Our Lady's Expectation - 18th December

My youngest son's birthday falls on this old feast day - which along with many other feasts were suppressed by Pope Paul 6th ( not Paul 6th - see comment below). However, when Pope Benedict issued his Moto Proprio on 7/7/2007 - allowing full access to the Latin Mass - this feast can now be celebrated. It is particularly popular in Spain and Italy.

I never knew about this feast until the elderly priest at Mayfield Catholic Church told me. 

Click on the link to read about this lovely feast of Our Lady.

My almost 8 year old boy

http://expectation-of-our-lady.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/december-18th-expectation-of-mary.html?m=1

Sequel to my boy, his pound and the slot machines at Eastbourne Pier

In January 2014, I wrote about taking my son to the slot machines at Eastbourme Pier. It was a bit of fun, but also to show him that for some people, it can develop into a vice which grips them into a gambling deadend. Here is the link to that post

http://dominiestemp.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/one-seven-year-old-one-pound-and.html


Less than a year from that outing - the Pier was sadly ablaze and the main part to be burnt down was the arcade with all the slot machines in. Some had tumbled to the beach underneath.

My son was terribly upset when he saw the news - but it gave us food for thought. Perhaps God was displeased with gambling and allowed the fire to devour it? Who knows.

How the Catechism was quietly 'binned' in England & Wales on 6/1/66. Daphne McLeod, whistleblower reveals All.

This is a variation of my article in Catholic Life - July '14 issue. The published version has the full names - I have abbreviated them here.

I have come to see Daphne McLeod who, at 85, is stepping down as chairman of “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice”, after a phenomenal 21 years. Although born and brought up in London, she lives in a quiet part of leafy Surrey. Her son Michael lets me in - he is looking after Daphne while she recovers from a hip operation. The house has a calm and orderly feel - a beautiful antique crucifix is on the wall. Michael kindly makes some tea while we sit in the sitting room.

At 85 Daphne’s mind is razor sharp and she looks at me seriously, “We are going through difficult times”. she says. Daphne McLeod is a courageous woman who has fought for Catholic education since the latter 1960s. In a nutshell the Catechism was ditched in favour of trendy methods to teach the Faith. The worst aspect of this, is that the changes were not at all called for by the Second Vatican Council! The changes were therefore illicit - resulting in a 96% lapsation rate of all baptised Catholics. Daphne has spent the last 3 decades exposing this, which is what the “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” (PEEP) is about.

Before we go into that I ask her a little about her background and how she got into teaching. “I was brought up in South London, my mother was Irish and my father had Irish grandparents. I was a cradle Catholic and we were well taught. Religious Instruction in Catholic schools was utterly superb”. Daphne has a dislike for the way “Religious Instruction” became  “Religious Education” - there is a subtle paradigm shift in meaning. The former is precise - whereas the latter is vague.

Anyway, Daphne loved her Faith so much that all she wanted to do was teach it, so in 1948, she graduated from Southampton Catholic Training College with a first class Catholic Teacher’s certificate and has never stopped teaching even in retirement. She says, “In those days we gave a religious lesson every  morning - the bishop expected it! Then we, Catholic teachers had an annual exam to make sure we were teaching the Faith correctly. I ask her if Southampton Catholic college is still there? “No, Bishop Konstant closed them all  in the mid 1990s”. He was chairman of the Catholic Education Service. He just felt it was a good idea to close the hugely successful Catholic training colleges, even though the Catholic Directory statistics showed only a lapsation rate of 10%. She looks at me sadly, “ The young are just not in church - the little ones come with their parents yes, but the teenagers are absent. She blames this on the lack of catechesis in Catholic schools - they simply aren’t taught the Faith, so they don't have enough backbone to live Catholic lives.

