In our parish there is no Latin ever. That's because the opinions of our Bishop are largely irrelevant here. If I want to experience things that are "part and parcel of being a Latin Rite Catholic" I have to go on YouTube...

Isn't technology wonderful.

They are both the same picture, but one of them appears to be tilted more than the other.

[source: Richard Wiseman]

When Christ died for the salvation of humanity, He died that all might be saved, we see this in action at Christ's crucifixion when Jesus assures the thief a place in paradise, even though he had not been baptised. Jesus clearly states that Baptism is necessary for salvation, this applies to those who have heard the Good News and therefore could not refuse themselves this sacrament.

There are many people who are ignorant of the Gospels but who strive to search for the truth. Gaudium et Spes talks of how God created us in love, inscribing on our hearts a law, the way that brings us to Him. It discusses how man chooses to observe this law that he will be judged. Those who have not heard the Good News, and therefore are not baptised, may still be saved if they truly search for truth and follow the path God calls them on; they may unknowingly become partakers in the Baptism of desire. If one can obtain salvation without having received baptism then as Paul informed the Hebrews without holiness no one will see the Lord We can only conclude that all mankind has been called to holiness because we are all called by God to Himself, which requires all of us to separate ourselves from this world in search of the truth that is God (hagiosyne), in love/desire for Him (hosiotes) whether we are aware that our love is for Him or not.

It is important to remember that it is not only those who are baptised Christians whom God has chosen to do His work (it is the Pagan King Cyrus who is chosen to re-build the Temple in Jerusalem). James states faith without works is dead and John states “everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it […] the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light […] that what he does is done in God”. Therefore those who do “good works”, who follow those laws God has inscribed on his heart are striving to find the truth that is God.

This may mean that even though a baptised Christian may have a fuller understanding of the call to holiness, because “All of us who are human beings are in the image of God, but to be in his likeness belongs only to those who by great love have attached their freedom to God”, that is to say through our baptism the Holy Spirit fulfils this natural call to holiness with a sacramental sign of our separation from the world and dedication to God. There are some who may be ignorant of God's message who still manage to achieve part of that call to holiness without necessarily realising it!

Because “we are God's work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it”, it is therefore imperative that those who are baptised Christians take up the call to evangelization and being witnesses of the faith seriously, as we understand more fully the call to holiness which encompasses the whole of humanity. It is our duty as part of the covenant we have undertaken that we make sure our family, friends, work colleagues and strangers on the street are aware of the holiness we are all called to.

The folks at Marie Stopes continue this glorious tradition to this day. On their website they have a poll asking "Should abortion be legal in Ireland?" and above that poll they write...

Woman travelling overseas for abortion, include pregnant teenagers, women who have been raped or in a violent relationship, women whose life would be at risk if they continued with their pregnancy or women whose pregnancy has a foetal abnormality.

In other words, not being a perfect biological specimen should give your mother an excuse to kill you.

You can vote on the online poll here.

The hagiosyne (separation) means that a holy thing has been separated from the world and that a holy thing can be identified as being different from the things around it. This can be seen in the example of enclosed religious orders such as monks who have removed themselves from worldly influences in order to devote their lives to God or Israel, a holy nation1, a people set apart.

The hosiotes (receiving of God's seal) means being owned by God. For a thing to be holy it must not just be separated from the world but also given over to God. For example the very earth around the burning bush or land set aside for God in the building of a Church.

These two themes can be seen clearly when looking at the Church and the Sacraments demonstrating the importance and prominence of holiness.

God Himself is by definition holy and anything He chooses for Himself is made Holy. People who answer His call are made holy because He has set them aside from the world (hagiosyne) and marked them for Himself (hosiotes). In this way sancitias takes people, places and things and puts them in divine light and majesty.

In conclusion, holiness is something that has been set apart from the world for and by God.

In his letter on the universal call to holiness Pope John Paul II reminds us that all Christians, what ever their position or circumstances in life are called to holiness through living their Christian lives by devoting themselves entirely for God, striving to remove themselves from worldly influences, in particular honing that fruit of the spirit charity.

The call to holiness is not something that is a personal thing, in fact it is assumed that the lay faithful play a fundamental part in “fulfilling the mission of salvation within the Church”. It is through the variety of gifts and talents that are bestowed on individual members that regardless of “rank or status [we] are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity".

