From the Holy Father's Wednesday audience

"The Eucharist sustains those who are tired, worn out or lost in the world and transforms human sin and weakness into new life.

Taking part in the Eucharist today is “indispensable for Christian life” and is still a source of strength so that “our life is not lost, despite our weakness and our infidelity, but is transformed”.
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The Holy Father's words above, from his speech at this week's Wednesday audience, offer such comfort and encouragement to us all.How beautiful is that phrase "Our life is not lost, despite our weakness and infidelity, but is transformed".

Thank you, Holy Father.

Thanks to the Catholic Herald

Forthcoming Marriage

Mr. E. Morton
Miss M.M. Wheelan

The engagement is announced between Edward, second son of Mr and Mrs Alan Morton of Lincolnshire, and Margaret Mary, second daughter of Mr and Mrs Neville Wheelan of Devon.
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Congratulations to our daughter Margaret Mary and to Edward. May God bless them both as they prepare for the great Sacrament, vocation and adventure of married life!

No excuses!

You don't want to read a list of excuses for why I haven't been posting lately, just the truth: the time I would have spent commenting/composing/posting has been spent on other matters that had to take the priority. That's how life is, sometimes, isn't it? Sometimes, you just can't do the things you would like to, but the things you must do.
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The builders have been in for the last three or so months, making an extension to the ground floor with full disabled access and equipment. They are now renovating the old rooms our sons used, making them ready for general use.
It has been noisy, dusty and exhilarating as the new build rose up and joined the old. Plasterers, (amazing how they get that glassy finish),carpenters, builders, electricians, plumbers, and the man from the hoist company have all combined to make a really lovely and much needed suite of rooms for our disabled sons.
Just days before Christmas, there was a flurry of painting,(thanks Ed and Bunty),the carpets were laid, and the boys were able to move into their new rooms.
Now that the work is so near to completion, I hope to be able to return to more frequent blogging, perhaps a new year resolution?

Confession

I suppose I am not the only Catholic who finds it hard to go to Confession; if the queues for Confession are anything to go by, it seems that very many of those whom I would recognise as parishioners, are absent at this weekly slot. Perhaps they too, experience that silkily persuasive inner voice which reminds them of the 101 things which need to be done, the fact that no major transgressions have taken place, or  a fulsome reminder of  virtuous accomplishments in hope of lulling the soul into a false sense of security and placing Confession somewhere low down on the priorities schedule.
If that doesn't work the next step often seems to be  throwing confusion on attempts to examine the conscience. Did I do/say/will that?
Did I really, or is it just the product of an over-scrupulous conscience?
Am I trying to get myself off the hook? So, if I witnessed someone else do/say those things, would I believe it was wrongdoing or not? Surely it should be the same for me?
Is it sin that is so complicated, or is it me?

The only way to find out is  to bring such issues to Confession; this is where a priest acting in the person of Christ, can bring light, forgiveness and healing.

I have recently been reading and re-reading ' The Warfare of the Soul' by Rev. Shirley Hughson, published I think, in 1909.So, this publication is over one hundred years old, yet as fresh as a daisy.
It feels a bit like holding up a mirror to the inner life, the spiritual life.

On Confession, and the temptation to almost despair of ever making progress in the spiritual life, Rev. Hughson has this to say:

"I do not know whether I have done this or not.I know not if my life is changed for the better,or if I am living more as Christ would have me live than I did a year ago.Moreover, I am not concerned to give you, God's enemy and mine, any answer to these questions. I have no account to render to you. But one thing I know; when I sin I can come back to Him. I kneel at His feet, I put my hands in His, I look up into those eyes brimming with love, and I say, 'Dear Lord, here is my poor heart all full of sin again; I lay it at Thy feet. Wash it in Thy Precious Blood, and make me strong to serve Thee better. I am sorry and I purpose to amend, but I am weak. Be Thou my strength; fight Thou against them that fight against me, and let me be the victor in the end.' 

I speak to Him thus, and leave it all with Him. I sin again, and again I come and kneel at His feet;and though I have come daily to Him with the same burden, His embrace is never less tender, His words not less sweet, His eyes are ever full of the same old love.

Am I amending my life? I know not-He knows. Is my soul a saintlier thing than it was a year ago? I know not-He knows. All I know is that I love Him, and I want to love Him more; and that when I think on Him my heart is at peace,"

Are you still there!