As well as teaching Daphne trained as a speaker in the Westminster Catholic Evidence Guild under Dr Frank Sheed and his wife Maisie Ward. This was in the early 1950s when Catholic speakers would stand in Hyde Park and on London street corners addressing crowds on various aspects of Catholicism. After a few years Daphne was made a Squad leader and trained other speakers. In 1958 her future husband was  one of her audience and he tried to persuade Daphne to give up Catholicism! Daphne politely suggested that he became a Catholic. Not long after he was baptised with Daphne’s father acting as his godfather. They married in 1960. Sadly they lost their first child in 1965. But happily, in 1969 they were blessed with baby Michael. Daphne’s husband - a severe diabetic had to give up work so he looked after Michael while Daphne returned to teaching. This woke her up! She was shocked to find that the religious instruction had changed beyond recognition into woolly classroom discussions. Daphne was amazed that the bishops approved these text books.

At the age of 50 Daphne was appointed Headteacher of St Joseph’s Infant school, Norwood and promptly imported orthodox Catholic materials from America. After 10 happy years she had to retire and care for her very sick husband.

Daphne then devoted her time to writing letters to the Catholic press, about the modern catechetics. As a result, she was invited to join “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” and a year later, in 1993, she was chairman. She started the newspaper “The Flock”, which has 2,800 readers plus those who read it online, which has global appeal - as far away as Taiwan! Daphne started conferences in London, called “Faith of our Fathers”. Choking and with tears of joy in her eyes she tells me the first conference miraculously got the exact money to fund it - £2300. Mother Angelica of EWTN was the guest speaker - it was a huge success.

Her latest expose is of the new RE course “Come and See”, which Daphne has listed all the errors in the latest newsletter,  “The Flock”. She sent the list of errors to every bishop. The Bishops Conference voted to implement this new course in all schools - although one very brave bishop wrote to Daphne saying he wouldn’t touch it! Unfortunately  the Bishop’s Conference has resulted in democratising the Church and individual bishops are ostracised if they don’t agree with the other bishops. That was never supposed to happen - in fact Daphne met Cardinal Arinze and he said each bishop is in charge of his own diocese!

Daphne also met Bishop Patrick O’Donohue - now retired. He wrote the CTS “Fit for Mission” series for Catholic schools. It was so good that the Vatican hailed it as a blueprint for all Catholic schools. However, Bishop O’Donohue said he had no idea of the enmity he would meet from his brother bishops. He said they all stood against him.

Daphne says she understands the reason behind the growth in Catholic homeschooling - parents who are aware of the lack of sound Catholic teaching in schools, go down this radical path - in some cases they join cooperatives, where the parents band together  to help eachother out with different subject specialisms.  Alternatively Catholic parents are choosing non-Catholic schools and they teach the Faith themselves at home.

Daphne says she can’t understand why the bishops aren't panicking about the lapsation rate - surely they can’t be happy with this statistic! She tells me of her visit to Archbishop Nichols - at his  invitation. Daphne took a shopping trolley of good Catholic RI schemes to show him. She says it started out quite pleasantly with tea and cake by the fire and he listened to what she had to say. He said that he understood her concerns, but that he could not go against his brother bishops - who liked the ‘trendy’ methods. Daphne simply said, “You are putting unity above Truth”, which he did not deny. She says the bishops find her “annoying” and try to shut her up - but unlike clergy the laity have more freedom to expose problems.

But if Vatican 2 didn’t mention religious instruction or catechetics why did it all change?

All that was said at Vatican 2 was that Catholic universities were to be promoted - nothing wrong with that. And in 1964, Cardinal Spellman said, “We have never before had such a well instructed laity”.Vatican 2 therefore did not want anything to change in the field of catechesis as the existing methods were working so well!

So how and why did catechesis change? Daphne has written about what happened as she was living through the changes. On 6/1/66 (spooky date!) - a progressive priest called Monseigneur H decided to change the way catechesis was taught. He was a keen modernist. Mgr H set up a committee and invited Fr R (who incidentally was sacked from the seminary in Westminster). This committee organised “study weeks” for Catholic teachers. Daphne went to these meetings and discovered that Revelation, that is God’s revelation in the Bible, was being “rubbished”. What they said was that the new theology was “God speaking to you individually in your heart”. This is protestant teaching, which is based on subjectivism. So these meetings basically re-defined the magisterial teaching on Revelation. This alone destroyed catechesis, as it says we can all make up our own revelation - what is right for one, may not be right for another and so forth.  This  had led to touchy feely airy fairy theology, which denies Objective Truth. It is disastrous as it leads to unbelief.