This call requires us to place our focus on God, to do God's will by not being influenced by worldly demands but separating ourselves from the world (hagiosyne) by living our lives for God in the way God intended. We do this by placing our trust in Him, giving ourselves to Him (hosiotes). Through our redemption through Christ we cannot refuse this call as Mother Teresa stated "Holiness is not a luxury; it is a necessity."

Like the Bishop of the Forces, the Rt Rev Stannard has a diocese with no geographical boundaries but is Bishop (and indeed Pope) of anywhere that happens to be a school.

Ed Balls is thrilled.

What I mean is that if you email Bishop Drainey a quote from Ed Balls and then email Bishop Drainey again to point out that the answer you got sort of sidestepped the subject at hand then Bishop Drainey will say something...

This is what Ed Balls said on the radio:

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.

This is what I got from Bishop Drainey's secretary when I asked her if Bishop Drainey had anything to say on the matter:

The Bishop of Middlesbrough has no intention of allowing schools in the Diocese of Middlesbrough to teach ‘how to use contraception’ or ‘explain how to access an abortion’.

This is good news... The Bishop of Middlesbrough has no intention of allowing his schools to explain how to access an abortion.

The Bad News? Well, his secretary prefixed that with this...

Bishop Terry has asked me to forward the undermentioned, and suggests you refer directly to the CES in future as they are the main Agency concerning educational matters for the CBCEW.

So CES tell me they support the Bishops and can't speak for the Bishops, but when I speak to my Bishop he refers me back to CES!

His thoughts on this are very close to mine...

We have experienced a radical change in the deeper understanding and expectations of marriage. Before the sexual revolution, a young Catholic boy or girl experienced a family context in which being a husband or wife, father or mother, would have demanded a natural kind of self sacrifice.

...

It was within this context of self-sacrificial family life that a young man or woman's vocation to the priesthood or religious life would have been formed. The young person therefore did not question the demand for a life of self-sacrifice; it was assumed that this was the foundation of a good life. The question, then, was which manner of sacrifice is best for the individual: Dying to self through marriage and family, or dying to self through a religious vocation?

Now, because of artificial contraception, the whole underlying assumptions and expectations about marriage have shifted. Marriage is no longer a way to give all, but a way to have it all. Therefore, when a young person today considers a religious vocation, they are not choosing between different paths of self-sacrifice; they are choosing between a life that seems to have it all and a life that seems to have nothing. They must choose between a home in the suburbs, 2.5 nice children, and a double income or total self denial. The choice is between a familiar form of hedonism or an inexplicable form of heroism.

[link]

The priestly vocation crisis is a natural consequence of the marriage crisis because like it or not, the priesthood depends on marriage. Priests come from families.

It is difficult to think of anything that could more seriously undermine the sacrament of marriage than contraception. In marriage two people give themselves physically and spiritually to one another, the physical act of having sex is a sacramental. It is a sign and a symbol of this union.

Contraception physically breaks the sign and symbol of the sacrament. This is the equivalent of baptism without the water, or spitting out the communion host. I am fairly sure that if you spat out the body of Christ your priest would have something to say about it, yet if you treat the body of your spouse in a similar way he will probably have nothing to say about it.

Bishop Drainey has spoken extensively about the way everybody seems to think that priests are going to come from other families in other parishes.

Perhaps the time has come for him to start speaking about the way that everybody seems to think that people are going to come from other families.

Against Government-Led Sex Education in Catholic Schools

We, the undersigned, call upon the Bishops of England and Wales and the Catholic Education Service to fulfil their duty as guardians of our Catholic Faith and unequivocally reject recent Government measures forcing Catholic schools to teach what is explicitly condemned by the Church, viz: presenting active homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, and providing information on the nature - and provision - of contraception and abortion services. Compliance on the part of the Bishops and the CES in such measures would effectively render our schools no longer Catholic in any meaningful sense, and would place the faith and moral life of our children in jeopardy. As Catholic parents, teachers and pastors, we earnestly beg of you, our Shepherds in Christ, that you do not allow this to happen.

