family to Mass yesterday. Burnley manager Owen Coyle had been invited by one of the delegates who knows him. It always impresses me when you discover that "famous" people are practising Catholics. It's a great example to the youngsters who are knowledgeable about football to look up just before Mass starts and watch a Premier League manager walk towards the front of the church, genuflect and take his pew with his family. Afterwards, he mingled with some of the football fans and had his picture taken (which will hopefully appear on Facebook at some point).

Numbers were slightly down on last year by about 30 or 40, but that didn't prevent a fantastic atmosphere developing. People caught up with old friends and made new ones. There was a strong sense of prayer during the liturgies and the sound of carols in the chapel is something special. For most people, the religious side of Christmas (if they are remotely interested in it) ends on Boxing Day. But for Catholics, Christmas Day lasts eight days and the Masses reflect this with the Gloria, the Eucharistic Prayer I and the carols. Many of the youngsters would probably not go to Mass during the Octave of Christmas (apart from on Sunday). To experience the continuation of The Nativity is a great blessing.

With so many priests and three religious sisters in attendance at a conference on the theme of the priesthood, it is likely that every young person over the last two days (whether it be girls or lads) would have thought about their vocation at some point. In an age that to frown on full commitment to Jesus Christ, this can only be a good thing.

I'm afraid I can't write anything more before crashing out but there will be more to follow tomorrow evening all being well.

Archbishop Nichols interview in Standpoint

2009-12-22T23:26:00.000Z

Standpoint is an excellent magazine for those interested in an in depth look at current affairs and culture. The unashamedly high brow title has been going since June 2008, but has already published some fantastic articles on affairs in the Catholic Church. Remarkably for a secular magazine, it features something Christian in practically every monthly edition, although, of course, it's not always the orthodox Catholic perspective. In April this year, there was an intriguing article on "why Pope Benedict needs a Roman revolution" by George Weigal, biographer of Pope John Paul II. The pieces are long, but each feature offers a different perspective to the newspapers. It really is filling in a huge gap in the magazine market and it is beautifully put together, with striking pictures and a wide range of topics covering a number of interests. I get it every month at the local newsagents around the corner from work.

In this month's edition, editor Daniel Johnson interviews Archbishop Vincent Nichols about issues ranging from the visit of St Therese's relics to Pope Benedict's visit next year. The most interesting part is when he is challenged on how the Church is going to preserve its moral position when under so much pressure from the state. On the proposals to make sex education compulsory, Archbishop Nichols says:

"I think that our position in Catholic education is reasonable. I'm still grateful, slightly surprised, at the statement that the government in 2007 called "Faith in the System", in the teeth of public criticism of schools of a religious character (my preferred phrase, not "faith schools"). The government said in a very public way that it supported schools of a religious character-they are a crucial and lasting part of the educational system. They deliver well both academically and in terms of human and spiritual development and in terms of social cohesion. The government has not changed from that position at all. So our relationships there are satisfactory. Indeed, there is good co-operation for the most part on those issues. That's the context in which the review of sex education was undertaken. Some of its findings were accepted, we will see how the recommendations are enfleshed."

"Important in there were two or three things. The Catholic schools retained their rights through the governing body that their sex and relationships education is delivered according to Catholic ethos and teaching. Second, that whatever was put in place would be broad and general, not detailed and specific in terms of how it would cover things from relationships to more explicit matters of sexual behaviour and sexual ethics. The third thing that people have forgotten is that in this review the government has accepted that matters of sex need an ethical context, the context of relationships. This was actually a reversal of an earlier position that said: "Give them the facts, enough." They realised that that does not help any youngster and it does not help society."

He goes on to reiterate that every school should look carefully at what is being done and that parents must remain the primary educators of their children.

With reference to the first quote above, it does look slightly worrying that the recent stereotypes that the hierarchy of the church is in collusion with the government is confirmed by what he says. It almost appears as though he's saying that the Church is "good pals" with the Government. He really does fail to express the fact that the Government is proposing to make it a requirement that information about contraception will have to be given by all schools and that sex education is planned for children as young as five. In fact, he doesn't say anything expressing concern about the dangerous proposals in the Children, Schools and Families Bill. This makes me uneasy. The interview might have been conducted before the queen's speech, but the Government's intentions have been well documented for many months.

Touching on other issues, Archbishop Nichols warns against aggressive secularists, who are divided against those who understand the importance of religious faith. He concludes by saying:

"But my impression is that the aggressive secularist voice, even if it gets a lot of attention, does not speak for most people in this country, who understand the importance of religious faith and know the shortcomings of the practice of any faith, particularly of shortcomings in the practice of the Catholic faith, but nevertheless are still able to say that this is something that is important that we can't afford to lose."

Consultation has ended

2009-12-17T00:49:00.002Z

Wednesday was the last day to get submissions in to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) about his interim policy on assisted suicide. The consultation on the guidance followed multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy's successful challenge to require Keir Starmer to clarify the law on what would happen to her husband if he helped her to travel abroad to end her life at a clinic offering to assist suicide (such as Dignitas in Switzerland).

It has been no surprise to see the results of a poll commissioned on behalf of Dignity in Dying (the Voluntary Euthanasia Society) being published on exactly the same day of the deadline. The statistics from the survey conducted by Ipsos Mori show 53 per cent of 100 MPs are in favour of assisted suicide being legalised in the UK as long as the patient is terminally ill, of sound mind and had made a request to die.
In addition, we have the token "don't take any notice of religious people Mr Starmer" from Lord death himself, Lord Joffe, who has introduced numerous private members' bills in the House of Lords that have all been defeated. In an article for The Times, he says:

"Those who base their views on their faith have no alternative other than to oppose it. They regard suicide as a sin. So when the DPP assesses the responses to the consultation, he should be aware that many will come from the relatively small minority who base their views on their faith, and have been encouraged by their religious leaders to write to him. Meanwhile, most of the silent majority who support assisted dying and, it can be assumed, would also support the policy, either do not know of the consultation or have not had the same kind of face-to-face encouragement to respond."

This is pure secularism, politicians attempting to push people who hold objective truths to the margins of society. Lord Joffe is essentially saying that the view of the religious person or people is not valid. People have responded to this consultation in their droves because they are deeply concerned about it. The view of the Catholic who holds that life is sacred until the point of natural death and that interfering in this amounts to murder has just as much right to be heard than the advocate of assisted suicide. The fact that the consultation is going on has been widely publicised in the national media. Anyone with a strong view on this could have logged on and filled out the questionnaire or written a submission. Lord Joffe's comments attempt to marginalise Christians.

It is now up to Mr Starmer as to whether to listen to the wealth of concerns about his dangerous policy or to ignore them. The final guidence on "this very sensitive area of the law", as described by the Crown Prosecution Service, is set to be published on March 10.

Here is my submission to the DPP (sent on Tuesday) in full:

1. The Director of Public Prosecutions claims that it is not the job of the interim policy to change the law on assisted suicide. The document states that this is the job of parliament. However, the reality is that it will change the way the law is interpreted and may well pave the way for a change in legislation on this deeply serious matter. The list of public interest factors against prosecution automatically suggests that the interim policy is condoning assisted suicide in certain circumstances. Saying, for instance, that a person is less likely to be prosecuted if they were discovered to have been compassionate to the victim, could lead to cases being discontinued. When human lives are at stake, helping someone to die, regardless of motive, cannot be seen to be morally right in our society and is totally contrary to law.

2. There is no doubt that many situations where an assisted suicide is involved are sad and distressing occasions for all concerned. But emotion and feelings cannot be a smokescreen to the fact that someone’s right to life, that is recognised in numerous conventions of international law, is being infringed. By implicitly condoning the suicide of certain people such as terminally ill or severely disabled, the interim policy contributes to the idea that the right to life is neither basic nor inherent. Once prosecutors turn a blind eye to assisted suicides where explicit consent has been given by the victim, this will give rise to people will evil motives who will find it easier to take lives without a request. In any case, the taking of a human life is contrary to human dignity.

3. The circumstances surrounding this interim policy being published are significant when thinking about the consequences of such proposals. It is no secret that Ms Debbie Purdy wants to change the law, not only on assisted suicide, but also on euthanasia. In a statement as part of a press statement from campaign group Dignity in Dying following the clarification on the law in September, Ms Purdy said: “I, and many others like me, want to be able to make informed decisions about the time and manner of our deaths should our suffering become unbearable.” It is deeply concerning that the draft guidelines on this serious matter have been drawn up as a result of a legal challenge by an individual who has a clear motive to campaign for legalised assisted suicide and euthanasia, an approach which is contrary to the law as it stands.

4. The notion of the “public interest” in the interim policy appears to be dominated by public opinion. It seems that suffering or disabled people who commit suicide, or those who have repeatedly attempted suicide in the past, are less deserving of legal protection than able-bodied people who haven’t tried to kill themselves before. If decisions on whether to prosecute are to be based on public opinion, this is deeply concerning. Human interest stories in newspapers and on television about terminally ill people who want to end their life are often put across as emotive and are a way of influencing people’s minds on a much more complex issue than a particular individual’s suffering. The media, therefore, is a powerful tool in significantly influencing public opinion by emotive stories. Such issues cannot be considered as a benchmark when deciding whether to prosecute a suspect.

5. It is quite remarkable that there are 13 circumstances in the policy whereby a prosecution may not be pursued for such a serious crime that can be punished with a prison sentence for up to 14 years. The policy is based on the assumption that certain types of assisted suicides are acceptable to the community. By failing to enforce the law in such cases, this virtually amounts to changing the law.

6. In conclusion, the Director of Public Prosecutions’ interim policy on assisted suicide is deeply flawed. It is morally unsound, it fails to uphold the right to life and it is legally questionable. In short, the guidelines must be radically re-written and tightened up in favour of protecting vulnerable people and giving a clear message that assisted suicide, which is illegal in this country, will not be tolerated.

Not so humble address

2009-12-03T21:12:00.003Z

Following my computer chaos, I'm trying to follow up some parliamentary snippets that might be of interest.

On November 18, the day of the queen's speech, two Labour backbench MPs gave a "humble address" as it is known to welcome the speech and thank her majesty for it. Traditionally, the chief whip selects two backbenchers from the government side to give a lengthy speech to say how good the government's proposals for the coming year are, tell a few jokes about fellow members and, most of all it seems, babble on about how wonderful their constituency is. A fairly innocuous exercise you might think.

However, Frank Dobson, a former health secretary, managed to promote an abortion provider whose headquarters is in his constituency and Emily Thornbury said how wonderful it was that "gay marriage", as she calls it is, is a feature at the town hall in Islington South and Finsbury every week.

First Mr Dobson said that the Marie Stopes clinic is "still giving advice on family planning and sexual health". We all know what those two notions involve. He also complemented his predecessor, the late Lena Jeger, who campaigned for "abortion rights" among other causes.

Then Ms Thornberry, in her speech, said: "We have a large gay population and gay weddings are held in the town hall every Saturday." She also mentioned her support for the rights of lesbian mothers.

The Labour whips are obviously keen on getting these pro-choice, liberals to subtly introduce their agenda during a seemingly harmless debate. It's a shame that veteran pro-choices Mr Dobson and Ms Thornberry choose to make these triumphalistic statements during a speech like this when the House of Commons is packed, but by no means is it a surprise.

Pro-life victory in Northern Ireland

2009-11-30T23:39:00.002Z

Whenever the words "pro-life" are mentioned on this blog, they are usually followed by some words of doom and gloom, or an alert about a dangerous piece of legislation or an alarming comment by someone of note. For once tonight, this is a much more positive post.

At a court in Northern Ireland today, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children won its challenge against the NI Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety's guidelines that slightly opened the door for abortion in several ways in a country where it is illegal. SPUC intervened because it was concerned about several points in the misleading guidance. The society argued that it was wrong to expect medical providers to give non-directive counselling to women who might be considering an abortion. It also was concerned, among other issues, that the right to conscientious objection was being threatened. The judge ruled in favour of the challenge on these points and the guidance has been ordered to be withdrawn.

As Liam Gibson points out in SPUC's press release, abortion is not healthcare in Northern Ireland, but a criminal offence. Monday's ruling will mean thousands of lives are protected. This is exactly what the pro-life movement should be doing - keeping a close eye on moves to introduce abortion by the back door and challenging them.

Back up and running

2009-11-30T23:35:00.002Z

Once again, I have internet access in my room in Kettering. In the end it wasn't a virus, it was spyware. I don't really know the difference if I'm honest but my friend who has fixed my computer clearly does. Hopefully normal service will resume for Bashing Secularism readers.

Computer hell

2009-11-20T18:42:00.003Z

Once again, readers, I have to apologise for a lack of blogging in the last two weeks. This time it is down to a virus on my laptop which is really annoying and is slowing the system up big style. I was sent it via a Facebook account that I understand was hacked into. I'm currently having someone look at it, but until it's fixed, I won't be able to blog as my desktop in my Kettering room seems to have died. This is really frustrating as I have a lot to write about.

If you know much about the bogus "Cyber Security" virus scanner, or, more importantly, how to get rid of it, please leave a comment. I can still check the internet at work.

Please keep visiting Bashing Secularism. Hopefully normal service will resume.

Lord Alderdice amendment

2009-10-30T22:06:00.005Z

It was a relief that Lord Alderdice's assisted suicide amendment wasn't even pushed to a vote during the report stage of the Coroners and Justice Bill on Monday. It was also reassuring to see several peers strongly criticise Lord Alerdice's ill thought out and highly dangerous proposal.

The proposal was aimed at legalising assisted suicide through an amendment to a bill that is much wider in scope than end of life matters. Here is the draft in full:

"[N]o offence shall have been committed if assistance is given to a person to commit suicide who is suffering from a confirmed, incurable and disabling illness which prevents them from carrying through their own wish to bring their life to a close, if the person has received certification from a coroner who has investigated the circumstances, and satisfied himself that it is indeed the free and settled wish of the person that they bring their life to a close."

Now I've had time to read Hansard and digest the debate, the Liberal Democrat peer's argument was quite shocking. He makes it out to be a disability rights issue - that people with an "incurable and disabling illness" are discriminated against because they cannot physically kill themselves. He draws out an extraordinary comparison to do with a university degree.

We have passed disability legislation...to make sure that, for example, if someone has a wish to pass a university examination but is in some way disabled from carrying through their studies or implementing the exam questions, the authorities provide assistance to the person. However, in this particular circumstance, not only do we not enable assistance but we make it a crime to assist someone who is living in an utterly tortured state and has come to the conclusion that they wish to end it.

Surely there is a difference between a degree and someone killing another person, whether they want it or not?

The most bizzare plan put forward by the former speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly was the assumption that coroners would shift from being people who decide how someone died after their death, to individuals who decide whether a living person is in the right state to decide to die. As Baroness Butler-Sloss said, coroners "are concerned with post-mortem investigations, not ante-mortem investigations".

Their jurisdiction is derived from the presence of a dead body. The amendment would introduce an entirely new and, they consider, alien duty for coroners to provide an investigation before death.

It is thought that there would be a significant number of coroners who would, as a matter of personal conscience, have objections and refuse to carry through this function. There would therefore have to be a conscience clause, permitting individual coroners or their officers to refuse to participate in the ante-mortem inquiry and certification process.

Lord Alderdice declared from the outset that he was not intending to push the amendment to the vote. So what was the point? He said he wanted the debate to "facilitate the community as a whole in struggling with a difficult question that is now a matter of national discussion, particularly with the consultations of the Director of Public Prosecutions". Maybe this was his motive, to try and use his position to influence Keir Starmer's decision on guidence about the cirucmstances in which people may be prosecuted for helping a relative to travel to another country to be killed. Why doesn't he just go through the ongoing consultation process like everyone else?

In a cunning way, he is trying to dress the assisted dying issue up as something that would only apply to very few people. Lord Alderdice was making out that it is possible for the pro and anti euthanasia lobbies to come together and reach a compromise. He said:

It is a set of propositions to see whether we can find a way in which to take a step forward in this important and difficult question, which does not apply to huge numbers of people but nevertheless is important.

Isn't this exactly the kind of comment we heard when the Abortion Act was passed? Look what's happened now. About seven million abortions in 41 years.

Thankfully, several lords easily saw through Lord Alderdice's tactics and spoke strongly against assisted suicide. Baroness Finlay of Llandaff cut right through the semantics and told us what this really was about:

My Lords, the amendment is not about assisted suicide, but rather euthanasia. If a person cannot commit suicide, then the assistance is not assistance with suicide, it is murder, manslaughter or euthanasia depending on the situation.

The amendment covers most medical conditions from childhood onwards. Disabling and incurable illness is anything from arthritis to diabetes. There is not even a requirement here that the disease is particularly advanced. There is no requirement that the person has capacity. How long should their so-called “free and settled wish” persist? Does the certificate ever expire before the patient?

The amendment is so flawed that it seems to be euthanasia on demand masquerading behind a sanitising cloak of assisted suicide, without clear safeguards or monitoring, and we have already clearly rejected assisted suicide on two occasions.
Lord Tebbit, the former minister in the Thatcher Government, said:

I do not like the idea of giving certain classes of people that right or obligation to say in advance that a certain course of action, which would otherwise have been against the law, is within the law. In my view, that is to tread on a slope that is not merely slippery but downhill to an extent where not even the ingenuity of the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, can effectively prescribe limits.

Let's hope and pray that Lord Alderdice, Lord Joffe and any others advocating the extreme position continue to be defeated.

October holiday

2009-10-21T19:56:00.003+01:00

This time, the excuse for a lack of blogging over the last week or so is because I've been on holiday.

A week last Saturday, I went home to Hull and enjoyed a couple of days there before going to stay with Father William Massie at his new parish in Scarborough. Fr Massie now has what undoubtedly is the best view of any presbytery in the Diocese of Middlesbrough. The house overlooks the south bay of Scarborough and out to sea. It is absolutely stunning and Fr Massie said he still has to pinch himself to realise how good it is. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it!

There are four churches in Scarborough covered by Fr William and my former parish priest, Fr John Bane. During my short stay I went to St Peter's, where I stayed, and St Edward's. I had the pleasure of serving Mass at St Edward's on the feastday of St Edward the Confessor.

Everything was great until Wednesday when I discovered my car had been broken into. It was so annoying. North Yorkshire Police were great - an officer came around and someone else came to take fingerprints. The culprits manipulated the lock, broke in and stole my sat nav from the glove compartment. It meant I had to had back to Hull one day earlier than planned to try and get something done about it. Dad managed to make it secure but I'm on the lookout for a driver's door for a red Peugeot 106 if you happen to have one.

After a couple of days in Hull, I made my way down to London and then on to Poole in Dorset, the stunning second largest natural harbour in the world. I went to see my friend Matt who was on my degree at the University of Sheffield. We hadn't managed to meet up for a year so it was great to catch up. I stayed in a very basic but adequate Bed and Breakfast place just yards from the harbour. We enjoyed walks, beer, meals, Wii playing and throwing a tennis ball around. It was great fun.

At Mass in Poole on Sunday, I spotted Steve in the pew who I haven't seen since leaving Sheffield in 2006. He was at the university chaplaincy and now lives in Swanage just down the coast. On Monday morning, he kindly picked me up and we went across on the ferry from the very posh Sandbanks to Swanage. To me, this part of the world almost looks like it should belong in France or Spain. Steve has a flat with a great sea view, which I did manage to take a picture of.

After a walk and fish and chips, Steve dropped me off at Wareham station and I made my way back to London for the Fulham v Hull City match. Beforehand I met at the pub with my friend Henry, who I lived with at Sheffield, and James, a friend from Hull who now lives in London. Myself and James and his work colleague, also James, made our way to Craven Cottage for the game which unfortunately turned out to be absolutely awful for the Tigers - a miserable 2-0 loss. However, we made a lot of noise to support our team, so I enjoyed that.

40 Martyr Reflections: Saint Luke Kirby

2009-10-09T23:35:00.003+01:00

A google search for the name "Luke Kirby" comes up with a Canadian actor. The 31-year-old has starred in movies such as Mambo Italiano and Labour Pains. He appears to be a bit of a pin up for teenage girls and presumably a role model for young actors. Putting "Saint" at the beginning of the name only brings up a handful of references to the martyr himself. It’s yet another indication of the small-scale devotion and appreciation for the martyrs of England and Wales.

Luke was a Yorkshireman, which is the best start in life. He was born in Bedale, North Yorks, around 1549. Little is known about his early life. He went to Cambridge University and graduated as a Master of Arts. He was reconciled to Catholicism and headed for Douai, where he was received into the English College in 1576.

At seminary, Luke suffered with a painful illness and underwent uncomfortable surgery. This left him frail for much of his life. But the pain was nothing like he was going to suffer on the Scavenger's Daughter in an English prison. Luke was only in seminary for a year before being ordained. On May 3 in 1578, he left Rheims for England but soon returned and went to the English College in Rome in April 1579. Here the enthusiastic young priest actively attempted to convert people in the Eternal City. But he was eventually trapped by an arch-fabricator and priest spy, Anthony Munday. A dossier on Fr Kirby made its way back to London.

As soon as Luke landed at Dover in June 1580, he was immediately arrested. His English Mission at that time ended before it had started. But Fr Kirby’s mission to inspire people back to their faith for generations to come through his martyrdom had only just begun.

He was taken to the Gatehouse prison in Westminster and then to the Tower of London with several other priests. On December 10, he endured the dreadful torture of the Scavenger’s Daughter. It was an A-frame shaped metal rack to which the head was strapped to the top point of the A, the hands at the mid-point and the legs at the lower spread ends. This swung the head down and forced the knees up in a sitting position so the body was compressed to force blood from the nose and ears. He was left in this position for more than 60 minutes.

Fr Luke was sentenced to death along with the high profile Edmund Campion and other priests accused of the false plot to burn Queen Elizabeth in her royal barge with ‘a confection of wild fire’. This attack, supposedly being planned by Edward Rishton, was to be followed by a general massacre of all those not saying the password "Jesus Maria". A long line of dodgy characters were brought out to testify against the accused, including Munday, who said the English seminarians were schooled in treason. Despite the distinct lack of evidence, the verdict was predictable.

While Campion and others were executed in December that year, Kirby had to wait another five months before his martyrdom. For the last four weeks he was kept in chains. During the imprisonment, he was visited by one of the testifiers John Nichols who admitted he had lied in evidence and wanted pardon. But he wasn’t prepared to be reconciled to Catholicism and didn’t have any luck in persuading the authorities to let the priests go.