Daphne was teaching at the time and she was required to go to college to learn the “new religion” - she thought it was going to be about better teaching methods, and certainly not about destroying the content of the Faith. Every Catholic teacher in England and Wales, plus priests, had to attend the courses at  the new Corpus Christi college  of RE. What they were being taught made her ill - “I couldn't eat I was so upset”. She was very much alone and was called arrogant by other good Catholics. These fellow teachers and nuns lapped up this modern theology - which was nowhere mentioned in the Vatican 2 documents!

From 1966 the “new theology” filtered into the schools, which means we have people now in their late 50s who were not taught the Faith! Disastrous. At the time of the “new theology”, Cardinal Heenan was sure it would produce good results but he realised that it was a mistake. Another bishop - Healy (d.2002), who Daphne knew, was heartbroken about the new catechetics and told her that there was a war going on and that they were losing.

She says - the problem with the new catechetics, is that Original Sin is not taught, and if that isn’t taught then how can children understand the Immaculate Conception, or the need for a Redeemer? She says she came across one course book which teaches that Jesus Christ came to save us from people that threaten us! If you omit Original Sin, baptism and sanctifying grace don’t get taught.

I ask Daphne if she has time for hobbies? She looks perplexed at this question - “I don’t have time for hobbies - this is my life!” Although she is handing over the chairmanship - she will still remain a committee member of PEEP, certainly for the time being.

Daphne also had papal audiences about her work - she went to see Pope Benedict. She was rather surprised that although he was very charming and sympathetic, he really wasn't too bothered about the bad catechesis in schools. This perplexed her! It has perplexed me too. So much so, that I decided to read what the late Father Luigi Villa - fighter of freemasonry had to say. It blew my head off! I am still reeling. Go to Chiesa Viva website. Email Dr Franco Adessa, who worked for Fr Villa to send you the English articles on Pope Benedict. Be prepared to be shocked. My head is out of the sand. 

On a happier note, Daphne told me about her remarkable cure from a nasty form of breast cancer, which she is convinced was down to the prayers of Mother Anima and her order of nuns - “The Incarnate Word”. They are a missionary new order who study St Thomas Aquinas. Father Beula, an Argentinian, started the order. They have a traditional seminary. Daphne got to know this order as she had given talks to them. They were all praying for her and she made a full recovery from cancer.

EWTN also asked Daphne to do a series of talks called, “Discovering Our Glorious Faith”, which can also be purchased in DVD form. She was flown out to Alabama to record the series. She has also made a CD-Rom called, “What We Catholics Believe”. The talks are available to download free from www.proecclesia.com. Daphne’s other booklets include “What every Catholic Child should know about the Faith” - which is downloadable free from the website - http://www.proecclesia.com/what209.pdf

really worth reading! The other very important booklet is, “Will your grandchildren be Catholic” - which is a detailed account of how the teaching of catechesis was changed in England and Wales, naming those responsible. All available via the website.

I ask her what she wants to happen in Catholic schools. She is very clear. The bishops must implement proper text books like the “Faith and Life” series by Ignatius Press, which systematically teaches all the doctrines that one must know to be saved. After all - what is the Catholic Church here for? It is to get souls to heaven! No other reason.

The doorbell rings and a lovely cheerful nurse arrives to take Daphne for a walk to get her new hip working. She sees all Daphne’s literature and DVDs on the table and asks what it’s all about? “Oh I’m a Catholic” she says breezily. Daphne offers her a CD-Rom which the nurse is delighted to accept!

 

Catholic Life magazine is now available in App form and an app copy is £1.99. It is also available in hard form at £3.50 per issue.

 

This is a photo of the fighter of freemasonry - Fr Villa - who survived up to 8 assassination attempts on his life, by masons. He was employed by Pope Pius 12 in 1953 as masonry had already inflitrated the Catholic Church. It remains a scourge still but the Truth is starting to come out!