[link]

Support of the Papal visit to the UK

During the recent Ad Limina Visit, the Holy Father announced his forthcoming trip to the UK, possibly sometime in September 2010. Sadly there is already opposition headed by the Secular Society of Great Britain to this visit. The Secular Society have an online petition which has already attracted over 20.000 signatures and yet a petition supporting the visit only has 1,200 signatures.

You are asked to visit the website below and sign the supporting petition as we welcome the Holy Father to our country.

[link]

Petition to Amend the Equality Bill to make space for Catholic Adoption Agencies

"Following the loss of some Catholic Adoption Agencies, and the severing of links between some agencies and the Church, it is clear that the Government has not achieved its aim of "not dissipating or diluting the expertise that the Catholic Adoption Agencies have developed in dealing with hard-to-place children."(25 Jan. 2007) Quite apart from the rights of children, the rights of those wishing to adopt in a Catholic ethos have been trampled on. The Government must use the opportunity presented by the Equality Bill to amend the Law to make space for Catholic Adoption services. Sexual Orientation laws on the provision of goods and services should not be used to prevent people of faith from accessing a service in the context of their faith tradition."

[link]

If we use the New Testament alone it is difficult to grasp who Christ is. We have to have the New Testament in light of the Old. God the Father creates the word “God spoke” and over time He begins to reveal Himself “His omnipotence is universal, mysterious and shows itself in the creation of the world out of nothing and humanity out of love”, He prepares His people through the prophets and signs. It is then through His love for us that “God so loved the World that He gave His only Son”. He is the Word made flesh, the Word incarnate, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched— this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us”.

But what of the Holy Spirit? “God left some trinitarian traces in creation and the Old Testament” but it remains inaccessible to human reason. “This mystery was revealed by Jesus Christ and is the source of all other mysteries”.

We see Christ bringing the Holy Trinity to light at a few poignant moments, for example at His baptism, but He forever proclaims His relationship with the Father and how we can be a part of that, and also His relationship with the Spirit guiding and strengthening Him in prayer as we too can be guided and strengthened as well as receiving the gifts bestowed on us as members of Christ's family, the family of the Trinity. It is the Holy Spirit who guides the living Church today as instituted by Christ with it's mission to guide us to the Father in heaven.

Though Christ is the centre of our teaching, as He through His incarnation has become our salvation, the guide which our human understanding can follow, He Himself makes it clear that we need to place all our hope, joy and trust in the fullness of God as the Holy Trinity.

He knew.

He knew about allegations that John J. Geoghan, the now-convicted child molester, had been attacking little boys and returned him to parish work nevertheless.

He knew that the Rev. James D. Foley had fathered two children with a woman who later died from a drug overdose after going to bed with him, and yet he kept Foley in active ministry until this month.

Law knew that the Rev. Peter J. Frost was an admitted sex addict and child abuser and still held open the prospect of future ministry for him.

With an undeniable certainty, the cardinal's own words, revealed in documents forced from locked chancery filing cabinets by court order, confirmed that knowledge.

[link]

For a moment, shut your eyes and imagine what it must have been like for a parent or a victim of abuse. To know from personal experience that you or your child had been abused, to know that your abuser was still at large and to know that he was being helped and aided even by Bishops and Cardinals.

If you mentioned this to your fellow Catholics, they might have said something like this...

[I cannot accept] criticism of the Bishops who reign by the God's Grace, who stand in the place of Christ as Apostles. It is by them the sheep and lambs are fed, it is through them that the Catholic faith is passed on. I cannot believe they will give stones instead of bread, scorpions instead of an eggs, a serpents instead of a fish.

Or this...

But as for the Bishops failing in the guardianship of the Catholic faith or suggesting that they would be compliant in anything contrary to the faith, that is a criticism I could never make and could never be true.

Fortunately we have learned our lesson. We now know that Bishops as individuals and even small groups (and Bishops conferences are relatively small groups) can and have done terrible things. Or at least, I thought we had learned our lesson.

You see. I am that parent. Somebody wants to abuse my children. Not, thank God, by raping them, but by treating them as guinea pigs in the governments latest experiment in reducing rates of teenage pregnancy. I am not alone, there are many parents like me who are deeply concerned and are writing to the Bishops and the Bishops are once again covering up the abuse.