On May 30 1582 at the age of just 33, Kirby was taken to Tyburn with Fr William Filby. Luke was forced to watch his friend on the "triple tree" endure the death he was about to. The executioners wanted to scare him out and force him to become a Protestant. The executioner held up Fr Filby’s severed head and said "God save the queen". Luke said "Amen" in response. This provoked discussion between the condemned priest and his executioners. While he prayed that Elizabeth had a prosperous reign, he also prayed she would turn back to Catholicism.

When Fr Kirby protested his innocence, Munday was brought forward to relay his evidence. This is an unusual twist, so-called witnesses asked to still give their evidence when the condemned man is already on the gallows. This emphasised how corrupt the legal system and the government were. It also indicates how they knew that Luke was in fact innocent. Munday said Kirby had approached him and a someone else in Rome and told them that there would be a rising in England soon. Fr Luke politely rejected the accusations.

The quizzing of him continued on the gallows for some time. He refused to deny the pope’s authority, but still the executioners urged him to admit his guilt and thus be saved from execution. Similar to those who gathered to see Jesus before Pontius Pilate, the crowd began to shout "Away with him".

Fr Kirby prayed the Our Father and the start of the Hail Mary before the cart was pulled from underneath him and he hanged until death before being quartered. Two other martyrs on the day Fathers Thomas Cottam and Laurence Richardson were forced to look at the body of the dead priest. Edward Rishton and layman Henry Orton, though both found guilty, were deported to France and escaped execution.

Like many of the martyrs, it’s such a shame that we don’t know much about their early life. But we can gather from Fr Kirby’s short seminary life and priesthood that he was a pious man, ready to go on the English mission and attempt to save souls by fearless evangelisation as well as ministering to the recusants. But God had a different plan. He was given the martyr’s crown before saying one Mass for the secret church.

Fr Luke was subject to severe testing on the site of his killing. If he were turn his back on his faith, his life would be spared. But the young priest was more concerned about gaining eternal life in heaven than a few more years on earth. For those of us who are questioned on our faith regularly by our peers and pushed towards going towards the way of the world, St Luke Kirby points us towards the way of Jesus Christ through his glorious martyrdom and endurance of being tested by the evil one.

Fr Luke also has a special place in the hearts of North Yorkshire Catholics. The pastoral area of Northallerton, Richmond, Leyburn, Bedale and Wycliffe in the Middlesbrough Diocese is under his patronage.

Saint Luke Kirby, Ora Pro Nobis.

St Therese relics at Walsingham

2009-10-08T20:25:00.008+01:00

Well I thought I'd better make the effort to go and visit the relics of St Therese of Lisieux. If I'm honest, I must say I hadn't been that fussed about it all before I made the two hour trip from Kettering to Walsingham on my day off on Tuesday. I didn't know a huge amount about her. We have lots of relics across the nation of some amazing saints, not least body parts of our own glorious martyrs. Why was this any different? What's so special about St Therese of Lisieux?

Then I was reminded of just how successful this has been so far. Thousands have turned out at Liverpool Cathedral, York Minster and other places to queue up for a few moments with St Therese. It was this that swayed me into going. One of the things that makes me really annoyed is to miss out on anything good.

Having encountered the fairly deep ford on the more direct entrance to Walsingham in my Peugeot 106 on a previous occasion, I decided it wasn't a good move for the car this time. I drove into Little Walsingham village, parked up and did the pilgrim's walk down the country lane (a move that became a little hair raising on the way back as it was pitch black with only the light from my mobile phone to guide me). On arrival, it was all very confusing. There was talk of a procession to the Catholic shrine that may or may not have happened already. I also saw a cleric with a purple hat walking in the opposite direction to the shrine. Not many people were walking towards Walsingham. In the end, I went for it.

On the approach to the Catholic shrine, I could see the nearby field had been opened up and lots of cars parked (although not as many as I'd expected). As I turned the corner towards the Chapel of Reconciliation, my confusion was ended. Several hundred people, some sitting down in the garden in front of the church, and others who were in a very long queue to get in.

Vespers was being said when I joined the queue. On first impressions, it is what I had expected. The two factors of Tuesday afternoon and most people at work combining to result in 'old people' and lots of them. But on closer inspection, there were middle aged people, a smattering of youngish people and quite a few children who had maybe finished school. All fairly ordinary. But there was a striking solemnity about the whole thing. There was relative silence, lots of people praying quietly and a typically orderly and patient English queue.

I got to the relics just before they closed up for Mass. Something struck you when you first caught glimpse of the beautiful casket. After all, it was containing the bones of a very holy woman.

I sat outside again for the arrival Mass celebrated by Father Alan Williams (shrine director). It was solemn and peaceful, even though there were hundreds in the congregation. A TV cameraman and reporter from ITV Anglia News quietly rehearsed their report before presumably going live. It is interesting that here and in other places where the relics have been, the Catholic Church has been getting good coverage from the mainsteam media, hopefully without mention of peodophile priests or the pope being a mass murderer because of his contraception policy and its implications for Aids sufferers in Africa. That's a first for many years.

As the Mass drew to an end, so did the daylight. The Chapel of Reconciliation became a beacon light in the rural north Norfolk darkness. Afterwards, many of the groups quickly returned to their coaches and everything became much more breathable. I was able to go back into the church and venerate the relics two or three more times. I read bits of one of the three booklets I was given about St Therese's life and said some prayers. A priest led a very simple service of prayer and reflection, outlining some of St Therese's life, words and spiritual guidance. He invited us to pray for three people who were sick in mind, body or spirit near the relics. I went up and prayed for three friends who have lost their faith, that it may return through the intercession of St Therese.

There was a fantastic sense of the importance of the Communion of Saints to our faith with the mass veneration of the relics. The fact that she had come to the National Shrine to Our Lady in England was very special - a daughter coming to her mother along with her brothers and sisters in Christ. On reflection, the last few weeks have been fantastic for Catholics in this country. Many have received graces and blessings from kissing the relics, many have no doubt been strengthened in their faith. And, for once, there's a mention of Catholicism in the papers and on the TV for all the right reasons, the growth in a relationship with Christ for many people through the help of the saints.

What we are paying our licence fee for...

2009-09-23T23:48:00.009+01:00

When Catholics complain about the BBC, they are usually referring to something that they've seen on the television. But, increasingly, the Beeb's radio output is a cause for concern. Take Sunday night's "The Surgery" on Radio One, for instance.

This week's edition (from 10am until midnight) was on sex and sexual health - two hours of obscene advice, disturbing phone calls and promotion of experimental teenage activity, whether that be hetrosexual or homosexual. Aled, a Radio 1 presenter, was joined by Dr Stuart Flanagan, from a sexual health clinic, who gave advice and answered questions.

Despite the explicit content of the show, I decided to bear it and listen in for the purposes of exposing the kind of filth that the licence fee payer is funding. I was driving at the time. Of course, a lot of the language used and things discussed are not repeatable on this blog. But I'll try and summarise the main points and let you draw you own conclusions.

Aled began the programme by giving some indicators of what questions people might want to ask. What is good sex? How do you practice safe sex? What contraception should you use?

Throughout the show, there were three or four reminders about sex under the age of 16 being illegal in the UK (18 in Jersey). But this didn't stop the presenter and doctor discussing questions sent by text from kids aged 14 and 15, or those about children of these ages. There was an interview with a girl who first had sex aged 15. She said she didn't regret it. There was mention of another girl aged 14, who had been going out with her boyfriend for quite some time, so sex was just the steady progression. If this isn't promotion of under-age 'whatever's right for you' sex, I don't know what is. Another girl said she became a "proper teenager" after having sex.

Talking about 'doing it' for the first time, Dr Flanagan said:

"The first time it's really important to be with someone you trust, you care about and that you've formed a bond with and to go into it together knowing that because the first time is really important. Every other subsequent time, to know that you're going to enjoy yourself and feel relaxed about things, or else it's not going to be a good experience."

In some instances, he encouraged couples to play around with each other to increase pleasure. Dr Flanagan also gave practical advice on homosexual sex to a caller. Aled's take was that: "Sex is about two people getting intimate and making it what it is."

To balance things out slightly, Dr Flanagan eventually did bring some sort of reality by saying that there is nothing wrong with not being sexually active - it doesn't mean your less of a person. A lot of girls would find it quite attractive that a man has waited for the right person, he added. Virginity doesn't define you, he said. I agree. Pity about the other things he said throughout the show such as his advice that if you are starting a relationship, go down to a sexual health clinic.

There was an interview with Chris, who was with a girl when he was 16 but said "I knew that's not what I wanted". He felt that he was gay. For Chris, "sexual experiences, first with a girl then a boy, helped him explore his sexuality," Aled said. Someone else on the show said sex is "free and good fun".

It was 50 minutes into the show when we finally had a couple of snippets from some token Christian girls who said they wanted to respect their body, wait for the right guy to come along and keep sex for marriage. There was also a brief mention of the Jonas Brothers in America who were purity rings and are abstaining from pre-marital sex.

Back to the main line of the show, Helen Jenkins, who also works in a sexual health clinic, said her only concern was that sex would be safe. What is important is that they are both consenting, she said.

Then we have a condom demonstration with Helen, followed by an interview with Camilla Smith from the Terrence Higgins Trust. Asked what would be the one piece of advice when starting a sexual relationship, she told listeners:

"I think you need to be confident in yourself and feel really ready. You need to feel comfortable and safe with your partner. I think you need to be able to communicate with one another so that you can really make sure you're having the sex that you want. There are three Cs that are really easy to remember about being confident, comfortable and being able to communicate. I think with those things in place you will be able to really enjoy yourself and have fun which, let's be honest, is what it's all about really." Aled's response: "Absolutely."

Despite a disclaimer that there would be many sensitive issues on the show that some might find distressing, I found much of the content pretty shocking. Here we have the BBC exploiting young people over a two hour programme by indirectly encouraging them to be sexually active. Maybe the programme makers could consider giving a slot to a clued up Catholic about the proper meaning of human sexuality. Then again, it's the BBC we're talking about. Particularly because Radio One is listened to by a young audience, it's concerning to learn that it's these shows that teenagers are being exposed to in the mass media.

Not once was there a mention that the purpose of sex is to make babies. The constant theme running throughout the programme was about "losing your virginity" and protecting yourself against pregnancy, as if this was some sort of evil or inconvenience. The tone of many of the callers and interviewees was one of depression. There was something about them that made me feel they weren't happy, that they were yearning for something more than sex.

Listening to the programme was a sad indication of the reality of relativism and recreational sexual activity that is, morally, bringing this country to its knees.

Papal visit news comes on same day as assisted suicide guidance

2009-09-23T21:59:00.005+01:00

It is interesting that, on the same day that various news agencies report the fabulous news that it looks like the Successor of St Peter is going to reach the British shores next year, we get the dangerous development that undermines the right to life of the terminally ill and disabled. The Director of Public Prosecutions' guidance published today puts vulnerable people in danger despite claiming not to have changed the law on assisted suicide. As long as so-called "compassion" can be identified, it looks unlikely that anyone will be prosecuted for helping their family member to travel out of the UK to die. It is quite clear what the intention of Debbie Purdy, who brought the case in from of the House of Lords, is in pushing for this clarification. It's the first step along the way to giving people the right to die in this country.

In contrast, I must admit I did a little shout of joy when I heard the unofficial news about Pope Benedict on the radio in the car this evening. Of course, I wasn't born when the last pope touched down on British soil, but I've heard several stories since about it. These include how priests I know were inspired to become Catholics after experiencing John Paul II's visit in 1982. The present pope's mission to the UK is bound to have a similar effect on many people.

As well as rumours that he may celebrate the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the Autumn 2010 visit would also coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Canonisation of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales. How fantastic it would be if he were to take in just one significant place connected with our brave, holy men and women who stayed faithful to Catholicism and truth in the face of persecution. And maybe the courage of the martyrs is what he will focus on in giving guidance and teaching to Christ's flock about how to counter the culture of death which has been heightened once again by today's announcement.

There is a worry I have about the visit, however. Believe it or not, the UK is much more liberal and, in some ways, anti-Catholic than it was in the early 1980s. Concerns about stupid pro-abortion or homosexual rights activists disrupting the pope's movements spring to mind. I expect the old chestnut of the media will cause no end of problems, with news organisations trying to film or probably even organise protests against the pontiff's visit. Barely an hour after the leak was broken, the Guardian published its typical line on the story, including reminders of the way the pope "angered"Muslims, when he rightly said that condoms exacerbated the problem of Aids and his reversal of the "Holocaust denier".

Although the Prime Minister at the time of the state visit is likely to be David Cameron, it's still interesting to learn that the leak is said to have come from British Government advisers close to Gordon Brown on his trip to the United Nations. I'm sure this will infuriate the Vatican but, also serves as a warning to the pope and his advisers. British politicians will do anything to gain support and recognition. Don't be manipulated into taking a particular tone to speeches or movements.

Many of the papers are reporting that Benedict will give an address to both Houses of Parliament, in the same Westminster Hall where St Thomas More was tried and condemned in 1535 for opposing the Act of Supremacy. I'm praying that Benedict will use this opportunity to attack relativism, an ideology which is so rife in those corridors of power. Bearing in mind seven million abortions, secret abortions in schools, sexual promiscuity, destructive embryo research, cloning, creeping euthanasia in our hospitals, IVF, same-sex civil unions, the rejection of Catholic adoption agencies etc, I pray that the pope will, in his gentle way, tell the leaders of this country about how it is descending into a moral abyss. Who knows what the situation on assisted suicide will be this time next year?

But given these anxieties, above all the pope's visit will give Catholics immense hope and a renewed faith, even if the secularists do find every opportunity to attack him.

Aid to the Church in Need

2009-09-17T22:33:00.003+01:00

I had a great time down in London at the weekend and took the opportunity to go to the Brompton Oratory on Sunday, a church that I consider to be the finest in England.

There was an appeal by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) by Fr Martin Edwards (I think), UK chaplain to the charity. He gave an in depth appeal about the mission of the charity and its activities. Not that I was expected anything less from ACN, but it was very reassuring to hear Father referring to several quotes attributed to Pope Benedict XVI who has given the charity missions to undertake and highlighted their work. When the activities of a charity are publicly supported by the Pope, then you know their work is completely sound, which is more than you can say for some so-called Catholic charities.

Father Edwards said we are very proud of out martyrs of England and Wales, who gave their lives during persecution. But he said Christians are persecuted today in various parts of the world. He particularly focused on Iraq and the plight of Christians there. Father talked about the story of Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni, who was killed outside a church in Mosul after celebrating Mass in 2007.

After Mass, we were handed a free book "Persecuted and Forgotten", a report on Christians oppressed for their faith. It gives an impressive account on several countries, a description of the situation in each place and timeline of examples of people being persecuted. ACN deserves our money for the work it does in building seminaries, churches and chapels and transport for priests and sister who have to travel vast distances. But most of all, the charity needs our prayers.

Tony Blair and L'Osservatore Romano

2009-09-16T22:21:00.003+01:00

First we have Archbishop Rino Fisichella's condemnation of the Brazilian bishop who announced the excommunication of the mother and doctors of a girl who had an abortion after being raped. Then we read a favourable report about Obama and discover that editor, Gian Maria Vian, does not think he is a "pro-abortion president". Now we have a pathetic interview by L'Osservatore Romano, that claims to be the Vatican's semi-official newspaper, with Tony Blair that made no challenges whatsoever to his outrageous anti-life policies while he was Prime Minister and an MP which he has still failed to publically repudiate.

Here we have a paper that seems to have lost its back-bone. With no questions relating to his Government's record on morning after pills, civil partnerships and sexual orientation regulations or his pro-abortion voting record while an MP, you would be within your rights to wonder whether a deal has been struck for the interview on the proviso of 'no difficult questions'. Like a typical politician, he dodges the only vague question on abortion by waffling on about a person's "right to speak" about what he/she believes in.

Another concerning development is the way that Zenit, the independent Rome news agency, has today reported about the L'Osservatore interview. Whereas the Catholic News Agency qualifies its report about the two-page, 4,000 word interview with a mention of Tony Blair's pro-abortion position, the Zenit report fails to mention anything about the architect of British culture of death's antics. This is deeply worrying. Zenit, a very useful service, goes out to 520,000 subscribers across the globe daily, with thousands more people logging on to its website to view articles. Many of those who read it are in third world countries or in religious houses, where a a mass of information is not at their fingertips. For someone who doesn't know much about Blair, Zenit's report makes him out to be some kind of angel. Many could be mislead.

When Mr Blair became a Catholic I published an extensive list of his policies and votes that have been at odds with the Catholic Church's teaching and the ways in which he has actively undermined the Church. Here is that list again:

Blair's Government:
- Legalised euthanasia by omission in the Mental Capacity Act

- Legalised the sexual orientation regulations meaning the end of the road for Catholic adoption agencies

- Legalised same sex civil partnerships and publicly admitted he did "a little skip around" when he saw the pictures of the first ceremonies take place

- Allowing girls as young as 11 to get the abortifacient morning after pill at school or elsewhere without the consent of a parent or guardian

- Extending the availability of contraception, especially the morning after pill

- Voting and extending the scope for experimentation on human embryos and legalising therapeutic cloning

- His Government financially supported the One Child policy in China through its funding of international family planning agencies

Whilst an MP, he voted:

- three times to permit abortion up to birth I the case of disability

- once against a move to reduce the upper time limit from 28 to 18 weeks

- once in favour of creating an appeals board for women refused abortions

- twice in favour of making the upper-time limit 26 weeks instead of 18

- once to allow the experimentation on human embryos up to 14 weeks

- once against a move to ban social abortions after 18 weeks of pregnancy

- once against a motion to outlaw abortions after 20 weeks

- once against a motion to outlaw abortions after 22 weeks

- once in favour of an amendment to require only one doctor to ok an abortion

- once in favour of an amendment to extend the Abortion Act to Northern Ireland

- once in favour of extending research and experimentation on human embryos

Why was he not asked whether he regrets these positions and voting records now he is a Catholic?

Now let's balance this out a bit. Mr Blair does say some nice things about his meetings with Pope John Paul II and about the universality of the church. According to Zenit, he said: "One of the things that has most attracted me to the Catholic Church is her universal nature. If you are a Catholic, you can go anywhere in the world and attend Mass. I was at Mass in Kigali, Beijing, Singapore ... The fact that wherever you are, you are in communion with others is really formidable. The universal Church herself is an important model of a global institution."

Interestingly, he praises Benedict XVI's encyclical "Caritas in Veritate," saying it should be "read and re-read". He highlighted the Pope's affirmation that 'the Christian religion and other religions can make their contribution to development only if God finds a place in the public sphere, with specific reference to the cultural, social, economic and especially the political dimension'. Blair said: "Personally, I share completely what the Pope writes in the encyclical."

But as Lifesite news reports:

In that encyclical, however, Pope Benedict emphasised that public actions can only be valid when they give first priority to "respect for life, which cannot in any way be detached from questions concerning the development of peoples." The pope said that it is "openness to life which is at the centre of true development".

It seems like Mr Blair has managed to wriggle his way through to what some might consider as the Vatican's mouthpiece. This is a very dangerous move. Those who have read Michael O'Brien's somewhat prophetic book, "Father Elijah", will know what I'm talking about.

Internet fringe meeting

2009-09-15T23:12:00.002+01:00

On the Saturday early evening at the conference, there were some optional fringe meetings. I joined a few others at the "spreading the pro-life message through the internet" session led by SPUC's communications manager Anthony Ozimic.

This really was a bloggers' paradise. I thought of many Catholic/pro-life bloggers who would have loved to have be there to bounce around ideas and share experiences. We talked about how effective SPUC's daily news digest was in giving people a run down of the key stories of the day that implicate the pro-life struggle.

We also looked at how SPUC in Scotland is starting to use YouTube as an educational and outreach tool. There are currently two videos you can view on their page. One is an advert for their youth programme and one is a review of the International Student Pro-Life Conference back in March.

Anthony spoke to us about RSS feeds, tweet decks, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and googlereader. Some of the things he showed us were very new to me. I'd heard of Twitter but didn't really know how it worked. Therefore (yes, you've guessed it) I've had a go at setting up a profile so readers can now follow the blog and brief comments from Bashing Secularism at https://twitter.com/bashsecularism.

SPUC Conference: Rev Arnold Culbreath

2009-09-15T23:02:00.001+01:00

(Sorry I'm still slowly chugging posts out about the conference even though it's more than a week after it's finished. Things have been busy.)

Black Americans will be extinct if alarming rates of abortions continue, the urban outreach director of Life Issues Institute told the SPUC conference.

Rev Arnold Culbreath, an evangelical pastor, said more than half a million black babies were aborted each year. Black women make up 13 per cent of the American population but are involved in more than a third of all abortions. Abortion providers are targeting black Americans, with 76 per cent of all Planned Parenthood clinics in place in minority neighbourhoods.

Rev Culbreath's talk was given in a typical, lively and witty evangelical pastor's tone. He asked the audience to agree with him on most points so he didn't go on for an extra 20 minutes on each subject. His interactive delivery was different to many speakers at the conference and lots of his remarks were met with "Amen" from evangelical Christians and some Catholics in the audience. He began and ended with a prayer.

The talk was entitled "The dangers of the Obama presidency". He did deviate quite a bit from the Obama presidency but gave some important observations on approach that should be taken by America's pro-life movement.

First of all, Arnold made it quite clear he didn't vote for Obama. "It would have been a complete violation of my understanding of the Christian faith and my pro life position," he said. "The election of a black man is huge. I realise this is an historic moment that deserves a degree of celebration and respect even though I feel deeply conflicted by it." After the election he found himself falling into a "dark scenario". But he pointed out that he is not "anti-Obama" but "pro life".

He warned against hatred of Obama by pro-life people, saying they should pray for him. The pro-abortionists are not the enemy, but Satan is. We are fighting a spiritual battle. "This is a key don't - Blasting the Obama presidency will get you nowhere." Instead, Obama's pro abortion policies should stimulate people into action. Rev Culbreath said there was worth in getting around the table where things are discussed and attempting to influence decisions, rather than "lobbying rocks over the wall".

Rev Culbreath said: "The pro-life battle is one conversion at a time, one baby at a time."

SPUC Conference: A pro-life politician

2009-09-10T11:15:00.003+01:00

Member of the Brazilian parliament Dr Talmir Rodrigues said his first loyalty as a politician was to his Catholic faith during a speech at the SPUC Conference.

Dr Rodrigues said the ideology of his party came second in his duties in the Brazilian federal parliament. He leads a group of 200 pro-life MPs who fight for the rights of unborn children in Brazil, a country that is bigger than Europe in size.

