Pelagianism in Leeds

In the UK we live in a deeply neo-Pelagian culture, one in which life is self or state-made and one for which Christ is present only as a reminder of how to be nice. It is a culture which has been forged through the presence of its national church - a church which is, by its nature utterly Pelagian, and by today's secularist movement. Neo-Pelagianism is today evidenced amongst other things by supermarket culture, Sunday shopping, condom and Court Order culture, drug and alcohol abuse, free unions and "living together", the welfare state mentality, middle class resort-enclaves - all of which declare "we can make it through on our own, we don't need Christ!"

I recently came across publications from two Catholic colleges in Leeds which reveal the influence of neo-Pelagianism in their ethoses (is that the plural of "ethos").

College "A", in its end of year Mass used the following prayers:

"Lord, peace always starts with ourselves. Help us to go forward ... and to promote peace in our homes, workplaces or wherever we find ourselves ... " "Let us celebrate all human beauty caught in colour, form and faith. Celebrate the human body made to move with speed and grace. Friendship found in common focus, effort turned to common goal." "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us ... and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from ur own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

This is just a little snippet, there is a lot more! Our young Catholics are being patronised terribly by this vapid nonsense.

College "B" in one of its Scriptural Course prospectus declares:

"The course will interest those are searching within English literature to sustain a personal quest for spiritual meaning." "It provides an understanding of the ways in which the English Bible was claimed, explained and proclaimed by institutions and individuals, and how it came to inspire other forms of literary expression." "You will have the opportunity to choose from a range of optional modules; Catholic Novelists, Dissent, Faith and Feminism ... " Why choose "Religious Studies" asks another prospectus? "So you can analyse and explore such issues as environmental ethics, gender and sexual ethics, Darwinism and debates about human nature ... and to discover new approaches to ethical reflection."

Catholic students and prospective students beware! Christ is not the centre and focus of these colleges, and the drip, drip, drip of neo-Pelagianism has taken hold here. The truth is that Christ is the definitive Revelation of the Father, that He has come to us because human nature is wounded, and that the Life of Grace, which He offers, is the unique opportunity for human beings to find fulfillment in God.

"Lord, look upon our troubled times, which need preachers of the Gospel, witnesses to you, persons who can point the way toward 'life in abundance'! Look upon our world and feel pity once more! Look upon our world and send us labourers!" Benedict XVI

The second leg of my break brought me to Hertfordshire and Essex. First I went to visit the town where I was born and took this photo of its ancient Cathedral:

Then eastwards to the old Catholic stronghold of Ingatestone Hall of the Petre family. Here St John Payne worked until his capture and execution at Chelmsford. The house has two remarkable priest holes. Neither of them were ever discovered during the penal days and both could provide ample space for the hiding of priests and Mass stuff.

I then went to the other side of Essex to see "Braddocks" or "Broadoaks". This house belonged in penal days to the Wiseman family - Catholics - and contains the finest priest hiding-place in the country. There is a detailed record of the search made in 1594 for the Jesuit John Gerrard who was hiding in this hide. The search lasted four days and was unsucessful, so cleverly had the hide been made by Nicholas Owen (now a saint).

You might imagine that something had inspired these visits - it had. For my holiday reading I took with me Alice Hogge's new book - "God's secret agents". She has writen a popular historical novel about the life of Catholics during Elizabeth I's reign. The book has been extensivly researched and is really well written. I recommend it to you as an immensly inspiring account of the lives of our forebears, priests and lay people, who offered themselves so that the Catholic Faith would continue in England.

Another world

The first leg of my break brought me to Provence - I like this country more than any other. The first thing to notice was the weather - very different from ours. 28C and dry. The second thing to notice is that the village where we stayed - Villecroze - was just like "Minas Tirith" in "The Lord of the Rings".

Even the house where we stayed called to my mind the lodgings where Gandalf and Pippin were housed just before the siege of Gondor.

We had a superb week, cycling, swimming in fresh water and salt, and praying all the while for the new evangelisation of the UK.

The Dawkins Delusion - the interview

Having been challenged by some secularists the past few days, I came across this tongue in cheek little item on You Tube...

An extraordinary occasion

Here's a picture taken during the Mass I celebrated yesterday evening. Sorry about the quality of the image.

Parity

I'm back. And what extraordinary news from the Holy Father. We used to speak of "parity for the old rite" in the late seventies but the new "Motu Proprio" is stunning! Thank you, Holy Father.

I don't know whather this Motu Proprio will mean that more Tridentine Masses will be celebrated, but I think that it will have a huge psychological amd theological impact: the Mass is the Mass!

This Act, together with "Redemptionis Sacramentum" and "Sacramentum Caritatis" means not only that the period of liturgical experimentation is over, but that reality of the Mass, as the unchanging and saving action of Christ in history, is now again at the forefront of the Liturgy. And that the Church is actively drawing us into the action of the Mass (whether old or new rite), so that we might be formed by Christ and so that the Liturgical Movement might be better grounded.

On Monday I celebrate my 19th Anniversary of Ordination. I will be offering Mass, using the 1962 Missal, at 7.30pm in Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Huddersfield. (It's the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.) Refreshments afterwards in my Presbytery. If you can come, please do.

Good bye Mr Blair

Untill fairly recently, those who took an active part in fashioning society for the good of all, and fashioning it in an organic way, communicating and trasmitting both human and Christian values in a way which only they could - was the family. This has been the case down through history - such was the value that society and governments gave to fathers and mothers. The acknowledgment, by Govenments, of the relationship between the family and society down through the ages - with occasional hicups - we find finally enshrined in the Charter of Rights of the Family.

Mr Blair's Government however, has dedicated itself to the destruction of the family - to destroying marriage and to transferring the values of Fatherhood and Motherhood on to itself as the power which determines what values are to be transmitted and how they are to be transmitted. His Government has been aided in this by the neo-pagan media which mocks marriage and the family and teaches falsehood.

Why have they done this? Why have we let them do this?

This Government has condoned abortion, embryo research, stem-cell research, cloning, hybridisation, civil partnerships, gay-adoption. It has introduced sex information and pornography into schools, including primary schools. It has inserted agents of the new pagan orthodoxy into schools as nurses and councellors. It has promoted aggressive contraception drugs and condoms in schools. It has set up councelling centres in the midst of communities so as to diffuse the new orthodoxy. It has introduced the Mental Capacity Act, and tried to introduce the Assisted Dying for the terminally ill Bill. It has flooded so called "third world" countries with condoms. It has condoned and promoted the vastly inflated property market which prevents young couples from housing themselves. It has promoted the building of new housing which is couple-friendly but not family-friendly .... to name but a few. But please do add to this list if you can remember more.

The family, as an organic human reality and a God-given reality, has never been under such threat in this country. The natural anthority and dignity of fathers and mothers has never been denied in this country before. No Government has done so much to change the way we live by tampering with the essential elements of human life and society. We should all realise what is taking place here - as John Paul II did - and seek to release the forces contained within the family. Never before has the Church been called upon to help in this regard. Let us wake up from our apparent slumber!

Good bye Mr Blair.

I'm taking a break now - so I wont be posting for another ten days or so.