And once again, Priests can be found saying the same things...

Those two quotes come from Fr Ray Blake who is not a stupid man and who should know better. In this instance he is dangerously wrong and his words are putting young souls at risk.

The truth is that the laity can and must criticise Bishops from time to time. That's not my view, that's the view of St Thomas Aquinas:

To correct the wrongdoer is a spiritual almsdeed. But almsdeeds are works of charity, as stated above. Therefore fraternal correction is an act of charity.

...

A subject is not competent to administer to his prelate the correction which is an act of justice through the coercive nature of punishment: but the fraternal correction which is an act of charity is within the competency of everyone in respect of any person towards whom he is bound by charity, provided there be something in that person which requires correction.

...

It must be observed, however, that if the faith were endangered, a subject ought to rebuke his prelate even publicly. Hence Paul, who was Peter's subject, rebuked him in public, on account of the imminent danger of scandal concerning faith, and, as the gloss of Augustine says on Galatians 2:11, "Peter gave an example to superiors, that if at any time they should happen to stray from the straight path, they should not disdain to be reproved by their subjects."

[link[

When the government say Catholic Schools "must explain how to access an abortion" and Catholic Bishops say nothing there is imminent danger of scandal concerning faith.

This standing up to Bishops is not unique to Aquinas. St Thomas More was visited in his cell in the tower of London by groups of Bishops and chose to defy them and St Wilfrid, patron of our Diocese said "though your fathers were holy, do you think that their small number, in a corner of the remotest island, is to be preferred before the universal church of Christ throughout the world?"

Even Pope Benedict has something to say about the need to recognise the faults of Bishops and priests...

There are also, sad to say, situations which can never be sufficiently deplored where the Church herself suffers as a consequence of infidelity on the part of some of her ministers. Then it is the world which finds grounds for scandal and rejection. What is most helpful to the Church in such cases is not only a frank and complete acknowledgment of the weaknesses of her ministers, but also a joyful and renewed realization of the greatness of God’s gift, embodied in the splendid example of generous pastors, religious afire with love for God and for souls, and insightful, patient spiritual guides.

[link]

Pope Benedict also speaks about the responsibilities of Lay people...

ROME, MAY 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Laypeople are not merely the clergy's collaborators, but rather share in the responsibility of the Church's ministry, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope called on the laity to become more aware of their role when he inaugurated Tuesday an ecclesial conference for the Diocese of Rome on "Church Membership and Pastoral Co-responsibility." The conference is under way through Friday.

"There should be a renewed becoming aware of our being Church and of the pastoral co-responsibility that, in the name of Christ, all of us are called to carry out," the Holy Father said. This co-responsibility should advance "respect for vocations and for the functions of consecrated persons and laypeople," he added.

The Pontiff acknowledged that this requires a "change of mentality," especially regarding laypeople, shifting from "considering themselves collaborators of the clergy to recognizing themselves truly as 'co-responsible' for the being and action of the Church, favoring the consolidation of a mature and committed laity."

[link]

When Pope Benedict says that what is useful for the Church us "a frank and complete acknowledgment of the weaknesses of her ministers" and then he says that we laity should consider ourselves "truly co-responsible for the being and action of the Church" and when St Thomas Aquinas says that sometimes "a subject ought to rebuke his prelate even publicly". See how rediculous Fr Blakes words sound...

I cannot believe they will give stones instead of bread, scorpions instead of an eggs, a serpents instead of a fish.

...

But as for the Bishops failing in the guardianship of the Catholic faith or suggesting that they would be compliant in anything contrary to the faith, that is a criticism I could never make and could never be true.

[link]

Fr Ray Blake is wrong, wrong, wrong on this one.

Does this mean I want to be "against the Bishops"? Most certainly not. It means that I agree with Aquinas that "correction is an act of charity" and I believe it to be an act of love for the Bishops that we criticise them when they fail so terribly.

It's also a question of language. If by "the Bishops" Fr Blake means "[the Bishops] dispersed through the world, but still maintaining the bond of communion among themselves and with the Successor of Peter, and authentically teaching matters of faith and morals, they are in agreement on one position as definitively to be held" then yes. He is correct. They will not fail in guardianship of the Catholic faith.

