Select Committee analysis

Thanks to Dr Tom Ward of the National Association of Catholic Families for this analysis (condensed) of the recent session of the Commons Select Committee for Schools meeting with the Bishop of Lancaster and others.
In the mind of the Committee the first issue was the elimination of selection of candidates for Faith schools which they considered to be to the disadvantage of “the poor”.
The measurements of poverty being used were the percentage of special-need pupils within the school and the uptake of free school dinners (Community schools 15%, Catholic schools 13.50 % and Church of England 11 %.). One had the distinct impression that the Committee had already formed the opinion that Faith schools were guilty of such discrimination.
The second leitmotiv of the Committee’s concern was ‘community cohesion’. On this, a list of specific mandatory proposals were sought from the academics on tightening up admission policy to Faith schools These were to spell out what schools must do rather than relying on prohibitions.
The clearest evidence was given by Professor Mark Halstead of the University of Leeds.
In answer to the question “In what sense can you blame Faith Schools for a failure of social cohesion?” Professor Halstead made the following points:
· Multiculturalism is the problem, not the Faith Schools.
· People, locally, were very suspicious of the government’s Community Cohesion policy.
· In the Bradford riots, there had not been one rioter from a Faith School.
· Young Moslems learnt to drink a bottle of vodka not at the mosque, not at home, but in the Community schools.
· What they learnt at Community schools caused a confusing conflict with the values both of their homes and the Mosque.
· Only 5-6% of Moslems go to Faith Schools.
Professor Halstead concluded firmly that Faith Schools could not be blamed for the lack of social cohesion.
Fiona Mc Taggart MP (Labour) expressed her concern that government policy on social cohesion was unpopular. ‘Did the teachers need more guidance on this, indeed did the policy need more resources?”, she asked. Professor Halstead replied that Faith groups were largely unaware of the government’s policy on social cohesion but believed that the issue was moral rather than political.
When challenged on whether Faith Schools used the prism of religion to view the issue of tolerance, Professor Halstead said that social cohesion is a problem of adults not of children. He believed that the key issue was education in moral values. He added that the teaching of moral education was taken very seriously in Moslem schools, whereas the teaching of morality was squeezed out in Community schools.
In reply to Fiona McTaggart’s question on whether Faith Schools were better at teaching tolerance, Professor Halstead replied that tolerance implied a framework of values as a starting point. To be tolerant you have to have your own values and, in this, Faith Schools had an advantage over Community schools.

My conclusions (Tom Ward)
1. The dominant section of the select Committee would allow Faith Schools, provided that they conformed to their political agenda - i.e. that theological and moral absolutes were absent.
2. There was no hint of understanding on their part that the Government’s unremitting attack on marriage and the family was largely responsible for child poverty.
3. Basically, they regarded the solution as the problem and the problem as the solution.
Following this part of the Hearing the Right Reverend Patrick O’Donoghue Bishop of Lancaster was questioned.
Bishop O’Donoghue told the Committee that in the Lancaster Diocese he has 84 schools with between 13% to 50% Moslem pupils and an increasing number of Eastern European children. He dismissed the school dinner statistics as not relevant to the Catholic schools, and stated that there was no evidence that the Catholic system discriminated against the poor.
On his Fit for Mission document he made the following points:
· God would be at the centre of his schools, as would Catholic morality.
· Religious education was no longer to be marginalised in the schools in his diocese, but rather it must now be clear and pervade every aspect of the school.
· Anti-Catholic books, such as the work of Marx and Camus, would be banned. This vetting would take place throughout Catholic schools in his diocese.
· Red Nose Day and Amnesty International would no longer be supported, because of their support for abortion.
· With conviction and passion he said that the Church was under attack in the media and in certain political circles.
· His intention was to develop and deepen young peoples’ faith.
· On being accused of “proselytising”, Bishop O’Donoghue said that he would have nothing to do with coercion, pointing out that they were Catholic schools and that parents chose them.
When he insisted that the Faith not be compartmentalised in his schools, an MP claimed that the Bishop was going to “evangelise every pupil in the school”. Bishop O’Donoghue answered that they have their freedom to accept or reject what was taught - as indeed was shown by the figures for non-practising former pupils of Catholic schools. When asked by an MP if he felt that he would have been given such a difficult secularist cross examination were he a Moslem, the Bishop adroitly replied by saying that Moslems in Catholic schools were very sympathetic to Our Lady.
Mr Sheerman disrespectfully asked whether or not in the light of “the change of occupant in the Vatican” the Bishop supported combined Catholic/Anglican ecumenical schools. Bishop O’Donoghue insisted that Fit for Mission? Schools would apply, and that parents would have to approve of the schools.
When challenged on Fit for Mission? Schools, he said he would not change his policy, insisting that without identity, sustainability and mission there would be no survival for his schools. He made it clear that 800,000 Catholics voted with their feet for Catholic schools, that Roman Catholics pay tax twice, first as citizens and secondly through the Church which pays 10% of the capital cost. In addition they were also very generous in their financial support for their schools. Furthermore, that Catholics rights are enshrined in the 1944 Act and in European Law. When challenged that the Catholic Hierarchy had fought “tooth and nail against an admission quota for non Catholics he replied, “and we will again!”
I was left with following impressions:
1. Against a hostile cross-examination, the Bishop had courageously defended God and our children’s right to be evangelised.
2. The Bishop has, with skill and clarity, defended the Church’s vision of Catholic Education as represented by Fit for Mission? Schools.
3. His dignity, goodness and competence were, on the whole, respected by hostile politicians who might otherwise have been yet more aggressive.
4. In this battle with the dominant neo-pagan culture, the Bishop has bought us a little time to begin the re-evangelisation of our youth.
6. The issue of the parents being primary educators was firmly emphasised.
7. In this, the centre of Common Law Jurisdiction, the war between the Civilisation of Love and the dominant Culture of Death will not be won by the secularists, few of whom will go to the stake for their disbeliefs. Rather it will be lost by Catholics if other Bishops fear to support Bishop O’Donoghue’s courageous witness to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
8. Every Catholic family in the country owes a debt of gratitude to Bishop O'Donoghue for Fit for Mission? Schools and for his defence of Catholic truth against a liberal Parliament.

Holy Week and God's plan is clearer.

In these days the architecture of evangelisation is being revealed by the Holy Spirit in our celebration of the Paschal Mystery and in its expression in the Church.

The themes for the three days of catechesis during World Youth Day have been announced; they are to be led by bishops from around the world in over 300 locations in Sydney.

On Wednesday, July 16, the theme will be the call to live in the Holy Spirit, drawing from Galatians 5:25.

On Thursday, July 17, the catechesis will consider the Holy Spirit as the soul of the Church, as expressed in 1 Corinthians 12:13.

And on Friday, July 18, the teaching will focus on the Holy Spirit as the principal agent of mission, seen in Acts 1:8.