Abortion is largely illegal in the country but the Brazilian health minister wants to liberalise the law. Like one of the many claims made by pro-abortion advocates in Britain in 1967, the minister has been saying that thousands of woman have been dying because of illegal abortions. Through investigations, Dr Rodrigues found that 380 woman have died through backstreet abortions. Although all deaths because of abortion are tragic, this highlights, like investigations did after the passage of the Abortion Act, how pro-abortion politicians exaggerate claims in order to liberalise the law.

Dr Rodrigues's speech in Portuguese was skillfully translated by SPUC's Merseyside chairman Anne Fearon. Although short, you got a real sense that this was an authentic pro-life politician whose decisions, speeches, campaigns and votes are driven by his faith and loyalty to the Catholic Church's teaching. He has a lot to teach so-called Christian MPs in the UK Parliament who decide it's okay to have private beliefs against attacks on life, but not public ones.

SPUC Conference: Youth Activism

2009-09-08T22:58:00.000+01:00

One of the five workshops you could go to during the weekend was "youth activism". It was a popular choice and, in the slot I went to, people were standing in a packed meeting room. It was led by Lucy McCully of SPUC Scotland along with Monica McGhee and Rachael Kidd from the team.

Youth development in the society really revived two years ago when SPUC Scotland hosted an international student pro-life conference which I went to and blogged about. The conference this year (which I couldn't get to) was twice as big and had visitors from all over the world. The keynote speaker was Rebecca Kiessling, who was conceived as a result of a rape. She was adopted at an early age but had a tearful reunion with her birth mother. A month later, Rebecca faced another emotional setback when told that had abortions been legal in Michigan at the time she was in her mother's womb, her birth mother would have aborted her. She has now devoted herself to fighting for the rights of the unborn. Her address at March's conference went down a storm. You can see a video review of the event on Youtube.

Monica McGhee, 17, spoke about falling pregnant at the age of 15. The experience of the birth of the child made her realise how wrong abortion was. In an answer to a question, she said she would have probably said yes to an abortion if she had been pressured into it. Monica went back to school to do her highers and joined the pro-life group and took an active role. She helped to raise £250 in a "pro-life week". She has been working for SPUC during the summer and has gone on various Christian events to promote the pro-life message.

The team has been to a number of festivals and pilgrimages promoting the pro-life message. The biggest was to Medjugorje. Twelve staff and volunteers went to a pilgirmage of 60,000 young people and Lucy spoke on the main platform. As well as the people there, her talk was broadcast live on radio and television.

Rachael, a volunteer, spoke more about Medjugorje. She said: "It was the first time there had been an official pro-life presence there for 20 years. We all wore the same t-shirts for the different events. We also have pro-life flags which attracted attention. We gave a couple of talks to smaller groups from Scotland and Ireland. When Lucy gave her talk from the main stage we were down at the front cheering her on. It was a beautiful pro-life talk. It was a great opportunity and hopefully we can go back next year."

SPUC Scotland has also produced a lot of merchandise such as badges, t-shirts and wristbands. One of the t-shirts is yellow and gives brief details of stages of the child's development in the womb. A woman came up to the SPUC stall at a recent festival and said her son had bought one a year ago. He wore it to Mass one Sunday and a young woman who was sat behind him told him a few weeks later that she couldn't take her eyes off the message on his t-shirt. She'd had an abortion booked but cancelled and now has a baby.

Many Catholics don't make the effort to join in the most important work on earth as John Paul II described it. Here were have a real life example of how something as basic as wearing a particular t-shirt can save lives.

Colour of the Conference

2009-09-06T22:24:00.008+01:00

Okay, so Jeffery Donaldson MP didn't make it to the SPUC conference this weekend. It was explained to me that if either the Unionist or Republican speaker due to address an event pulls out, they have a policy that the other doesn't go either. So there was no Pat Ramsey as well. Despite this slight disappointment, it didn't prevent it from being a brilliant conference.

In SPUC, the diversity of the people involved in fighting for one common cause is a joy to be a part of. At the weekend in Swanwick were young and old, married and single people. There were teachers, lecturers, politicians, youth workers, students doing various degrees, a priest, seminarians, medics, carers, full-time pro life workers, lobbyists and, of course, a journalist. A wide range of expertise pooled together to save lives. People went from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Wales (?), the Philippines, the United States, Canada, Australia and Brazil. And there were Catholics, Evangelicals, Anglicans and Methodists.

Many in attendance had been involved in the pro-life movement for years or even decades. Some may only have recently been introduced to it and still have questions. There were people whose living it is to do pro-life work, members of SPUC's council and/or executive committee, chairmen of branches, members of branches and even those not yet active in branches or in many other ways. Everyone supported each other and were interested in what people did in their spare time and for the organisation.

As you can guess, many of things we talked about throughout the conference were depressing, concerning and a threat. Abortion, secret provision of abortion and contraception to teenagers, embryo research, euthanasia, assisted suicide - the list could go on but you get the picture. And amid all of this are some of the nicest, joyful, amusing, happy, polite and generous people I've ever met. You only had to be at the Ceilidh last night to get a feel for the atmosphere.

It was great to see lots of new people there for the first time, some I happened to know. I went to my first SPUC conference when still at university. It's fantastic to see how the numbers of people under 30 who now go have rocketed and, more importantly, are pro-life activists in their own different ways. There were quite a few familiar faces involved with the Faith Movement in attendance. The fact that many pro-life people are dedicated Christians involved in other organisations shows consistency, with love, faith and prayer directly leading to genuine charity and action for the most defenceless in our society.

Having been a bit soppy, waffled on and given you some colour, it's best to direct you to SPUC director John Smeaton's blog for all the reports on the main conference sessions. His PA Paul Danon was busy writing blog post drafts as the talks were happening. Unfortunately, I still don't have a laptop so couldn't provide such an instant service.

Because John has summaries of each main talk, it would be pointless for me to do the same thing. So I'm going to try and fill in any gaps, give some analysis on the weekend, report on some of the workshops and fringe meetings and pick out a few of the important topics over the next couple of days.

SPUC Conference

2009-09-03T23:35:00.002+01:00

Tomorrow night I'll be heading off to Swanwick in Derbyshire for the annual national conference of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).

This year there is an impressive line-up of speakers. The most high profile is the Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson MP for the DUP. Along with Pat Ramsey, an SDLP member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, he will be speaking on "Promoting a culture of life in NI". Also on Saturday, there is a speech by the sister of Terri Schiavo, who was disconnected from her life-sustaining feeding tube in the United States, despite strong opposition from her family. Jack Wilkie, the president of the International Right to Life Federation, will also speak.

Unfortunately, I don't have a laptop so will probably be unable to blog from the venue unless I can find an internet cafe nearby. I'll post on the conferences when I get back.

Northumberland

2009-09-03T22:14:00.003+01:00

At the Bank Holiday weekend I went up to Northumberland for a couple of days to join Fr Stephen Brown and Phil Cunnah on their cottage holiday.

On Sunday we went to Bamburgh, the former capital city of the Kingdom of Northumbria. The castle is a pretty stunning sight when you drive up to the village. Situated just yards from the cliff edge, the Norman castle is a stunning spectacle.

Bamburgh is known as the "foundation stone of England". It is a royal city and home to the Kings of Northumbria, a kingdom that once stretched right down to the Humber. Bamburgh is an important English outpost and has been the target of occasional raids by Scottish forces over the centuries. In 1464 during the War of the Roses, it became the first castle in England to be defeated by artillery. In the last century, the Armstrong family carried out important renovations to the castle.

Inside there is an impressive artillery display, paintings, artifacts and stunning views across the water to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. After a wonderful and typically English lunch of sandwiches, tea and scones, the home of Christianity in northern England was the next destination.

Fr Brown said we would benefit from the blessings of the Lindisfarne saints if we paid a visit, even though we'd all been there before. The causeway became safe to cross early in the afternoon and we arrived to find thousands of cars parked in the field. The only couple of times I had been, it was the middle of February for the University of Sheffield Catholic Chaplaincy retreats. As you can imagine, Sunday was a bit busier than my previous experiences.

We went into the newly refurbished Catholic Church. It looked much better than I remember it. A few years ago, the altar was on a scraggy stage thing and those awful slide doors could be pulled across to convert the place into a normal meeting room. Now, there is a proper altar, proper pews, the tabernacle is in the middle and there are some colourful stained glass windows. When we dropped in, there was a group saying the 3 o'clock prayer. At the end of it, one of the blokes came up to me and, giving me a leaflet, said: "This is the hour of the Lord's death. If you have anything to ask him, now is the time."

You really get a sense of how important this island is to our history at English Christians. With Saints Aidan, Oswald, Bede, Cuthbert and Eadfrith all associated with the island, you will struggle to find a holier place, hence the name. Its story has a lot to teach us about contemplation, our prayer life and relationship with God as well as evangelisation. The fact that it is only one of a handful of tidal islands in the world gives it an added attraction.

There were lots of people dressed up as Vikings performing a battle reenactment. We had a look around the The Parish Church of St.Mary the Virgin and its gardens before Fr Brown and Phil went on their mission to find a mug, an obsession of theirs for the two days I was there. Apparently it is a great way to remember a holiday. As I was only there for a short break, I went for a bottle of Lindisfarne Mead, which I've just had the pleasure of tasting tonight.

On Monday, we made an early trip out to Alnwick, a place with not one but two silent letters in its name. I'm always a bit sceptical about gardens and often miss them out during visits to places of historical interest. They don't really interest me. But the Alnwick Gardens were something different. They were great fun.

A massive fountain greets you when you enter the front gates. Every half an hour there is an impressive display. You can even get a nice shower if you stand close enough. If you climb the stairs on either side, you come to the main body of the garden. Here, there are several water features, tree tunnels, a maze and some nice smelling plants. The three of us acted like children for an hour. We soaked each other with water, tried to pounce on another person in the maze and just generally fooled around.

Next was a visit to the impressive tree house, the highlight of which was the wobbling around on the rope bridges. After yet more tea and scones, we went to the castle - yet another castle in Northumberland. This itself is a statement of how brilliant the county is for a holiday or short break.

Alnwick Castle was built following the Norman conquest and is the home of the Duke of Northumberland. The first bits were built in 1096. It was erected to defend England from Scottish invasions. William the Lion, King of Scotland, was captured outside the walls during the battle of Alnwick in 1174. It was also implicated in the War of the Roses. Alterations were carried out in the 16th century by the 6th Earl of Northumberland and several other improvements have been made since.

Many of the rooms inside the castle are breathtaking and resemble a palace. There is a striking chapel and many quality religious paintings detailing the birth of Christ, His Passion and one colourful image of Jesus driving out the stall holders in the temple.

After a walk into the town for some fantastic fish and chips, we went to the famous Barter Books, one of the largest second hand bookshops in Europe. The former Victorian railway station as about a quarter of a million books from fiction to railway enthusiast books and from CDs to travel guides. The religion section wasn't great but the others were jealous when I found a biography of Saint Henry Morse and bought it for just over a fiver. However, I now can't find it and may have left it at the cottage.

One of the great things about being away with a priest is that you just have Mass whenever you feel like it. Fr Brown converted a sideboard in the living room into an altar. He celebrated Mass Ad Orientem and we were sat just inches from him. For me, it reiterated the point that the Mass is the same thing no matter where or when it is celebrated. A Mass in someone's front room is sacramentally the same as Mass in St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. As Father said, it had a "recusancy" feel about it.

(Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of my own)

July debate on Northern Ireland abortion

2009-08-26T22:20:00.005+01:00

As MPs continue to enjoy their seemingly endless holiday (I know, they are working hard in their constituencies etc), I've been catching up with what our law makers have been discussing over the past few months in the corridors of power. As I've said before, it's concerning how little the mass media and even the alternative media (including blogs) cover what the people with power are actually discussing in the Houses of Parliament. Key speeches and quotes from politicians are buried in reels and reels of Hansard pages. Part of the problem is that with the Commons, Lords, Select and Standing Committees, debates in Westminster Hall and Speaker's Conferences, there's such a lot to keep tabs on. But it's particularly important for Catholics to monitor what is going on with a number of debates and issues.

One of the many concerns at the moment is the push by pro-abortion MPs to impose the Abortion Act on Northern Ireland. On Wednesday, July 15, Labour MP for Reading West Martin Salter secured a debate on abortion law for Northern Ireland in Westminster Hall. These sessions are merely talking shops but they explore issues in more depth and can lead to pieces of legislation being drawn up. In this debate, many of the arguments made by pro-abortion MPs were chilling.

Those who advocate an extension of abortion to Northern Ireland try to package it up as a right to abortion being denied to a certain group of women (those from NI) which makes them second class citizens. As Ann Cryer puts it, "women in a small corner of the UK" are being "denied the rights that are enjoyed by so many women in the rest of the UK". This is bad enough. But they can't keep to their flawed "rights" arguments. The MPs become confrontational and hysterical, slipping into the usual arguments in the abortion debate when they are challenged by the pro-life politicians.

Take this exchange for example:

Martin Salter: I ask the hon. Gentleman a simple question: is he in favour of allowing an abortion for a woman who has been raped?

Dr. William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP): It is interesting that, whenever we come to talk about the matter, an emotive example is always given. Let us be frank: the majority of people—

Martin Salter: Yes or no?

Dr. McCrea: With the greatest respect, the hon. Gentleman cannot expect me, as a parliamentarian, simply to answer the question as he wants it answered. I shall answer it in the way that I was elected to answer, which is what I stand for—and I make no apology for it.Let me say this about rape. Does destroying the unborn baby eradicate the tragedy of the rape? Does an act of violence against the mother justify an act of violence against the unborn child?
Emily Thornberry: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

We also have a reminder by Mr Salter about the Government's support for abortion abroad. He uses this as a double standards argument, arguing that it highlights the totally different values and messages for women in the third world compared with those for women in another part of the UK. In any case, the figures are an important reminder about the scandal of the Government's support for killing babies in poor countries. The Department for International Development supports the global safe abortion campaign, providing £4 million to the safe abortion action fund, and £6.5 million to women’s health organisations.

Then we have Conservative MP for Sailsbury, Robert Key, a Christian who believes "that every cell of every human body is sacred". He said: "I support the stated position of my Church, the Church of England, which is strong opposition to abortion. For me, one abortion is one too many and represents a failure of all of us." His next quote highlights how flimsy the Church of England's teaching is if he is claiming to be representative of it.

Later on in his speech (yes this is the same person) he said:

I believe that Parliament cannot wash its hands of the issue, any more than the issue of abortion itself can be wished away. We are talking about discrimination against half the population of Northern Ireland—the female half. That is institutional, financial discrimination by the British Government against women who have paid their taxes and national insurance contributions. I am therefore ashamed that in our United Kingdom we treat women in Northern Ireland differently and penalise them financially.

The situation faced by women in Northern Ireland has become tainted by a very nasty atmosphere of punishment and revenge by those who think that they are morally superior. I do not know of any women taking the decision to have an abortion lightly.

This is a typical example of how Christian politicians have a private view about the sanctity of life but couldn't possibly (as he will no doubt put it) 'impose' this view on women. It's bizarre that he makes such a strong statement in defense of the sanctity of human life and then in the same speech says it's discrimination not to allow the killing of human life if women so want it.

Labour MP for Islington, South and Finsbury Emily Thornberry argued she had a mandate to speak on this issue because some of her family come from, and still live in, the province. She then went on a tirade against politicians in Northern Ireland:

The people of Northern Ireland have many strengths, but I do not understand why their politicians will not allow women to have access to abortion. The politicians may not agree with abortion themselves, and many of their constituents may not agree with it, but I tell them this: women in desperate circumstances will have an abortion.
What we can do is make it fair. We should give women fair access to hospitals in Northern Ireland, where they can have the support of their mothers and where they can have the abortion quietly and discreetly.
Changes are going on in Northern Ireland. Its politicians must change too.

Then we have the usual baffling quote from the pro-abortionist: "Every abortion is a tragedy, and every woman who has had an abortion believes that." Then why do you support it being available to all women then? It's just one example of how many of our politicians want to starve society of any kind of objective morality.

But there were some glimpses of sanity in the debate from Northern Ireland MPs.

Dr. Alasdair McDonnell, SDLP MP for Belfast South, said:

We spend millions struggling to save babies of 22-week gestation, and putting them in incubators, and quite often those lives are preserved, even if they are not of a high quality—that is another issue—but we throw 24-week gestation babies in a bucket to die.
Some revolting arguments were made during the debate on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008. At that time, we ducked the issue, but it must be dealt with. We cannot throw a viable foetus—a viable infant—into a bucket to die at 24 weeks and say that it is right.
It upsets me that there is no Government NHS support service for a young woman who wants to keep a child. Often the pressures are economic, and time and again, in such cases, I have had to revert to various faith-based groups to provide support—often across religious divides and all the rest—for somebody who is desperate to hold on to an infant, but unable to do so for economic reasons.

David Simpson, the DUP member for Upper Bann, said:

I do not believe that, if anyone in the House were to say that a black or coloured baby, a Jewish baby or a baby from the travelling community should have its life ended, there would be a single Member of the House who would not be rightly outraged, no matter what justification was given by that person. However, there are those who tell us that a baby not yet born should have its life ended for no other reason than another person’s right to choose. I cannot and will not support that kind of cruelty being visited upon the innocent.

Baddesley Clinton

2009-08-19T16:37:00.000+01:00

As Father Southwell started to say Mass, a group of "ruffians" with swords turned up at the front door. They started shouting and swearing at the servant, who was refusing them entry. The four men were priest-catchers. They were battering the door down to force entry. Fr Southwell thought quickly on his feet. He slipped off his vestments and, stripped off the altar and scurried down the priest hole.

Fr John Gerard was also in the house with Fathers Garnet, Oldcorne, Staney, two secular priests and three laymen. They hid all their personal possessions and even turned their mattresses over because they were still warm. All got down the hole into the sewer before the servant could no longer keep the persuivants out. The team tore through the house for four hours - but couldn't find them and left. The priests, some of whom would eventually become martyrs, breathed a huge sigh of relief.

This is the dramatic story one October morning in 1591 at Catholic "safe house" Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire, which I had the pleasure of visiting on Sunday. It's another recommended place to visit on the list at the back of "God's Secret Agents", which details the inspiring story of the Jesuit mission during penal times. As English Catholics, it's one of those places to thank God for, as well as to pay tribute to brave sisters Anne Vaux and Eleanor Brooksby, who rented the house for the sole purpose of harbouring priests. Without places like this, we might not be practising our faith today.

As you drive up the private road to the house from Rising Lane, you start to wonder if it's worth visiting. All you can see is fields and trees. The house is not in sight until you get to the car park. From a distance it looks fairly modest. But once you get closer, the significance of the place begins to penetrate.

It was the home of the Ferrers, a staunch Catholic family, for 500 years. The gem of a country manor house, part of which dates back to medieval times, is surrounded by a moat, which is the oldest feature of Baddesley. It originally had a drawbridge but this had been replaced by a gatehouse built by Sir Edward Ferrers by the 1520s. As you walk around the moat, it becomes visually clear that each side of the house was built in different eras in the 17th and 18th centuries, despite the Ferrers family's long-lasting financial difficulties.

Once again, this Catholic stronghold is yet another scene of the master craftsman, St Nicholas Owen, at work on his priest holes. In this house, there is a network of three hiding places. The story detailed in Fr Gerard's autobiography, which he wrote in the safety of Rome, is testament to the fact that St Nicholas' building works were very effective.

The principal hole is visible in the kitchen, the first room you visit after the entrance hall. Ignoring all the pots and pans, you spot the hole in the far corner of the room. The National Trust has opened it up to be viewed through a window, the type you would normally see as a skylight in a loft. The escape route leads down into the sewer, which lies just above the moat water level. On the outside of the house around the back, you can see the air slits just above the water. This was connected up to a trap door from a former toilet room directly above on the first floor. Priests probably used to lie low in this room. It is now the sacristy to the chapel next door, which was almost certainly used for Mass in the times of persecution. A ladder or rope would have led down the hidden passage to the sewer. Owen worked on this masterpiece by night while he was formally building a garderobe in a corner of this wing.

Another hiding place can be found in the front bedroom about the right of the fireplace. It is in the roof space and gives sitting room for six men. Unfortunately you can't see this one these days. Access would have been via the roof space from a trap door in the sacristy ceiling. The third and final hideout is located under the floor in the Great Parlour. It can now be viewed on the ground floor in the Moat Room at the end of the tour.

The chapel itself is a magnificent little room. It has so many features for a small place that it takes a good ten minutes to appreciate all of them. In the centre above the altar, there is a beautiful reredos of the Agony in the Garden flanked by portraits of eight saints. It forms the centre starting point of three illustrated decades of the Rosary around the walls. There is also a scroll with the explanation of an 40 day indulgence granted by a bishop of Birmingham in the nineteenth century for praying three Hail Mary's in front of the image of Our Lady. Although I did say the prayers I was told later by a well informed priest that these particular indulgences were probably done away with in the 1960s.

The chapel in its present form was set up in 1940 by Thomas Ferrers. Many of the paintings are by talented artist Rebecca Ferrers. After she died in 1923, the Blessed Sacrament was removed from the chapel and Mass has not been said there since.

Baddesley Clinton also has a strong like to Cardinal John Henry Newman. He was a friend of the family and received Lady Chatterton, Edward Dering and Rebecca Ferrers into the Catholic Church in 1865. After this, he occasionally visited Baddesley and there is a portrait of him done by Rebecca in the lower landing. At least two saints ( Robert Southwell and Nicholas Owen) walked the corridors of this house. This number may well rise to three in years to come.

Potentially, spirits have been cast away by the saying of Mass in the house. Rebecca, a devout Catholic after her conversion, writes of ghostly presences in the upper landing of the house. Several people reported seeing a man wearing a uniform. It fit the description of Major Thomas Ferrers, who died in 1817 while serving in France. Rebecca asked a priest from the village to say Mass for Major Ferrers in 1887, since when the sounds of footsteps have stopped.

Houses like Baddesley Clinton never cease to amaze me. These are the places where risks were taken but thousands of prayers were said. They are true strongholds of Catholicism, the stories of which can give us strength and courage in our faith today.

St Maximilian Kolbe

2009-08-14T23:48:00.003+01:00

By writing books and delivering sermons under the doors of residents, St Francis de Sales is quite rightly the patron saint of journalists and writers. But yesterday's fantastic saint, Maximilian Kolbe, is regarded as the second patron of my profession. In fact, as a reporter, I pray to him every day before work.