But if by "the Bishops" he means "their small number, in a corner of the remotest island" then no. That small number have failed before and may fail again.

Which is why you should definitely sign this petition.

You will note that most of the people in the United Kingdom do not criticise Bishops. They worry about politicians perhaps or celebrities but not Bishops. They don't think Bishops are very important.

I do think Bishops are important, which is why I think it's worth criticising them.

Fr John Boyle has a more canon law take on all this here.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

You will realize that during the course of the last few years Catholic Care has been making strenuous efforts to secure its rights as an adoption agency...

My heart sank. More bad news. The adoption agency is obviously closing because of the recent "equality" legislation.

It continued...

...

Since 2007 Catholic Care has been involved in a legal battle to stay open as a Catholic adoption agency and to operate according to our beliefs in marriage and family life. Precisely because we wish to do everything possible to remain open the next stage in this legal process will take place in the High Court this week.

...

Above all, we seek your prayers especially as the High Court case begins on Wednesday. May Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, patroness of our three dioceses, intercede for us to the Lord that the good work Catholic Care has undertaken for so long may continue.

Devotedly,

+Rawsthorne +Roche +Drainey

Finally! A bit of good news. Somebody is actually fighting to be Catholic.

As Joe points out, this fight is almost certainly grounded in lay support. If Bishops Rawsthorne, Roche and Drainey had faced the situation Bishop O'Donoghue faced in Lancaster I highly doubt this fight would have continued.

In other words, don't be impressed with the Bishops. Be impressed with the trustees at Catholic Care. If the Bishops had done their job in the first place, Catholic Care wouldn't have to fight this fight at all.

Did I mention Catholic schools recently?

We took the girls to the park today and while Ella pushed the swings I had a go at riding through a giant puddle...

This is the part where my foot got wet...

I bet they are loving it in the curial office!

If you would like to see some actual religious skateboarding, this is Friar Gabriel...

More photos of my fun here.

It is Christ's humanity that has made it possible for us to join to Him with our sacrifice, just because Jesus has carried out the tough part it is no bed of roses for us. The only way we can participate is if we truly follow Christ for, “Whoever follows after Christ, the perfect man, becomes himself more of a man.” The whole of man both body and soul is sanctified because the Word of the Father was 'assumed' through the incarnation of His Son and by the Paschal Mystery, and through this the whole of God's creation, which was put under the charge of man is also sanctified. Therefore because “Salvation is known only to God, it will be through more than simply their supernatural elevation brought about by Christ's union with humanity. It will be through their “being made partners... in the paschal mystery””. If we truly desire to be reconciled with God in the fullest sense of the Trinity we will follow Christ. For through him we “have access to the Father by one Spirit.”. Therefore though He is only one person of the Trinity, Christ is the source, content and objective of catechesis in light of the whole Trinity.

It is therefore important that we make Christ the centre of our Christian living, we must strive to live our lives as Christ with that self-sacrificing love he gave for us on the Cross. We can achieve this through the grace that God gives us and by our receiving of the Holy Eucharist in mass, the cleaning of our souls in confession and the deepening of our prayer lives to say the least. We are given a fresh life through baptism, but this is not enough we still bear the burdens of sin and must redeem ourselves to God in our daily lives always striving always to follow the path Christ lay before us.

It is also important to note that because Christ died for the salvation of all “Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and his Church, but seeks truth and does the will of God in accordance to his understanding of it, can be saved” through the baptism of desire.

Har har. Of course if the artist had actually seen a Catholic School recently they would have drawn an ageing feminist asking "learners" (that's what we have to call them these days) to put their brain in the recycle bin and do some colouring in before watching a DVD.

The next cartoon makes me think maybe the atheists are on to something after all...

When it comes to sacrificing children, there's nobody better than Catholic Education Services.

Cartoons were found here and here.

The Catholic Education Service has completely messed up on this one, and heads will have to roll. Not much can be salvaged, and it's time for an admission of mistakes and a chance for a fresh start at the CES.