Father Luigi Villa - pray for us!

There is a theological meaning to wearing a veil/mantilla in Catholic Churches

When the new code of Canon Law came out in 1983, there was no mention of head coverings for women, unlike in the earlier code - where it was a rule for all women to wear a head covering of some sort in Catholic Churches. I think it's a shame personally. The tossing out of head coverings rather coincided with the bra burning women's libbers - who took to a 'new' uniform of black leggings - or masculine black slacks, which they haven't stopped wearing since. Now that sounds very uncharitable! I have some good friends, family and colleagues plus my daughter, who subscribe to this uniform. All I am saying, is that it has become a 'uniform' and therefore not very imaginative. Women you have good legs - don't hide them!

One person who ignored the new code of Canon Law was my grandmother, and she always had a silk scarf in her bag and put it on every time she went into a church.

Anyhow I found an American website called Lilly's veils, where you can buy a mantilla in a variety of colours, patterns and shapes - some large, some very small, some medium. You can buy them with a sewn-in comb, which stops them falling off. Anyhow I ordered a small brown one, which I am happy to say fits in my bag and it actually stayed on my head on the first outing! I was very impressed by the fast efficient service.

I also watched this Utube which explains the theological reasons for head coverings - it is rightly called a sacramental. It is quite an insight.

http://youtu.be/mAIQFPtXSsg

www.veilsbylily.com

Our Lady of Fatima - feast day - 13th May - open letter to Pope Francis

I discovered this online book about Fr Gruner and his Fatima apostolate.

I do recommend it! I met Fr Gruner a few years ago when he came to give a day of recollection at a friend's house in Sussex.

www.fatimapriest.com

Also we need to pray that the consecration of Russia is done properly, as per Our Lady's requests.

I learnt today that a friend went to see Fr John Hartley, who used to head the Marian Movement of Priests in England. He is in a home now, but very lucid, and he told my friend that on 13th May 2014 - yesterday - there was an open letter to Pope Francis in the main Italian paper, from the Fatima crusader, asking him to consecrate Russia.( The 1984 consecration was not proper as there was no mention of Russia. It is nearly 100 years since the first apparition at Fatima, and getting very late. The world is heading out of control with laws that go against nature and against the 10 Commandments).

Here is the link to the open letter

dfhttp://www.fatima.org/pdf/oltp.pdf

This is a photo of the statue which used to belong to my grandmother, who was a blazing Fatima apologist! 

No. 247 of Pope Francis' Evangelii Gaudium - 2 conservative priests explain why it's erroneous.

Point no 247 of Pope Francis' Apostolic letter written in the Autumn of 2013, states;

"We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked".

Hmm - as a cradle Catholic - when I read this I thought this doesn't sound right - I thought Jesus Christ, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity came on earth, precisely to replace the Old Covenant with the New Covenant, otherwise why did he bother to suffer and die for us?

I asked two Catholic priests what they made of this statement, because I have been quite perturbed by it. And neither of them have any association  with Opus Dei. Just regular priests who uphold all the doctrines of the Catholic Church.

Priest 1 is very qualified having a B.Ph. and S.T.B., from the Angelicum in Rome, and a Master of Divinity at Holy Apostles College in Conneticut, and  S.T.L. (Cand.)

He had the following to say; I am quoting him in full.

"No 247 is explicit, direct and univocal denial of the solemnly defined dogma of the Council of Florence: 247 declares that the covenant between God and the Jewish people was "never revoked". God made other covenants with the patriarchs and with David in which God made irrevocable promises. None of them are the "Jewish Covenant" or "Old Covenant". God made only ONE  Covenant with the Israelites, mediated by Moses, which was revoked, as St Paul explains in Hebrews - chapter 8, and 2 Corinthians, chapter 3. Hence, it is the Mosaic Covenant which has been acknowledged by both the Catholic and Jewish traditions to be "The Covenant" of the Jews.