"Catechesis represents the spiritual heart of World Youth Day, when young people from various backgrounds and circumstances unite to listen, reflect, discuss and pray in harmony," said Auxillary Bishop Fisher, the Co-ordinator of Sydney World Youth Day '08. "I encourage all pilgrims who are attending WYD08 to begin reflecting on the catechesis themes now," he said, "so that come July, they are spiritually prepared to witness the Spirit and gain as much as they can from their WYD08 experience."

Here, the Source of life, holiness and culture is being revealed in our midst and He will bring great joy.

Sheerman and friends

There is something very covert happening here and we should know about it: the media is beginning to focus in on the Christian life in a way which will make Christians, and especially Catholics, feel vulnerable - the secular media is going to intrude into the Christian Life and begin the explain the Faith as a belittling and destructive force.

Barry Sheerman MP has taken up the baton in a mild way on behalf of Parliament. Others, such as Richard Dawkins already hold positions, created by the Government, to lead and inform popular media-making in issues related to faith, and especially the Catholic Faith. You can see him, and Sheerman, with others taking part in a TV debate (on Youtube) about the the place and influence of religion in schools. In fact, programmes such as these are very good to watch and analyse in order to see trends taking place in our culture. The media itself also has a 'big handle' on this and we are beginning to see a new phenomenon in TV: cameras entering into Catholic Churches and presenters speaking in a cynical way about the Christian Life. A good example is here. In this video insert you can see presenters, including so-called Catholics, speaking about the Faith in a disparaging way.

You may think that I am overplaying the point. However, over the past couple of decades we have seen the media intrude so intimately into the Family, that it has made families become and feel utterly vulnerable. The media has made society question the purpose and meaning of the family to such an extent that, for many in our society, the family has become an obstacle to the individual's freedom. Freedom of choice, over and against others, has corrupted our understanding of the Family and destroyed its irreplacebale role in society. And this has happened through the incisive and cynical way that cameras and presenters have entered into the privilaged territory of the family. The media has represented the family as an impersonal reality, it has presented false models of the family, especially in the Soaps, it has dominated the family and made it question itself, and it has offered 'the media family' so that living family life vicariously through TV dramas, people can step aside, as it were, from their real life mission.

This same process is now beginning to happen to the Church and its life. So, what you see now on the TV is the start of a concerted effort to make people of faith, and especially Catholics, feel vulnerable and seem out of sink with the general tenour of society today. And we will see the media and its cameras intrude more and more into churches and conciences, presenting them in a cynical and contemptuous way. Look at how the media has damaged families - do not under estimate the immense impact that this same project will have upon the Church.

"The time is sure to come when, far from being content withsound teaching, people will be avid for the latest novelty and collect themselves a wholoe series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then, instead of listening to the truth, they will turn to myths." (2 Tim 4: 3-4)

We need to be aware of this, so that the pagan media doesn't cloud our own vision, and so that we are able to respond directly to every instance where the media will play-down or distort the Christian Life.

The beauty of Fatherhood

With great joy we keep the Feast today of St Joseph, the great model of manhood for humanity and for the Church. St Joseph is the greatest model of manhood and of fatherhood for he embraced all the gifts and qualities which God desired for him. Its is here, in his openness to God's plan for him, for his life and for his personality that we see a man embracing the whole truth about spiritual fatherhood - something which God desires all men to have - the mission to create and form goodness in the world. And he embraces also the second stage of fatherhood given to many men, that of becoming a parent. Here we see St Joseph striving, like God, for his family and being a real guardian of his son's soul. What a great model of manhood and fatherhood, and how dis-similar St Joseph is to secular models. John Eldridge in his insightful book about men - "Wild at heart" - speaks about how false are the secular models of manhood. He cites two important examples: John Wayne (at least, the characters he plays) and James Bond. Both these represent men who are utterly sufficient in themselves; they do not need any help, they do not need God. Whereas, every man in fact needs to be plugged into God, who alone can lead him to the full stature of his personality. How great it was for the whole world to see spiritual fatherhood in operation in the life of JPII, and again in B16, the world's "grandfather". And how great it is when, in our parishes, we see fathers at Mass with their children or spending time with them; whenever we see fatherhood in action.

When the qualities of God are seen in men, then we can see more clearly the beauty of God's plan and the irreplaceable role of the father in society.

Sheerman's get-together

Today the courageous Bishop of Lancaster faced Barry Sheerman MP and his Commons Select Committee for Schools at Westminster. You can watch it here; but I warn you, it lasts two and a half hours and you will need to skip through most of it.

Sheerman's "umming" and "erring" made a very shabby start to the meeting, and then all he did was use statistics to fence with the Bishop. Statistics are a useful tool in such a situation because they prevent a real meeting between human beings. But in this case they also suppressed the ability of the Bishop to speak about the value of the Gospel and the dignity of the person redeemed by Christ. Sheerman's pragmatist's challenge to the Catholic Church proved to be a false-start today. The time has not yet come for a real meeting between the Catholic Church and the UK's arch-liberal Parliament. Perhaps today's meeting was seen by some in the Parliament as a way of testing the way it should approach the Catholic Church. Certainly Parliament would not want to upset public feeling, nor to appear an agressor. But one thing is for certain: Sheerman doesn't want Christ to look him in the eye.

Annotations on the Tower

This photo, taken during the recent pilgrimage of grace to the Tower in the "Beauchamp tower", shows inscriptions made by John Collins (a priest hung, drawn and quartered 9th Jan 1539), Blessed Thomas Abell (a priest and personal chaplain to Queen Catherine of Aragon, hung drawn and quartered, 30th July 1540), and Doctor Cook (Carmelite Prior of Doncaster, implicated in the Pilgrimage of Grace and hung, drawn and quartered 3rd Aug 1540).

I have discovered some interesting reserach made by a Yeoman Warder, Brian Harrison, and published on-line. Visit the following link:

http://www.camelotintl.com/tower_site/prisoners/index.html

Another pilgrimage of grace

I would like to give you advance notice of another pilgrimage in the footsteps of the Martyrs which is going to take place in York on Sunday 27th April.

This pilgrimage is being organised to remember the 40 years of the Abortion Law in the UK, and also to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the great teaching on marriage, Humanae Vitae.

The pilgrimage will start at 1.00pm at St Wilfred's church, opposite the west-front of the Minster, processing past the Guildhall where St Margaret Clitherow was condemned for harbouring priests. Then on to the Ousebridge where she was pressed to death, and where flowers will be dropped in the river. The procession will then lead past the Bar Convent, which keeps the relic of her hand (pictured) and so on to the site of the Tyburn on the Knavesmire where Mass will be celebrated at about 3.00pm. It was here that so many priests were hung, drawn and quartered, including St Henry Walpole SJ in 1597 and St Nicholas Postgate in 1685.