The last few weeks have been very busy on the domestic front, so much so that I have really had no time to construct a post. It's a poor excuse, I know, but the truth all the same.
With everyone back at school/college/university/seminary, I hope from now to be able to resume....and hope further that I still have some readers!

Communion in the hand

Thanks to Orthometer

A partial comment on Fr Ray's post

                              Hoodie available from Catholic with Attitude

In his latest post, 'Coercion', the great Fr. Ray Blake raises a number of questions about how Catholics who fall short of or deny aspects of Catholic teaching/practice, should be encouraged to live fully their Catholic Faith. Such encouragement, as the title of his post suggests, might involve a degree of insistence on the part of those who have authority over those subject to such authority.
I won't presume to comment on all the examples Fr. Ray gives, just  the first one, because it falls within my sphere as a Catholic mother, to have authority and responsibility, jointly with my husband, for our children.

So, this is the question posed:
"Should a parent insist his child goes to Mass? Obviously if child is seven but what about seventeen?"

Catholics believe that the Sacrifice of the Mass is the source and  summit of the Christian life (CCC1324). The action of the Holy Spirit during the Mass confers graces on those who are open to receiving them.
At every Mass, we, His creatures, are united with the ultimate sacrifice, the Sacrifice of God the Son, on Calvary. His life for our salvation.
At every Mass, Heaven touches earth and we are in the presence of Almighty God who loves us with a love which knows no bounds.
At every Mass, Jesus, the Son of God, desires to be united with us through our reception  (in a state of grace) of Holy Communion.
Attending Mass is not an action done in isolation from living the Catholic life, as if being a Catholic only counts for one hour of the week. It is from the Mass that we receive the help we need to meet those difficulties, problems, challenges and crosses that He permits, before we meet Him next.
Perhaps we have a tendency to  regard the gifts that the Lord would give us through the Mass as optional. Well, it is true that they are optional in the sense that we are not forced to receive them. God knocks at the door, we open the door, or leave it shut. But they are not optional in this sense: that God only gives us what we need to live a faithful life in an unfaithful world.By ourselves, we cannot live this life in preparation for the next life, the life of heaven, without His help. We are simply too weak.We need His help. The Mass, summit and source of Christian life, is where He chooses to give us this life giving help. We could think of it as kind of a spiritual life-support system.

On the particular question of  a teenager who doesn't want to go to Mass...dare I say it....the trick is to not allow dissent to develop to a point where the teenager believes with confidence that he doesn't need the Mass.
Start early, no child is too young (and no teenager too old), to receive the gifts and graces available at the Mass.
Be the devout Mass attender that you want to encourage your children to be, explain the Mass to them (not during Mass) before, and after.
If necessary, (how can I put this delicately?) find a Mass which is offered in a most dignified way, and where the homilies do not patronise, tell us how wonderful we are, but challenge us to be the saints God wants us to be.
Have a strong prayer life at home. Daily prayer is essential, Organise things so the children have experience of leading family prayer. Make sure they are all involved in the daily prayer, let it become a habit. Remember Grace before and after meals. Don't think that you can't introduce spiritual topics during meals, of course you can! Encourage your children to join in the conversation.
Be vigilant about the influences in your child's life: friends, school, social media, books.Don't be afraid to insist that the book/film/website is unsuitable, but explain why.
Take care that your young children understand the importance of being sorry for wrongdoing, (receive their apologies gracefully), and when they are old enough, the primary importance of the great sacrament of Confession. Keeping your children close to the sacraments is as important as doing the same for yourself.
Use the saints!
Have some good quality spiritual reading at home, read it yourself and pass it on to your children.
Make sure to teach your children that everything they receive, including life itself, is a gift from God, who gives because He loves. 

Back to the stroppy teenager; he needs to understand that when tempted to omit doing something which God through the Church, and through the legitimate authority of his parents, asks of him (going to Mass), such a refusal without a just cause i.e. illness, would be a kind of disobedience, and it would be sinful.
Yes, the 'S' word.
Sometimes you have to call a spade, a spade. To deliberately avoid Mass on Sunday is sinful. There, I've said it, but the Church said it first.

What would you do to avoid your child falling into a sinful habit such as Mass avoidance?