St. Paul explains why it is the Mosaic Covenant that is called "Old", i.e. The Old Covenant, and declares that it was made "void" by Christ. Since this is the clear and explicit Apostolic doctrine set forth in Scripture, it is also the unanimous teaching of the ancient Fathers, and the perpetual teaching of the universal and ordinary Magisterium of the Church. The Church perpetually in keeping with the explicit Apostolic teaching, has always predicated that name of "Old Covenant" exclusively to the Mosaic Covenant which is made old and void by the New Covenant of Christ.

This doctrine has been also repeatedly taught by the Popes through the ages, to wit, that the Old Covenant, i.e., The Covenant of Moses, has been revoked and replaced by the New Covenant. No 247 directly explicitly and univocally denies this defined article of Catholic Faith, and therefore is undoubtedly a serious error.

Furthermore, the theological framework of Pope Francis' belief system is radically pan-religionist --professing all religions to be good, and that salvation is brought about by good works. This is the error of Pelagianism; and it is the Judeo-Masonic heresy of salvation through natural religion". 

Priest 2, S.T.L., S.T.D., had the following to say;

"If the Old Covenant hasn't been revoked, how can we understand Saint Peter's sermon in Jerusalem on the first Pentecost Sunday (Acts 2: 14-40) or the Church's Congregation of Our Lady of Sion (founded by Alphonse Ratisbonne, the Jesuit convert from Judaism, for the purpose of converting Jews to the Catholic Faith)?

Our Lord's final commission to the Apostles, expressing the Church's mission until the end of time, was "that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His name, unto all nations, BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM (Luke 24;47)".

Interestingly enough Cardinal Burke, one of my favourite heroes of the Catholic Church said publicly that he didn't know what Pope Francis' Evangelii Gaudium was all about and even went as far as saying it is not binding on the faithful.

John Salza, A former 33rd degree mason, who converted to Catholicism said that point 247 is anti Semitic, as the obvious implication of this statement is that Jewish people do not need to convert to the One True Faith, and therefore don't need to hear the Gospel message! I recommend John Salza's website Johnsalza.com.

I believe that no 247 of E.G is a serious error and Catholics should not bury their heads in the sand over it and pretend it is ok. It isn't.  St Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theoligica, q.33 says, "fraternal correction, including that of prelates by their subjects is a precept of charity. If the Faith were in danger, a subject ought to rebuke his prelate - even publicly". I would add to this, if one does have to challenge a prelate, including a pope, one must do it as charitably as possible.

Please Pope Francis, correct 247 of Evangelii Gaudium. Because, Holy Father, what is the Catholic. Church for? Is it not the ark of salvation outside of which there is no salvation (through a person's fault of course)? The Catholic Church is only here to get souls to Heaven - it is certainly not a social club. It has no business telling economists how to run economies and imply certain systems (e.g, socialism etc) are to be favoured over others. 

I have been writing this while listening to the crass and awful Eurovision Song Contest - some of which is, as my daughter pointed out, "soft porn" - namely the Polish wenches - golly what would St John Paul II make of his Polish sisters' behaviour on stage! Quite grotesque and certainly not suitable for children.

Can someone explain why we have Bishops Conferences?

I have been very disturbed lately about the situation of the good Bishop Egan and the Bishop's Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW). It really makes me wonder what their function is.

The situation concerns Catholic politicians who vote for laws contrary to Catholic teaching - in this case, the law of same-sex marriage (SSM).

The case of Bishop Egan was reported in the Daily Telegraph. The bishop publicly said that Catholic politicians who voted for SSM should not present themselves for Holy Communion, as their voting against church teaching is a grave sin, and until they repent and go to confession about voting this way, they must not receive Holy Communion. The church is very clear about this. Anyone in a state of mortal sin cannot receive Holy Communion until they have repented and received absolution. Bishop Egan was only repeating what St John Paul II, Pope Benedict and Cardinal Burke have always taught - which is official church teaching. Bishop Egan is quite right. He is doing what every bishop should do. He is witnessing to the Truths of the Catholic Faith. That is the role of bishops!