This will be an extraordinary opportunity to ask our very powerful Martyrs for their intercession, for the conversion and evangelisation of our country and its culture.

An SJMV pilgrimage of grace

Yesterday, Fr Julian and myself lead a group of young people on a pilgrimage of grace, in honour of the English Martyrs, to the Tower of London and then to the Tyburn Convent near Marble Arch. We were privilaged to have been given permission to enter the cells, within the Bell Tower, in which St Thomas More and St John Fisher were held.

In St Thomas More's cell we experienced what so many experience there - a place much prayed in. There too we prayed for the conversion of our country. We looked through the cross-bow slit windows, towards the main gate of the Tower, from which St Thomas and his daughter had seen the Cathusian martyrs being lead out towards Tyburn on the morning of 4th May 1535.

Through the Beauchamp Tower and along the Queens walk we entered the cell above in which St John Fisher, the rebel-Cardinal, had been held. This cell, somewhat better proportioned than More's cell was a place for a renewed encounter with that tremendous seam of grace which has been given to the Church in this country by the witness of the Martyrs.

Here in this cell we stood and spoke together quietly about the courage and the foresight of this singular Bishop who lead the Church during the great persecution. It was a real blessing for Fr Julian and myself to be joined by Fr Augsutine CFR, and to share our identity as priests in this place with the young people who were with us.


After the Bell Tower we visited the crypt of St Peter's church where the bodies of More and Fisher were interred after their execution. Then we visited a sucession of cells in which the Martyrs had been held: in the Beauchamp Tower, Cradle Tower, Salt Tower, Broad Arrow Tower and Martin Tower. The photo above shows the inscription which St Henry Walpole made in his cell in the Salt Tower. This priest was tortured fourteen times in the Tower before being sent for execution at the Knavesmire in York. We were amazed by the enormous record left by the Martyrs and others on the stone walls of cells - no visitor to the Tower should miss the poignancy or the significance of these inscriptions which are a record of a great struggle which these martyrs endured for Christ.

Finally, we visited the Mortar Room in the Basement of the White Tower. This room, rebuilt in the 1700s, was the torture chamber of old. It was in this place that the struggle was endured at its fiercest. Here St Edmund Campion and the others were racked. Here St Nicholas Owen, John Gerrard and others were suspended by manacles. Here in this place were numerous hideous cells, including The Little Ease, in which Campion was encarcerated during long periods.

We emerged again into the bright sunlight and, after lunch, took the river launch up to Westminster and then on to Marble Arch and the site of Tyburn.

The Tyburn Sisters made us very welcome and lead us down to their crypt chapel - the Shrine to the Martyrs. We venerated a huge array of relics of the men and women, priests, religious and lay people who were hung, drawn and quartered for the Faith at these gallows. I had no idea that such a huge collection of relics existed, nor before this day's pilgrimage had I realised how terrible and how fierce the persecution had been.

We celebrated Mass in honour of the Martyrs and opened ourselves in a renewed way to the call of Christ today. The call to embrace the gift of grace and to take part in the building up of the Church today.

Their witness and the inspiration they give us is without compare. Pray for us, all you holy Martyrs of England and Wales; pray for the conversion and evangelisation of our country.

HFE Moot for South Leeds

South Leeds Co-ordination meeting 7.30pm, Tuesday 11th March at St Brigid’s parish hall, Elland Road, Churwell, Leeds LS27 7QR.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill presents a lot of seriously questionable material which needs to be opposed. There will be an informative talk followed by a discussion on an action plan to defend life and oppose the bill by writing and petitioning MP's, and to plan Prayer Vigils in South Leeds Parishes. It is important for us to act now before the Bill becomes Law and to help co-ordinate our response. Please come along, just one small thing you do to defend life could make the difference. A Speaker from LIFE will address the meeting.

The Priesthood is born from the heart of Christ.

Following the reflections from the Ars Priest's Retreat, Fr Frost spoke about how the Gospels show us how the Priesthood is born in the heart of the Church from the Heart of Christ.

Before the Passion Christ says to His apostles: "It is good that I go away, or the Advocate will not come to you." Christ promises them that which will bring about their adulthood in the Christian Life.

For the Church is dependent upon Him as His Body, and she is identified with Him as His Spouse.

After the Resurrection Christ greets His apostles and breathes into them the Holy Spirit - "That which I gave on the Cross, I now give to you directly." The Priesthood derives directly from the Body of Christ on the Cross - it is the foundation of holiness in the Church. The Church becomes a living being through the Priestly Ministry.

The Church is born from the side of Christ as He dies, but she appears in public on the Day of Pentecost - Pentecost then is the fulfillment of Christ's Mission. (From the Resurrection to the Ascension, Christ spent forty days instructing His apostles about how the Scriptures were to be fulfilled.) For on the Day of Pentecost, all the gifts with which Christ had endowed His Church became fully alive and effective within the Church, and the foundation of the Church's life and mission is the Priesthood.

Newman saw our day

In summer of 2000 I took part in Bioethics Conference at Cambridge; during a presentation by Fr Dermot Fenlon of the Birmingham Oratory I took some notes.

Newman foresaw the loss of Christianity in England and the temptation to decide what the content of morality should be. Newman didn't call this secularism but intuited that the time would come when religion would no longer be the common bond of society, and that such a society would found a new morality.

In order to counter this possible future Newman said that we should see supernatural excellence in Catholics.

However, as we have seen Catholicism in the West has collapsed becuase Catholics have actually sought a religion of utility. At the heart of this crisis is the undermining of the Sacrament of Marriage by contracepting spouses.

Now that the secular world is here, man has created a new image of himself, a new way of looking at himself, a way that reflects his needs. However, there is a much more radical way of looking at human life: the Gospel, which looks at humanity from the perspective of all that is good and true.

So, the moment of decision has arrived: will men and women accept God's truth or not? It is in such a moment as this that man's true end should be recognised. In other words, it is God and the Culture of Life that opens the door to real life for the men and women of our age, and there are three tactics we should use:

1. Lead people to ask the right questions.

2. Teach the truth.

3. Develop and protect the full truth about marriage.

The Bridegroom

One of the talks from our Ars Retreat focussed on Christ's intention as He gave himself in the Passion. St John prefaces the Passion with the scene of the Washing of the Disciples Feet in order to show us His intention: Christ is desiring a spousal union with His Church. His death is not a death for corruption but for Resurrection.

Mary was already at the Cross, upholding her relationship with her Son. Her hour has come. She is present as the New Creation takes place. Christ speaks first to His Mother. And she performs the greatest act of self-abnegation ever made in human history, in order to bring about the Redemption. A virginal couple are the creators of the New Life.

Christ dies an extatic death; death overcome by love. And as He dies he gives up the Holy Spirit.