Before being arrested by the Nazis in 1941, the Franciscan friar founded a journal and became editor of it as well as of a newspaper, The Little Daily. The publications were a discourse of Christian features and news and were a direct attack on Nazism. His writings stuck up for the right for Catholic children to be taught in Catholics schools and for religion to be practiced publicly. The newspaper is said to have had a circulation of 230,000 and the magazine a staggering circulation of more than one million.

Kolbe was a communications genius, using the tools available to him at the time to spread the Gospel to the best of his ability. I'm sure if Kolbe was alive today, he would be the most popular Catholic bloggers on earth. He is a help and guide not just for journalists but for bloggers as well. For those starting or maintaining authentic Catholic publications, the saint is surely an inspiration.

This dynamic and faithful friar is also patron saint of the pro-life movement as he was a victim of the Holocaust. As most of you will know, he took the place of Franciszek Gajowniczek in the starvation bunker at Auschwitz after the man protested he had a wife and children. This is the ultimate giving of oneself, an act of love, for another person in distress. Through his prayers, let's hope that our own modern day holocaust of abortion is eradicated and that the threat of assisted suicide and euthanasia (introduced by the Nazis) will be resisted.

Through the intercession of St Maximilian Kolbe, please pray for Catholic journalists, especially those of us in the secular mainstream media, and for the pro-life movement's ongoing battles this weekend.

Nightmare journey

2009-08-10T19:45:00.004+01:00

The journey back from Woldingham in Surrey up to Hull for the weekend was a bit of a nightmare. There were traffic jams on the M25, Dartford tunnel, M11, A14 and A1.

But the driving was nicely broken up by a stop off at Cambridge just off the A14. I was driving my car with brothers Michael and Patrick Parr keeping me company. We met up with the mini-bus driven by Fr William Massie on the backs in the city. Father, who went to Cambridge to do his teaching qualification, got us into Trinity College. We had a look around the chapel.

Here's Michael and Patrick with Fr Massie:

Then we were met by friend and native of the Yorkshire Faith group Matthew Ward, a PHD student at Cambridge. He took us for a tour around Fisher House, the university's Catholic chaplaincy.

Faith Summer Session

2009-08-10T16:18:00.004+01:00

(picture from Fr Tim Finigan: Hermeneutic of Continunity)

When departing each year at the end of the Faith Summer Session for young Catholics, a phrase that often crosses minds and said aloud by many attending is: "Can't we just stay here? Why do we have to go out to secular Britain and back to normal life again?" Stimulating talks on the faith, discussion, Mass, prayer, exposition, football, cricket, socialising at the bar and spending precious time with friends committed to their faith - what more do you want? You kind of wonder if the experience of a Faith conference is just a little bit like what heaven is like.

As many bloggers who were there have said over the weekend, it was a joy to have Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue attend, say Mass and address the conference. His talk, that was met with a sustained period of applause and words of thanks by founder of the Faith Movement Fr Roger Nesbitt, can now be found in full here. The Emeritus bishop of Lancaster said he was "tremendously impressed" at "seeing so many young people" at Woldingham. "This augurs well for the future and fills me with hope," he added.

After giving a fascinating run-down of his life as a priest, Bishop Patrick explored the three virtues of faith, hope and love. He tackled secular Britain head-on, gave some interesting observations on the state of the UK today and gave some inspiring words on how to remain faithful and grow as a Catholic.

Speaking about hope, he said:

The person of Hope knows that the living God holds everything in His hands. God guides and directs all things to His purpose.

This means that God has a plan – I am not saying only that God has an overall plan for creation – but God has a personal plan for you.

Even when sinfulness and suffering try to interfere in God’s plan, God can always bring good out of suffering and light out of darkness. This is the Hope which the resurrection brings: the suffering of the cross and the darkness of the tomb are overcome, abolished, when Christ walks in triumph out of death.

He described the situation young Catholics find themselves in:

... you are growing up in a country were the majority of people are totally misinformed about the nature and history of Christianity due to anti-Christian propaganda being passed off as ‘neutral facts’ by the educational and media elites.

In a society that promotes so called tolerance and respect for cultural diversity, anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice. The Holy Father, like Pope John Paul the Great before him, is regularly the object of poisonous ridicule and vilification that would not be acceptable against any other religious leader.

Also, weekly now we hear of Christian nurses, social workers, civil servants and pharmacists being disciplined and even sacked for professing their faith in the work place!

He said the virtue of hope "makes it possible for you to conquer the voices of doubt, especially when you think you are unable to follow Christ or not worthy to do so". God has a plan for all of us for the good of the wider Church.

On faith, the bishop corrected the common misrepresentation of the Catholic faith. He set the scene in John Chapter 6 where people were following Jesus and listening to him in
Capernaum. Jesus told them, ‘Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you cannot have life in you.’ (Jn6,53) Many found it difficult to accept this and walked away. Disciples, followers, friends and allies said that these words were ‘intolerable’ and they deserted him. In an amusing commentary to the passage, Bishop Patrick said:

What do you think was Christ’s response? Did He chase after them and tell them He would change His teaching? Did He suggest that they could explore ways of making this teaching ‘tolerable’? Did He promise that if they came back He would find a way of expressing it which was perhaps less direct and extreme? No – He did not!

This is because He was not expressing a policy, but a truth. A policy can be modified, manipulated and changed. A policy can be ‘spun’, as the modern expression goes, so that it will gain agreement.

But a Truth remains a truth and does not change; it cannot be manipulated, modified and certainly not ‘spun’. A Truth does not change, but it develops as the consequences of the teaching are seen in ever widening circles.

Not only did Jesus not chase after those who walked away – He then turned to those who remained standing close to Him. He turned to face the twelve apostles and He said, ‘Will you also walk away?’ (Jn6 67)

It was St Peter who spoke up on behalf of the twelve apostles. He said, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.’ (Jn6 68-9)

Bishop Patrick described the crisis in the Church regarding obedience to its teaching authority. "People are replacing the Magisterium of the Pope and Bishops with the pseudo-Magisterium of the autonomous conscience, which has been reduced to the exercise of personal preferences and choices," he said.

In certain circles in the Church, the Faith – as expressed in its fullness in the Catechism of the Catholic Church – is seen as outrageous and intolerable. But instead of walking away they stay in the Church and pretend not to have heard what the Lord has said, or behave as if he meant to say something else entirely. At least Jesus’ first disciples had the honesty and integrity
to walk away!

However, I am confident, looking out at all these young faces, faces which express hope, faith and love, that you will respond as Peter did. Just trust in Jesus and, whatever your struggles, whatever your challenges and failings, cling to the words of Jesus as the words of truth, words of life and words which point the way.

The bishop made his excellent speech humbly. He admitted that, as a 75-year-old priest and bishop, he struggled at times to live out his faith. Bishop Patrick said he didn't have the gift of delivering speeches like others at the conference. And, when trying to explain how many hits the Diocese of Lancaster website had got after the now famous "Fit for Mission" documents were released, he gave the clear impression he wasn't the most computer literate person. This honesty and frankness, especially with young Catholics, is refreshing in a strange kind of way.

Bishop Patrick celebrated Mass on the Wednesday and concelebrated on Thursday. He also mixed and mingled with the youngsters at the conference and took time to speak to groups from different parts of the country. It was a privilege to speak to him myself.

Another highlight of mine was the seminar talk by 21-year-old Scottish student Kieran Corrigan (sorry if I've spelt your name wrong). He spoke movingly about being brought up as a cradle Catholic and encouraged by the witness of parents and grandparents to their faith. He spoke about the difficulties and struggles of keeping the faith and stressed the importance of frequent Mass attendance (as well as Sundays) and a regular confession. A simple message, you may say. But it's one that the youngsters deeply appreciate hearing from the mouth of one of their friends who have the guts to accept the invitation to speak. Many of them say the seminar is the highlight of the week, something they can really relate to. The seminar's other speakers Fr James Clark and Camille McCormick also spoke well on living the faith today.

With the Year of the Priest now in its early months, the theme of vocations was prominent during the week, especially as the feast of St Jean-Marie Vianney was celebrated.

This year, Woldingham School was undergoing some improvement works, meaning the number of rooms was drastically cut. This meant I was among the dozens that were kindly put up in a Travelodge nearby to the school. Car and bus trips up and down the school's 1.5 mile long drive were a bit of a faff but the one-off arrangement provided a good opportunity to spend time with the Yorkshire contingency, a lot of whom were in the Travelodge. There was also the luxury of an en-suite bathroom and a television.

Another highlight of the week was the traditional Wednesday "family day", where lots of married couples who met at and are connected to the Faith Movement's events came with their children. There seemed to be a lot more families this time and the youngsters thoroughly enjoyed playing with the children and the enjoyable atmosphere.

A priest, who isn't involved in any of the new movements, recently said to me that the new movements seemed to be leading the renewal of the church in this country. After attending this wonderful event for seven or eight years, I don't think he's far off the truth.

Faith Summer Session

2009-08-03T11:19:00.003+01:00

Excellent - finally on holiday for just over a week. I'm just about to set off for the Faith Summer Session at Woldingham School, Surrey, one of the highlights of the year. I'm planning to meet some of the Hull contingency (who are currently enduring Fr William Massie's no-doubt hair raising mini bus driving) at a service station down the A14 on the way down.

Signals are not that good at all there so I'm not sure if I'll be able to blog until the end. I'm going to try and suggest the bloggers among us have an unofficial fringe meeting or a "blognic" or whatever you call it. My suggestion is that this should involve ale.

Coughton Court

2009-07-31T01:09:00.001+01:00

I got an unexpected lieu day from work for today and took the opportunity to drive an hour and a bit from Kettering to one of the gems of English Catholic heritage - Coughton Court in Warwickshire. This was an historical trip in complete contrast to last Tuesday. Then, I went to the home of Robert Cecil, Catholic catcher. This week, it was a visit to the house of the many people he persecuted.

Coughton Court is the home of the Throckmortons, one of the most important Catholic families in England. Here, during penal times, St Nicholas Owen built holes for priests to hide in, Mass was said in secret and Lady Digby along with several Jesuits waited anxiously for the outcome of the Gunpowder plot. Not only did the Throckmortons play a leading role in keeping the One True Faith going in England, they were also inflencial in securing Catholic emancipation in the nineteenth century. The family produced the first Catholic Member of Parliament who sat in the House of Commons after emancipation and had links to the first English Cardinal of the Vatican after persecution. Coughton Hall is a breathtaking, real life illustration of how the Roman Catholic Church survived in England.

I knew I must have made a good choice when I spotted the veteran Tory MP Sir Patrick Cormack wandering around the restaurant area. Can't be a bad place if he's come, I thought.

As you come up the staircase with portraits of all generations of the Throckmortons, the first area you come across is the Drawing Room. Here, tradition has it, is where Lady Digby, Fr Henry Garnett, Nicholas Owen and other Jesuits awaited news of the Gunpowder plot. The Throckmortons were related to the Catesby and Tresham families, whose sons were two of the chief plotters (Robert Catesby and Thomas Tresham). The fantastic book "God's Secret Agents" by Alice Hogg describes it like this: "On Wednesday, 6 November Robert Catesby's servant Thomas Bates rode into Coughton, bringing news of Guy Fawkes' arrest and of the plot's discovery."

If this room gives you a thrilling sense of living history, wait until you walk into The Little Drawing Room. This contains one of many extraordinary tools that helped the Catholic faith to be kept alive. The Mass Cabinet, that has always belonged to the Throckmortons, acted as a secret altar on which Mass was said. The late 17th century Anglo-Dutch veneered cabinet on a stand is disguised as an ordinary piece of furniture to prevent attention being drawn to it. But this is far from ordinary. When opened up an exquisite mirror recess is revealed. This was used to place the host during Mass.

The real-life reminders of the underground Catholic network intensify as you climb up a narrow spiral staircase to the Tower Room. By the late sixteenth century it became a watch house to monitor comings and goings. This part of the building is likely to have been used to celebrate Mass. Today, it contains two prominent reminders of the penal times.

A faded painted canvas called the "Tabula Eliensis" dominates the south wall of the Tower Room. This depicts Ely Abbey at the top, a city where many Catholics were captured. Further down, it has all the arms of the Catholic gentry that were imprisoned for recusancy under Elizabeth's reign. The canvas would have been transported around various houses in the Catholic network and displayed at Mass. It was discovered stored away by a member of the family in the beginning of the last century.

At the other side of the room, a small opening reveals another one of the priest holes built by the expert carpenter Saint Nicholas Owen. For me, this further illustrated the skill of the Jesuit lay-brother's talent without which the underground church may never have survived. The design of the hiding place is completely different to the only other of his I've seen a Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk.

The hole is in the north-east turret. Two compartments were built by Owen, one on top of the other. The lower section would have been used by priests and members of the household during any searches or times of anxiety. The floor of the hide would have connected up to the original staircase connecting the ground and first floors of the tower. The compartment above was a decoy to excite priest catchers. The true hiding place under the void in the floor would have been difficult to detect. Imagine being one of the people who discovered the hole one day in 1910 equipped with a mattress, rope ladder, small piece of tapestry and a folding leather altar.

A climb up a second flight of the spiral staircase brings you out on to the roof. There are some beautiful views in all four directions. This is a good point to pick out the two churches on the estate. The nearest and oldest is the fifteenth century Anglican Church. The one further away in the distance is the Throckmortons' own Catholic Church, St Peter, St Paul and St Elizabeth. It was ordered to be built by Sir Robert George, the 8th Baronet. It was finished in 1850 when Catholics were allowed to organise parishes again. The building cost £3,500 and was a kind of statement that Catholics were again allowed to practice their faith in public after centuries of secret adoration.

Passing through the Dining Room with its massive table and exquisite gold-coloured velvet chair made from the wood of the bed King Richard III slept in on the night before the Battle of Bosworth, you come to the Tribune. This is another amazing room full of Catholic artifacts, sacred vessels and priest's vestments from various eras. It is here that Mass would have been heard from The Saloon below. On display, there is a beautiful chalice veil as well as chalices, patens and Latin missals from the penal times. There is a green chasuble once warn by Sir Anthony John Benedict Throckmorton, the 12th Baronet. He was a priest but left the ministry to marry. The vestment is made from his mother's wedding dress. Other spectacular items of note in this room are the chemise warn by Mary Queen of Scots at her execution and Catherine of Aragon's cope.

The last significant room of the house is the Saloon. Up until the new Catholic Church was built in the grounds in 1853, The Saloon was Coughton's Catholic chapel. In 1910, the room was transformed into what it looks like today. A staircase was brought from nearby Harvington Hall, another significant recusant stronghold. It dates back to the penal times and would have been used by Jesuit priests to scurry up to hide when priest catchers were close by.

On one of the walls there is a portrait of Cardinal Charles Januarius Acton dressed in red. He is the brother of Elizabeth Acton, who became Lady Throckmorton when she married Sir Richard Throckmorton in 1829. In fact, the cardinal celebrated the wedding. Although English, he was born in Naples in 1803. His father was engaged in the Neapolitan trade when he succeeded to the family estate. Charles and his elder brother were sent to England to be educated. First, they went to a school near London kept and then to Westminster School, where they were taught by a Protestant tutor. He held numerous positions in the Vatican before being given his red hat. Cardinal Acton died of ill health in the same city of his birth.

As you come out of the house, there's plenty more to see. There's vast gardens (if your in to that sort of thing) and, of course, you've also got both churches to visit. The Catholic Church is a bit of a novelty as its known as the "Throckmorton family Catholic Church". Imagine having you own family church. Inside, it's quite simple but pretty grand for a Catholic church on a country estate. The only thing I'd say is that it lacks a statue or memorial to St Nicholas Owen, who, quite clearly, has strong links to the place. There again, I may have missed something.

A day at Coughton Court is probably a must for an English Catholic sometime in your life if you're able to get there. The Throckmortons are celebrating their 600th anniversary this year, which probably makes them the oldest Roman Catholic family in England. Here can be found a fine example of how to bring children up in the faith and how to keep the faith through hard times, even when the danger of death is a real threat. Indeed, Coughton Court, with its strong looking tower and countless tales of piety and devotion to Christ, is one of the few places that could help inspire the re-evangelisation of England.

(Apologies for the lack of pictures from inside. You aren't allowed to take any inside and there are National Trust people swarming around everywhere so you can't even take a sneaky one. Apologies also for the delay in posting this. I've been working on it for a couple of nights now to give you a comprehensive report.)

Assisted suicide judgement

2009-07-30T21:24:00.003+01:00

It's all very well for five law lords to say they are not changing the law on assisted suicide but surely they must realise the significance of their disturbing landmark judgement in the Purdy case today?

Ms Purdy is a prominent campaigner for legalised assisted dying and when Dr "death" Evan Harris is sniffing around on camera in the background, you know there's trouble. Mrs Purdy will tell you that today's judgement is a very simple clarification. But, in reality, the slope has just got a lot more slippy on the way down to the moral abyss of assisted dying/suicide/euthanasia, whichever form of killing you want to call it. Anyone who doesn't think this is deluded.

The former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, tabled an unsuccessful pro-assisted suicide amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill a few weeks ago. Reacting to today's ruling he completely contradicts himself by saying:

"It's not changing the law, but it is in practice carving out an area where no proceedings will be brought in a criminal court.

"I think you are dancing on the head of a pin in one sense if you are saying it's not changing the law."

The aforementioned Dr Harris said:

"This is a real boost for the campaign to legalise assisted dying for the terminally ill. It's now time that politicians start listening to public and legal opinion, and take steps to protect the interests of those vulnerable people who know their own mind, recognise it's their own life, and want to choose a death with dignity."

Speaking to the press outside the Lords, Ms Purdy said the judgement meant "we had got our life back". I must say I was rather puzzled by what she meant. Considering the MS sufferer had just won the right to have the law clarified on whether her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her to travel to Switzerland to die, I think her statement seems quite ironic to the rest of us.

As with most people, and I know it comes across as a cliche from our side, I'm sorry Ms Purdy has to live with such a serious condition. But it could happen to any of us. This decision may well lead to people feeling they are a burden on society. Once we give people the right to get help to kill themselves, we are changing the definition of human nature. Life is from conception until natural death, not from birth to whenever we feel like it.

Of course, with this news, comes a whole wave of outrageously biased and scaremongering press and media reports, especially from, of course, the BBC. Take their second report on the 10 O'Clock news, for instance. We're all getting older, there's a risk of having a serious illness sometime in life (since when hasn't there been?) - the debate on whether people can end their life will obviously intensify. Or the BBC online report, which only seems to realise that there is actually debate about this issue until the third to last paragraph.

It's on these types of days when I think it might be better to emigrate - and not to Switzerland. We are rapidly becoming a morally redundant nation.

But Catholics, Christians and the pro-life movement shouldn't let today's catastrophe make them think "everything will happen anyway". We should take a leaf out of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children's book. SPUC intervened in the case, compassionately but competently putting the concerns of countless people across. The euthanasia/assisted suicide battle, perhaps already started before this ruling, has certainly intensified today. Lets get involved in it and defend the weak and vulnerable from this deadly direction. We can start by bombarding the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer with public consultation submissions before permanent policy is published next spring.

Season Ticket

2009-07-24T21:41:00.003+01:00

I arrived back from work yesterday to an envelope that made me very excited - my Hull City season ticket for next season has arrived!

I must say I've been close to getting withdrawal symptoms since the season finished in dramatic style almost two long months ago with the Tigers staying in the Premier League by the proverbial skin of their teeth.

I'm not able to go to every home game because of work. But getting a season pass is the only way of guaranteeing a seat these days. It also gives you priority to apply for away tickets to go to amazing grounds like Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, the Emirates (Arsenal) and Anfield. I'm aiming to get to places I've never been to before in the 2009/10 season. In all, I've been to knocking on 40 football league grounds and am keen to add to the list in the next few months. I'd love to go to Anfield in particular but it just depends on work and whether I can get a ticket.

Roll on August 15 - the start of the season.

Burghley House

2009-07-23T23:07:00.003+01:00

On Tuesday I had the day off and took the opportunity to visit "the largest and grandest house of the first Elizabethan age". Burghley Hall in Stamford is just 40 minutes or so from me in Kettering. It is an impressive building built by Sir William Cecil, although most of the house today would not be recognisable to him.

Cecil, of course, is not the greatest friend of Catholics. I think the mere fact he was Lord High Treasurer and secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth I from 1550 backs up this theory. He kept an eye on recusant Catholics, advised the monarch on how best to deal with them and drafted laws to catch them out. Cecil suggested to Queen Elizabeth the planting of the "Bloody Question" to Catholic priests. Those who swore they would not take arms against the Pope could be accounted as traitors. Although it was not put on the statute books, it was virtually impossible to answer for Catholic priests who would either suffer in body or in soul with any way they answered. But these factors are not necessarily a barrier to visit this prominent historical landmark.

After what turned out to be a pretty awful lunch in Stamford town centre, I payed the extortionate price of £11.30 to get into the place. I think the entry was just about worth it. Although Cecil designed Burghley House, he was busy with his work as leader of the Privvy Council and rarely got to live in it. The main part of the House has 35 major rooms on the ground and first floors. There are more than 80 lesser rooms and numerous halls, corridors, bathrooms and service areas. Not all of them are open to the public.

The state rooms in particular are worth a good look. Some of the royal bedrooms are almost too detailed, with tapestries and paintings hanging everywhere you look. The dramatic painted ceilings are breathtaking. Many of them were executed by Antonio Verrio. The George rooms are colourful and detailed from floor to wall to ceiling. Then you walk through to the "Heaven Room" where you have mythological "gods and goddesses disporting themselves as gods and goddesses are wont to do..." In stark contrast, the next room is a Classical Mythological vision of hell with the mouth of Hades, skeletons, people being stabbed and women whose bodies turn into dogs half way down. It's a horrible but striking scene. (Sorry, they didn't allow photographs to be taken indoors)

Throughout the House there is a wide range of religious paintings, with a particular emphasis of the Nativity. Others illustrate the key points in Jesus' life and there are also pictures of various well-known saints.

After a look round for about two hours, it was time for a personal tradition on a historical trip such as this - a cream tea. I had tea and a hot scone at the Orangery Restaurant, part of the House. It was over £4, making the day an expensive one.

By this time, the gardens were just about closed so I had a quick look and then went for a walk in the vast grounds of the House probably more famous for its horse trials. Another lovely feature is the large population of deer, introduced in Cecil's time. I think this lot were quite curious of me and began to move away when I got within 20 metres to take a photo:

All in all I'd recommend a visit. Maybe go for a festive lunch later in the year at the restaurant. The Christmas Menu is already being advertised and offers some delicious sounding three course meals for just £20.