Rocco Buttiglione: A call for truth in politics

                                photo courtesy of Fr.Ray Blake's blog

Leading Catholic political thinker calls on new generation to defend Christianity

By Deacon Nick,on August 4th,2011

 

Rocco Buttiglione,the vice-president of the Italian Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies,has called on a new generation of politicians to defend and promote Christianity. Rocco Buttiglione is widely known for having his nomination to the European Commission blocked for upholding Catholic teaching on homosexuality.
Rocco Buttiglione stated:

‘We need people with conscience in politics. And,I think the great reservoir of values today is in the Christian people and we must tell them,you must make politics,you must enter into politics,you must make with your hands the future of the land.

‘Good things have a high price,but they are worth it,of course. If you want to be Catholic in politics,sometimes you have to make sacrifices and value your conscience more than your position,more than your seat in politics. But,would you trust a man that put his political career higher than his conscience?’

‘I think that we very often forget that democracy is a very delicate creature,” he stated pointing toward the first flourishing of democracy in ancient Greece which collapsed after 171 years.

“And,what is the reason that Greek democracy died? Because of moral relativism,corruption,” he said adding that the moral relativists of today are,in fact,the intellectual descendents of the sophists of ancient Greece.

“Western democracies run the danger of dying because political activity is not based on principals.”

Despite the dire predictions,the 63-year-old academic and politician is not without hope for the future. The key to success,he said,lies with a five-letter word – truth.

“We must bring truth to politics again. We must be able to tell the truth to the people. Very often politicians don’t tell the truth. Very often politicians tell the people what they want to hear. And,what the people very often want to hear is not the truth.”

The Catholic News Agency reports:

‘Already several young Catholic politicians in Italy are responding to the challenge laid down by Buttiglione and others.
“Politics must be done by heroes,” said Simone Budini,the 24-year-old co-founder of a new Italian political party,Giovani Liberi e Forti (Young,Free and Strong). The new party is based on Catholic social principles.
“Heroes are men who are in politics because they love their city and they are ready to give their lives for their city. And,nowadays,we have the opposite example. We’ve got people who are ready to sell their city to have pleasure for their lives.”

Protect the Pope comment:

Ideology has replaced truth in western culture as soft totalitarianism becomes entrenched in political institutions,the judiciary,the media,health services,education,and even sections of the Church,such as dissenting development agencies,and dissenting clergy,for example in Austria,Ireland and England.
The response of compromised institutions to those who speak the truth is often silence,a refusal to even recognize those who speak the truth.
If people persist in speaking the truth then the compromised institutions start whispering campaigns,attempting to discredit the truth speakers by insinuations of fanaticism,even insanity.
The next response of compromised institutions is to ridicule and demonize those who speak the truth,to portray them as dangerous,unreasonable,and wicked.
Rocco  Buttiglione is right when he says we need a new generation of Catholic politicians who have the courage to speak the truth,but we also need such courageous individuals in the Church,where sometimes the silence is deafening.


http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/european-politician-calls-new-generation-to-defend-christianity/

Thanks to Deacon Nick Donnelly of Protect the Pope 

Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Hince!

                                    Photo by John Pollard
On Saturday 23rd July 2011, our daughter Maria, married Will Hince.
Their nuptial Mass took place in the stunningly beautiful Birmingham Oratory,( picture below thanks to Catholicism pure and simple).

The bride with her bridesmaids:

                                            photo by Julie Hince

More pictures later as they become available....

Eucharistic Adoration Flashmob in Preston

Thanks to Catholic Youthwork

Aid to the Church in Need : Petition

Aid to the Church in Need, a great Catholic charity which supports Christians in many countries, will be presenting a petition to the (UK) Prime Minister in support of justice and human rights in Pakistan.

The petition reads:

We, the undersigned, petition the Prime Minister to call upon the government of Pakistan to take action to promote justice and equal human rights for all irrespective of faith or any other diversity.

The Blasphemy Law of Pakistan (sections 298A and 295 B&C of the penal code) is being used to settle personal vendettas. We ask that the Blasphemy Law provide universal protection for all faiths, with better auditing of authorities involved with its practical application, or that the law be repealed in its current form.

It would be great if as many as possible would sign the petition which is after all, just one small way of  demonstrating our solidarity with Christians and other suffering minorities in Pakistan. Here is the link:
http://www.acnuk.org/pages/petition-signup.html

Invocation 2011

There is lots more about Invocation 2011 at the website here , including a wonderful sermon, given during the final Mass of Invocation 2011, by Archbishop Antonio Mennini the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain.