In St Luke's Gospel especially, this giving is made to the Father, but in St John's Gospel there is a horizontal movement in the giving of the Spirit. Where was the Spousal Church when Christ died? She was present as Christ's Mother who, as a virgin, was all given over to the Trinity. Mary, uniquely, at that moment was fully accessible to the relationship that Jesus wanted to establish. She was the one place where the Holy Spirit could dwell perfectly. So, She holds the Church in being while Christ lies in the tomb.

The soldier pierced the right side of Jesus so as to pierce His heart. It is in his Blood that Christ gives His love. Sr Faustina in her diary speaks of the Blood and Water as though they are Persons. They are the gift of Christ's love - which Christ was so prodigal with during His Passion; they are the given in Baptism - Water, and in the Eucharist - Blood.

This Mystery of the Blood and Water is central to the life of the Priest, for Christ instituted the Priesthood so as make present these gifts to the Church.

A moronic culture produces the HFE Bill

The Contraceptive Generation - the generation which welcomed and embraced the whole mentality and practice of contraception, thereby separating sexuality from procreation - is really leading us, as a society, deeply into the culture of death. And now that this generation is in control of the management of our society at all levels - Goverment, media, education, law, medicine and commerce - they have created a social Movement to change the focus of our society and of our culture in favour of a new ethics which rests upon the classical outlines of the culture of death, and they have done this, in a regular totalitarian way, by reducing the mentality and the culture of the people to a moronic level. This has enabled the leaders of this Movement to engender a massive social change without anyone really noticing. The UK may as well have been hijacked by a group of sinister Freemasons who have taken control of the major organs of our society and its communications services.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, something which is irrational in itself, is the most leveling attempt yet by this Movement to wrench our society away from God.

With such leaders as these where can we look for hope; where, for instance, can young people look for goodness and truth? The Catholic Church used visibly to be a place of freedom. But the Catholic Church in the UK seems to be deeply infected by this Movement also. Well, we must change this situation. We must seek to build a culture and a society upon the basis of the Gospel and Christ, who is truth. In fact, we need Catholics now who will seek to form themselves, in the light of the Gospel, in education, media, law, medicine and commerce, and to form themselves also in the new sciences. But we must look to the places where this can genuinely be undertaken. For instance, young people can take a year out to spend with the St Patrick's Evangelisation School in London - a real eye-opener to the Mission of the Church today. Others could undertake studies at the Franciscan University of Stuebenville in the States or at Campion College, Sydney. For those who want to form themselves here in the UK, we need a real package; and that still needs putting together. Can we do this? Will we actually get our act together this time? Will we together take the next good step forward?

An anniversary event

Contraception: Why not? A lecture by Prof Janet Smith. Thursday 6th March, Westminster Cathedral Hall, 7.00 - 9.00pm. £5 admission - places are limited - register at cathmacgillivray@rcdow.org.uk Prof Smith offers a stimulating opportunity to seriously reconsider the modern enthusiasm for contraception. Her message has captivated audiences all round the world, particularly married couples, those considering marriage, catechists, counsellors, doctors, priests and seminarians.

Youth 2000 in Harrogate

Over the weekend about 160 young people have been taking part in the winter Prayer Festival in Harrogate. St John Fisher College chapel provided a very fine setting for the spiritual events of the retreat.

In the photo Fr Luke from the Friars in New York is addressing the young people and speaking about the Life of Grace. It is a great privilage for us priests and religious to see young people actively seeking Christ - to see them hearing the message and to witness them endeavouring to embrace the Life of Christ for themselves and for the Church today. I met and spoke with young people who are filled with enthusiasm for the Gospel and for the Culture which it creates, and which they are seeking to be a part of. Thanks especially to the Youth 2000 Leadership Team and the Music Ministry Team who spent themselves this weekend offering an opportunity of grace.
The rebel-Cardinal's Coat of Arms hung above the main entrance to the school and we passed beneath it each time we went to and fro from the school; surely with so great a Patron, the conversion and evangelisation of England can be conceived anew by this generation.

How does a priest enter into Jesus' prayer?

Continuing the reflections from last Autumn's Priests' retreat in Ars, Fr Frost focussed on the Priestly Prayer of Christ in John's Gospel (chapter 17). In this segment of the Gospel we encounter Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, praying to the first Person and drawing human nature into this relationship through the ministry of His apostles and through them, all those who will be ordained.

The next day Christ will draw human nature into this relationship as he suffers and dies on the cross - the greatest outpouring of love will be given to humanity from the cross and it will continue being given through time through the ministry of priests. But on the eve of his Passion, Christ first draws His priests into this new intimacy as He prays. What John 17 tells us is that Christ is plunging human nature fully into the life of the Trinity through His Paschal Mystery.

Today we still encounter attempts to secularise the Priesthood - we should get married, we shopuld be able to have 'fun' like everyone else, we shouldn't 'cut ourselves off'. But Christ, in His prayer, is not taking us out of the world, rather He is sending us into the world in order to pastor souls. Priest are included in the Prayer of Christ, the Priesthood is specific in this way - this is why they are ministers of Christ, unlike lay-people who are not ministers. Priests have a ritual and a sacramental role, not becuase these jobs need doing, but because priests have been given an ontological relationship by Christ.

Those who say that the New Testament does not speak about the Priesthood are speaking nonsense. In John 17 we see the way in which the Priesthood has been established. And it is good to note how JPII in Christifideles Laici, 23 taught that lay-people cannot be understood as ministers. What is proper to priests is not proper to lay-people; what is proper to them is the apostolate.

A screening in Leeds.

Last night twenty three of us sat down to watch the film "Therese - ordinary girl, extraordinary soul" in my parish. We were grateful to Alanna for making the DVD available to us. The film presented all the significant events in the life of St Therese of Lisieux and was a worthy attempt in portraying the making of a saint. If you have watched the film then you will be aware of how sensitively the film-makers handled her life.

I was particularly struck by the portrayal of Louis Martin, Therese's father, and the way in which events challenged his powers of discernment. In the film, as in his life, Louis Martin was faced to make decisions as a father that would affect his family, individual members of the family and himself. He approached these decisions as a real servant of grace.

Also for me, the film managed to express the enormous generosity of soul of Therese herself, in the way in which she responded to God in the real events of life. In this Lenten setting, this screening offered us a concrete vision for our own lives. Watching the film together was a grace in itself.

How extraordinary it is that The Little Way has become a great movement of grace in the Church since Therese entered Heaven.

Teaching in Soho

This week I visited the St Patrick's Evangelisation School in Soho in order to do a little teaching on my favourite subject: The New Evangelisation. It was very good to meet this year's student group who are taking part in this project of formation, community life and evangelisation in the heart of London.

SPES is virtually unique in this country in offering young people the opportunity to spend a year in a School of Evangelisation.

There are links to their site and their Blog on this site.