Pope encourages cyclists

2009-07-21T23:44:00.005+01:00

Our cycling supremo Bradley Wiggins CBE is doing the business in arguably the most gruelling sporting event on the face of the earth. The 2,200 mile Tour de France is reaching its final stages and, for the first time in my lifetime, a British cyclist may well finish on the podium. Wiggins, a double gold medallist at the Beijing Olympic Games, seems to have really turned his attention to the road and is making a fantastic effort.

And, on Tuesday, riders had a special treat as they tackled the 16th Alpine stage and passed near to the Italian town of Introd where the Holy Father is enjoying his holiday and recuperating from his recent injury. Pope Benedict sent the cyclists a special message:

"For the occasion of the passage of the Tour de France in the Valle d'Aosta, the Holy Father (who is spending some days at Les Combes near Introd) addresses his cordial greetings to all the athletes and to the organisers of the race, at the same time extending his thoughts to all sports men and women currently involved in various activities and competitions. His hope is that involvement in sport may contribute to the integral development of the person, and that it may never be separated from respect for moral and educational values."

It's good to see Pope Benedict referring to sport again. In 2005 he said sport can bring respect, loyalty and solidarity between peoples when he addressed UEFA representatives at a general audience. The pope said that sport "if practiced in respect for the rules, becomes an educational instrument and a vehicle for important human and spiritual values". He added that games can contribute to "building a society characterized by mutual respect, loyalty of behaviour, and solidarity between peoples and cultures".

It's not one of the pope's area of expertise, particularly in light of his predecessor John Paul II's love of skiing, climbing, goalkeeping in football and rugby (I think he had a couple of caps for Poland?). But, as universal Shepherd, it's good too see Benedict encouraging fair competition and exercise to develop the human person.

Laughing Catholic children

2009-07-21T23:15:00.002+01:00

The Daily Telegraph reports about complaints by local residents against children at a Catholic school who they say laugh too loudly. Neighbours near to SS Osmund and Andrew's RC Primary School in Breightmet, near Bolton, claim they are being confined inside their homes due to the "unbearable" screams of laughter from the youngsters a playtime.

The newspaper reports: "Nearly 150 people who live near the 384 pupil school which aims to 'nurture the Christian values of love and respect for others' have signed a petition demanding that Bolton Council takes steps to reduce the noise."

Not all of the pupils will be Catholic but I guess most of them will be Christian. The fact thay they are laughing loudly is a fantastic sign. I'd like to think it's because they've been taught about the Incarnation, life, death and Ressurection of Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, Saviour and Redeemer - and are overjoyed by it.

SPUC Public meeting

2009-07-19T22:36:00.005+01:00

Last Tuesday the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) Hull and East Riding branch held a public meeting led by SPUC national director John Smeaton at St Joseph's Church Hall, west Hull. John has done more than 20 of these meetings around the country in the last few months. They are intended to outline the pro-life battle ahead and to encourage people to join a peaceful, law abiding resistence movement to abortion.

Before the meeting, about a dozen of us (mostly branch members as well as other friends) met in Fr William Massie's presbytery for tea. We had cold meats and salad.

About 70 turned up to the meeting from as far away as Robin Hood's Bay in north Yorkshire. Posters advertising the event were sent to every parish and religious house in the Middlesbrough Diocese. It showed. There were people from Scarborough, Hornsea and Hedon to name but a few places (apart from various parts of Hull) represented.

John started by saying that whatever the pro-life movement has won or lost over 42 years, we are here. Between 60 and 70 concerned people turn up at a meeting in Hull on a Tuesday evening. Pro-life people are members of the wider community and are involved in all sorts of walks of life.

He spoke about various articles of European Conventions and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights that protect the right to life. These were virtually ignored in the recently passed Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Bill that enshrined the creation of Human/Animal hybrid embryos into law. Gordon Brown accepted responsibility for this legislation. He wrote to every member of parliament urging them to support the proposals even though it was a free vote. Mr Brown said he respected people's objections for "religious" reasons. But John explained objections were for ethical reasons.

John was careful to point out that his attacks on Gordon Brown in the talk were not party political in any way. After all, David Cameron supports abortion up to birth for disabled babies and the original HFE Act was passed by the Thatcher government.

Church leaders courageously spoke out against the proposals and what they said "reverberated in peoples' hearts and minds". At the time Cardinal Keith O'Brien said: "It is difficult to imagine a single piece of legislation which more comprehensively attacks to sanctity and dignity of human life than this particular Bill." John added that already about 2.2m embryos had already been experimented on or destroyed when this bill came up.

The Bill extended the powers of the HFE Authority. The extension of embryo research provision was brought about despite the fact that no treatments whatsoever have come about through embryo research.

On the issue of disabled babies being aborted, the national director said this clause in the Abortion Act is the most shameful thing to happen in modern times. It was the first time a particular group of human beings could be singled out for killing just because they are disabled.

John addressed the issue of time limit amendments in the HFE Bill and the reasons why SPUC opposed this approach. He said it was counter-productive because the Society knew there was no where near enough "pro-life" MPs to support the proposals. This was confirmed in the votes. There was a danger that a trade off would happen if these amendments were attached to a particular bill. This happened as well with pro-abortion MPs tabling clauses that would have, for instance, allowed abortions to be performed almost anywhere, by midwives and nurses as well as doctors and, crucially, in Northern Ireland (not covered by the 1967 Abortion Act). Thankfully Mr Brown (who has one of the most pro-abortion records of any MP) decided not to give any time for these to be debated. This might have been for political reasons (there was a by-election in Glasgow in a constituency with a strong Catholic population). But John said it happened because of lobbying. "Your lobbying was fundamental to all of it," he added.

By using the democratic process and the proper channels available to us, we can make a huge difference. "This was a chink of light in pagan England. By behaving in a proper way, we can make a difference at the right time."

John then went through how our country got to this situation. "If 10 or 11 years ago you were to tell someone that parliament would legalise human animal experimentation, you would have been laughed out of court."

He also spoke about the scandal of secret access to abortion (including the morning after pill) through schools, including some Catholic schools. "This is the worst thing ever to happen to our families," he said. One of the functions of the morning-after pill is to soften the lining of the womb to prevent an embryo from implanting. The Warnock Committee said scientists could basically do what they liked to embryos up to 14 days. "This is pure utilitarianism at its most naked."

Making it clear that he was speaking as an individual and not conveying SPUC policy, John said the most prophetic document of the 21st century was Humane Vitae. Talking about China's One Child Policy, he said 180 governments around the world financially support forced abortion and sterilisation. On the first day of his presidency, Barack Obama re-instated this funding.

Turning back to the government policy of secret abortions in schools, he said the Connexions advice service reminds children of their legal right to secret abortion. It is written in their staff training manuals.

John ended by saying we should "stand up and reclaim our own families" and "seek to establish a powerful, peaceful resistance movement to abortion".

After rapturous applause, it was time for questions. The subjects covered included the awareness of the Vatican as to what is happened in the UK, what can primary school teachers do to give the pro-life message, whether headteachers refuse clinics and is the only way that will change the tide a complete re-evangelisation of the UK? People also got the chance to ask John questions at the end and some of us went back into the presbytery for tea and coffee.

Despite the seriousness of the situation pointed out in John's talk, you might be surprised to learn the mood among those at the meeting was joyful and happy. There was a real sense of a joyful pro-life community committed to sticking together and upholding the dignity of every human person. There were people of all ages, from babies to pensioners. In particular, John said there were more young people at the meeting compared with the other 2o-odd he has done. This is so important, fostering the new generation of pro-lifers. There were not only Catholics present but Baptists and other Christian denominations. This is true ecumenism in action.

Padley Martyrs

2009-07-15T16:42:00.005+01:00

Another Sunday, another pilgrimage in honour of the English martyrs. This time it was the annual pilgrimage of the Padley martyrs. The joint Hallam and Nottingham Diocese Mass marked the exact day (421 years ago) when Blesseds Robert Ludlam and Nicholas Garlick were arrested at Padley Manor House, the home of John Fitzherbert, in 1588.

Set in the beautiful hills of the Peak District National Park, the 13th/14th century Padley House sits on the north bank of the River Derwent. This time I sat on the hard rocks among thousands of crawling insects for Mass in the grounds of the house now owned by the Catholic Church.

I went to stay with friends in Sheffield for the weekend and heard about the pilgrimage through them. I decided to go as I never manged to get to Padley while at university. After Mass at the Chaplaincy (named after the Padley martyrs) on Sunday morning, I jumped on a train from Sheffield station to Grindleford in Derbyshire, a 20 minute journey. I walked down to the village for something to eat and then walked back up to the station and on down a country lane towards the chapel. Bizarrely, some villagers from the houses either side had put out a box of second hand books next to their gate to flog them to pilgrims. I spotted the "Da Vinci Code" on the top of the pile of one box. I don't think they had quite got the idea.

There was plenty of time to look around the manor house before Mass started. The chapel reminds you of a quality style barn on a farm. There are striking stained glass windows of both Blessed Robert and Nicholas as well as members of the Fitzherbert family.

Sir Thomas Fitzherbert was a staunch recusant and spent from 1559 to 1591 in various prisons. He died in the Tower of London on December 1 1591. He had granted tenancy to his brother John during this time. Padley Manor became a missionary haven for priests for almost thirty years.

In 1588, Padley was raided by the Lord Lieutenant of Sheffield, the Earl of Shrewsbury and two priests were found - Nicholas and Robert. They were sent to Derby Jail and eventually found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death. The night before their execution, the pair shared a cell with a fellow priest, Richard Simpson. It is understood that Richard was seriously considering conforming to the Protestant Church but Bls Nicholas and Robert urged him to join them in martyrdom. A woman convicted of murder also shared the same cell. During the night they were able to reconcile the woman to God, and on the scaffold the next day she openly professed her faith. They were hung, drawn and quartered on St. Mary's Bridge, Derby, on July 24 1588.

Nicholas Garlick was born at Dinting near Glossop, North Derbyshire, in about 1555. He went to Oxford University as a student of Gloucester Hall (now Worcester College) at the age of 20 in 1575. He spent no more that six months there probably because from 1559 people taking a degree were required to swear an oath of acknowledgement of the Queen's supremacy as the head of the church in England. Instead, he went back to his home county to Tideswell and ran a free school there.

Nicholas went to the English College at Rheims to start his studies on July 22 1581. He was ordained a priest less than a year later. Ten months passed before he left for the English mission. Nicholas Garlick's movements in England in 1584 were followed by Thomas Dodwell, a former student at Rheims who had turned spy. He was arrested in London, imprisoned and then banished from England. But less then two days after arriving back in Rheims in 1585 he was on the way back into dangerous England. Little is known of his ministry before being arrested a Padley House.

Robert Ludlam was born in the mid 16th century. Two accounts are in conflict about where he was born - one says Whirlow, Sheffield, but another says Radbourne near Derby. He entered St John's College, Oxford in 1572. Eight years later Robert was at Rheims and ordained a year later.

In April 1582 he set out for England. Monk Fr Robert Bagshawe wrote of Robert: "for his majesty and good life and zeal to win souls to God, was beloved of all that love the Catholic Church."

Before the start of Mass there was a bloke practising the music with the congregation. As it is a joint pilgrimage between two dioceses, he asked people from both Hallam and Nottingham to welcome each other with a round of applause. Then he asked whether there was anyone else. I put my hand up and shouted I was a naive of the Middlesbrough Diocese. I got a clap as well. A bit embarrasing.

The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Malcolm McMahon with Bishop John Rawsthorne at his side. Preaching was Father Anthony Dolan, archivist of Nottingham Diocese. He spoke about the history of the pilgrimage, which has been going for well over 100 years. He also detailed the road to getting the chapel into Catholic hands and restoring it to its former glory.

We sang the Credo in Latin and most people spontaneously stood to boom out Faith of Our Fathers across the Valley after Communion. The Mass was attended by between 400 and 500 people of all ages. Noticeably, there was quite a few young people, far more than were at the Postgate Rally seven days prior to the feast of the Padley Martyrs I'm afraid.

And this is the key - to get more young Catholics going events like these. The story of the martyrs are inspirational and these brave saints and blesseds provide fantastic role models then any pop starts or famous actors.

(Sorry the pictures are small and rubbish. I forgot to take my camera with me. These are taken from my mobile phone)

Assisted suicide clause defeated but serious worries for the future

2009-07-08T20:54:00.004+01:00

Thank God that Lord Folkner's amendment to open the floodgates to legalised assisted suicide failed on Tuesday. However, it's rather concerning that the majority against it was only 53. And, even more worrying, were some of the chilling statements by proponents of the amendment.

These are summarised by Lord "assisted dying" Joffe:

"...whether the amendment is passed or not is not relevant to the final decision that will be taken. In a democratic country, where 80 per cent of the population support assisted dying, it will eventually be decriminalised."

Lord Joffe, one of parliament's leading campaigners to legalised assisted suicide, made a bumbling speech towards the end of Tuesday's debate in the House of Lords. Ruffling through dozens of papers, regularly changing the line of his argument and stuttering throughout, Lord Joffe's contribution was a series of ill-thought out mumbles. And to top it all off, his microphone sounded like it was faulty. Like many of those speaking in favour of the bill, he was keen to point out at the outset that this was a "narrow amendment" - and then proceeded to tell us about why assisted suicide should be legalised. But what I did gather from his speech was an important observation:

- that the people who help their terminally ill relatives to travel to Switzerland so they can end their life are described as "loved ones" and deserve protection from the law

How can anyone who helps their relative to kill themselves be described as a "loved one"? Lord Joffe's says such people are "acting out of love and affection for the people whom they are accompanying to Switzerland or elsewhere in order to give those people whom they love care and support..." Helping someone to kill themselves is not an act of love. An act of love is to care for the person in their suffering and provide better palliative care.

In his speech, Lord Joffe pointed towards the Oregon law as the model for legalised assisted dying. he said:

"...in Oregon there were a number of terminally ill patients who received prescriptions and did not exercise them. The evidence that we heard in Oregon was to the effect that this was so. Those patients who had prescriptions felt that, when they received their prescription, an enormous load was lifted from their shoulders because they knew that, if things got out of control, they could end their suffering by ending their lives."

And this brings me to the second area of concern in the debate - the notion of suffering.

In his speech Lord Low of Dalston said:

"Eighty-two per cent of the general public surveyed in a 1996 British Social Attitudes Survey thought that they should have the right to ask a doctor to end their life if suffering from an incurable and painful disease...

As a disabled person, I lead a full and fulfilling life, which I hope will go on for as long as possible. As I say, when the time comes for it to end, I hope that I could avail myself of the benefit of legislation such as is enshrined in this amendment. As someone who is not afraid of disability but, like many people, who is afraid of terminal illness, I urge noble Lords to support the amendment."

Lord Goodhart said:

"for a small number of people and a small number of diseases—notably, motor neurone disease—palliative care is in many cases insufficient. The last weeks of the people who suffer from those diseases will be grim, painful and degrading, and I do not believe that they are acting wrongly in wanting to commit suicide to cut short a horrible ending. If they need help, I do not think that their helpers are acting wrongly in giving them that help. That is why I support the amendment...
The noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, based his argument on respect for human life. My argument is also based on respect for human life. When someone close to the end of their life, in pain and distress, wants to die, it is no respect for their life to force them to stay alive."

Listening to these arguments being passionately put by pro-death politicians makes me think one of the only ways (apart from the sanctity and dignity of the human being) to persuade people that assisted suicide profoundly wrong is dangerous to society is to offer a way of how suffering can be a good thing and how it is a necessary part of life. The only key to unlock the explanation of suffering is Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Pope John Paul II's encyclical Evangelium Vitae and the Catechism of the Catholic Church help us greatly to find that key. I pick out the relevant parts:

"In a social and cultural context which makes it more difficult to face and accept suffering, the temptation becomes all the greater to resolve the problem of suffering by eliminating it at the root, by hastening death so that it occurs at the moment considered most suitable...
"Various considerations usually contribute to such a decision, all of which converge in the same terrible outcome...
"All this is aggravated by a cultural climate which fails to perceive any meaning or value in suffering, but rather considers suffering the epitome of evil, to be eliminated at all costs. This is especially the case in the absence of a religious outlook which could help to provide a positive understanding of the mystery of suffering..."

The Catechism says:

"On the cross Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took away the "sin of the world," of which illness is only a consequence. By his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering: it can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion...
"Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus."

In suffering, we are united with Christ on the Cross. It is very difficult for so many people to cope with pain, especially when serious illness is involved. The young, old and disabled can have a real battle on their hands when a illness results in them losing some of their sense and abilities. But in Jesus Christ, Saviour and Redeemer, the sick have a Wonderful Counsellor.

Let us hope the growing number of people who express their pro-suicide message in polls or politicians who vote for it in the lobbies come to know this liberating message.

Postgate Rally

2009-07-06T19:00:00.004+01:00

In a field of nettles and cow pat overlooking the stunning North Yorkshire Moors, about 200 Catholics proudly honoured their county's courageous martyr and all those of England and Wales. This is a part of England where small villages have Catholic churches in a prominent position and are still very much open. You could say you are breathing Roman Catholic air. The annual Mass in honour of Blessed Nicholas Postgate, this year in picturesque Egton Bridge, was celebrated in scorching sunshine. Umbrellas were used for a strange reason from the Yorkshireman's point of view - to shade from the sun.

A procession of priests, including monks from Ampleforth Abbey carrying Bl. Postgate's hand and chalice, paced down under a railway a bridge and past a pub named after the martyr as locals and visitors looked on curiously at the spectacle. The priests turned into the field that would inevitably have been trodden in by Fr Postgate. Unlike his time where Mass was held in secret, this was the start of a Mass in open air, something that wouldn't have been possible without the witness of the elderly priest and that of other martyrs.

It was Bishop Terence Patrick Drainey's first Postgate Rally since becoming Bishop of Middlebrough. In his homily, he said he was inspired by the English martyrs and asked for their intercession regularly. His strong connections with Ushaw College (which was originally Douai) and the Royal English College in Valladolid brought him into contact with many of them. Before being installed, Bishop Terry went to York to pray to St Margaret Clitherow and then to Beverley to install a baptismal font at the Church of St John of Beverley. He said the Diocese of Middlesbrough had a rich Catholic heritage and a lengthy list of saints. The priest of the moors had a "powerful powerlessness", he said.

Fr Postgate was hanged, drawn and quartered in his early 80s, the last of the penal time martyrs to be executed. After his ordination, Fr Postgate was chaplain to a couple of recusant Catholic families, including the Constables at Burton Constable Hall, East Yorkshire. After a number of years he returned to his native north Yorkshire to minister posed as a roaming gardener.

He is most renowned for his work in the Esk Valley and Pickering areas of North Yorkshire. He celebrated Mass in various locations. They were advertised by white sheets being put on hedges in a nearby field. By 1665, he is said to have increased the regional Catholic population by 2,400. After decades of evading the authorities, priest catchers barged into a house in Redcar where he was celebrating a baptism. His fate was sealed.

The Bishop announced at the end of Mass that people could venerate Blessed Postgate's hand, that was wrapped in a small red veil. The concelebrating priests went forward one by one. As soon as they started to process off, people scurried towards the altar to kiss the sacred relic.

This is one of my favourite events of the year when I can make it up there. I drove up from Kettering on Saturday evening to Ampleforth to stay with Ryan Day who teaches there. We went for a sublime meal at the White Swan in Ampleforth village. It looked like a popular venue for a Saturday evening. In the morning, we went up the road to the glorious Ryedale town of Helmsley for breakfast. Back at the college later in the morning we had a game of tennis before the heavens opened. We made our way to Egton Bridge across the rugged North Yorkshire Moors at about 1.30pm.

Luckily, the weather improved which meant the decision was taken to have Mass outside. Afterwards, some of us went up the road to Whitby for the best fish and chips in the world. Fr William Massie kindly paid for me as I could not find a cash machine anywhere (don't worry, I'll pay you back). After eating I spotted Fr David Grant with some of his Bridlington parishioners. Father, a keen historian, brought me a lemonade in a pub and told me some of the tales of Postgate and the other martyrs. It was then time for the long drive to Northamptonshire. It's amazing what you can do in just over 24 hours.

Apologies that there's no pictures to illustrate the Rally at the moment. I did take my camera but I discovered it had a dead battery on arrival. However, after asking Mr Catholic and Loving It if I could nab some of his photos, he gave me his camera and asked me to take over for the afternoon. I think the agreement allows me to use the pictures. When he uploads I'll put some up here.

Cardinal John Henry Newman to become Blessed

2009-07-03T22:03:00.005+01:00

This evening, I opened the Vatican Information service email that drops into my inbox and was filled with joy as I scrolled down.

It reads:

DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS

"VATICAN CITY, 3 JUL 2009 (VIS) - Today, during a private audience with Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorised the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:"

Then, under miracles:

"Servant of God John Henry Newman, English cardinal and founder of the Oratories of St. Philip Neri in England (1801-1890)."

What a great day for English Catholicism. It's not often you see miracles approved for the cause of an Englishmen. In fact, there probably hasn't been one in my lifetime. How exciting.

Amid all the stuff about lack of vocations, dwindling Mass numbers, child abuse scandals, increasing secularisation, closure of Catholic adoption agencies because of an ass of a law, rampant abortion, creeping euthanasia - it is announced that we have beatified Englishman for the first time in decades. What a breath of fresh air. Lets hope Newman will inspire young Catholics to be counter cultural.

Public meeting

2009-07-02T17:39:00.003+01:00

A public meeting led by John Smeaton, National Director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), takes place in Hull on Tuesday, July 14. John's talk will be on the pro-life battle ahead.

It's on at St Joseph's Church Hall, Pickering Road, Hull, HU4 6TN and starts at 7.30pm. Light refreshments will be provided.

Retreat in Hornsea

2009-06-29T22:14:00.003+01:00

Well, that was a bit different. Five days in total silence apart from praying aloud at Mass and talking to a priest for half an hour each day if you wanted to. A culture shock. However, after an initial spiritual wobble in the first 24 hours, it was a fantastic experience and one that I recommend.

It was an Ignatian retreat led by 79-year-old Jesuit priest Father John Edwards. We followed the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius condensed into four full days and two half-days. After the first conference on the Monday evening, I wondered what on earth I was doing there. Five days precious holiday from work just to be silent and engage in intense prayer. Why was I not at home in the pub or watching Wimbledon? How am I going to keep this up until Saturday morning? I discovered over lunch before we left that most of the other lay retreatants had the same feelings.