They were given an excellent opportunity - invited in right at the start of the Govt's discussions, given a place on the planning committee etc. They should have made the Catholic position clear, offered statistics and information showing - which is now readily acknowledged - that current fashionable forms of sex-ed, used for the past two decades, have resulted in steadily rising rates of teenage pregnancy, abortion, and STDs, discussed some radically alternative ideas complete with plenty of back-up material (lots available both here and in the USA, Australia,etc. If then they were outnumbered and the same old ghastly rubbish-ideas were adopted, they should have produced a minority report and resigned - killing two birds with one stone by producing some sound ideas for the future while possibly helping to squelch the Govt scheme. But no. They just sat and nodded the whole project through on the Govt's terms and are now revealed as essentially part of the Govt bureaucracy and unconnected with the reality of the Church and the Christian vision of life and love.

...

Verdict from Catholic laity and clergy: NO CONFIDENCE in the CES in its present form. Time for a complete overhaul. Over to you, dear Bishops - and with the words of the Holy Father ringing in your ears, please take courage and take the action needed.

[link]

But why therefore does Jesus need to be fully God?

Firstly, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways”, but it is difficult to explain and pass on the will of God as a human messenger as our human minds cannot fully comprehend the great mysteries, the “master plan” that God has for us. It is difficult to see that “It is man himself who must be saved: it is mankind who must be renewed”. So being fully God, Jesus is able to “teach with authority” because He does understand the full will and plan of God and He is able to pass it onto us by human means as described above. Secondly, by being God He can conform Himself to God's will, having that deeper relationship with God and being able to carry out and overcome the challenges before Him as a man that we struggle to achieve being with original sin. Thirdly, being God He is able to pay more satisfaction for our salvation than any price required. By salvation we do not mean “an immanent salvation, meeting material or even spiritual needs, restricted to the framework of temporal existence and completely identified with temporal desires, hopes, affairs and struggles, but a salvation which exceeds all these limits in order to reach fulfilment in a communion with the one and only divine Absolute: a transcendent and eschatological salvation, which indeed has its beginning in this life but which is fulfilled in eternity”. In short if a human was to die on the cross it would not be enough, it is only achievable by God Himself.

Fourthly, God can see the pain and suffering of man and how often man falls away from Him because of this. God loves us so much that because He wants us to have freewill and freedom. He cannot just choose to make everything good without limiting that freedom, so instead He comes to share in that suffering with us. If we look at the temptations of the devil when Jesus is in the desert they are very significant, the turning of stones to bread in Luke 4:3 for example, “Is there anything more opposed to belief in the existence of a good God and a Redeemer of making, than world hunger? Shouldn't it be the first test of the Redeemer, before the world's gaze and on the world's behalf, to give it bread and end all hunger?”. The Pope also reflects on the significance of the third temptation revealing how the qualities of the saviour/messiah were not those expected by the Jews at the time. Therefore “Jesus has to enter into the drama of human existence, for that belongs to the core of his mission; he has to penetrate it completely, down to its uttermost depths, in order to find the “lost sheep”, to bear it on his shoulders and bring it home”.

As ever, if you read nothing else, read John Smeaton: Faith schools must promote abortion, Ed Balls confirms

Kate points out that the name of Archbishop Nichols has been dragged in to the debate with Ed Balls suggesting that Archbishop Nichols is in favour of the bill. That was two days ago and still no response from the Archbishop. Qui tacet consentire.

Damian Thompson is equally unimpressed... "Bishop Malcolm McMahon, who holds the education brief in the Bishops’ Conference: not available." "Oona Stannard, head of the Catholic Education Service (CES): not available."

Damian also asks "Archbishop Nichols, tell us: will Catholic schools provide abortion information, as the Government insists?" A question all Bishops will need to ask themselves as they are all ultimately responsible for the schools in their own diocese.

Laurence England asks "Where are they now?" (Bishops McMahon and Nichols that is) while I might ask the same of Bishop Drainey.

Jackie Parkes and Richard Marsden have more on Balls radio appearance this morning.

Fr Ray Blake suggests we should direct more of our ire at the Bishops involved... "There has been serious criticism of the Catholic Education Service, at least on the blogosphere and amongst "thinking" Catholics. Really the criticism should be aimed at Bishop McMahon, and his predecessor Archbishop Nichols, who is responsible for the CES."

For a bit of light relief, read the comments on atheist Free Thinker magazine where they are all terribly dissapointed in Ed Balls saying things like "This is no surprise from our corrupt and lying government; they cravenly give in to the demands of the religious zealots just to chase votes.", they really are deluded.