Entering into the Prayer of Jesus

Last November I was with a group of priests who were lead in Retreat by Mgr Francis Frost in Ars. His talks to us were utterly engaging for he spoke with us about the heart of the Priesthood. I would like to share some of the ideas with you that I took from the retreat.

How should we live out our priesthood? The answer lies in our relationship with Christ in the Eucharist: being faithful in solitude to Christ present as the Eucharist will lead us to become aware of what Christ has given to us. This solitude with Christ will sustain us in a world which doesn't regard such things.

How does Jesus pray? Jesus, in the Gospels, is aware that when his disciples see him pray they are confronted with the Mystery of his person. The Jewish scribes used to teach methods of prayer, but when his disciples come and ask him to teach them how to pray he gave them the words of the "Our Father" - with these words you have everything that I want to say to my Father - he gave them the example of his own prayer. They saw him pray and he told them what he said to his Father. Christ confronts his disciples with the fact that they had to "catch" the filial relationship which he had with his Father, and which they had seen him have. This is something for us to be aware of during times of Adoration.

It is the Holy Spirit that would bring the the apostles into the fullness of this relationship. (Indeed, it was on the Cross that Jesus fully reveals that the Kingdom of God is his person - it is, above all, by looking at Christ on the Cross that we begin to understand Jesus' parables and his teachings. This is no "method" of prayer, here we see God's Kingdom being fashioned. This is a theme which B16 refers to time and time again in his book "Jesus of Nazareth".)

A pilgrimage of grace

Yesterday I had the privilage of taking a group of young people to the very ancient shrine of Our Lady in North Yorkshire at Mount Grace. The Lady Chapel at Osmotherly has roots which date back to the ninth century.

It is quite remarkable that this shrine still persists today and it is a great place of pilgrimage, set on the top of the escarpment of the North Yorkshire Moors overlooking the vale of York.

The prayers and the lives of these young people are now in the very best care.

A bright flame in Europe.

Last week Fr Julian and myself were in Ars with the other members of the John Vianney Society for its winter session. It was a week of grace! We took part in so many prayer-times and conversations with priests and seminarians which were full of the power of grace.

The Bishop of Belley-Ars was also with us throughout the session. Mgr Guy-Marie Bagnard is the founder of the Priestly Foyer and Seminary at Ars and the founder of the John Vianney Society. As Bishop he is now the guardian of the Charism of the Society: to seek the renewal of priestly interiority and spirituality through fraternity. One evening he wished to see both Fr Julian and myself, he shared his joy with us that we had become members of his society and he addressed us as brothers wanting to know both of us as persons. We were left in no doubt that the Bishop of Belley-Ars has the charism and gift of fatherhood in great measure - he is a real father to his priests and his seminarians.

One evening the whole house took part in a Holy Hour of silent adoration in the seminary chapel. The bishop was in a front bench, bowed in prayer throughout. Suddenly, it became obvious to us how this beautiful house for priests and seminarians has come about, and how the Society has come about - Mgr Bagnard has prayed them into existence. His prayer for us, for priests and for the Church was tangible in that Holy Hour. Not only was Christ feeding us in his presence, but the Bishop too was a channel of grace. This bishop is a light in the Church in Europe; he is a bishop of the New Evangelisation. His priestly frienship is very active - he is a brother, a father and a spouse. St John Vianney's prayers and the Bishop's prayers are bringing priests alive! Let us ask that their prayers and their lives will continue to bear much fruit for the Church in Europe.

Is an immoral Government fit to rule?

Now that anti-life legislation is coursing through the British Parliament again - currently the matters at hand are the creation of huge numbers of human embryos for death, so that their stem cells can be harvested, and also the creation of human/animal hybrids - we should ask ourselves: Is an immoral Government fit to rule? I am slowly waking up to the realisation that our Government at its Parliament are not worthy of the Office which they hold.

Nearly a hundred years ago millions of men gave their lives in the First World War for values which we now deem as irrelevant. What was the point of their deaths? Did they make this sacrifice in order that we should have a licentious society governed by the rule of immorality? What if we had lost the war? Would fewer men have died in the trenches? Would we then have been in a position to create a society and a Government which diregards the value of the Gospel, human life, marriage, the family, age, work, character, wisdom and virtue? Would we have been better off had we lost the First World War? The men who died in it did not die for the kind of society which now exists in the UK. We are in huge debt to the bravery of that generation - but we have let them down. Recent Governments in the UK have lead us awry and the path we are now following is a path which no society should follow. Who will lead us now? Nearly a hundred years ago we fought to stave off a Dark Age, but when the fighting stopped we failed and entered willingly into a Dark Age. Who will point us back towards the light? Who today is even looking for the light?

The Pelagian Herald

Will Gore, writer for the "Catholic Herald", gave us last week his take on John Pridmore's new book "A Gangster's Guide to God". Gore gives away his kind of faith when he says of the former gangster, John Pridmore, that "he turned around his life through faith." The rest of Gore's review of Pridmore's book is a rough scetch of how inadequately John did this. I'm sure John Pridmore would agree with him on that, but not on the abscence, in Gore's review, of any reference to Grace.

Indeed, Gore in this short piece presents faith as a human project - the classical Pelagian position. And with Pelagians discussing the faith in the public Catholic forum we are not going to get very far - not unless you spot them first and then re-focus your attention on Grace. Which is what John Pridmore did and continues to do. It isn't that John turned his life around, but that God turned John's life around.

You can't be a Catholic journalist unless you can "see" Grace first, and then speak about it in way which enables others to see what God is doing. Journalism is a God-given skill; we need journalists. It is a great shame that there are so few real journalists today, Catholic or otherwise. This is a project we need to foster.

A parish which is not missionary has no future.

This article was recently published by Zenit; here a priest of the Emmanuel Community speaks frankly about parish life today. I was so pleased to read this for what he says parrallels my own experience. However, I think that even though what he says might be the experience of many priests and people, they are still not ready to start engaging with the New Evangelisation. And as a consequence we see parishes visibly dying, and priests and people living like shadows. What is good is that this Movement is responding in a good way to the situation of parishes and is waking the Church up with regard to parishes.

If a Parish Priest in a parish today wishes to have souls to care for, he needs to go looking for them, says the leader of the priests of the Emmanuel Community. Father Yves le Saux, general delegate for ordained ministry of the Emmanuel Community, spoke during a conference under way in Rome on "The Parish and the New Evangelization. "The congress is organized by the Emmanuel Community and the Pontifical Institute Redemptor Hominis. Priests in the Emmanuel Community are diocesan priests under the authority of their respective bishops who allow them to be members of the group.