Sadly, one of his Catholic politicians took offence at this and complained to the powers in Eccleston Square (where Cardinal Nichols resides). The bishops decided to have a little meeting about this poor politician - as they do. The outcome was relayed by Mgr Marcus Stock. He said that the bishops conference had decided that Catholic politicians who voted for SSM can of course receive Holy Communion. Now quite frankly - this is disturbing and flies in the face of that good bishop Egan. The bishops conference has over ruled one of its bishops. This is dreadful actually. It says no bishop has any authority over his own diocese anymore. This is wrong. The Church is NOT a democracy but the Bishop's Conference has democratised it - very bad.

Of course, publications like The Tablet applauded the decision of the CBCEW. The Tablet calls itself Catholic but it should be stripped of this title. It is no more Catholic than the Anglican Church Times. And yet - dear reader - The Tablet is sold by the shed load in Westminster Cathedral - the most senior Catholic church in England. 

Yes I have written to Cardinal Nichols about this - I never get a response.

I also wrote to Bishop Egan with my support and he replied soon after. He also asked for prayers. 

Sorry folks, but this is a lamentable situation.

Ban the Bishop's conferences and let the bishops have jurisdiction over their own dioceses!

Any comments gratefully received.

Saintly King Henry VI, by the late Ursula Putnam

When we were in Truro for Easter weekend - at my mother's house, I had a look through my late grandmother's writings - she wrote for various Catholic publications. I found an interesting article she wrote in 1969 about King Henry VI, of whom she was very fond. I am sure she won't mind me publishing it on my blog. It was originally in The Ransomer - illustration below.

I like to think my son Henry is named after this good king rather than the later infamous Henry!

'Animal Magic' birthday parties - really worthwhile!

It was my nephew's 4th birthday party recently and nowadays it seems 'de rigeur' to have themed parties for children. Nephew  Maxie wanted an animal party - so my sister shopped around to find a company which could provide real animals to play with. The one she went for is called "Animal Magic" and they were reasonably priced for a 2 hour slot.

A team of 2 young women arrived in funky outfits and fun hair-dos with an array of different animal carriers.

The first activity was feeding rabbits and out plopped some rabbits of various breeds and sizes onto a low table so that the children could feed them carrots. There were also some guinea pigs. 

Here they are - Maxie is facing the camera.

 

For the next activity - the team produced a fully equiped doll's house. This was going to be the 'mouse show'. But these mice were also tame enough to be handled. Again there was a varitey of colours, shapes and breeds. The parents were more scared than the children.

Putting mice on heads was quite popular too - and being pooed on!

Here is niece Holly.

And cousin Henry is here - dressed in a duck 'onesie' which was a Christmas present from his older brother.

The next show was the cookaburra show - but the animal stayed in its container and made some amazing noises. I don't have a photo of this.

The finale of the show was the Meerkat show - this was outside in a pen. The children were given live wiggly worms to feed them. Luckily it wasn't raining. The team were very knowledgeable about the animals although I don't think the children took it all in.

After a good two hours the children finally sat down to an animal themed tea party.

Here are the details if you want to hire this team.

                                                               

Scandal at 'catholic' hospital - St John & St Elizabeth's - hierarchy turns a blind-eye!

This trendy 'catholic' hospital will have to sever ties with the Church as it is permitting practices which go against the natural law and Church teaching.

I have written to Cardinal Nichols - a trustee of this hospital, to ask him what he is doing about this scandal. I don't expect a reply - he does not respond to my letters. But if enough 'awake' Catholics write, his conscience might be pricked. His email is in the linked article at bottom. Remembering that famous phrase  which goes something like this - "it only takes enough people to remain silent for evil to flourish".

More shocking is this - an insider told me that Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor was scathing about orthodox Catholics and said he had SAVED the hospital from falling into the hands of fundamentalists! So, in other words his Emminence is pretty cool about the hospital referring the unborn to their death sentences! Stomach that if you will!

Catholic hospital that hosts abortion-referring center proposes removing pro-life Catholic trustees | LifeSiteNews.com

Our Lady of Good Success. Church approved apparition. IMPORTANT!

If you want to know about ecclesiastical masonry infiltrating the Catholic Church - you really should read the Church approved apparition which happenend in Quito - Equador. It is all about how masonry would invade The Church during the 20th Century.

