The Penny Catechism - differences between the 1958 and 1971 edition. Important!

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Twitter is a great platform for sharing information - and this little gem was on Twitter, posted by a great Catholic blogger called Ben Trovato.

As you know, I am doing much research into the controversies surrounding the Second Vatican Council - it isn't pretty, I can tell you!  But I have a love of Church history and this period leading up to and after Vatican 2 is important. The Penny Catechism edition of 1971 was printed after the council and it seems impossible to me that there could be ANY changes to the Penny Catechism - after all - the Catholic Faith does not change with the times! So you may want to print out the 1958 version - I will. 

The changes are subtle but this is the problem. Even a subtle change of terminology can alter one's perception of the Truths of the Faith.

I have read through it and my biggest worry is no 265 of the penny catechism. It is regarding the new rite of Confirmation - I was confirmed in the new rite. I am worried. Why?

This is what it says.

The 1958 edition says - the words used for confirmation are these: "I sign thee with the sign of the Cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

The 1971 edition says - with the 1976 revision - says, the words used in Confirmation are these; "N.........be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit." This is extraordinary!

The shocking thing here, is that the new rite of Confirmation omits the sign of the Cross, the chrism of salvation, the words 'I confirm', and the first two Persons of the Holy Trinity. Thus the proper form is absent, and the validity of the sacrament is open to question (see Summa Theologiae by St. Thomas Aquinas, III, a.72,4).

This shocks me - I now ask the question - is my confirmation valid?? Do I need to get confirmed again? If I am not confirmed properly I don't have the fruits of confirmation.

I have made it a policy now, that I only consult catechisms up to 1958 and not after. The ambiguities of Vatican 2 scare and scandalise me.

Here is the link

http://lxoa.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/pennycatechismchanges.pdf

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 Francis' Evangelii Gaudium - 2 conservative priestsexplain 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.