Is there a future for parishes? Today, in different regions of the world, some are wondering about the future of parishes. I think that the parish is and will continue being the principal and privileged space of the life of the Church. By nature, the parish is the place where the Christian community meets. It has the vocation of welcoming all Christians around the Eucharist, around Christ, also through the ministry of the parish priest. The parish is the place where every Christian, every baptized, independently of his sensitivity, his personal charism, can live and be integrated into ecclesial life.That said, the model of the parish in which the pastor is there, in the midst of its community, available for all the people to go to, is no longer sufficient today. If a pastor wishes to still have sheep, he should go to find them. Today, the parish should be understood as "mission territory." It seems to me that perhaps the term "mission territory" has to be added to the term parish so that the priest and Christians who live in a determined place can enter into a dynamic of announcing the Gospel. Said in another way, does the parish have a future? Yes, on the condition that it is missionary.

What advice could you give to a pastor who has a deep consciousness of the evangelizing role of his parish but who feels alone facing this challenge? It is clear that the responsibility for the mission should not fall on only one man. I think that today the parochial function should not be entrusted to only one man, but to a team of priests who have a demanding community life and who are prepared for working together in the mission.But this is insufficient. Today a parish priest has to be surrounded by the baptized who share with him the same missionary drive. The priest who feels alone should, in principle, have the objective of surrounding himself with people who not only evangelize with him, but who also pray with him, reflect with him, have a Christian life with him. That being said, I think that there is also a responsibility of the bishops themselves, who should be on guard to not leave a priest alone. A man alone, even with a lot of help and talents, remains limited in his fruitfulness. Today the world needs witnesses, not only individuals, but also groups. This restlessness corresponds not just to the priest but also to the baptized, who should accompany their priest and also their bishops, who should be preoccupied about not leaving their priests alone.

A letter from a father.

The new Encyclical Letter, Spe Salvi, is a letter from a father. Indeed, you might say that it is the letter from a grandfather. It is written for a universal readership and it is written with enormous gentleness and compassion. Quite unlike almost anything that is written today, Spe Salvi is given to a world in doubt and it reassuringly points the way.

Spe Salvi is a biography of the Church. It is written for both Christians and non-Christians alike. For Christians it opens up, in a serene and simple way, the whole Mystery of the Christian Life. For non-Christians, it comes as a gentle reminder of the fact of God and His plan for the world. This Letter does not speak harshly, but seeks to engage all people in the real project of life.

I think that the heart of the Holy Father's message is to show us again the human person in his dignity before God. So much of humanity has been eclipsed in modern culture that, without knowing it, we have needed a compassionate Father to show us again the meaning of life. And, in a most brilliant way, the Holy Father has expressed in this short letter the central call which was made by the Second Vatican Council - for the Church to enter into an evangelising dialogue with the world.

However, if I were asked to say why the Holy Father has written this Encyclical then I would say that it was to bring together the many, sometimes disperate, sometimes weak, sometimes wandering strands of the Christian people, and to focus again on the great movement in history and its Mission: the Church - the Community of Salvation.

I'll post more on this soon.

A Father speaks ...

After last Sunday's midday Angelus, the Holy Father spoke to school administrators, teachers, parents and pupils. He encouraged them, despite difficulties, to continue their work "which has the Gospel as its focus, following an educational syllabus that aims at the integral formation of the human person. He noted that education today "seems to be becoming ever more difficult. [...] Hence there is talk of an 'educational emergency,' confirmed by the failures that too often crown our efforts to form well-rounded individuals, capable of collaborating with others and of giving meaning to their lives. There is also talk of a 'break between the generations,' which certainly exists and is a burden, but is the effect rather than the cause of the failure to transmit certainties and values."The Holy Father said parents and teachers may feel the "temptation to give up" on education, and even run the risk "of not understanding what their role is." He identified "a mentality and a form of culture that lead people to doubt the value of the human person, the meaning of truth and of good and, in the final analysis, the goodness of life itself." Faced with such difficulties, "which are not insurmountable," the Pope said: "Do not be afraid! [...] Event the greatest values of the past cannot simply be inherited, we must make them our own and renew them through often-difficult personal choices." "However," he added, "when the foundations are shaken and essential certainties disappear, the need for those values returns to make itself imposingly felt. Thus we see today an increasing demand for real education." It is demanded by parents, by teachers, "by society as a whole, [...] and by the young people themselves who do not want to be left to face the challenges of life alone." He spoke of the need "to identify certain common requirements for authentic education," noting that "it requires, above all, the nearness and trust that are born of love." "It would, then, be a poor education that limited itself to imparting notions and information while ignoring the great question of truth, above all of that truth which can be a guide to life". The Pope contended that "the most delicate aspect of education" is that of "finding the right balance between freedom and discipline." However, he affirmed, "the educational relationship is above all an encounter between two freedoms, and successful education is formation in the correct use of freedom. [...] We must, then, accept the risk of freedom, remaining ever attentive to helping it and to correcting mistaken ideas and choices." "Education cannot forgo that authoritative prestige which makes the exercise of authority credible" the Holy Father wrote. He added that this is "acquired above all by the coherence of one's own life." He also highlighted the decisive importance of a sense of responsibility: "Responsibility is first of all personal but there also exists a responsibility we share together." In this context, Benedict XVI observed that "the overall trends of the society in which we live, and the image it gives of itself through the communications media, exercise a great influence on the formation of new generations, for good but also often for evil. Society is not an abstract concept; in the final analysis it is we ourselves."The Holy Father then referred to hope as the "soul of education," citing "Spe Salvi" and saying that "our hope today is threatened from many sides and we too, like the ancient pagans, risk becoming men without 'hope and without God in the world.'""At the root of the crisis of education lies a crisis of trust in life," he concluded. "Hope directed toward God is never hope for me alone, it is always also hope for others. It does not isolate us but unites us in goodness, stimulating us to educate one another in truth and in love."

Which sect does he represent?

I lived in Barry Sheerman MP's Constituency of Huddersfield for three years - long enough to witness a population visibly labouring under the culture of death (endemic alcohol poisening, petty drug wars and endemic prostitution were the most obvious indicators). I wrote to him once about this, voicing my concern that whilst his own political ideas were against life, his constituency was showing clear signs of his influence. He replied saying that was sending a copy of my letter to my bishop with a complaint note attached. I heard no more.

More recently Mr Sheerman MP has been speaking out against Catholic schools: “My experience is that there is a move away from joint faith and multi-faith co-operation in the Catholic education sector, which is disappointing.”
He has commented on a report by the Bishop of Lancaster, Dr Patrick O’Donoghue, ordering Catholic schools in the North-West to teach children that contraception was wrong and that sex should only take place within marriage.
He has also criticised the Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Rev Arthur Roche, saying he had been “very difficult to engage with” on the future of All Saints Catholic College at Bradley Bar.

Why is he so concerned to catch the media's attention for his criticism of our schooling system? What sinister organisation is he speaking on behalf of, or belong to? Just because he is an MP does not mean that he does not have other, less public, links. Huddersfield, beware who you vote for!

