Not All Bleak

BBC News reports that two Catholic midwives have won their legal battle not to have to take part in abortions. They had not been forced to take part in themselves, but had been told to delegate, supervise and support staff who were willing to take part in them. This is important since it means we ourselves are defended against having to act against our concience, but it is unlikely to save babies lives. It says something about a piece of legislation when the only good thing about it is the get out clause. Nevertheless, thank you Lady Dorrian and Lords Mackay and McEwan for upholding the right to concience.

I came across this poem a while back

June 03, 1982, 11 PM

Dear Susan,

The urge to tell my daughter what’s gnawing at my gut.
The agony of watching her slide toward a one-way rut;

There’s nothing quite so devastating to the father’s mind
As finding out he’s dropped-the-ball and now his girl’s entwined.
In mental anguish, doubt and fear
— And, worst of all, self hate —
And questioning there in the mirror
if by now it is too late.

And putting off decision, commitment to repair
the damage done by all involved, the guilt of which I share.

I read a poem a while ago about a test she failed.
Though eloquent it surely was the logic somehow trailed.

As if life granted one big test — and then the Judgement made,
we’d never have a second chance, nor values we could trade.

Thank God it doesn’t work that way. Thank God there’s other chances —
to Accept Him as He said, The Vine, and take our place as Branches.

Discouragement is Satan’s tool that prunes us from the Vine,
He’ll try to get us all messed up, our emotions he’ll entwine.

Then piling on the doubt and fear, he’ll say with exclamation:
Stay back! Go away! You’re just no good — for Reconciliation!

But if you only understood how much He loves you!
Why He hung on that cross!
How much He wants you back!
If you only understood how much He wants you back!
I’m sorry for hurting you so much.
I love you.

Dad

Prayer Request

If you see this post, could I ask you just to take a moment to pray with me for the two archbishops kidnapped yesterday in Syria, Gregorios Yohanna and Boulos Paul Yaziji, both of Aleppo. It seems they were trying to secure the release of two priests who were taken hostage in January when the incident happened. It will only take a second to do.

---

UPDATE, 24th April 2013:

The two bishops were released yesterday :D

Unexpected traffic

It seems that even four lines of praise for the parish priest of a residential area of Sidcup in Bexley attracts an unexpected amount of internet traffic. I will assume it's to do with the fame such saints inevitably acquire (much as they might resent it) rather than the fact the post was entitled "The End of the World".

The End of the World

I just thought I should point out, incase anyone is unaware, that Fr Tim Finigan is an incredible and holy gentleman. The best bit is the long absenses from the net while he gets on with his day job of saving souls for Christ. His blog is definitely a useful sideline, but only that. What brought this to mind specifically is his imitation of God in his sense of humour.

Marini. Not the good one.

Only someone with real humility could possibly allow himself to be dressed like that

I'm currently terrified that Archbishop Pierro Marini will be appointed to the Congregation of Divine Worship. He was received in private audience by the Holy Father for half an hour last week. This is scary.

People come to the ultimate in beaut, goodness and truth through the human experience of those transcendental qualities. We're creatures of matter; we experience the world through the senses and God is not only the originator of that reality but also part of it. To internalise the Mass, to actually participate in it, we need the psychological triggers of how momentous it is. Beauty is part of Catholicism because God is the most fundamental beauty. If Archbishop Pierro Marini is appointed to this Congregation we will be in real danger as far as beauty in the liturgy is concerned.

A friend of mine, who actually understands these things (unlike me), has also suggested that there might be a danger of the devolution of the liturgy to local bishops conferences. I don't know about other countries but that is not a task I would trust to my bishops conference. More importantly, I also appreciate that I pray the same way as Catholics all over the world when I go to Mass. I'm part of an international community, borders are irrelevant to the Mass and it transcends cultural differences. It expresses that the idea of human races is a heresy, we are one human race created by God to know him, to love him, to serve him in this world and to be happy with him in the next.

When he was removed by Benedict XVI, he went on record as saying he was only waiting for Him to die so he could go back to business as usual.

This man is dangerous.

Mundane Wickedness

There are no citations of this image so there's no way to know how accurate the figures are, that said, this is clearly a horrific case.

It is, of course, entirely reasonable for Gosnell to have committed these crimes. What is the difference between 23 and 24 weeks? Before and after the baby breaches? With this in mind, it's worth pointing out the bottom left statistic. That they were late term has no importance. It is just mundane wickedness and the shocking results of it are hardly surprising.

The abortion laws in the UK are just as bizarre as in the US. There seems no logic to them. It is just a male parliament's way of allowing other males to abdicate responsibility for their children by having them killed.