Father William Massie, who organised the retreat, had been on at me for months, strongly encouraging me to take the week off and give it a go. Reluctantly, I sorted it out although, in my heart of hearts, I really didn't want to make the commitment. But after about 24 hours I settled down.

There were nine of us in total, six laymen and three priests (including Fr John), and Catholic and Loving It came for the day on Friday. Each day consisted of two conferences, a number of periods of meditation, Mass, and meal times. The rest of the day was your own, although silence and solitude were the "laboratory conditions" recommended to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying. So, no TV, pubs, cinema talking etc. The only time you heard friends speak was when they read as Mass. It is a hard task for many of us to get through.

However, Hornsea, a picturesque East Yorkshire coastal town, is ideal for quiet walks along the sea front. The only problem is, of course, Yorkshire people are so friendly they start a conversation with you as they walk their dogs. I also went out for a run each afternoon. Walking on the beach did make me chuckle as I was reminded of those kind of school day retreats or "reflection days" where that "footprints" story was read out and we were all supposed to be bowled over by. This retreat was millions of miles ahead of that.

The meditations are centered around asking for a particular grace each time. In these periods of prayer you can expect thoughts of both desolation and consolation which are useful to jot down. The first 24 hours was focused on the basics: a preparatory prayer, principle and foundation. The grace to ask for, a great way to start any period of prayer, was:

I ask Our Lord God for grace that all my intentions, actions and operations may be ordained solely to the service and praise of His Divine Majesty.

During the first half of the week, we asked for the grace to be ashamed and confused about our sins, for great pain and tears for them and not to be deaf to God's call. As the retreat progressed, we focused on the grace for an interior knowledge of Christ by experiencing his infancy and public life before entering into the Passion narratives to experience a sense of sorrow for his pains for us. As I was hoping, towards the end, we moved on to the Resurrection and the grace to be intensely glad and rejoice in such great joy and glory of Christ the risen Lord. The retreat ended with a focus on an interior knowledge of the great benefits received in life in order that we may love and serve Our Lord. In each of these phases, specific texts were recommended for reflection.

Fr John's conferences were powerful in many parts. He reassured us that we couldn't go wrong with the retreat, however much we thought the prayer wasn't going too well. He had some intriguing interpretations of some of the Gospel narratives, including the calling of Levi and the woman with a bad name who anointed and kissed Jesus and was forgiven.

On the Sacrament of Confession, he said that receiving absolution was like un-nailing Jesus from the Cross. Christ comes bursting in and says "follow me" as opposed to enrolling us on a long remedial apprenticeship towards a full relationship with him again. He described the sacrament as a court, where the defendant is the prosecution, both the judge and jury are God and where the verdict is already determined as "case dismissed".

He talked about the difference between enclosed religious and those of us living and working in the secular world. He described an enclosed order of nuns or monks as a "witness to the kingdom established" but that people working in secular institutes are God's "undercover agents".

Just like the stereotypical Catholic, I'm not really up on scripture. Very rarely do I read the Bible and, sometimes, I find it difficult to tune in to the readings at Mass. But the retreat allowed for lots of steady, silent, guided scripture meditation which opened up no end of doors. It's amazing how much you miss from accounts of the Passion, for instance. Never had I registered the fact that in Mark's account of the Passion, a young man runs away naked when Jesus is arrested. Many commentators think that was Mark himself. In another example, I only recently realised about the "holy men" who are immediately resurrected from the dead when Jesus dies on the Cross. To pick up these details and spending time pondering on the characters in the narratives is a thoroughly worthwhile thing to do.

This devoted prayer around the Bible simply blows you away with particular bits of scripture. When asking for the Grace to "be intensely glad and rejoice in such great glory of Christ, Our Lord", I read Romans 8. I was taking notes throughout the week but, in this instance, found myself virtually writing the whole thing out. "Those who are living by their natural inclinations have their minds on the thing human nature desires; those who live in the spirit have their minds on spiritual things. And human nature has nothing to look forward to but death, while the spirit looks forward to life and peace, because the outlook of disordered human nature is opposed to God, since it does not submit to God's Law and indeed it cannot, and those who live by their natural inclinations can never be pleasing to God... So then, my brothers, we have no obligation to human nature to be dominated by it." An important message for us Catholics in the secular world.

These kinds of things jump out at you on a retreat. As Fr John said, if you invited one of you friends to such an event, many of them "would think you were out of your mind". But, for any young Catholic serious about their faith, I would encourage them to try out something like this at least once in their life. Although very challenging, it's very spiritually edifying and deepens your relationship with God. It takes a lot of commitment, especially if you work, but the rewards are plentiful. Why not give it a go?

Retreat

2009-06-22T15:04:00.002+01:00

I'm off this week and am about to set out from Hull to the small seaside town of Hornsea for a five-day retreat led by Father John Edwards. I've never been on a proper retreat - let alone a silent one.

It's quite a daunting prospect, therefore, for someone who frantically speaks to lots of people throughout each day to do this. But I'm sure it's a very worthwhile thing to do. I'll post about the experiences and the conferences afterwards.

Corpus Christi

2009-06-19T21:42:00.002+01:00

Last Thursday I walked past Saints Peter and Paul C of E Church in Kettering on my way to St Edward's for exposition and benediction. The Anglican Church a striking 500 year-old structure. Usually on a Thursday evening it's bell practice. But last week, the doors were open and a procession was going on to begin a service with rousing hymns.

I was a bit puzzled as to what the occasion was but forgot about it and continued on to St Edward's. The next day I asked one of my colleagues (who is an Anglican in the town) what might have been the occasion last night. She said "Oh, it's a big Chrisitian festival, you know. I can't remember what it's called."

"Is it a saint's day? I asked. "No," she replied, "It's erm..." Then it suddenly dawned on me. It was Corpus Christi.

How embarrassing, I thought. The Anglican church holding a special service to mark the feastday of Corpus Christi, even though they don't have the Real Presence of Christ on their altars. And the Catholic Church in England and Wales who do? Well, after years, they now celebrate Corpus Christi on a Sunday since the bishops' conference decided to move several holy days of obligation to a Sunday. A lot of people couldn't be bothered to go so by moving it to a Sunday, people won't be committing a mortal sin any more. How ironic.

Sunday Plus

2009-06-16T21:25:00.005+01:00

Many parishes in the UK, including my home parish in Hull, uses "Sunday Plus" on the back of their leaflets, a weekly page published by Redemptorist publications.

During the homily and before Mass starts the page is read by many in the Congregation. For many parishioners, this is the only bit of formation, catechises, teaching they will get apart from the priest's homily. You would think that both the writers and the parish priests would hope the sheet is as inspiring and informative as possible, to capture the moment. It is concerning, therefore, that so many parishes offer what is, dare I say it, wishy washy drivel, week in week out.

Take this Sunday's as an example, Corpus Christi. On such a feastday it would be great to read about the Eucharist as the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ, the physical presence of Jesus on this planet that strengthens and nourishes us. It would be great to be reminded of the importance of Eucharistic adoration where we can encounter Jesus in an intimate way. Instead we get this account from hermit Rachel Denton:

When I first made my commitment to hermitage life, there was some debate as to whether the Blessed Sacrament could be reserved in the hermitage. In the end, and despite the enormous privilege, I decided against it...

My understanding of the Real Presence is one of a moment, an event, rather than the (limited) physical presence of a person or thing...

Christ is with us in all moments of life. This is the moment in which the hermitage seeks to exist in its entirety, in the garden, or the kitchen or the workshop, or the bath. To hold the Blessed Sacrament in reserve in the oratory seems, for me, to draw the focus away from that wider tabernacle - to suggest there might be a better place to be than here, a holier time than the moment which is now.

I admire anyone who gives their life to prayer for the world. I simply couldn't do it. But I'm afraid Rachel's account is simply not the message we need to be giving people. To me, not having the Blessed Sacrament in that situation is simply bonkers. If we believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist than surely it makes sense to encounter him as many times as possible? We can't go on feeding the laity poor examples like this.

Comment on elections

2009-06-11T20:26:00.005+01:00

The European Parliament elections was a humbling experience for Labour. People disillusioned in the wake of the expenses scandal, disgusted at the lack of morality in politics and genuine astonishment at Gordon Brown's apparent presence on another planet in assessing his own position as prime minister were all factors in Labour's worst result for a generation and for a low turnout across the board. Both in the county council and European elections, you had parties winning seats with less votes than they achieved last time out.

Unfortunately for us pro-life Christians, the last thing on the electorate's mind was concern about the European Union's promotion of abortion and reproductive healthcare both in this continent and beyond or the decline in Christian values in Europe. That is except a small (but sizable) minority who made a point by voting for the Christian Party, including me.

While Labour came third in the election, the Christian Party came eighth. They received a total of 249,493 votes - 1.6 per cent of votes cast. They fielded candidates in all regions in Britain, the first time a Christian party had done this.

The party, a coalition of the Christian People's Alliance and the Christian Party, promised in its manifesto to oppose moves to impose abortionism on newer member states. They say: "Easy access to abortion in Britain has led to increased exploitation of women, not their 'liberation'. Abortion violates the dignity and integrity of women. It leaves a trail of anger, guilt, resentment, depression and loss of self-respect. Whenever we act or speak, we pledge to do so without judging or condemning any individual, especially not any woman who has been involved in abortion."

They add: "Our aim is to end the intentional conception of human embryos, including cloning and by IVF, so that they may be killed for their parts. There are other ways of finding stem cells for medical research that are not morally and ethically questionable."

Whatever your views on whether Christians should form their own political movement, you can't deny that for Catholics this manifesto is appealing. I'm not telling people how to vote. I'm not saying I accept everything approach they make to every issue. They were pretty obsessed with helping to keep the British National Party out of London (something that they have claimed to have done) as opposed to fully focussing on putting their policies out there. But you've got to admit, no party since the Pro-Life Alliance stood a few years ago has a positive, pro-life message.

It is encouraging, therefore, to learn that 1.6 per cent of the electorate who bothered to vote in the UK this time around put their cross next to a Christian party. This sends a small, but strong message to those vehement secularists who want to see Christians and Christian values out of public life and their religious practices confined to privacy.

The most noticeable headline has been the concerning news about two European Parliament seats being won by the British National Party. Moves towards European integration after the end of the Second World War were made for the precise reason of uniting against extremist nationalism that had resulted in the extermination of six million people executed by the Nazis. The first move to unite the continent in friendliness was by the setting up of the European Coal and Steel Community which was followed by the creation of the European Economic Community in 1957.

Now, the European Union has power to make laws and has a directly elected parliament. Last week, a neo-Nazi party won two seats in that legislature. The original intention behind those who sought European integration has been quite clearly contradicted. This surely puts a large question mark over the future of the European Union as we know it?

Faith Forum Talk

2009-06-06T19:12:00.002+01:00

Sorry it's taken so long to get the talk up. I went from Hull without sending a copy of the talk and have only just got hold of it. Just to warn you that it's very long. Read it if you can be bothered. I didn't say everything in this text because there wasn't time to. But this is what I prepared:

When I was in Year Nine at St Mary’s College Father Noel Wynn, who many of you will know, taught me RE. One day he said we were going to be doing a project on modern day saints. We were to choose someone who we thought to be saintly and do an essay on them outlining the reasons why. For about a week I struggled to think of someone. Everybody else was doing the usual suspects – Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, Nelson Mandella etc. One night I asked my dad for any suggestions he might have at which point he pulled out a book from his SVP briefcase called No Greater Love. It is an account of all the martyrs of the Middlesbrough Diocese. “Why don’t you do it on Saint Margaret Clitherow”, he said.

I must confess, I may have heard of her name but not much else at that point. As I read the chapter of the book on her I remember being stunned at the story and especially her bravery. After converting to Catholicism, she harboured priests so they could say Mass for the local Catholics to whom the sacraments were their lifeline. Margaret paid the ultimate price for this – being sentenced to death by peine forte et dure, or in other words, pressed to death. She was charged with harbouring priests and hearing Mass and the like. In an act of true Christianity, she refused to plead, since the only witnesses against her would be her own children and servants and she could not bear to involve them in the guilt of her death.

The next day I asked Father Wynn whether St Margaret, martyred on the feast of the Annunciation in 1586, would come under his broad term as a “modern day saint”. For some reason, he okayed it. The project was on.

This remarkable story of one woman’s bravery spurred me on later in life to look into the other 39 saints she was canonised with in 1970 – the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales.

It’s not as if I’m an expert on what I’m going to speak on tonight. I’m not a Church historian by any stretch of the imagination. Journalists are supposed to blag it, be able to appear to know a bit about everything. I suppose the reason why I was asked to give this talk is the interest I’ve taken in these remarkable people about a year ago. During Lent in 2008, I came up with the idea of writing a reflection on each of the 40 martyrs on each day of Lent for my blog. I failed miserably in my task. To date, I’m up to 20.

When I started this, it was clear each of these young priests, religious and lay people merited much more attention than a couple of hours. I am simply blown away by the story of the martyrs. A variety of people from every age and social class who knew they faced death for their part in keeping the One True Faith alive in England. The tales of their lives are riddled with action, danger, disguise as well as inspiring words, uncompromising faith, baffling bravery and constant piety. Saint Alban Roe, playing cards on the night before his martyrdom and St John Kemble, who enjoyed a smoke on his pipe and his last cup of wine minutes before his execution – just two of the quirky stories among the 40. It takes at least a couple of full evenings to research a saint and then write something.

With names like Polydore Plasden, Swithun Wells, Eustace White, Augustine Webster and Edmund Arrowsmith, you can’t really get more English saints then these. When I went to the World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005, we had quite a few people come up to us and ask us in English where we were from pointing to our St George’s flag. England, people said. They said they got a look as if to say: “Young Catholics from England?” We can respond to this question by telling people about the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales, the ambassadors if you like of Catholicism here.

I simply can’t understand why these saints aren’t venerated and a fuss made about them in our country. I confess that I would struggle to name more than half of them. Why do we not talk about them, ask for their intercession and teach children about them? Is it because they refused to follow King Henry VIII’s Church? Are people scared it might jeopardise ecumenism and dialogue if we start shouting about the people? After all, they are are own – English people who kept the faith alive here. Without them, maybe we wouldn’t be here today at a Catholic talk.

You’ll be pleased to know I won’t be talking about all 40. Tonight I want to focus on just three of these saints and how their example is so important for us young Catholics in a country that may well be on its way towards the unjust and tyrannical place England and Wales during the 16th and 17th century was (something we’ll explore a little later). I’ve tried to pick three of the not so familiar saints and give you a snapshot of their journey towards martyrdom. As I go along hopefully we can pick out ways to help young Catholics today to be, as Pope John Paul II put it, “the night watchmen of the third millennium”. Hopefully, it will be a rollacoster of a ride.
But first I think it’s important to explain the context of this period of history that changed the shape of Christianity in Britain.

Historical context

Generally speaking the persecution of Catholics in England and Wales in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries came in waves, caused by particular incidents or circumstances, with intervals of respite in between. We all know about the reformation and how the Church of England was formed. The protestant reformation had already started in other parts of Europe. Henry VIII couldn’t get an annulment from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. He was ex-communicated by Pope Paul III. He declared a split from Rome and that he was now the Supreme head of the Church of England. The monasteries were dissolved and the first wave of persecution began.

Henry VIII was succeeded by his son Edward VI (1547-53) and during his reign Protestantism became established as the religion of England, but there was no active persecution of Catholics. Edward was followed by Mary I (1553-58), daughter of Henry VIII. She was a Catholic and under her Catholicism was restored but only temporarily. Elizabeth I, another daughter of Henry VIII and a Protestant, succeeded Mary in 1558 and Protestantism became the State religion of England once again and remains so until today. She became Supreme head of the Church of England.

During her reign in 1570 Pope St Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth and released her subjects from their allegiance to her. This obviously increased the English government's hostility towards Catholics.

From 1574 onwards, priests from the newly founded seminaries overseas—at Douai (France), Rome and Spain - began to arrive in England. This alarmed the government and severe laws against Catholics, the "penal laws", were enacted. An Act of Parliament of 1581 made reconciliation to the Catholic Church treason. Another Act in 1585 against Jesuits and seminary priests made the very presence of a Catholic priest in England treason. It was also a felony for anyone to shelter or assist them. The punishment for breaking these laws was death. England had become a dangerous place for Catholics.

In 1588 the Spanish Armada happened. An army travelled towards England with the intention to invade the country and overthrow the Protestant Queen. This failed but it meant the anti-Catholic laws were now enforced rigorously. This was the start of the greatest Catholic persecution in English history.

After Elizabeth’s death, James I came to the thrown in 1603 and two years later came the Gunpowder plot. Again, I’m sure you’re all aware of what this was about. A lot of people now say Guy Fawkes and co had the right idea in light of the expenses scandal… But this obviously didn’t help Catholics in the slightest. After the plot was discovered, the penal laws were strengthened and enforced.

I’m going to stop there because all of the three saints I’m exploring tonight refer to this period between about 1577 and 1606. But suffice to say execution of Catholics continued because of fictitious plots in the reigns of Charles II, and to a certain extent, Charles I.

St Alexander Briant
I chose this first saint to tell you about because he was just a 25-year-old priest when martyred. That’s one year older than I am. He is, as far as I can tell, the youngest of the 40 martyrs. What better inspiration for young people – a man prepared to give his life for the Church at such a young age.

The severity of his torture, treatment in prison and execution was extraordinary. He was deprived of food and drink for six days, racked at least twice to the point that he couldn’t move any part of his body and during his martyrdom, the executioner adjusted the noose to make his death even more painful. But like so many of the martyrs he was remarkably resilient. After his body was twisted and torn by the so-called “master of the rack”, Briant taunted his persecutors saying (like an elder brother when his younger brother is trying to hurt him in a pretend fight): “Is that all you can do? “Is this all that you can do? You’ll have to do much better if you want to get anything out of me. If the rack is no more than this, let me have a hundred more for this cause.” This prompted a Protestant minister who was trying to get him to say: “It’s a miracle.”

Alexander was born in Somerset in 1556. Little is known of his early life until he studied at Hertford Hall at Oxford. He was part of the highly intellectually talented trio with Edmund Campion and Ralph Sherwin – who would be hanged drawn and quaertered together on the same day – December 1, 1581. He became a pupil of Robert Persons, who with Saint Edmund Campion later joined the Society of Jesus. Persons, like Briant, was from Somerset and both became Roman Catholics while still at University.

In 1576, he travelled to the English College at Douai and continued his studies there and at Rheims. He was ordained to the priesthood in Cambrai on March 29 1578 and went over on the English mission on August 3 1579. For a time he ministered in his own part of the country but later moved to London and lived in the house of Fr. Persons near Saint Bride's Church in the Strand.

During these years Fr. Persons was probably the most "wanted" priest by the Government. His energy and enthusiasm had set him at the heart the English Mission. The authorities were out to get him. And in March 1581 they did. The Government's men raided the house and Fr. Briant was caught but Persons and others managed to flee. He was thrown into The Counter Prison and this was a jail that usually housed people unable to pay debts and those arrested for being drunk a disorderly in public. But, of course, the charges Briant was imprisoned for were much more serious.He was jailed in strict isolation and was starved of food and water for days. In the end, he managed to get hold of a penny’s worth of stale cheese, some bread and a pint of strong beer. Because many of the inmates were drunks, beer was probably the easiest item to get. But this sustenance caused his thirst to become even more desperate and in the end he resorted to catching the drips of rainwater that leaked into the cell in his hat.

If the agony of starvation and gasping for water wasn’t enough, Fr Briant was in for much more brutal treatment that would leave him paralysed. Because of his links to Fr Persons, the authorities considered Fr Alex as a vital man to get information from as to the priest’s whereabouts and activities. The day after Ascension, he was moved to the Tower of London. Predicting he may well starve to death there, he hid some of the cheese he had picked up from the Counter but it was taken from him during a search. On March 27 he was brought before Lieutenant Dr Hammond and a pursuivant called Norton for interrogation. Fr Alex refused to say anything about where he had said Mass or anything to do with Fr Person’s whereabouts. They began to torture him, ordering needles to be driven under his nails. But the priest took the pain and prayed for the forgiveness of his tormenters. On April 6 he was consigned to "The Pit", a deep dungeon, where he was in complete darkness for eight days.

Fr Briant was then stretched on the rack on two successive days. It was called the scavenger's daughter - an A-frame shaped metal rack. The head was strapped to the top point of the A, the hands in the middle and the legs at the lower spread ends. This meant the head swung down, forcing the knees up in a sitting position so the body compressed to force blood from the nose and ears. They also used the thumbscrew on Briant. The victim's thumbs, fingers or toes were placed in the vice and slowly crushed.The rackmaster boasted he would make Fr. Briant a foot longer than God had made him, unless he would give the required information about Fr. Persons. It was during this ordeal that Fr. Briant started to laugh and taunt the torturers.Fr Alex went back to his cell for the night. He had a temperature, unimaginable pain and his wounds were scabbing over. He was barely conscious. But they tortured him again the next day. Fr Alex was conscience he could be racked to death this time and prepared himself for the end. During the torture, Briant did faint but they sprinkled water on his face so he endured all the pain. The humble priest united all his sufferings with Christ on the cross.

He was thrown back in prison and was unable to move anything. He laid without bedding for 15 days in the cell, wearing itchy, bloodstained clothes. The fact he survived these conditions says a lot about his prayer life, trust in God and the strength he got from the Holy Spirit. Requesting admission to the Jesuits, he wrote a letter in which he revealed some of his thoughts.Prayers after his first round of torture replenished him and he was filled with “a kind of supernatural sweetness of spirit”. When he found out that he was to endure more racking, Briant notes he trusted that, with the help of God, “I should be able to bear and suffer it patiently”. At his trial on November 16 1581, Alex made a wooden cross that he publicly carried to Westminster Hall, the highest court at that time in the land. The cross was aggressively taken from the priest prompting him to say: “You can take it out of my hands, but not out of my heart.” There is little information about his trial, only that he was found guilty of treason and instantly shackled. The irons were not removed until his hanging, drawing and quartering.December 1 1581 was one of the most glorious days of English Catholic history. Briant was martyred with Edmund Campion and Ralph Sherwin. Three of the most scholarly and intelligent priests in English Catholic history gave their lives for Christ, enduring the most intense suffering. He was dragged through the muddy London streets to Tyburn.