The State Creche

In Education the secular movement is now in full swing and is heading along its logical course; today you can't speak about God, spirituality or morality, but you can develop a hedonistic approach to life among children and young people, leading them to take up pursuits that are the answer to the question - "What will give me the greatest pleasure now?". The secular movement is even leaving behind the goals of academic excellence, as we can see.

For Catholics the watershed was the 1944 Education Act, which brought our schools under the Government's wing, and for that matter also initiated the contemporary project of the Church - that of being a Church of maintenance, not a Church of Mission. Gradually, the secular movement has overtaken our schools also and, their lay-run administration seems, more or less, to have caved in under the incoming tide. Perhaps if our schools were still run by priests and religious there would be a different story.

Nevertheless, one of the most important consequences of the modern secular movement has been the subbordination and relegation of the role of parents in the education of their children by the State. So much so is this the case that in many (most) communities, parents now are glad to absolve themselves of their duty to their children and to hand over their children to the State for a huge portion of their young lives, seeking work, leisure and other pursuits while free from their children. And all the while the State has been happy to allow the secular movement to manipulate schooling at will. We can see this especially in communities of immigrants to our country who have fostered their own cultures more than they have given themselves over to State control, and in so doing we see families and communities in which traditional values are still maintained.

So, it is already late in the day, but how can we rebuild a climate and a culture in which parents recover their primary role as educators of their children? First of all, I think that quite a bit of personal interest and initiative by parents is necessary; an interest and initiative whereby parents actively seek to build a culture and a way of life for themselves and their families in which they embrace their God-given mission to form and guide a family. Secondly, by building friendship and association with other (like-minded) families. John Paul II spoke loudly about this on numerous occasions. In Familiaris Consortio he said:

Family associations should "foster among the faithful a lively sense of solidarity, to favour a manner of living inspired by the Gospel and by the faith of the Church, to form consciences according to Christian values and not according to the standards of public opinion; to stimulate people to perform works of charity for one another and for others with a spirit of openness which will make Christian families into a true source of light and a wholesome leaven for other families."

Recent news reports have made us aware of the strength of Catholic family life in Spain and of how families have recently rallied together to oppose Spanish Government interventions in schooling. Visit http://www.familiasnumerosas.org/ for a closer look at this huge family movement. (Click on the Union Jack for the English language version.) I have been involved for some years now with "Teams of Our Lady" and I have seen how influential this Catholic Association of Spouses has been in rebuidling the spirituality and culture of marriage and family life, and how powerful if has been in rebuilding the culture of Catholic communities and even parishes. You will be aware of other similar associations where this is the case.

What we're speaking about here is parents becoming parents again. The State runs a creche for every parent in the land, should they so wish to reliquish their own role. Catholics should be a the forefront of the re-embracing of the tremendous parental mission and accompanying skills which God has given them. Nor should we delay or doubt the influence that we can have here. But don't follow the culture!

A navigator's starter pack

I have recently come across a website which I recommend to you: Mercatornet is a site in which the dialogue between the Gospel and culture is made in an intelligent and extensive way. This is the kind of site which provides the basis for understanding as well as for forums and blogs.

Politicised schooling

I'm back with a new Dell machine after my last laptop crashed out just after Christmas.

The present educational environment in the UK in very concerning and surely points Catholics towards creating a new environment for the education of their children. Indeed, there is so much change and manipulation in education today that this is not the era in which to be a pupil in a school in which the State has any control whatsoever! Our Government is doing by stealth what the Spanish Government recently did by law (Law of Historical Memory.)

Whilst the Government seeks ways of challenging and closing Catholic Schools because of their Faith; Catholic schools, by and large, are far more concerned about being winners in the community than being Centres of Faith. So much so is this the case that their prevailing ethos is Pelagianism not Catholicism (and Pelagianism is not at all at odds with British culture.)

State schools on the other hand are focussing more on their ethos and the development of the new secular orthodoxy, rather than being winners in the community. If I were a child now, I would not want to be in either a Catholic or a State school.

Eric Hester has recently reviewed Robert Whelan's new book The Corruption of the Curriculum, a book which expresses how Blair's proclamation "education, education, education" has in fact meant "politics, politics, politics", and that the curriculum is now subject to the tenets of feminism, gender discrimination, racism, environmentalism and homophobia. Independent schools, he points out, still constitute a real hope for they are mainly rejecting the new code. (One thinks also of the recent Australian initiative of Campion College - a Liberal Arts College on the outskirts of Sydney which teaches a secular curriculum from a genuine Catholic perspective.)

It is in such a climate that Catholic families should come together to discern how best to educate their children, how they can support one another, inform one another and develop new ways of creating an environment and a culture in which their children can be educated. I for one would help.

Please wait about a week ...

I know that various people have contacted me via the Blog, Facebook and email. My computer is brok (yorkshirism) and I can't reply to you yet. I'll be back online about 12th Jan and will get back to you then. (Don't ask how I've been able to post this!)

Father-daughter

I had to paste this in - for those who didn't see it in Zenit:

The way a father treats his daughter is a strong indicator of how she will relate to men for the rest of her life, says author and teen-health expert Doctor Meg Meeker.
Meeker, who has practiced pediatric and adolescent medicine, as well as teen counseling, is the author of "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know," by Regnery Publishing. The book highlights how the fundamental relationship of a girl with her father can affect all areas of her life.
In this interview with ZENIT, Meeker, who also wrote "Epidemic: How Teen Sex Is Killing Our Kids," talks about the profound role a father plays in his daughter's life, whether he knows it or not.
Q: A father is a daughter's best ally seems to be the consensus of your book. While studies say that it is parents who are the key to their children's happiness, what is the unique offering of a father to a daughter that a mother cannot offer, especially in her relationship to God?
Meeker: I think that one of the reasons I wanted to address this issue head-on, is that a father is a daughter's great ally, which today is not only overlooked, but is directly attacked. If you look at the typical sitcom, the father is portrayed as someone who is comical, humorous and just plain dumb, and as though he has something to learn from his daughter.
Research shows that a father's influence builds up self-esteem, helps his daughter to avoid sex, drugs, alcohol, and stay in college. What it is that a father offers is that he carries an authority in his daughter's eyes. This authority is not ascribed to the mother, not that she is not important, but a father's influence is different.
When a girl is little, her dad is her primary male love relationship. When he gives her something as a man, she learns lessons about men, setting a template in those early years on her heart about what to expect, to think, to feel, and know about men from there on out, affecting even her relationship to God, because Christ is a man.
Q: What are the specific characteristics of a dad that help daughters in their development?
Meeker: One of the big ones is a sense of protectiveness. It is intuitive in a dad's heart to protect and guard a daughter. Our culture, however, has been training men not to do that because gender neutrality has become such a big deal.
The reason this is very important is because, particularly in the area of sexuality, dad has an enormous role. Girls are under sexual siege, with aggressive marketing, especially in clothing, from the age of 6 on. If a father, feeling protective, says, "I don't want my daughter going to school in a jog bra," and mom says, "No, this is the way girls dress," a father needs to trust his judgment. Sometimes his intuition is better on this one.
Another is that dads in general tend to be very pragmatic and solution-oriented, discovering first what the problem is, and then how to get to the solution. Sometimes women are insulted, because we think differently, but this difference is wonderful. A man says, "Now, what's the problem? What can we do?" This pragmatism can serve a daughter well in teen years.
For example, perhaps a boyfriend has broken up with her. A girl will feel sad, think she is too fat, too stupid -- all kinds of things get added to the situation in her own mind. But dad compartmentalizes, "What's the problem? What can we do to solve it? Just because he broke up with you, doesn't mean all these other things are true."
However, the most important thing a father can do is live a life of integrity -- living truthfully. A daughter, within 15 seconds, can tell if her father is in a bad mood, good mood, telling the truth or not, etc. Those fathers who don't live truthfully do a great disservice because a daughter doesn't believe in him, doesn't trust him. Dads think they need to earn heroism, but they really don't. The role of a hero is just given to him until proven otherwise. Most dads don't know this.
One thing I try to do is help fathers get behind their daughter's eyes, see you as she sees you. If you compared your vision of yourself to how she sees you, your life would never be the same.
Q: You say that there is a clear connection between depression in girls and young women and sexual activity. How can a father's love help protect against this in our sexually saturated culture?
Meeker: Depression in girls is all about ungrieved losses accumulated in the heart. This connection can be backed up with medical data, although no one has studied it extensively. But what I have found is that as a culture, we are bombarded with sexual saturation. Sexual activity is through the roof and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are at an all-time high.
When girls approach sexuality, a huge emotional component is involved. When a girl is sexually active once, and it doesn't matter if it is oral sex or intercourse, she incurs a loss. In the physical act, she has lost something in her heart, her virginity, her respect for herself. When girls feel this, if they don't acknowledge that they are hurt and that something that happened to them, then they will live with unresolved grief, which leads to depression.
Another interesting phenomenon is that if a young person has a bad sexual experience that didn't meet their expectations, both boys and girls, they will immediately think they did something wrong -- not, "Maybe I shouldn't be doing this." In order to correct this "wrong," they will try to make up for it in some other experience, which leads to a downward spiral of messy relationships, physical risk and emotional damage.
Ironically, while our culture is now immunizing girls against STDs, we endlessly market sex to them, paying little attention to all the layers of risk. This, incidentally, would never happen with cigarettes or alcohol, where we would give kids an immunization against lung cancer yet promote smoking. This problem is missed by many because sexual freedom has come to be seen as a right.
Q: You suggest the importance of raising a daughter with humility, emphasizing that she should see the world like a pioneer, asking, "What can I do for others," instead of like a princess who lives with a sense of entitlement. How can this contribute to her long-term happiness?
Meeker: One of the greatest mistakes that parents make in their kids is a misunderstanding of what happiness and joy is in their kids. Parents just want their kids to be happy, but they perceive incorrectly that it comes from receiving pleasure, so when children receive, receive, receive, happiness does not come, resulting in a lot of unhappy kids.
Despite our material wealth, depression rates have never been so high. Clearly we are missing something. Parents have been duped. What works is when we teach kids to serve, to look beyond themselves. Real joy and happiness comes when kids understand that they have a purpose in life, and a mission to fulfill. The only way to get them to understand this is to look beyond self and doing good for others.
This is the source of real transformation, but this can't happen without humility, the opposite of which is pride. When parents instill humility, a kid understands that he or she is important, and lovable, but not separate from others in their humanity. If a kid really wants to feel good about himself, humility brings people closer, whereas pride separates.
A kid raised without humility will always strive to be better than others, smarter than others, but can only bring a frustrated "happiness" because no one can always be the best at everything. True happiness for kids, then, is to give them a purpose to fulfill through working, striving, giving to and for others.
Q: There is repeated mention in the book that a father should do all he can to keep a family together. Why is this so important, and what can men do to care for their daughters if they find themselves divorced or widowed?
Meeker: First, we as a culture have failed to teach boys to live courageously, which means to live with profound discomfort. In not being taught how to live, men have been failed.
All the psychology, pediatric, and medical literature says divorce is at the top of the list for of putting kids at risk for all high-risk behaviors. It is an enormous factor in kids' emotional, mental and physical health. My job is to try to help fathers stick it out with difficult wives until their daughters are older. The longer they can wait, the better it is for kids. Kids need full cognitive skills to cope with the trauma of divorce, and men need to call upon courage to gut it out.
A father who is separated from his daughter must maintain as strong a connection as possible, which means big phone bills, letters, pressing his way into her life in a gentle but firm manner. Stick with her over the long haul. Even when the daughter pulls back, the father has to be the grown-up. If you get your feelings hurt, forget it, it's not about you. Don't take it personally, maintain your integrity and rely on God to give you the strength to persevere.
And angry mothers need to know that you can divorce your daughter's father, but she can't. She has emotional needs, no matter what damage has been done. Give her the right to have a relationship with her dad.
If a father refuses to stop loving, a daughter will respond eventually. A daughter will follow where a dad leads when she knows she is loved.

Short Bloggap

My computer is bust. I'll be back in about 10 days.

Was St Joseph a strict father?

Today's studies of parenting styles reveal the effect of different styles on the personalities of children, and they can be a good indicator for parents who are endeavouring to be the best parents they can be to their children.

Maccoby and Martin in the late 80s undertook an extensive study of parenting. Their work was measured according to two variables:

1. The demandingness of parents - ranging from authoritarian to permissive.

2. The responsiveness of parents - ranging from reciprocative to negligent.

Thus, the opposite of authoritarian/reciprocative parents are permissive/negligent ones, and the opposite of permissive/reciprocative parents are authoritarian/repressive ones. So, with that in mind we could describe permissive/reciprocative parents as non-traditional and lenient, but conscientious and committed to their children. Authoritarian/repressive parents are obedience and status oriented who give a structured environment to their children. Authoritarian/reciprocative parents give clear standards, asserting and supporting (rather than permitting) their children. Permissive/negligent parents are basically uninvolved with their children.

Which category do you think St Joseph and Our Lady would represent?

It is also very indicative to look at the consequences of these parenting styles in the personalities of their children. These studies found that children of permissive/reciprocative parents had only average behaviour and low academics, but high self-esteem and good social skills. Children of authoritarian/repressive parents had good academics and behaviour, but poor social skills and low self-esteem. Children of authoritarian/reciprocative parents had good academics and behaviour, and good social skills and high self-esteem. Children of permissive/negligent parents showed little sense of educational development.

For a fuller treatment of this put Maccoby and Martin into a Google search - you will find a host a very accessible web pages.