Here's a little of what the Archbishop said:

In time we discover that the longing within us cannot be fulfilled by what we accumulate, experience, or by the power we wield. If we want happiness we must resist the temptation to act in ways that will alienate us from God and from our neighbour. Without God something will always be lacking. This was the experience of St Augustine who in his youth looked for excitement in external pleasures. It was only when he found that he remained unsatisfied and started to look within that he was able to recognise the presence of God and so discover true happiness and deep joy.

Never forget too, that when God calls us by name and asks us to follow him, he offers us true freedom, which is not just a freedom from..important though that be. Rather we are being offered a positive freedom and loved and trusted enough to be his workers in the world. God asks us, in the face of all that seems wrong in our world, to be positive, to build up his Kingdom and to change the world for the better. There is no place for pessimism here, for his call to each one of us is, in fact, liberation.

Our daughter's wedding....

 

Will, if you're looking, this is NOT the dress!

 .....Is now a matter of weeks away; and is one of the reasons that things have been rather quieter than usual on this blog.Some months ago, I offered to make my daughter's wedding dress, which we have designed from scratch as we couldn't find any dress patterns that she liked. It's almost there, now, and I have so enjoyed making it! (pictures to follow, after the big day)

Fr. John Corapi...

The disturbing news about Fr. John Corapi is now all over the Catholic blogosphere, and I keep bumping into the many views and commentaries on what Fr. Corapi has done/hasn't done. Clearly, Fr. Corapi is in a difficult and dark place; and others are affected by the events which seem to epicentre on him.
I don't want to comment on reports about reports, but I do want to draw your attention to two of the most charitable posts I have read on this sad matter. Try Fr. Finigan and Fr. Zuhlsdorf, and if you can, remember to pray, pray and pray for priests.

Congratulations, Mary and David!

My niece Mary, and her husband David, have announced the arrival of their first baby, a daughter, Margaret Mary.

As well as being a name that appears in several generations of my family, Margaret Mary is the name of the great saint who made known to the world  the wish of Our Lord to be venerated under the title of the Divine Mercy.
The Church has always encouraged the faithful to name their children after  saints because of the powers of intercession that saints have, and because, to use a modern phrase, saints are the real 'role models'.

St Margaret Mary Alacoque, now there is a patron!

Baby Margaret Mary has the further distinction of being the heaviest baby of my extended family (11lb12oz) as well as the first of this new generation.

So, now I'm a great-aunt.....

Abstain, be faithful, choose chastity, not condoms

 
The Catholic Truth Society (CTS) will be shortly publishing a report about the world wide Aids crisis.

From The Catholic Herald:

 The report, The Catholic Church and the Global Aids Crisis, cites research estimating that if, instead of condoms, fidelity and abstinence were promoted across sub-Saharan Africa some six million new infections would have been averted in less than a decade, with four million fewer Aids orphans created. Such programmes might have saved 3.2 million lives in South Africa alone from 2000 to 2010, and prevented 80 per cent of HIV infections in the hardest hit areas of the continent, the report says.

The overwhelming body of epidemiological evidence tells us that we have very little to show for all the investments in risk reduction measures, despite assurances that they were the indispensible solution to the problem,” said the author, Matthew Hanley, an American public health expert who has worked on HIV prevention programmes in Africa. “Many would be surprised to learn that condoms … have not delivered as promised in the fight against Aids.

“They have, quite simply, not accounted for declines in HIV prevalence that their advocates had expected. Though condoms have been the priority intervention, and been promoted time and time again, they have a rather poor track record in general – for Aids in Africa as well as a range of other sexually transmitted infections in the West. Quite simply, each of Africa’s declines in Aids rates are most attributable to … changes in sexual behaviour – especially fidelity or what the public health community sometimes calls ‘partner reduction’.”

Pope Benedict XVI was severely criticised after he publicly doubted the efficacy of condoms to combat Aids during a visit to Cameroon in 2009. Among the few public figures to defend him, however, was Professor Edward Green, an adviser to US President Barack Obama and the director of the Aids Prevention Research Project at Harvard University.
“The best evidence we have supports the Pope’s comments,” said Dr Green. (my emphasis)

Thanks to the Catholic Herald

Will not sin or Will try not to sin...