Faithful Catholics need to open their eyes and wake up - can't stay half asleep.

If the doctrine on marriage starts changing from Rome - then red flags have to go up (watch Cardinal Kasper). Natural Law does not change and applies in all eras and cultures. If the Vatican starts going on about paradgym shifts in Natural Law - they are being decieitful. There is a ferocious power struggle in the Vatican at the moment. Before Mgr Marini died in 2009 he is quoted as saying, "Our hands are tied - we are under masonic occupation".

The Reformation produced blood martyrs - which kept the underground Church alive.

We may have to face this trial again - it could be blood, at the moment it's white. Persecution comes from the outside - and now very much from the inside. A loyal Catholic deacon (Nick Donnelly of 'Protect the Pope' blog) has been told to stop his blog by his bishop - it is faithful to Church teachings. His bishop has a link to a dissenting article on the Tablet - on his blog! 

Dissenting theologians like Hans Kung are given adulation and praise - and even slots on radio 4. He is the darling now. Prof Kung has the single largest entry in The Universe's 'Catholic Who's Who 2014' -Amazing!

There is something very very wrong at the moment. Even point 247 of Evangelii Gaudium isn't right. I am going to expand on that in a blog - I have been in touch with priests in good standing about why it is not correct. I am just amazed how few people have noticed this grave error.

Keep awake and watch out.

Are you prepared to lay down your life for your Faith? You may have to.

The link to the Quito apparition is here.

http://www.padrepioandchiesaviva.com/uploads/chiesa-viva-413-english.pdf

Why did Pope Benedict change his coat of arms in 2010? A mystery

This is quite an interesting mystery. In 2010 Pope Benedict changed his coat of arms, which is unprecedented. No Pope has ever changed his coat of arms during his papacy. This change happened a few years before his resignation.

One significant detail bothers me - why is the cord linking the keys no longer there. This is highly symbolic of the power to forgive sins. I would be very interested in any insight into this.

full article on the link

Has Pope Benedict changed his coat of arms? | National Catholic Reporter

The Most extraordinary Fashion show ever - from 1972. Shocking really.

I love fashion - and I have been to some fashion shows in the past. They are quite fun really.

But this Utube clip takes the biscuit! It is only a few minutes long and was made in 1972. The world was sinking into a moral abyss by this date - abortion, birth control etc, were by now legal in most of the Western nations. It was a turbulent period after the outright rejection of Humanae Vitae - the famous encylcal banning "the Pill". The encyclical was right of course, but took way too long to produce - 4-5 years of endless consultation and dialogue.

It is both shocking and magnificent in a macabre way - it is quite spooky and scary.

Some of the clothes are magnificent but the message they convey is possibly not a good one. I don't think it is a good meaning.

I think it is outrageous really, but I did enjoy watching it.

http://youtu.be/QMQ4JicUs1A

Do watch!

ACTA getting busy in Arundel and Brighton. Wakey wakey!

A friend of mine agreed to attend this ACTA meeting and took brief notes. I have abbreviated the full names to initials. ACTA officially stands for "A Call to Action". But in reality it stands for, "A Call to Apostasize".

Here is a brief report on the ACTA A@B meeting held at Our Lady of Ransom, Eastbourne on January 29th 2014. Present 25 people, including 2 diocesan priests.

(This was a very low-key meeting - A@B ACTA  maintain they are only interested  in collaborative ministry - nothing more).

BP, national delegate for A@B, updated the meeting on what is happening nationally.    They had produced a draft constitution, a document sent to the Bishops Conference, and were waiting a reply.   An acknowledgement had been received from Vincent Nicolls.   There were 18 diocesan groups.   Membership of ACTA is membership of local groups    (So if you go to a meeting and give your name, you automatically become a member and receive e-mail updates).   Next National Conference, 25th October 2014, Liverpool.