Having to watch his two friends being brutally killed, with the realisation that his body would be ripped to shreds in the same way, must have been terrifying. In fact, he had a more painful death than the others. Alex was cut down while still alive so that he could be disembowelled and his body cut into quarters. His heart, bowels and entrails were burnt in front of a crowd that apparently really enjoyed the spectacle.As young Catholics today, we are regularly mocked by so-called friends because of our “strange rituals” and “outdated rules”. We can sometimes lose friends over speaking the truth and we can feel hurt by this. But the sufferings of Alexander Briant puts all those things into perspective. To get through the torture mentally means that he had complete trust in the Holy Spirit. He is a fantastic saint to pray to help us get through whatever persecution comes our way.

Cuthbert Mayne

The second saint I want to touch on is a top man who could inspire any young person seriously thinking about becoming a Catholic to make that final step. St Cuthbert Mayne was brought up a Protestant by his uncle, a minister in the “new” religion. Cuthbert himself became an Anglican clergymen and served as St John’s College chaplain at Oxford University for many years. In the end, Cuthbert was one of the first to begin a long tradition of graduates or students drawn to the Catholic priesthood from Oxford. His journey to the Catholic faith was a long one. He was only 29 when executed.

He was born at Youlston in Devon in 1544 and made a Church of England deacon at the tender age of 19. It seems the young man was pushed into this by his uncle. He wasn’t really in tune with the Reformation and didn’t realise there were different religions.When studying for his Bachelor of Arts, Mayne came in contact with Edmund Campion, Gregory Martin and Henry Shaw among others. The college was becoming a real stronghold of Catholicity and Cuthbert was pitied by Papist students who chipped away at his conscience and advising him of his sin. Campion and Martin realised Cuthbert’s “Romeward tendencies” and continued to write to him urging him to join them at Douai.One of Campion’s letters got into the hands of the Bishop of London. He immediately sent guards straight to Oxford to arrest Mayne and others. But Cuthbert had gone home to Devon. He heard from friend Thomas Ford the authorities were out to get him. So he jumped on a ship for Europe and reached Douai College in 1573.

The College had only been opened for five years. It was not too far from England and was a constituent college of the newly formed University of Douai. The institution was already filled with students, most of them from Oxford. Mayne fitted in nicely. He took a Theology degree in early 1576 and in April returned to Cornwall as a newly ordained priest.He was sent back to England with John Paine and Henry Shaw, another two of the martyrs. They had to be careful not to draw attention to themselves. On arrival they dispersed and Cuthbert went to live with a bloke called Francis Tregian in a parish near Truro, Cornwall. Francis was the maternal uncle of Thomas Sherwood who was martyred on February 7 1578. Mr Tregian is also thought to have left Queen Elizabeth’s Court. Mayne posed as Tregian’s steward while quietly carrying out his priestly duties. But rumours of his real character spread. In June 1577 Francis’ house was searched. Tregian initially resisted the raid, telling the guards they should have a commission from the Queen to search his home. But the Sheriff held a dagger to Francis’ chest and he let them in – as you would.

The officers “bounced and beat” Mayne’s door. In yet another remarkable (and somewhat amusing) act by of one of the 40 Martyrs, Cuthbert heard the noise and popped up from where he was in the garden to open the door for them!Seizing Cuthbert, the Sheriff found an Agnus Dei case around his neck. These are small disks made from wax from the Easter candle and pressed with an image of the paschal Lamb and blessed by the Pope. They had been outlawed by parliament in 1571. They also found a papal bull also against the law to carry. In fact it was now considered treason. Shouting abuse at him, the Sheriff arrested Cuthbert and the martyrdom of another faithful and brave priest was to be secured.

He was taken to the Bishop of Exeter and then held at various people's houses before ending up in Launceston jail, an underground castle prison. Here, Mayne was cruelly imprisoned. He was chained to his bedposts and his legs were shackled. No-one had permission to talk to him.The authorities sought a death sentence but had difficulty in framing a treason charge against him. In the end at the opening of the trial there were five counts against him. These included celebrating Mass, bringing the Agnus Dei into England, teaching the authority of the pope and had a papal bull. Mayne defended himself very well. He denied saying anything definite on the Pope to three illiterate witnesses.

On the Agnus Dei charge, the fact he was found with it on arrest didn’t confirm he had brought it to the country or deliver it to Tregian. Lastly, the presence of a Missal, a chalice, and vestments in his room did not prove he had said Mass.But as was usual in these cases despite the lack of evidence, Judge Marwood directed the jury to return a guilty verdict. The authorities were very concerned about reports that more than 30 graduates from Douai had been seen entering the country by spies. The judge said: "Where plain proofs were wanting, strong presumptions ought to take place." Imagine how a modern day judge would react to one of their colleagues saying that in open court these days? The Privy Council said Mayne should be executed as a warning to other Catholics. They instructed the killing to be done in the market place in full view as "a terror to the papists". In this sense, Cuthbert was a scapegoat.Mayne was told of his execution three days in advance. He devoted every remaining night of his life to prayer and contemplation.

On November 27, his cell was filled with a bright light between midnight and 1am, an indication that this was a saintly man. This prompted other prisoners to call out - the light was so bright and they knew Cuthbert didn't even have a candle.Like quite a few of the priestly martyrs, Cuthbert was challenged in debate on the day of his execution (November 29) by judges and ministers. Reports say Cuthbert outwitted them on every point. Mayne was then offered life if he would publicly acknowledgment of the supremacy of the queen as head of the church. He declined saying: "The queen neither ever was, nor is, nor ever shall be, the head of the Church of England." He went on to say England would soon be converted back to Catholicism by the 'secret instructors' from Douai. Well and truly sealing his fate, Cuthbert was not afraid to make a dangerous political comment. He said if any Catholic prince was to invade to return the country back to Catholicism, all Catholics should help that man. Mayne was drawn a quarter of a mile to the market place in Launceston. On arrival, he was refused the right to address the crowd and instead knelt to say his prayers. He was then pushed off the ladder and prayed: "In manus tuas." Some reports say the hangman let him die before the disembowelment and quartering.

One source says he was cut down alive, but in falling struck his head against the butcher's scaffold. The executioner seems to have had much pleasure in ripping his body to pieces, holding up his heart to the crowd. His quarters were distributed to four different places and his head was put on a pole near a busy street. The hangman went mad a month after the martyrdom and died soon afterwards.He was the first Douai seminary priest to be martyred. He was born and brought up a Protestant and genuinely didn’t understand the split in Christianity until he got to university. It was his friends at university who saw his potential, gently chipping away and encouraging him to join them at Douai. You may know some of you friends who are interested in the Catholic faith. St Edmund Campion and others give us the courage to gently evangelise to people we know like St Cuthbert and to pray for people to convert. The story of his conversion is an inspiration to all those young Catholics in the spiritually hostile environment of university in modern day Britain who want to express their faith gently but fully to their peers. For young people going through their conversion and maybe struggling with certain aspects the faith, St Cuthbert can offer help in abundance. The saint showed remarkable resilience, even if he was a tad clumsy strolling into the hands of his capturers. He was clearly a cleaver academic and an effective debater. In this way, he shows us that faith and reason go hand in hand.

Saint Nicholas Owen

The final saint is Nicholas Owen. No, it’s not the famous news presenter (Nicholas David Arundel Owen) I’m talking about! St Nicholas arguably played the most important role out of anyone in keeping Catholicism going in Britain during this period of history – and he wasn’t even a priest. Owen is the guy who skilfully built dozens of priest holes in stately homes where recusants lived up and down England. He was a dwarf, nicknamed “Little John”. He was little over five feet, which is possibly why he was so good at what he did. He had a painful hernia - but this didn’t deter him from his vital duties. Nicholas was deceptively strong both physically and mentally. It was because of him that secret Masses could take place. It was because of his genius that priests could hide as soon as the threat of the security services came. Quite simply, if it wasn’t for his faithfulness and willingness to use his exceptional talents given from God, the underground church would probably not have functioned.

He was an intriguing character. Unlike many of the martyrs, he appears to have been a cradle Catholic, born into a staunchly recusant family in Oxford around about 1550. Two of his brothers became Jesuit priests and the other ran a Catholic printing press which he apparently managed to keep going while in prison for recusancy.

Like many young people fresh out of school today, he decided not to go down the academic path but fancied a more “hands on” profession. His dad enrolled him on an eight year carpentry apprenticeship under the eye of Oxford joiner William Conway. If you think about it, not even Medicine degrees last eight years these days (usually about six) let alone apprenticeships. Compared with priest training in those days, which seems to be less than two or three years for some students, eight years was a hell of a long time to train up. He must have been good. Nicholas learned the art of carving and turning, building wide beamed wooden staircases that curled around landings, linenfold panelling that encased a room. The list goes on. He followed the profession of Jesus. During the course, he became one of the first Jesuit lay brothers.

He now had the tools and skills to set to work. There were many country mansions occupied by middle and upper class Catholics and determined recusants. Fr Henry Garnet, Superior of the English Jesuits, employed him to construct hiding places and escape routes in houses. Nicholas worked quietly and effectively. By day he worked at the mansions on regular wood- and stone-working jobs so no one would question his presence. By night he worked alone, digging tunnels, creating hidden passages and rooms in the house.

Each hiding place had to be different. The same setup would easily lead the priest catchers to the hiding holes. The persuviants would tap on the walls listening for a hollow sound that would give away the hole. At a mansion near Warwick, for instance, secret trapdoors connected to the house’s sewer system. During a search here, four priests hid in the mucky, contaminated sewer waters for four hours. He added feeding tubes to some so priests could stay in secret compartments for days. Nicholas also built fake holes that could be easily discovered and acted as a decoy.

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting one of the magnificent homes where Owen did his wonders. I went to Oxburgh Hall, in Norfolk, the home of the Bedingfeld family. Fr John Gerard, another of the Jesuit leaders during this late period, was one of the priests that stayed and hid there after landing on the Norfolk coast in 1588 to minister to recusants. I would recommend anyone to go there. It’s a fascinating place (and they do good hot scones as well at a price). The house has one priest hole that has been found, with others almost certainly in place. In fact historians reckon priest holes built by Nicholas throughout the UK have still not been found.

Owen was well aware of the danger he faced and the crimes he was committing under law. When he embarked on his mission, a clause was introduced into English law stating that any Catholic layman who maintained or helped a priest would be a felon. The penalty for this was death.

He was arrested twice and once was tortured but revealed no information about the whereabouts of priests or the location of the secret compartments. The first time he loudly proclaimed the innocence of St Edmund Campion with whom he was close friends and followed around the country for a time. After being released, he served both Fr Gerard and Fr Henry Garnet. He was captured along with Gerard in 1594 and they were viciously tortured on the “Topcliffe Rack”. Under English law, Owen was exempt from torture, as he had been maimed a few years previously when a horse fell on him. But they went ahead with it anyway. The Rack is a wooden frame. The legs are fastened at one end and the hands at the other. During the interrogation process, the ratchet is tightened to increase tension on the chains resulting in excruciating pain. But Owen gave nothing away. Knowing how vital the little man was to the safety of priests, a wealthy Catholic family bailed him out of prison.

But Nicholas didn’t return to carptentry. Fr Gerard was still in prison and Nocholas was determined to get him out. In a highly dangerous move, he helped the priest’s escape. The first attempt failed on October 3 1597. But the next night, Owen’s team made another attempt. A rope of double strength was drawn across the moat of the Tower and despite the fact Gerard could hardly feel his hands, he managed to drag himself along the rope from the Cradle Tower to a wall at the far side of the moat. He was dragged onto a waiting boat and the men rowed frantically down stream. Gerard was taken to Anne Line’s house, another martyr, where Nicholas Owen was waiting with horses. He rode Gerard to the west to safety. It is a classic prison escape story.

Following the Gunpowder plot, Nicholas was found at Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire. He and a friend hid in one of the 11 holes they’d built at the hall for more than a week while 100 men tore the building apart. There were two priests hid in another part of the house and Owen made sure most of the food went to them. This shows his mentality and mission objective throughout his life – to protect and help priests save souls. He was merely a servant of priests. Owen and his friend only had one apple between them and in desperation to find food they tried to escape but were caught.

Once the authorities knew who Nicholas was they were overjoyed because they knew how significant a role he played.

He spent time in solitary prayer before the six-hour-a-day racking began. They wrapped an iron band around his hernia to make it even more painful. He didn’t reveal anything and say a word during this apart from asking Jesus and Mary to help him through this. In the end, the torturing went too far. The metal band failed in its job. His hernia ruptured and his stomach was ripped apart.

Owen’s bravery was astounding. The job he did was enormous. He was one of God’s top agents during penal times. He had an amazing skill but was quite prepared to do anything to help priests preach, convert, administer the sacraments, especially the Mass. Owen had a clear focus to his work – and it was centred on Jesus Christ. Before starting to build holes on each day he would go to Mass and spend time in prayer.

His love for priests must have been great, a love which cost him his life. He speaks to young people today about the way in which they can help and support their priests. He is a true example of how laymen can assist priests in parishes in carrying out less-secret "handyman" jobs, without fear of being martyred, but nevertheless working for the Glory of God.

I hope that by simply telling you about just three of these saints they speak to you directly. But why do I think they are so relevant for us today? The reason, I think, is that in a different way we are increasingly experiencing a world that is hostile to Catholicism and wants to see us finished, at least as a public presence. And, as well, the Church itself faces testing times.

We do not face prison (yet) or death for preaching the Catholic faith. We are free to practice our faith. But other attacks on the Church are pretty relentless. They are twofold – attacks on her sacred teaching and on her right to be heard publicly.

We live in a country, for instance, where abortion is rampant. Where registered charities (Marie Stopes) kill unborn children daily (as does our National Health Service) and may soon by able to advertise what they do on televison. They then leave it to the compassionate pro-life movement to pick up the pieces when vulnerable women break down after an abortion experience.

We live in a country where the same bodies exploit and experiment on young people by giving out abortifacient morning after pills when the side effects of the emergency contraceptive on the adolescent has never been explored. With the full backing of the Government, these bodies swarm around our schools (including Catholic ones), giving out contraceptives to teenagers, basically encouraging them that it’s fine to have sex under age, even though it’s illegal.

We have now legalised the creation of animal/hybrid embryos and laboratories can do whatever they want with tiny human lives for experimentation up to 14 days. We live in a country that has legalised euthanasia by omission, where vulnerable people can be starved and dehydrated to death. There are also moves to legalise full-blown euthanasia and assisted suicide as more people go abroad to end their lives.

We now have civil partnerships between two people of the same sex. Several politicians, most noticeably David Cameron, think a marriage can be between a man and a man, a woman and a woman as well as a man and a woman.

Catholic adoption services have been forced to either close or de-Catholicise because the law now dictates that homosexual couples have has much right of hetrosexual couples to adopt. But the sexual orientation regulations – which it’s claimed outlaws discrimination of gays - goes much further. Catholic schools will probably have to discuss homosexuality and the right to teach the belief that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered is in jeopardy.

The Pope and other Church leaders are under constant attack for what they say and do on issues like tackling condoms and tackling Aids in Africa. An increasingly secular society championed by politicians like Evan Harris want the Catholic Church to be completely out of the public sphere, to be a private religion.

In the Church internally, congregations are dwindling and churches closing. There is a lack of vocations to the priesthood. A lack of sound, widespread catechesis for the last 40 years and the onslaught of relativism has led young people into a warped sense of being their own gods.

To counter this culture, there is a desperate need for young Catholics to be counter cultural. The truth is that it’s time for us to stand up and be counted to be witnesses to Christ in a world that needs him so much. With this will come suffering. We will probably be mocked for defending what many people falsely see as medieval teachings. But at least we will be spared the physical torture endured by those holy martyrs. The key to get us through these difficult times is the main bit of inspiration we get from the martyrs – and that is the Mass.

The Mass is the closest we get to heaven while we live in this universe. It is the ultimate wedding feast with Christ as the bridegroom and the Church as his bride. It is the physical presence of Christ on earth, it’s where we meet Christ and come to know Him more fully. In fact, God created the world for the Mass – where Christ is truly present in the mystical form of bread and wine. At Mass we actually stand at the foot of the Cross on Calvary, in the stable in Bethlehem and in the upper room with the disciples and outside the tomb when Jesus rises from the dead all at the same time. As St Paul says, “The Eucharist makes the Church.” The Catechism tells us the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking." It is the thing that unites each one of us to Christ. It is at Mass where the meaning of the universe is unlocked.

The Mass is the institution the martyrs drew strength from and were devoted to protecting from extinction in England. As faithful Catholics, they knew the Mass was their lifeline. As important as sleeping, eating and breathing is to our physical bodies, so the Mass is the one thing that will feed and enrich our soul and hopefully lead us to salvation. Consider how much the martyrs did to make sure Mass was celebrated. Priests moved from house to house to say Mass in secret. Laypeople harboured them, built secret compartments in stately homes as mini-chapels and put washing out on the line to tell local Catholics Mass was to be at a particular time and place.

Whether celebrated in a tiny section of an attack at Burton Constable Hall or in St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, the Mass is the same thing. The martyrs got the most remarkable strength from the Eucharist (and the Holy Spirit) that helped them in their mission and helped them get through the most outrageous torture. We too can learn from them and gain our strength from the Eucharist in our mission to know, love and serve God. We also must be eternally grateful for our glorious martyrs and pray to them earnestly in our quest to become more deeply in love with Christ.

Talk on the Martyrs

2009-05-28T23:00:00.002+01:00

The Hull Faith Forum starts up again this Monday (June 1). I think the series title is something along the lines of "Inspiration for young Catholics today".

I have the pleasure of giving the first talk on how the Martyrs of England and Wales inspire the young. It's pretty daunting as I've never given a full talk before - I've only ever done 10/15 minute seminars at youth events. I'm planning to explore the stories of four English Martyrs and explain the numerous ways they can help young people in their journey of faith today. I'm writing the talk out for the benefit of bloggers to read so I'll post it on or after the night.

I don't have a full itinerary for the whole series as yet but when I do I'll post the details. The talks are at the Endsleigh Centre, Beverley Road, Hull and start at 7.30pm.

Blessed Peter Wright

2009-05-27T22:24:00.004+01:00

Last Tuesday I went from Kettering to Thrapston for a Mass to celebrate the feastday of Blessed Peter Wright. Blessed Peter, a Jesuit priest, was from the village of Slipton in Northamptonshire. He was hanged and quartered on May 17, 1651. The Mass was at St Paul the Apostle RC Church which has a shrine dedicated to Blessed Peter. It was celebrated by Father Brian Leatherland, with Canon John Koenig (parish priest at St Edward's, Kettering) concelebrating.

Blessed Peter is one of the 85 Martyrs of England and Wales. It seems he was from a Recusant family, despite earlier accounts that said he was from a Protestant background. For ten years he worked in a solicitor's office in Thrapston. Enlisting in the English army in the Low Countries, he deserted after just one month. In 1629 he entered the Jesuit novitiate at and after studying philosophy and then theology at Liege he was ordained a priest there in 1636. One of his first appointments was as an army chaplain to Colonel Sir Henry Gage's English regiment in the service of Spain.

Wright returned to England with Gage in 1644. He administered the sacraments to Gage on his death bed on January 11 1645. After this Wright became the marquess's chaplain in his London house, and was seized there pursuivants who burst in on Candlemas day, February 2, 1651. He was put to trial at the Old Bailey less than two years Charles I had been put on trial there and subsequently executed. Gage's brother, Thomas, a former Dominican priest turned informer, gave evidence against him. Wright was convicted of being a Catholic priest. A crowd of more than 20,000 came to watch his martyrdom at Tyburn, an indication of how popular he was.

At the end of the Mass last Tuesday, a fascinating talk was given by former teacher Jerome Betts on the Catholic family of Elwes at Great Billing in Northamptonshire. Mr Betts has also written an interestingly shaped book on Blessed Peter which I bought for the special offer of £5.

It was great to discover another glorious martyr of that period and to join in the veneration of him with his native people.

Obama's nauseating Notre Dame visit

2009-05-18T21:32:00.003+01:00

It was billed as a controversial visit. The most pro-abortion politician welcomed and given an honoury degree by a Catholic university. It was clear that Notre Dame wasn't going to back down and withdraw the invitation despite opposition from Catholics up and down the United States. But surely this couldn't go ahead without some degree of opposition by students and/or staff? If that's too much to ask, surely he would be made to feel uncomfortable by something?

In the end, the only sounds of sense came from a solitary student at the "Commencement" ceremony who stood up and heckled the President a few moments into his speech which, in large parts, made you want to vomit. The chap shouted "Abortion is Murder" before being led off by security. And the response? Booing from hundreds of students and the chanting of "Notre Dame". It was sickening to watch.

Several times, most in the hall arose to give the president a standing ovation throughout various parts of his speech. Yes, some did clap when the Church's teaching on the sanctity of human life was mentioned by university president Father John I. Jenkins. Yes, they did clap when President Obama said, "Let's work together to reduce the number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies", "Let's make adoption more available" and "Let's provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term". But, in a sense, this was confirmation that the audience had been spun by a crafty politician into thinking this "dialogue" business between those who oppose and are in favour of abortion is the way forward. They had been caught up in the mass hysteria of seeing their president who came promising change. In reality, the change he has brought is to condemn potentially millions of innocent and defenceless lives by opening the floodgates to destructive embryo research, for instance.

The most distressing pictures of all were those showing how protesters were dealt with by the police over the weekend for trespassing ont the university's land (I think?). I nearly wept at the sight of the disgusting way police arrested the elderly and frail Father Norman Weslin (in his 80s) by plasticuffing him and taking him away on a sheet. The media palmed these protesters off as "not students", "outsiders" and "representing the views of a minority of Catholics".

As a kind of attempted justification for the visit, Father Jenkins quoted Gaudium et Spes: “Respect and love ought to be extended also to those who think or act differently than we do in social, political and even religious matters. In fact, the more deeply we come to understand their ways of thinking through such courtesy and love, the more easily will we be able to enter into dialogue with them.” Father, I think that's a bit different to parading one of the most anti-life political leaders in history around your Catholic University, presenting him with an honoury degree and then allowing him to give a dose of his dangerous manipulation to your graduates.

Let's go through Obama's speech and pick out some points to comment (in red) on. These were my honest reactions when watching it live:

"Your class has come of age at a moment of great consequence for our nation and the world – a rare inflection point in history where the size and scope of the challenges before us require that we remake our world to renew its promise; that we align our deepest values and commitments to the demands of a new age." Such as aborting unborn children every day?

"We must seek peace at a time when there are those who will stop at nothing to do us harm, and when weapons in the hands of a few can destroy the many." Like the implements of the doctors that kill the innocent life in the womb, perhaps?

"The strong too often dominate the weak..." Indeed, like scientists manipulating tiny human embryos?