I have saved the gravest of questions until last: Fr Tim Finegan: Can Catholic schools co-operate in killing babies or not? And I agree with Mullier Fortis: "The Bishops have got to decide whether they wish to follow God or Caesar. To be silent any longer is to cooperate in grave evil."

As many blogs have said already: St John Fisher and St Thomas More, pray for us!

To: bishopsecretary@dioceseofmiddlesborough.co.uk
Subject: The Children, Schools and Families Bill

Hi There,

Does Bishop Drainey have any public comment regarding the Children, Schools and Families bill which was passed in the commons yesterday with a majority of 91?

As Ed Balls said on Radio 4 yesterday:

"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."

Many thanks,

James

I sent that at 8.30 this morning before leaving for work so I was quite impressed when a reply came in at 11 o'clock. Unfortunately, I was not so impressed with the contents...

Bishop Terry has asked me to send you the following response:

“The Bishop and the Schools Service of the Diocese of Middlesbrough welcomes the decision of Parliament yesterday to include amendments to the Children’s Schools and Families Bill that will allow PSHE and SRE to be delivered within the context of the religious character of each school. Catholic schools will continue to respond appropriately to the challenges that face young people as they become aware of the human potential for deep and lasting relationships and of human sexuality. The Act passed yesterday reaffirms the partnership between the State and the Catholic Church in providing schools with a religious character and the responsibility of Catholic schools to ensure that everything that is taught about relationships and sexuality is done so clearly within the context of the Church’s teaching.”

[name]

I find it hard to believe that Bishop Drainey wrote this. I've interviewed Bishop Drainey, I had a meeting with him long before that, I read all of his pastoral letters and seen him do live question and answer sessions with young people on several occasions. This is not the way he speaks.

This is beurocratic committee speak that somebody has surely written on his behalf and wonder if he has even seen it.

Note the slimy, cretinous language... "within the context of the Church's teaching." Not according to the Church's teaching but in the context of it?

People don't talk that way in real life, not unless they are deliberately trying to be ambiguous. If Bishop Drainey asked me to do something, I doubt he would be happy if I responded "I will act in the context of what you want..."

The other bit that upset me is the fact that I asked if Bishop Drainey had a public comment regarding the bill and they sent me a comment about the ammendment. Another cop out.

This is the equivalent of you saying "James, you've just heard that you have to saw your own leg off, got anything to say about that?" and me saying "I welcome the ammendment saying I can saw my leg off according to the religious character of my school". Actually, I think I might have something to say about the whole leg sawing thing.

So I replied...

"The Bishop and the Schools Service of the Diocese of Middlesbrough welcomes the decision of Parliament yesterday to include amendments to the Children’s Schools and Families Bill that will allow PSHE and SRE to be delivered within the context of the religious character of each school."

That's a response to the ammendment to the bill. Does Bishop Drainey have a public response to the full bill which, as Ed Balls stated means that schools "must explain how to access an abortion"

Thanks,

James

At the very least, if "The Bishop and the Schools Service of the Diocese of Middlesbrough" have any integrity at all, they need to respond to that phrase from the lips of Ed Balls, that Catholic schools "must explain how to access an abortion".

So far I haven't had a reply but it's early days yet. I'll let you know as soon as I do...

I tell my relatives and best friends, ‘If you want your children to fight for their faith, send them to public school. If you want them to lose their faith, send them to Catholic school.’

[link]

The time has come to kick things up a notch and I am looking for people who would be willing to act as counter signatories on letters to Bishop Drainey and to Rome. A letter from several people carries more weight than a letter from one.

I'm not asking you to say "I agree with James Preece about everything" because I'm sure you don't. I'm asking you to look at short, clearly worded letters and consider adding your name to them before I post them. You can agree with some letters and not others and I will definitely welcome comments. I guarantee I will not put your name on anything without your explicit consent.

If you would like to be added to my list of people, please send an email to james@lovingit.co.uk (please do so even if I already know you).

I would be especially grateful for some special courage from priests in this matter. Your details will be kept 100% confidential and if you work in the curial office and just want to get a sneaky peak, that's fine too.