I will not sin again

I will try not to sin again

When saying the act of contrition during Confession, I use the simple act of contrition which I was taught many years ago in preparation for 1st Confession:

O my God, because You are so good, I am heartily sorry that I have sinned against You and with the help of Your grace, I will not sin again.

I have always understood that the last words of this prayer,  I will not sin again, show my intention at the moment of confession, to reject sin. At this precise, holy moment, it is my will that I do not commit any further sins.
Some years ago when I was saying this act of contrition at confession, the priest corrected me saying that as I would commit sins in the future, it would be better to substitute I will try not to sin again for the original words I will not sin again. This substitution would better reflect that owing to  my fallen nature as a sinner, the likelihood is that that I will commit sins in the future.

I have found it difficult to go with this correction:  'try not to' seems a weaker intention than 'will not',  and, to receive absolution , the penitent needs to express a firm intention (at the point of confession) to avoid sin (in the future), doesn't he?
In saying will not, the penitent fully intends at the present moment, not to fall into future sin, even though he realises that he may eventually succumb to temptation......in which case he would seek the Sacrament of Confession at the earliest opportunity, and having confessed, make an act of contrition, in which he would restate his intention not to sin again.

Mary's Meals - feeding over half a million children

Mary's Meals - The Difference A Meal Makes from Mary's Meals on Vimeo.

Check out the new website of this excellent charity.
 

The Pastoral care of couples who are cohabitating...

                                                 Archbishop Sheehan

I probably wouldn't have come across this letter had it not been pointed out to me, (thanks J), and it is a great letter because it gives clear, authoritative and succinct direction (no waffle) to any Catholic party affected by the monster that has insinuated itself into the precious, intimate, God ordered relationship, that we call the vocation of marriage,  between man and woman.

Most Reverend Michael J. Sheehan, Archbishop of the Diocese of Santa Fe,  has written to his flock on the subject of the pastoral care of couples who are cohabitating.

Here's a snippet, with some emphasis and (comment in brackets) from me.

  " there are only two lifestyles that are acceptable to Jesus Christ for His disciples: a single life of chastity or the union of man and woman in the sacrament of Matrimony. (the Bishop reminds us that it's about conforming ourselves to Christ, not Christ to us. I note that matrimony itself is also understood as a chaste lifestyle unmarked by adultery, infidelity)
There is no third way possible for a Christian. The Bible and the Church teach that marriage is between one man and one woman and opposes same sex unions." (You are either married or you are not)

" We have three groups of people who are living contrary to the Gospel teaching on marriage: those who cohabit, those who have a merely civil union with no previous marriage; and those who have a civil union
who were married before.These people are objectively living in a state of mortal sin and may not receive Holy Communion.They are in great spiritual danger.(Does that sound urgent?)

At the best and this is, sadly, often the case, they are ignorant of God's plan for man and woman.(And they are ignorant because...) At the worst, they are contemptuous of God's commandments and His Sacraments.
(how often is  this 'contemptuous'  related to this  'ignorance'?)

  Archbishop Sheehan reminds his flock that "Christ loves all these people and wishes to save them not by ignoring their sin or calling evil good but by repentance and by helping them to change their lives in accordance with His teaching."
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Christ cannot ignore sin: it is dangerous and, unchecked, leads to a separation of the soul from the life giving source of grace, God. Without God, separated from Him,  we have nothing, we are nothing.Our situation could not be worse.
The tool that is used to make judgements about, and discern, what is good and what is evil, is the conscience, given to us by God for that purpose.We have a duty to educate our conscience in accordance and in the light of the teaching of the Church. 
Calling evil good, evil which the Church has always taught is evil, creates confusion and  distortion in the conscience.Anyone who, in the name of the Church, distorts its teaching, in such a way as to make what is evil appear as a  good, does a grave injustice to those who hear him.

These are serious matters, and the Archbishop is right to show such concern for his people by employing
 a  truly pastoral approach which encourages people to look at  their situations, in the context of the  truth about marriage, instituted by God, and taught by the Church through the ages.We can and should, hope and pray that more Bishops will emulate him.

Blessed John Paul II commemorated as..... a bus shelter?

I just don't get it....

Fr. Finigan has all the details