"And so, for all our technology and scientific advances, we see around the globe violence (like abortion) and want and strife that would seem sadly familiar to those in ancient times."

"For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It is no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated." Does that include the unborn?

"Remember that each of us, endowed with the dignity possessed by all children of God..." Surely a genetically new and genetically complete human being just conceived is a child of God and therefore should be protected at the very early stages of life?

I could go on but I won't.

Mr Obama's solution is this - for pro and anti-abortionists "to join hands in common effort" and work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies. The problem is, Mr President, it is your policies that will lead to more abortions and unwanted pregnancies. Your health budget proposals include abolishing funding for abstinence-only programmes which will lead to more promiscuity and unintended pregnancies because the young will be fooled into thinking contraception will "protect" them.

All in all it was quite astonishing to watch these proceedings unfold on Sunday. How a Catholic university can welcome with open arms such a dangerous and powerful man who appears to despise the fundamental teachings of the Church is beyond me.

EU Parliament Elections

2009-05-12T19:07:00.003+01:00

Today at my Hull home we received polling cards for the European Parliamentary election on June 4.

For Catholic/pro-life people the voting system for this poll is somewhat controversial. Issues like abortion, embryo research and population control for the main parties are generally considered as conscience issues and not matters subject to party policy. But the election is done by proportional representation, a party list system.

Whereas in a general election you vote for a particular candidate and the person with the most votes wins, in this election you vote for a party and that party decides who gets a seat for them if they get enough of a proportion of the votes. In a general election you can ask your constituency candidates for their views and how they would vote on life issues in the House of Commons and base your vote on this information. But, in the list system, you don't know how many seats a party is going to get. So, if the person first on the list is strongly pro-life but the second is a complete rotter, the Catholic/Chrisitian/pro-life voter is left in a dilemma.

In the last election I contacted candidates close to the top of the list of several parties either by email or by phone. The problem was that some of the answers to questions were less than clear and were quite clearly dodgy. "I would like to see a more restrictive abortion law", is a quote you'll often get fobbed off with.

There are some parties that may have official policies on these issues, which would ease the problem of who to vote for in conscience. Without trying to influence the way anyone votes, it's interesting to note that the Christian Party is fielding candidates in the elections. Although I can't find their manifesto on their website, it's quite clear the party itself is against abortion and hopefully adopts a pro-life position on other issues. There are also a few names familiar to me that are involved in the pro-life movement on their lists.

Less clear is new party Libertas' approach. The "pan European movement dedicated to creating a new, democratic and open European Union" is headed up by Declan Ganley, the man who led the "no" vote in the Lisbon treaty referendum in Ireland. Mr Ganley is understood to have used anti-abortion activists to campaign in the referendum but, on the other hand, is said to have personally chosen Eline Van den Broek who is pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia to top his list in the Netherlands, according to one report. It seems that Libertas' position is by no means clear.

However Catholics vote, it's clear that the life issues are crucial in this election as in any other. One look at John Smeaton's blog uncovers a whole load of instances where the EU is endangering the lives of the innocent through abortion, embryo research and that old (dangerous) chestnut of "sexual and reproductive rights" provision.

24

2009-05-07T10:23:00.003+01:00

O dear - another year gone! As one friend put it in an affectionate text message this morning - Happy Birthday Grandad! Only another one to go before the quarter century...

As readers will know, May 7 is also the feastday of St John of Beverley. Click here to see previous posts about him. I'm in Hull for a few days off and this evening I'll be making a trip over to Beverley for Mass. During today I think I'll go for a pub lunch.

Pro-Life Chains

2009-04-26T18:19:00.003+01:00

At the weekend I joined members and supporters of the SPUC Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire branch for the annual two hours of abuse.

As many of you are aware, the pro-life chains is an annual silent public witness in defence of the unborn carried out by branches of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) up and down the country. Participants stand at a busy roadside with placards saying "Abortion kills babies and hurts women" and "Women deserve better than abortion". It is done on the weekend closest to April 27, the anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act's implementation. Since then, knocking on for seven million babies have been killed in their mothers' womb in the United Kingdom. The pro-life chains aims to highlight this tragedy to the general public, give a voice to the defenceless and help women come to terms with an abortion experience.

In nearly all branches the chains is on a Saturday lunchtime but, because we thought we could get more people (and it was more convenient for clergy), this year we had it on a Sunday afternoon at the usual place, the main road into Hull from the north. For the first time, Father William Massie (above) was able to join us.

As the dozen-strong group lined the edge of the 40mph stretch of the A1033, so the barrage of abuse started. Obscene hand gestures, swearing out the window and aggressive pointing are just some of the things likely to be directed towards you during the 120 minutes. One woman shouted "scum" to every single one of us as her friend drove slowly past. There were a few gestures of support, bibs, thumbs up and shouts of approval out of car windows. These were encouraging - but few and far between.

The most concerning look of all from our point of view, however, was that of emptiness, no reaction at all, or those who quite clearly wanted to ignore this message. Many young and middle aged woman in particular looked redundant.

Many quotations from the gospels about persecution came to mind and the experience is a stark reminder of how morally sapped our nation is. I personally hate doing it as I am generally a wimp when it comes to these things but it's a message that has got to be put across.

At the end of it, however, you feel quite good, genuinely satisfied that you've done something crucially important while many Catholics scoff their Yorkshire puddings and snooze off in front of the snooker for the afternoon.

Rough calculations by a couple of members concluded we'd got our message across to well over 1000 people and knocking on to 2000. So, minutes after people drove past us or came by on the bus, we hope that as they walked along the aisle with their trolley in Asda or went through the turnstile at Craven Park rugby league ground the issue of abortion sparked something in their conscience.

The Big Questions

2009-04-21T23:15:00.002+01:00

Hats off to blogger and friend James Preece who, I'm sure you're all aware, appeared on the BBC's wishy washy, vaugley religious (at times) programme "The Big Questions" on Sunday.

In the 20 minute tirade against the Pope, he and Peter Jennings were the sole defenders of our beloved Benedict XVI. Since the broadcast, he has come up for quite a bit of stick on his blog (by the types of people that appeared in the show's audience) simply for doing his best in a very difficult and hostile environment to gently and calmly defend the Pope and 2000 years of Catholic teaching. I won't go through 20 minutes of analysis because that has been done by several bloggers (and I will get wound up). But I simply want to say that the reaction, and the vehement attack by various people on the show, is a significant reminder of the things to come for us (striving to be faithful) Catholics.

It's clear that the general public as a whole seems to be getting more and more agitated with the doctrines of the Catholic Church mainly because of moral relativism. Many think it is discriminatory to hold and communicate the position that a homosexual act is intrinsically evil. Basic Catholic teaching, but how long will we be able to profess that in public without getting arrested? If we can't predict an answer to that one just yet we can certainly be guaranteed that the onslaught against Catholic tradition will get stronger.

Wishy washy "God loves you" Christians say the Pope's "views" on condoms, homosexuality and even abortion are things that don't appear in the Bible. They are man made "rules". But deep down, in their heart of hearts, they must know that's nonsense. From Scripture, especially in the readings from Eastertide, we can clearly see that Christ founded the Church, the Catholic Church. Jesus gave St Peter, the first Pope, authority to be His vicar on earth. Here we have the Apostolic Succession and, 2000 years later, it's still there despite difficulties and the formation of countless Protestant Churches. When the Pope speaks on matters of faith and morals, in collegiality with his bishops, that's Christ's teaching. It's not rocket science.

Back to the programme. If you saw it, notice how many of the liberal times raised the voices when attacking the pope and appeared to be a little hysterical. As soon as Peter Jennings put his voice up a notch or two, the audience went "oooooo" - as if to say, "you're getting a bit tetchy".

All I'm concluding is that this is a sign of things to come. More intense criticism and persecution is on the cards. After all, that's what Christ said would happen. It's time to remain faithful and have courage to defend the Faith whenever it's challenged.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan

2009-04-20T23:50:00.002+01:00

On Saturday night I saw one of the worst and one of the best pieces of television this year - and they were both on EWTN.

I was genuinely embarrassed to switch over on Saturday to find some of the worst acting I've ever seen in my life displayed on the worldwide Catholic channel. It was a part-dramatisation of G K Chesterton's message. I wouldn't even call it drama. I think some of our 6th Form house drama nights were even better than this effort - and by quite some distance. It was a stark reminder of how little money and budget EWTN has to produce quality programmes.

Then, on the same channel on the same night, the excellent live World Over programme blew me away - or rather the night's interviewee did. It was Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the new Archbishop of New York. I'd never heard of him before.

During Raymond Arroyo's wide ranging interview, I was taken-aback by Archbishop's clarity, faith, down to earth nature, humility, humour, happiness, optimism, willingness to share deeply personal things... (and the list goes on). He answered questions eloquently in detail on his priorities, Catholic schools, the formation of priests and laity etc. One of his main points was that the energy of diocesan priests will be the key to passing on the faith and evangelisation. He also called Catholic politicians who are openly pro-abortion a "scandal".

Then, if the interview wasn't enough, EWTN showed highlights of his spectacular inauguration last week including his stunning homily. Luckily, the Archdiocese of New York's website has the video in full for your enjoyment. The excitement and joy you can see expressed on his face throughout the Mass, and his facial expressions illustrating his piety and humility, are worth a watch alone.

The fact the Mass was in the Octave of Easter makes it an especially uplifting occasion to watch, particularly with triumphant Easter hymns. And then, after the Gospel, the Archbishop opens his mouth.

He is forthright, loud, colloquial at times and highly amusing at others. He comes across as a fabulous leader and father and also as a mate. His variety of words is a craft.

It is tempting to carry the whole homily on the blog because it's that good. But here are a few snippets:

...this is not all about Timothy Dolan, or all about cardinals and bishops, or about priests and sisters, or even about family and cherished friends.

Nope . . . this is all about two people: Him and her . . . this is all about Jesus and His Bride, the Church. For, as de Lubac asked, "What would I ever know of Him without her?"

The Resurrection of Jesus is so central to our faith that we celebrate it every Sunday at Mass. On my first day as your archbishop I dream that we can reclaim Sunday as the Lord's Day, anchored in our faithfulness to Sunday Mass, our weekly family meal with the risen Jesus.

The most moving part of the whole Mass is the point when the Archbishop states:

Conscious are we of former Mayor Ed Koch's observation that the Catholic Church is the glue that keeps this city together . . . and, and . . . the Resurrection goes on, as His Church continues to embrace and protect the dignity of every human person, the sanctity of human life, from the tiny baby in the womb...

...There follows an immediate irruption and standing ovation. What a message to those watching. And then he continues:

to the last moment of natural passing into eternal life.

He then continues:

Yes, the Church is a loving mother who has a zest for life and serves life everywhere, but she can become a protective "mamma bear" when the life of her innocent, helpless cubs is threatened. Everyone in this mega-community is a somebody with an extraordinary destiny. Everyone is a somebody in whom God has invested an infinite love. That is why the Church reaches out to the unborn, the suffering, the poor, our elders, the physically and emotionally challenged, those caught in the web of addictions.

On the Gospel of the day, the Road to Emmaus, he said:

For three weeks in July, 1992, I was on pilgrimage in Israel. I had a wonderful Franciscan guide who made sure I saw all the sacred places in the Holy Land. The day before I departed, he asked, "Is there anything left you want to see?"

"Yes," I replied, "I would like to walk the road to Emmaus."

"That we cannot do," he told me, "You see, no one really knows where that village of Emmaus actually was, so there is no more road to Emmaus."

Sensing my disappointment, he remarked, "Maybe that's part of God's providence, because we can now make every journey we undertake a walk down the Road to Emmaus."

My new friends of this great archdiocese, would you join your new pastor on an "adventure in fidelity," as we turn the Staten Island Expressway, Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, Broadway, the FDR, the Major Deegan, and the New York State Thruway into the Road to Emmaus, as we witness a real "miracle on 34th street" and turn that into the road to Emmaus?

For, dare to believe, that:

From Staten Island to Sullivan County, from the Bowery, to the Bronx, to Newburgh, from White Plains to Poughkeepsie... he is walking right alongside us.

An example of his humour:

And I'm so glad Mom is here this afternoon . . . especially because there's a sale on at Macy's!

Take a watch yourself. I think the Archdiocese of New York has just got a fantastic leader.

Happy Easter

2009-04-16T12:02:00.004+01:00

A very Happy Easter to all readers.

(Pictured above is my brother-in-law Lee, sister Kate with Oliver and Fr Michael Marsden, my uncle)

Fittingly, on Easter Sunday, my nephew Oliver was baptised at Our Lady of Lourdes in Hessle by my Uncle Michael. After celebrating the Lord's Resurrection the night and morning before, the Baptism on Sunday afternoon was a great occasion.

Oliver was a little restless but seemed to be calmed when the two oils were placed on his forehead with the sign of the Cross and during the Baptism itself. There were four Godparents, including myself, and we all had hold of Ollie when he was being Baptised. This made me realise the important responsibility of a Godfather in praying for him and helping to bring him up in the Faith.

After the ceremony we went into the Hall for a delicious buffet lunch with sandwiches, pork pies, pizzas, crisps and dips, buns and booze (although I was driving so didn't have any of that).

Over Holy Week and Easter I was impressed (as ever) with the Pope's addresses and homilies. The Chrism Mass homily was particularly outstanding. In it he talked about sacrifices and particularly those men make when being ordained to the priesthood.

Consecration is thus a taking away from the world and a giving over to the living God. The thing or person no longer belongs to us, or even to itself, but is immersed in God. Such a giving up of something in order to give it over to God, we also call a sacrifice: this thing will no longer be my property, but his property.

In the Old Testament, the giving over of a person to God, his "sanctification", is identified with priestly ordination, and this also defines the essence of the priesthood: it is a transfer of ownership, a being taken out of the world and given to God. We can now see the two directions which belong to the process of sanctification-consecration. It is a departure from the milieux of worldly life -- a "being set apart" for God. But for this very reason it is not a segregation. Rather, being given over to God means being charged to represent others. The priest is removed from worldly bonds and given over to God, and precisely in this way, starting with God, he is available for others, for everyone. When Jesus says: "I consecrate myself", he makes himself both priest and victim.

Speaking about the importance of the Mass, he said:

...it is important that we constantly learn to pray by praying with the Church. Celebrating the Eucharist means praying. We celebrate the Eucharist rightly if with our thoughts and our being we enter into the words which the Church sets before us. There we find the prayer of all generations, which accompany us along the way towards the Lord.

Pope Benedict also shared a personal experience he had before entering the priesthood:

On the eve of my priestly ordination, fifty-eight years ago, I opened the Sacred Scripture, because I wanted to receive once more a word from the Lord for that day and for my future journey as a priest. My gaze fell on this passage: "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth". Then I realized: the Lord is speaking about me, and he is speaking to me. This very same thing will be accomplished tomorrow in me. When all is said and done, we are not consecrated by rites, even though rites are necessary. The bath in which the Lord immerses us is himself -- the Truth in person. Priestly ordination means: being immersed in him, immersed in the Truth. I belong in a new way to him and thus to others, "that his Kingdom may come".

Oliver's Baptism

2009-04-08T23:44:00.004+01:00

My nephew Oliver (about five months old now) will be baptised on Easter Sunday. My sister Kate has asked me to be one of his Godparents which I have agreed to. I'm told it's an important role, particularly in terms of praying for him.

Please pray for us on the Day of the Lord's Resurrection as we welcome little Oliver into Catholicism.

Holiday

2009-04-08T21:54:00.011+01:00

Every so often I apologise for not blogging for a week or two. Usually I make up excuses to do with me being too busy to post anything (and this applies to the last three days if I'm honest). But this time I have a more legitimate reason - I was on holiday last week.

Myself and friend Ryan had a wonderful trip to the Royal English College in Valladolid. Our friend Philip Cunnah is currently out there studying in the Propaedeutic Year for our home Diocese of Middlesbrough. The College has a proud history and has some inspirational English and Welsh martyrs, some of whom I've already covered in my 40 martyr reflections.

The College was founded in 1589 and enjoys financial support from the Spanish Royal family. In June 1596, the Earl of Essex and Sir Waiter Raleigh's troops landed and desecrated a statue of the Madonna and Child that was the object of great devotion in Cadiz. The students of the College heard of the attack and asked if they as Englishman could make reparations. Their petition was granted, and on September 8 1600 the statue was brought to Valladolid and given the title of Our Lady Vulnerata. The statue, with both arms missing, stands above the altar in the college chapel today.

The institution's five saints are Ambrose Barlow, Thomas Garnet, John Lloyd, John Plessington, John Roberts and Henry Walpole. There are also 16 Blesseds and one Venerable among the glorious martyred priests of the college.

During our five day visit we spent quite a bit of time with the 20 or so lads there at the moment. As well as Phil, we knew another three guys fairly well. It was fantastic to catch up with them and meet the others.

They are an impressive year and all seem to get on well. You really got a sense of reassurance that these chaps will, God willing, be our next generation of priests. It was impressive to witness their faithfulness and devotion to prayer as well as their support for each other. The staff there were very welcoming and are obviously dedicated to helping the students grow spiritually and preparing them for seminary. I came away with a great sense of hope for the future of the Church in England.

The holiday itself was very relaxing. We were guests of Phil and ate with the community for most meals. We also enjoyed a couple of pub visits with them. It was strange walking into a smoke-filled establishment again, nearly three years after the smoking ban in the UK. We did very little apart from eat, drink, sleep, pray, got to Mass, watch films, read, play basketball, rugby and football.

Our only trip out was to the wonderful city of Salamanca. Fr Joe McGloughlan, a former Vallidolid seminarian who is currently on the college staff, is doing further studies at the Pontifical University in Salamanca and offered to give us a lift there and back as he was in lectures on the Tuesday morning of out visit. He is a University of Sheffield graduate. Having this is common, we had a lot to talk about.

Although absolutely freezing that day, Salamanca is a stunning city that was founded in pre-ancient Rome. It is nicknamed the golden city because of the spectacular glow of the standstone used to construct many of the buildings in the centre.

The main attactions are two fabulous cathedrals - the old and new cathedrals that are close together - and the Dominican Church of St Stephen.

The old Romanesque cathedral was founded in the 12th century. Catedral Nueva (or the New Cathedral) was constructed between the 16th and 18th centuries in the styles of late Gothic, Baroque and Plateresque.

The Dominican church and cloister was begun in 1524 and finished in 1693. The King's Cloister interior is Gothic and the exterior is plateresque. It was completed in 1544. Renaissance arches blend in with the plateresque. Medallions depicting the prophets are a feature in each corner.

The Church itself is Gothic and receives plenty of light. It is 85 metres long, 15.5 wide, 27 high at the nave and 45 at the transept. The chief architect was Juan de Alava, who also designed the new cathedral. The altarpiece is the work of Jose Churriguera and was completed in 1693. The choir stalls at the back can seat 118 monks and is looked over by a large fresco depicting the triumph of the Church being helped by the Dominican Order.

Another landmark in Salamanca is the main square, the Plaza Mayor. This is a bustling place that is frequented by tourists and students alike. In fact, the city is famous for its young students who love to look important carrying a folder (or several) under their arm. The Plaza Mayor was constructed by Andrés García de Quiñones at the beginning of the 18th century. It has a capacity of 20,000 people and is surrounded by shaded arcades. It was originally a venue for bullfights but is now used mainly for concerts. Here I am in the background:

After a look round we had a gorgeous ham omelette followed by a smooth pint of Guinness in one of the many decent Irish bars in this part of Spain. I'm not sure why these are so popular but the poison is arguably better then you'll get in many so-called Irish pubs in England.

Complete madness

2009-03-26T23:10:00.002Z

Over the years I've met many Catholics, especially families, who don't have a television. The reason why is that they don't want to expose their children (or themselves)to the drivel that is on the box these days - violence, sex and general trash. They refuse to pay their licence fee because they are so disgusted about the content and the anti-Catholic bias of most if not all mainstream broadcasters. They are worried about the messages broadcasters are trying to put forward, particularly to their kids. I've always been impressed with families that, if you like, boycott TV. But I've always been of the opinion that television is a most informative and entertaining medium at the right times and have always thought I wouldn't deprive any children I may or may not have in the future of controlled access to a TV. In light of concerning news over the last couple of days, I think my opinion may be changing.

With still a few minutes to go until the end of the marvellous feast day of the Annunciation when God became an embryo in the womb of Mary, the latest attack on the unborn had been announced. The proposals by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) would allow abortion providers to advertise their services on TV. It's the latest obscene idea to supposedly help our deluded Government cut teenage pregnancy rates. Instead, this is nothing short of an attack on the innocence of childhood.

Since 1990, from both Tory and Labour governments, we've had a continuation of the same policy of more sex education and greater availability of contraception (including abortifacients) available free to kids as young as 11 at school without the need for parental consent. We've seen every effort to basically chuck condoms at youngsters like sweets in an effort to supposedly reduce unwanted pregnancies. And the results? Levels of teenage pregnancies have stayed about the same, if not increased, and sexually transmitted infections have rocketed.

The present Government's target to halve the number of under-18 conceptions is a miserable failure. And their answer? More provision for contraceptive and abortion services. It doesn't make sense. In reality it makes the Government look dumb - which is exactly what it is. They point blank refuse to even try to look into trialing abstinence education that has been so successful in parts of America. I expect the Government will be keen on BCAP's advice.

In this recent development, we have to remember that many "sexual healthcare services" like Marie Stopes and BPAS are businesses. They have a financial interest in killing unborn children. Will this change in policy apply to pro-life organisations that help women through crisis pregnancies? I suspect not. Through this advertising, abortion providers will exploit vulnerable children and put them in a comfort zone by making them think: "It's okay, if I get pregnant I'll just go to the clinic and get rid of it."

The dangerous suggestion of such adverts on TV comes on the same day that we hear of the terrible story of schoolgirl Alesha Thomas who died after having an abortion at Marie Stopes in Leeds. The clinic didn't give her the antibiotics prescribed to her. She died of a toxic shock syndrome five days after the procedure. Recording a narrative verdict at the inquest into her death Coroner Roger Whittaker hit out at Marie Stopes saying: "There was no system in place for the review after the visiting clinician had left and I believe there should have been."

I've already attacked horrible condom adverts promoting promiscuity more than anything on the TV and the radio. I suspect the allowing of abortion providers to advertise would lead many more Catholics to ditch their TVs.

Apparently there's a consultation on this plan that doesn't close until June. Once I find out how you put forward submissions I'll post the details. Lets bombard them with constructive, intelligent letters arguing that this move would be complete madness.