Discussion under chairmanship of MO. He referred to the origins of ACTA - the letter sent to the Tablet in June 2012, and the follow up meeting at Heythrop College where 350 people turned up.  Said the A@B group had had a meeting with Bishop Kieran, who said they had "every right to form groups and have meetings."     He referred to the Bishops' 1993 book "The Sign We Give" which refers to the importance of collaborative ministry.    Said ACTA had no connection with the American one - he understood the name come via the Tablet letter, which had been headed "A Call to Action". 

Asked about further aims, dissatisfaction with the new translation of the Mass was mentioned but not pursued.   Asked about "developing a theology of sexuality" (mentioned in the Tablet letter)   said that wasn't the aim of A@B ACTA.   (Slightly shocked that this should be raised, I thought.   They quickly distributed a leaflet which gave alternative groups which pursued aims like this).

The final part of the meeting was to accept the proposal in the agenda "That ACTAA@B makes the promoting of collaborative ministry in parishes of the diocese the main focus of its programme"  There were several amendments, but since there were no facilities to see written proposals, it was agreed to e-mail these and ask members to vote.

Next meeting, March 25th Horsham.   (There are two other chairmen, PM (Horsham) and JF (Cobham).  

End of the meeting.

For a very good precis of ACTA's deeper aims I recommend you look at Fr Eddie Tomlinson's and Fr Ray Blake's blogs on this topic.

For my part - I wish fellow Catholics would realise that the Catholic Church is NOT a democracy. That is not what Our Lord intended. As Cardinal Ratzinger used the say - "Truth is not determined by the majority vote". The Truth is the Truth even if 95% don't believe it. The gate is narrow to heaven - it isn't a picnic. We have to earn our salvation. ACTA want to remove all the 'hard' teachings and bring it 'in line' with all the other protestant denominations. Catholics wake up!

Here is a link to the ACTA March newsletter - do have a look!

http://www.acalltoaction.org.uk/documents/doc_download/110-march-2014-newsletterhttp://www.acalltoaction.org.uk/documents/doc_download/110-march-2014-newsletter

One seven year old, one pound and the amusement arcade in Eastbourne Pier.

My husband goes shooting every other Saturday in the shooting season - which is around 3 months. 

Our recent custom is that I take my 7 year old on an outing on shoot days (his siblings are adults, so he is like an only child). I tell him these outings are for his "social and cultural development". What we do is we troll through the Kent and Sussex attractions leaflet (from the library), and we choose one taking into account the weather etc.

Today was our last outing for this season and I asked him what we should do - it was a dry and sunny day. He said he wanted to go to Eastbourne and find a slot machine place - you know - the ones that have the cascading 2 - pence machines. Crumbs - do they still have those? I remember them when I was small.

Anyway we drove down to Eastbourne and parked practically opposite the pier - which is rather quaint and pretty with the sea in view.

The Pier houses the amusement arcade so when we walked to the end of the pier to have a look at what was on offer (most shoppes are closed as it's out of season), we went to the amusement arcade.

I gave Henry his pocket money of £1 - I have no idea what other children get of his age. Anyway I told him that he could choose what to do with it, and when it was gone - no more slot machines or you can get addicted!. We went to the change machine to get change. There is a lesson in all this - he had to work out how much change he would get  from a pound. There was also a choice between the 10p machines and the 2p ones. He soon worked out that the 10p one wasn't as fun as 5x2p goes.

On every machine there is a gamblers addiction number - I pointed this out to Henry, saying that some people put all their wages in and can't buy food. So - when you have spent your pound - over and out matey!

One lady looked like an expert - she was middle aged and she was concentrating on one slot machine and doing rather well! She was strategically putting the money in at just the right moment and direction, clearly having had lots of practice. She must have chosen one which had the most coins dangling over the edge. 

Another lesson was timings - how to time the coin so that it lands on the blank space and not on the other coins. Henry had a little success and his delight when the coins came tumbling down - about 10 in all.

I asked him if he wanted to quit after his winnings? No - he wanted to continue and spend it all. After one hour it was game over and he had had enough anyway. But it was a fun hour which cost a pound.

We walked on the seafront for an icecream and teacake in the full sunlight - golly it was quite warm for a January day!

My car ticket ran out so after 2 hours in Eastbourne we left.